Stick with simple stuff like burgers, small steaks, chops and chicken pieces. The left over matter is simply remembering to buy for your appetite....not more then you can eat.
And remember that whole grain bread, fruit and a piece of cheese or a hard boiled egg is a pretty good meal.
By "car camping" do you mean you will be sleeping in your car? More power to ye! Have fun....and remember simple treats like pop corn and s'mores!
Linda c

I'd probably look at skillet or one pot meals and meals that have only a few ingredients. This is delicious, a tried and true stove top dish that could be scaled down to serve just two people:

Herbed Chicken Sauteed in Wine

3 lbs. chicken pieces, remove skin and fat
1 t salt
1/4t pepper
1/4c butter
1 onion, minced
1 TB minced chives
1 TB minced parsley
1 t rosemary
1/2c white wine

Wash and dry chicken. Sprinkle with s&p; saute in butter. Add onion and cook gently 10 minutes. Add herbs, stir, add wine and simmer covered 20 minutes. Remove cover and turn up heat to gently boil and reduce liquid to make a sauce to serve over the chicken.
Try adding some red potatoes and green beans to this recipe after browning the chicken.

Add a salad to this for a complete meal:

French Onion-Pork Chop Skillet

6 boneless pork chops (1/2 inch thick)
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 pkg (6 oz) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1 1/2 cups hot water
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

Heat large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add chops and onions; cook 5 min.; turn chops, stirring onions and cook another 5 min. until chops are done (160 degrees F). Remove chops and cover with tinfoil. Turn heat to high; cook and stir onions 5 min. or until gold brown.

Stir in Worcestershire sauce. Return chops to skillet arranging onions on top of chops. Mix stuffing mix and hot water; spoon around edge of skillet and top with cheese. Cover and cook for 5 min. until cheese is melted. Serve.

More ideas:

~ cheddar bratwurst cut into chunks in heated skillet, add chopped sweet onion into large chunks, then 4-5 Yukon gold or red potatoes into large chunks, leave skin on, then cut cup a peeled carrot or two. Next, cut up a green pepper in large chunks and a yellow squash or zucchini. Add season salt and let cook all together till veggies are done.

~ Steamed One Pot Dinner: 2" water in 2 qt saucepan, cubes of red potatoes > cover and steam 12 minutes; top with thin sliced carrots, broccoli or cauliflower, onion slices, seasoning; top with smoked pork chop, ham, smoked turkey wing, kielbasa, fish or seafood > cover and cook 10 minutes.

~One Pot Pasta: 1 TB EVOO, 1 # ground beef or Italian sausage, chopped onion and garlic > brown together; add 1 cup each water, pasta sauce, small pasta > cover, bring to a boil, simmer 20 minutes; top with mushrooms, thin strips bell pepper >cover and cook 5 minutes; stir in 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese >cover let sit; top with grated parmesan cheese.

You might consider investing in a dehydrator. That way your meals will have exactly the ingredients you can tolerate, and the dried ingredients take up a LOT less space in your vehicle than a bunch of groceries. And, dehydrated stuff needs no refrigeration.

I have "Mary Bell's Complete Dehydrator Cookbook" (available from Amazon for around $13 or so), and I've found it quite useful. She came out with another book, 'Food Drying with an Attitude' which I don't have but it looks pretty complete as well. She has a lot of recipes made for camping, especially for backpackers who have to lug all their own food. You can make, for instance, a type of seasoned beef jerky from ground beef with spaghetti sauce-type spices, so you can have instant spaghetti sauce.

Another idea for easy camping meals: instant couscous. A cup of couscous, 2 cups of boiling water, a bullion cube, and you have a pasta side dish in 5 minutes.

You don't really need a dehydrator if your oven can go down to 150 or 160 (maybe by leaving the door slightly open)--you can dry stuff on drying racks over a half sheet pan. Dehydrators are pretty handy, though. I have a Nesco Gardenmaster, and it works fine. There are some more elaborate ones available at outdoorsy sites like Cabela's or Bass Pro Shops.

