Car Camping Gear List

[Midwest Michael]

Having returned from my trip out west, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Block Ice is available almost everywhere throughout the Rocky Mountain states.

I first found it at Yellowstone, where blocks are available at the campgrounds and gas stations - although many of the grocery/gift stores only had cubes.

From then on, I really had no problem finding blocks at stores and gas stations in Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. It seems like they started to become less common as we headed back east, but that section of the trip also involved more motel stays where I was taking advantage of the motel ice machine and not looking quite as closely for ice in stores.

[DonnaR57]

I did look for block ice, but most of the convenience stores I checked on our trip did not have them. Our cooler holds a 9 or 10 lb bag of chipped ice quite easily. We ran into one place that sold 5 lb bags of ice, which was a little small. Yet buying 2 at that point would not have worked (still ice leftover from the day before).

Maybe it's the places we stay, but most motel ice machines have a big sign that says "Please do not use our ice to fill your cooler", and often a suggestion of places to purchase ice.



Donna

[Foy]

I also just returned from a wonderful trip to Nevada, Idaho, Montana, and Utah. We found block ice in the first store we visited in Wyoming (a large liquor/beer store in Evanston), in Utah (a Fresh Market in Park City), and in Montana (Rocky Mountain Supply in Dillon). I don't think we entered a single large grocery or hunting/fishing supply store where blocks were not available.

We also found blocks in the two grocery stores in Dillon (Safeway and IGA), and in Philipsburg, MT (IGA?). We were in Philipsburg unexpectedly because one of our group wanted to call her Mom on her birthday, so we left directly from the trout stream on the only blistering hot day we suffered the whole trip--but with our coolers 15 miles away in the opposite direction in the cabin. While in P'burg we figured on getting some ice but realized it might not survive a 1.5 hour drive in 97 degree heat and direct sunlight. Hey, what about putting the 4 blocks inside of my neoprene chest waders? We did it, rolled them up carefully, secured the flapping legs with bungees, and dropped the whole unwieldy mass into my even taller and larger friend Ben's neoprene chest waders. Viola! Upon return to camp, virtually no melting had occurred.

Foy

[Mark Sedenquist]

Peter Thody found this link and posted on his FB page, but I think this is a very cool page to have available to anyone who likes to search for thunderstorms and wild weather. It's a Wind Map....

Be sure to scroll in and look at your region. Very interesting data!

Mark

[Mark Sedenquist]

I found two more items that I put in my car's Go Kit yesterday.

One is a version of the old Mylar space blanket, but this one is a one-person sleeping bag measuring 84" x 36". It fits in a tiny box (about 3" x 4") and retails for about $6.50 -- although I've seen them on the Web for as little as ~ $4.00 It's primary use is an emergency sleeping bag -- able to preserve about 90% of a person's body heat, making it a valuable tool if broken down at night in your car. It could also be used as a blanket or ground cover.

The other device is a drinking straw that can be used to filter drinking water out of the most questionable sources. It doesn't work on water contaminated with metals and solvents (or pool water) but it does remove all of the nasties from most water sources found along the road or hiking trail. More information about the LifeStraw here. I paid about $27 for mine.

Mark

[Mark Sedenquist]

...and the 2013 Road Atlases are now available... in the RTA Maps Store

[CAnative]

People periodically mention buying camping equipment when they arrive at their US destination. I just saw an ad for a special buy on a 5 piece tent combo -- two person dome tent with rain fly, two sleeping bags and two camping mats. Given the price, I'm sure it is not the highest quality but might be OK to buy just to use for a summer triip It is also off season which explains lower price. The package is $49 at Home Depot, a place I would have never thought to go buy inexpensive camping equipment.

[Mark Sedenquist]

A good link for checking on possible locations for black ice on roadways in California and Nevada....