whisperlite stove is a good stove. nice to have the flexibility of multi-fuels especially is you're backpacking in another country where white gas is rare. you should really test the stove out to see if a jet stove is really for you. using a liquid fuel stove is a little more work than a canister stove. pressurizing the fuel, priming the stove & cleaning the jets make this kind of stove a chore. my camping friends are 1/3 for jet stoves, 2/3 for canister. jet stoves have the advantage of working better in really cold weather ( below 30 degrees), but watch out for spilled fuel on bare hands....it can cause frost bite at those temperatures. this stove has the shaker needle so it claims to clean it's own jets. you have to prime the jet stove by opening the valve to let a bit of fuel out & lighting it until the manifold is hot enough to vaporize the fuel as it sprays into the burner. i have the msr dragonfly multi fuel stove, but think the whisperlite is a better choice. the dragonfly is really noisy and a bit cumbersome. works great in the snow but now i choose to bring my snow peak gigapower canister stove with a isobutane/lpg canister fuel mixture canister for use in cold weather. you also have to keep the canister warm for better results. as a backup, i also carry the esbit stove. i tried to use it exclusively to see if it would work as a primary stove. it works great, although because the fuel tablets burn for about 12 minutes, you have to get everything ready for your meal beforehand. then after your food is done, you have to switch out & heat some water as the fuel burns out. that way you can have your cup of coffee or cocoa after dinner. some meals will take up the entire burntime though. contrary to reports, you cannot put it out & relight it because what's left of the fuel after you put it out takes too long to light & doesn't get up to the temperature as a straight burn. also, the esbit hexamine tablets are much better than the cogland brand. it took 2 cogland tablets to boil the same amount of water. avoid the trioxane tablets you get at army surplus stores. they are toxic & i couldn't get them to boil the water with 1 tablet. all my tests were done at home : 1780' altitude, 78 degree temperature (didn't get the humidity reading). your actual results will go down as you rise in altitude & drop in temperature. tablet / burntime / practical cooktime / 20 oz water boil time esbit hexamine / 12 minutes / 10 minutes / 8 minutes cogland (2 tablets) / 13 minutes / 9 minutes / 9 minutes trioxane / 5 minutes / 4 minutes / did not boil water a bit more information than i you wanted, but as you can tell i like to test my gear so i can pack efficiently. campers tend to form opinions on gear based generally on only what they own or what's offered at walmart. i try to look at all gear & try to accumulate gear that works efficiently & has been tested in the field. the 3 worst things that can happen are gear that works great at home or in the store, but fails in the field; carrying bulky gear only to find there was a more efficient gear out there or getting a newfangled piece of gear that does many things mediocrely and then going back to your old trusty piece of gear you've camped with for years. Here is a link that might be useful: how to choose a backpacking stove

Hey joanie. We have the Big Agnes insulated air mattresses. They are fantastic and very comfortable. They are the size of a qt bottle and are easy to blow up. They are very tough and as I said I have used mine almost every night in camping set ups for months and it has no leaks or problems. I will link below to the ones we have. I hadn't thought about the truck windows having screens to that would be great. A small fan would help to move the air. You would definitely need a canopy of some kind. We got one at Dick's Sporting Goods. It is easy to set up and very sturdy. Gives great protection if it is raining. We have even pulled it over so that it is 1/2 over our tent front and we can then get in and out without getting wet :) I haven't cooked on open fires for all meals. Just an occasional cookout. We have a 2 burner propane stove that I love. I can make pancakes and coffee and great dinners with it. We have a camp fire only for warmth and ambiance. We have a folding table and set everything up the minute we get to camp and then we are done for the time we are there. We have one cooler and restock often from the grocery. When I am on the road with my bike it is a whole different setup . I have a tiny campstove and we use a picnic table if there is one or the ground if there isn't :(. I have a one person tent that is very light. I still use my Big Anges though..it is never far from me ! If I can help with any other ideas let me know. I love to camp !! c Here is a link that might be useful: Big Agnes air mattress

What I did for our RV was put a few of the extras that I had in my kitchen that I had doubles of, and then I just picked up a few individual new items like a set of skillets etc. I did not want to add too much for weight issues and I knew I would not cook nearly as much in the RV and I have actually never used any of my cookware at all in the RV. We have the outdoor kitchen on it and my husband cooks on that grill. We did pick up some items to use on the grill and we have used those, we got them at camping world and at walmart in their RV and camping area. The one item I do need to add is one of my big gumbo pots because we may need it for boiling some seafood or making gumbo but it will take up a lot of space for something not used often. That is the kind of thing I put under the dinette benches. For dishes, when we were at camping world they had a discounted shelf and on it was a complete set of dishes that were microwave safe, the box was torn but the set was complete. I picked it up for around $5. Perfect, light weight and easy to clean. I did get a new complete set of silverware, my RV came stocked with some things like a crock filled with all kinds of serving utensils and stuff like that. It also came with a very nice set of dishes that were ceramic but I did not want those in the RV so they are now in the kitchen. I went to Bed bath and beyond and hit their kitchen dept. got all the gadgets including a new swingaway can opener, and a nice selection of kitchen towels and cutting boards etc. Even though I think I have everything I possibly need it seems every trip I find something I don't have.

When I searched for affordable tri ply all clad (not the All Clad brand which was too expensive) induction cookware a couple years ago I read about the Tramontina from Walmart too. Unfortunately I also found that Canadian Walmarts do not carry it and I couldn't order it in from an American Walmart. I could have gone to the U.S. and shopped there but it wasn't practical. So if lisa_a happens to be from Canada it would be why she can't find it in Walmart. In doing research on it, it seemed the Walmart line is made in China whereas other Tramontina sets are made elsewhere (can't remember where). Some people don't trust materials etc. on stuff coming from China. I ended up shopping Amazon.ca and getting a set of Quisinart French cookware for a very decent price. It is made in France (I don't think all of Quisinart is). It is triply and all clad as well so not just the bottom heats up. I have been happy with my cookware and feel I got something similar to the Tramontina I wanted. It has a lifetime warranty. There are other very similar sets of Quisinart available so you need to really watch to get the triply all clad ones.