To whet your appetite, here's a recipe for beef jerky I worked up.

Guinness Beef Jerky Marinade
(This amount of marinade is sufficient for about 5 to 6 pounds of beef, which I find fill my Nesco dehydrator's eight trays fairly full)
5 to 6 lbs lean beef, sliced thinly--see Note 1
2 bottles (12-14 oz each) Guinness Stout
2 tablespoons kosher salt OR 3 to 4 tablespoons soy sauce--see Note 2
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2-4 tablespoons hot stuff --see Note 3
optional: liquid smoke, 1 to 2 tbsp

In a large bowl pour stout and add salt, whisking to dissolve salt and decarbonate the stout. Add the garlic powder and hot stuff and mix well. Put the beef strips in the marinade by handfuls, swirling around to make sure all surfaces have come in contact with the marinade. Place the beef in a nonreactive container (a stainless stockpot works fine), pour the remaining marinade over the beef, mix well and refrigerate for at least an hour (more is better--overnight is fine). If you have time, mix up the beef strips every so often in the marinade.
Place the strips flat on the trays and dry to your desired amount of dryness. I prefer crisp to leathery, but do it however you want.
Note 1: Before slicing the beef, trim all extra fat off the surface of the meat. I like to use round roast because it's very lean; whenever possible, slice the strips across the grain. Slicing it with the grain results in a stringy final product. Eye of round costs a little more, but is very lean and also is very easy to slice across the grain, and that yields a less stringy product. Don't use a fatty cut of meat because it won't dry as thoroughly and won't have the storage properties of a leaner cut. (The fat can turn rancid.)
Note 2: I have found mushroom flavored soy sauce at an Asian market. It works great in this recipe.
Note 3: For the hot stuff, cayenne works well; you have to judge for yourself how hot your particular cayenne pepper is. (Mass market cayenne from brands like McCormick is relatively mild; powdered chili peppers from a Mexican or Indian market will be much hotter.) If you’re unsure, go easy with the hot stuff. You can always sprinkle a little more hot stuff on the finished product if you wish. I have used chipotle powder with good results; 4 tablespoons in this recipe makes a quite hot product, and 2 tbsp makes a pleasantly zingy one. If you want something quite mild, use sweet Hungarian paprika which would make a product not at all hot but would still have a good flavor. You can also use smoked Spanish paprika (‘pimenton’) which comes in three degrees of hotness (sweet, bittersweet & hot). If you use that, though, or chipotle powder, don’t use any additional smoke flavor. --Don't use a hot sauce that's vinegar based (like Tabasco or Sriracha)--the vinegar taste will be concentrated in the finished product.

LOL, no, we won't be sleeping in the car, but traveling in my small car and sleeping in a tent. We will have a camp stove and minimal cooking equipment. One pot or skillet dishes are perfect, just in smaller quantities. I am bad at downsizing -- I grew up in a big family and learned to cook that way -- I think it is genetic as I'm from a long line of women who cooked for big families or groups!

We'll have a cooler, but I'd like to limit leftovers to just enough for lunch or breakfast even, the next day.

I have a dehydrator, so I'll have to check out that cookbook. Some years I might have venison in the freezer and venison jerky is so tasty! Thanks!

A lot of the larger grocery stores have good deli departments, so you can pick up small amounts of salads plus sandwich fixings like chicken salad or sliced meats and cheese. A couple of pieces of fried chicken for dinner, things like that. A whole roasted chicken from Costco will give you a couple of dinners, I think, but it's only $4.99.

You'll have o give a call when you drive thru Monterey County and we'll give you a local's tour!

Sandwiches and wraps of all types.
Soups. You can easily pack a full meal into soup! Make some ahead and freeze in appropriate portions. They act as ice blocks initially, then a meal, then a container for odds and ends later.
Pick up fresh veggies at farmer's markets or grocery stores and some hummus or bean dips.
Salads can be made to serving size. A vinegar/oil dressing wouldn't need to be refrigerated. An italian type could also be used to marinate meat while driving for a quick skillet meal that evening (saute' some veggies, add a slice of good bread).
Marinated vegetable salads with or without pasta are easy and filling. Four bean, Italian Pasta, etc.
Pickles and boiled eggs pack and keep well.
Fresh fruit.
Oatmeal/fruit breakfasts.

Will you have internet access? Scout ahead for farm markets to buy fresh stuff.
Traveling in the summer will be warm so lighter meals might be good??

Make some spice packets ahead of time. Just simple combos of salt, pepper, garlic, onion, etc. Google rubs for specific meats you like.

Sounds like a fun trip! Feel free to email me when you get to the Pacific Hwy portion through Oregon. I'd love to meet you and only live 45 minutes from Florence, Oregon.

Deanna

That sounds like a really fun trip. I�m jealous! Will you have internet access? ($30/month for wireless datacard, hint hint).

Please remember to post pics and stories from your camping meals. I love cooking on camping trips.

Here are some thoughts. I�m assuming you�ll usually be staying in campgrounds, so will have water, a picnic table, and often electricity. I�m also assuming you�ll be buying groceries as you go rather than packing for a Mars mission.

Get a good cooler.

Buying ice and draining a cooler every day gets old. There are electric coolers that will run off 120v AC in the campground and off 12v DC when your car is running.

Thermoelectrics cost around $100 and use a Peltier element. They will slowly bring contents to, and hold them at, 30F below ambient temperature. When ambient is 70-80F, this means the contents are 40-50F � okay for few day storage of most foods, iffy for raw poultry/fish, no good for ice cream. You can supplement with ice in a sealed plastic bag. It is preferable for food to already be cold when it goes in. Brands are Koolatron, Koolmate, Igloo, Coleman, search for "thermoelectric cooler".

Then there are compressor coolers, which cost $500-800 and use actual compressor refrigeration. They will cool warm stuff down quickly and hold either refrigerator temps (40F) or freezer temps (0F) regardless of ambient temp. Brands are ARB, Whynter, Engel, search for "portable refrigerator".

Personally, I�d get a compressor cooler in the spring (maybe there are good post-holiday sales?), get used to it before heading off, and enjoy being able to "stock up" on food on weekly stops at regular grocery stores, rather than buying little quantities daily at more expensive markets. Over seven weeks, I think this could pay for itself. You can very likely resell it for � the new price without much trouble, truckers use them.

Pressure cookers save time and fuel.

If you�ll want to make any sort of moist-cooked dish that takes more than 15 minutes cooking � stew, pot roast, potatoes, beans, chili, etc � a pressure cooker will do it in one-quarter the time of a standard pot. And it works as a standard pot too, just don�t seal the lid.

I have no problem eating quickie one-pot meals for seven weeks, heck I could eat Top Ramen for seven weeks, but if you enjoy cooking it would be fun to be able to make a wider variety of stuff.

Washing dishes is the biggest pain of camping.

Doing the dishes in a teeny basin of cold water is a pain. Bring a large plastic tub, it works to store things in too. And a good teakettle for heating water.

Cutting stuff up is the next.

I don�t know why people take teeny plastic cutting boards and weeny knives on car camping trips. In a campground, the cutting board may be the only work surface you have. Bring a nice big plastic board and a nice big knife.

If you have electricity, use it.

Many car camping campgrounds will have electricity at each site. I�d bring an electric teakettle and a long (50 ft) contractor�s extension cord. I know, it doesn�t feel like "camping", but it is so much more convenient to get your coffee, tea, and other hot water this way.

Wonderful ideas!! JohnLiu I would never have thought of the electric cooler, but I will be looking into one for sure. And the extension cord -- brilliant!

We will have internet access through our iPhones and my DH will set up a mobile hot spot for web access and blogging. You can bet I'll be hitting the farmers markets since I'm abandoning my big veggie garden for the summer! Space will be limited (think Mazda hatchback) so we'll be buying food as we go.

The pressure cooker idea is interesting. I have a small pressure cooker, I may break it out and try it on the Coleman and see how it works. I have a nice Calphalon chef pan I use now, and my mother's old RevereWare dutch oven. I do have a good cutting board and will bring some good knives.

Right now the plan calls for us to be in the Monterey area in early July. Just reading this I am getting so excited!! Thanks for the wonderful ideas!

You might glean some ideas from the link below from Utah State University Extension for Freezer Bag Cooking (Outdoor Food Made Simple). -Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: USU Extension - Freezer Bag Cooking: Outdoor Food Made Simple

Sounds like a wonderful time!!! I love to camp. You have had some great ideas already, but I'd like to add that you can put some yummy things in a foil pouch and throw it on some hot coals--anything that appeals to you is good, chopped veg, potatoes, any sort of cut up meats, cheeses, etc. If you google "Hobo Pies" you will get a ton of recipes.

The electric skillet is a great idea--it can cook soup/stew but it can also double as a griddle for pancakes in the morning. A nonstick one would be very easy cleanup.

Do not forget to take along a couple of pie irons, and make sure they're the cast iron ones, not the lightweight ones. :-) If you have never heard of them (if you are seasoned campers, this is nearly impossible to fathom), it's a two piece device that you line with buttered bread (buttered side to the cast iron. Place filling on the bread, close the iron, and toast in coals on the campfire. These make all manner of meals depending on what you stuff them with, and they're very easy to clean up. We've stuffed ours with eggs, vegetables and cheese, tacos of all sorts, lunchmeat and cheese, and of course pie fillings. Cherry pie filling and some chocolate is one of my very favorite "pudgy pie" fillings!

Are you taking along one of those grills that you suspend over the campfire? We had one when we tent camped, though my husband has since purchased a small camp grill. It's a tripod, with a grill that can be raised and lowered over the coals on your campfire.

Have a great time! It sounds like a wonderful adventure!
Cj

Here is a link that might be useful: Pie Iron and recipes

Hey, you should read up on engine cooking. This is where you seal stuff up in aluminium foil and secure it on the engine to cook while you drive. Think baked potatoes to start, I guess to get your black belt, you do a roast duck or something.

It is not true that this technique is only used for road kill, that's just a mean rumour spread by Cordon Bleu snobs.

A Mazda hatchback? I think a roof top pod and a nice stereo w/ iPod will be your best friends.

Are you coming through Portland? If we are here, stop by for a bed + shower interlude. Email me to contact.

Time for my annual post!

The past two summers, I've taken month-long road trips with my elementary school-aged daughters. In a diesel VW Golf with a top carrier, camping most of the time. For cooking, we brought a standard, two-burner propane stove, a two-quart saucepan, a small covered skillet, and a Jet Boil with a French press insert for coffee. All eating things were stored in the dishpan. A big cutting board is a must (Amen, John!). I also had a few knives with plastic sheaths because toting around bare blades is just too much trouble.

Sometimes, there's no way around ice. Some national park campgrounds don't have electricity (Arches, Badlands). Bring an extension cord. Our little electric cooler caught fire in Arches NP when the girls blocked the vent. Just make sure your cooler has a drain in the bottom. And bring plenty of Ziploc bags for leftovers and things that get soggy, like butter. You can use your stove to boil water for dishes. Disposing of grease is harder, and you cannot pour greasy water on the ground, especially in bear country (Glacier, Yellowstone, etc.). The only thing that worked was wiping out the pan with paper towels until the grease was gone, then washing the pan. And some food spoils extremely quickly in desert heat, so you need to keep even unopened wine in the cooler. Buy some food frozen (meat) that you plan to use in a couple of days.

For those mornings that you plan to break camp, try to find a non-cooking/washing breakfast. Many leftovers are great in burritos the next morning or evening. Just south of the Badlands NP campground is a private campground that serves cheap pancakes made with 100+ year old sourdough starter. And if you're going through the Black Hills, reserve a site in Custer State Park. Lovely campgrounds and loads of wildlife. We tripped over bison and elk.

You folks are so generous!! Thanks so much for the offers and great advice. Scotland (love it, I'm a Scot) your trip and ours sounds similar, and your experience is invaluable to me, thanks. I'm a life-long camper, but have never embarked on this long a trip, and have no experience camping out west. The tip about the grease is good info!

Sounds like a wonderful adventure! Every summer I pack up pretty much all of the food we'll need for 5 weeks of "bush" camping-no electricity, no close by real grocery store. I agree that dehydrated foods/recipes would be handy, quick to prepare, and there will be those times when you will want fast & easy. The link Grainlady provided is no longer good so I will post the newer one. I have used recipes from that site, my son really liked the Chicken Diablo Rice, just having some dehydrated veg, rice, even pasta would help. Another good site is Dehydrate2Store.
When you come up Hwy 101 (Pacific Coast) be sure you have campsite reservations, they really can fill up in the summer. I grew up in Florence,OR and when I was a kid long ago, the joke was that Honeyman State Park, when full, had more people than Florence.

Here is a link that might be useful: Trail Cooking 101

cj47, we call those "jaffle irons" :-)

I always take pasta then I can easily serve it up with whatever we buy fresh - diced tomatoes, olives and basil for example.

Wow, 2 Florence Oregonians here! (well 1 former). I am a bit worried about the campsites filling, so it is good to know I should be concerned. We will be trying to be settled by Thursday rather than arrive in a new locale on the weekend. I am definitely going to try some of the dehydrated recipes, and maybe some of the freezer ones, too, if I spring for the electric cooler. I have to go to the dentist the morning (ow) but there's an RV place on the way there and I'm going to ask about adding an outlet to the car.

The generosity on here is amazing. If anyone is traveling to Maine, I'm your gal! (Except for next summer!)

Your car will already have a 12v DC cigarette lighter outlet, which is what the cooler will use when the car is running. When the car is not running, you'd want to unplug the cooler from the car to avoid running down your battery (use campsite's 120v AC, or cold packs, or ice, or simply rely on the cooler's insulation).

You can get inverters, which are devices that plug into the cigarette lighter and provide a 120v DC outlet where you can plug in regular household stuff. However, in a regular car these are only useful for powering small electronics (laptop, etc) when the car is running (again, to avoid running down the car battery and then being unable to start the car). RVs use them to power all sorts of stuff but they have multiple deep cycle batteries.

On the dehydration - yes it works but I think part of the fun will be finding local markets and foods, improvising meals, etc.

I lived, with wife and six month old daughter, in a campervan for a month. This was in New Zealand. Mealtime was fun. I got really good at fried rice.

Thermoelectrics cost around $100 and less.
By flipping a switch, an electronic cooler reverses and becomes a food warmer, a very nice feature.

Always get an inverter ($30.00) to power up TV, laptops, recharge a good LED camp lamp, etc.

No hair dryer. Takes too much power.

dcarch

Try some of the recipes from:

www.livingoverland.com

Don't let the "gourmet camping food" turn you off. They camp out of their vehicle and have some really great space saving ideas and yummy food. By the way, I'm not connected to them or anything, but I recommended them on a previous post in regards to the egg product they use which is supposed to be a great improvement over dried eggs and I do like some of their recipes.

If you go with an electric cooler, there are adapters that allow you to plug them into a standard outlet for when you'll be in one place for a few days and not driving much. You should be able to put ice in them as well. Both of our cars have a cigarette lighter outlet in the trunk.

Be sure to allow time for things like laundry. We found these dryer sheet things that are preloaded with detergent. No measuring, no messy powders or liquids, and they take up less space than both. Don't forget clothesline and pins for bathing suits and towels if nothing else.

Finally, here's my favorite travel site/app. Because the nearest two-headed snake or giant ball of twine might be closer than you think.

Here is a link that might be useful: Roadside America

LOL, Scotland, we have the giant ball of twine on the list of things to do when driving through Kansas. That app looks great, thanks a bunch for the tip.

My car has 2 lighters, so perhaps just an inverter will be enough for the laptop, iPhones, battery charger and cooler.

Such great advice! The TrailCooking and Living Overland sites are great. You folks are the bomb!

Mabel, that sounds like an absolutely wonderful trip. I'd love it, Elery would hate it, LOL, he hates camping. Ah well...

I'm in Michigan, so I'm not on your way to anywhere, but my door is open anyway, if you get lost!

I used to have a big conversion van and travbelled with my two daughters. We always took an electric skillet, I used it in motel rooms and at campgrounds with electricity. It's good for eggs, pancakes, grilled sandwiches, burgers, pasta and sauce, chili, spanish rice, fried chicken, steaks, fish, fajitas, I could even make some kind of makeshift toast in that electric skillet.

I also took a cast iron dutch oven, I could bake apple pie or cinnamon rolls or biscuits to go with the chili in a dutch oven. One of the girls' favorite meals was Coke Chicken, which they learned while in Girl Scouts. Red potatoes on the bottom of the dutch oven, quartered if they are big. Carrots if you want. Chicken pieces on top, sauce made of 1/2 catsup and 1/2 coke. Cook over the campfire or on stove top until the chicken is done, over coals that takes about an hour and a half.

If you are a coffee or tea drinker, be sure to take a good thermos, mine is a Stanley and will keep hot liquids steaming for 6-8 hours. Better and cheaper than gas station coffee too.

Like Johnliu, I could eat noodles for 7 weeks, or peanut butter and jelly, so it wouldn't be an issue, but I cooked for the kids and so learned to do a lot with an electric skillet. One of their favorite breakfasts, though, was just cold cereal out of the box and some fruit, and lunch was sardines and crackers more times than I can count, along with fresh vegetables or fruit, raw. No cooking, no clean up, it's all good as long as I have my coffee. (grin)

Have fun, I'd love to do something like that.

Annie

Had to give a big shout-out to John Liu for suggesting the electric cooler for my x-country camping trip. DH and I had decided to go for it and were going to order one online when Saturday I found one at a garage sale for $5. I snapped it up, took it home and plugged it in and glory be, it works great. At that same sale I also found a nice quality 5 quart stainless soup pot for $1 which will go with us as well rather than the larger Dutch oven.

We head out June 15, and will be in California the first week of July. Thanks to all for the ideas and suggestions!

Mable I would suggest you do a test camping run. It seems how much you plan there is always something a person always forgets or need to replace. It is also a refresher course on how everything works. Patty

I went to Glacier when I was 20--LOVED it! Everything tastes better cooked outside. I would make up a bunch of homeade granola, that is great road food. I end up making the same kinds of things camping that I do at home--stir fry, pasta and stews, with a few grilled sessions thrown in. Annie's suggestions are great. I even bake biscuits in a pot on top of the stove--warm biscuits are great for a campout breakfast. That's the traditional way to make scones or soda bread. My usual road lunch is some kind of roll up sandwich. I also make potato and pasta salads, they travel well.

This was online tonight on Zite. Might be some useful info.

Have a great trip.

Here is a link that might be useful: Camp cooking

Patty, not to worry I'm an old hand at camping! I worked at a Girl Scout camp for 6 years, and have been camping every summer since I graduated from college.

Over the years my camp cooking has grown more complex as my skills have increased and the truck got bigger, but in this trip we really want to keep it simpler. No reflector oven, no extra third burner, etc. Last summer we had a trial run in October at Camden Hills State Park, trying to pack as we would this summer, and in similar conditions to say Glacier, where the nights get cold. When we got home, we cleaned and packed everything away as we plan to take it this summer. Thanks for the thought, though!

You're smart to do plenty of planning. I find that while I can have fun on spontaneous road trips, I can have fun AND save money on well planned ones!

Thankfully, there are so many more healthy provisioning options than when I started camping in the 80's. For example, back in the day I had to make my own healthy pancake mix from scratch (still do to save even more money) but now every Tom Dick and Harry has a whole grain option! BTW, I love those newish fire starter blocks they sell, a mix of sawdust and paraffin or something like that! I love to seek out the farm markets and local products, even do a bit of foraging for stuff like wild blueberries! Of course a lot of the time I am camping in MI, which is produce paradise! The hardest thing for me to do is forgo all the great looking baked goods in the markets, and go back to my own hardtack for breakfast! :)

Mabel, look for that small switch on your cooler. flip it the other way will turn the cooler into a food warmer.

dcarch

There are a couple really good threads about meals on the camping forum, if anyone is interested. Awesome to see so many folks on this forum interested in camping at all!

I'm sorry I didn't see your question on the Camping Forum earlier. If you will be in Colorado in mid to late June, there is still availability in several of the Rocky Mountain Park campgrounds, and maybe even before mid June. We have camped in several of them and I think any would be fine. If you have not been to Rocky Mt. Park before, and even if you have, it is a huge and wonderful area.

I checked the online reservation system for mid June and amazingly, to me, there are still reservations available. Of course I have no idea when you will be in Colorado but the link is good for all states and all dates to find availability and reserve.

Your trip sounds wonderful and I hope we will be able to view the blog of your trip.

Please share your general itinerary. I'd love to know when you are going to be in Colorado.

Lee

Here is a link that might be useful: Campground Reservations for National Parks

Purpleinopp, I LOVE LOVE LOVE to camp. My DH and I go every summer for at least 3 weeks.

Lee, thanks for the suggestions. I will post more on the camping forum. I didn't get much of a response over there and got things somewhat figured out.

We will be heading through central Colorado early in the trip, our first planned stop will be the KOA in Limon (unless I get other suggestions!) and we'll wander through Colorado into Utah, heading for Arches and Moab.

We will be blogging about our trip, and all are welcome to follow along with us and make suggestions! I'll put a link to the blog.

And please, if any of you ever plan a trip to Maine -- I'm your gal!

Here is a link that might be useful: Every Day is a WInding Road

I wish I'd seen this thread before posting mine!

Yes, you can use a pressure cooker on the propane stove. I had a pressure cooker in my RV (and plan to put it in the camping equipment for this summer's trip). I have also used it on the white-gas stove (older Coleman model), when we were renovating the kitchen at home.

We looked at those 12-volt refrigerators. My husband was annoyed that he got rid of his after leaving the trucking industry. Well, how could we know! Thanks for the tips on the newer ones.

As far as camping reservations go: from experience, the national park campgrounds fill fast. Many of them are on the reservation system, and others (like in Arches) will require you to start trolling through the CG at daybreak, looking for departing campers.

Our trip is about the same length as yours, though we are staying in motels and with friends and family instead of tent-camping. From experience with long trip tent camping, though, you'll want to get a motel room or find a truck stop with reasonably priced showers (bring shower shoes) every 3-4 days. Your trip sounds like a lot of fun -- we're heading from CA to ME via Orlando, FL, and back through MO (daughter, son-IL and new granddaughter live there). So we're going opposite of you, grin.

I've placed a link to a great resource for road-trip planners. It's one of my favorite Internet sites.

Donna

Here is a link that might be useful: Road Trip America

Donna, thanks for the Road Trip America link, that site looks great!

We are definitely planning on the occasional hotel for a real bed/shower fix, but we are both used to roughing it. Hadn't thought of the truck stop but that is a good idea.

Maybe we will pass you along the way somewhere! I hope you have a great time on your trip, and let me know if you need any tips on things to do/see in Maine!

One of our family's favorite "camping" dishes:

1 box Kraft mac & cheese, prepared as box instructions
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
seasonings to taste: oregano, basil
1 lb hamburger

Brown the hamburger in the fry pan. On the other burner, heat water for the Kraft Mac & cheese. Prepare that while the hamburger browns. (I boiled the noodles, then drained and made the mac & cheese in the saucepan.) Add the can of tomato sauce and the seasonings to the browned hamburger. Add that mixture to the mac & cheese and stir well. Serve in bowls.

Super simple.

Donna