Clothing

[imported_Ryan]

For extended road trips, would you pack for a week and just wash at the end of that week or would you pack for a couple of weeks? I need to conserve as much trunk space as possible considering there are three of us going, and I'm sure we will want to buy stuff along the way.
Thanks in advance.

http://onebag.oratory.com/

Pack as little as possible. Follow the old saying, "Take half as much clothes, and twice as much money". I backpacked across europe for a month using 1 backpack carrying everything I needed, and had room for souveniers. If I were to do it again, I'd take three changes of clothes, no more. One for warm weather, one for cold, and possibly one spare. It also depends on where you're going to be staying, and what you'll be doing. Camping and hiking you'll need more clothes than just driving and staying at hotels. You'll be moving all the time, so you could wear the same thing everyday and nobody would ever know (except your friends, but they'll be wearing the same thing too)

I'd also highly recommend synthetic clothing for traveling, if you can find stuff you like. I found I can wash my clothes at the end of the day, hang it up, and it'll be dry in the morning. Forget about trying to hang dry t-shirts or jeans, they won't dry. I suppose you could try and hang it outside the car on the highway on the window, but I lost a nice t-shirt that way :( Or you could just stop in at a laudromat every couple days, that's not a bad idea. If it were me, I'd just go with two changes of clothes, because you can always buy what you need along the way.

[Quebec Gen]

Great tips LA Native! Now at least I know I'm not the only one who tries to hang my stuff in the car so they can dry!:-) Usually, I put a rope (or dental floss) between the two seats and secure my clothes with pins. I never lost anything doing that but I sure looked like some hillbilly who lived all year long in my car (by the way I don't have anything against people who do so).

Just like LA Native, I think you should definitely go with synthetic fabrics, I've tried the trick of hand washing at the end of the day and hang dry until morning and it worked pretty well for me too, although I almost never wore the same thing twice (you know..just women stuff!:) At the end of the first week, you'll be ready for the big machine wash at the laundromat. Also, I would add one more thing to his recommandations : roll your clothes. That way you'll fit more stuff in your bags have extra space for other things and your clothes will be less crumpled.

Good Luck!

Gen

[Robert Schaller]

I choose what I'm going to carry it all in -- then decide accordingly. For a week, I might take a total of 4 sets of clothes -- 1 on, 3 in the sack. When I get to the 4th set, I find a coin-op laundry. I also cut the numbers by planning to wear my jeans or shorts for two days, if the humidity and use will allow, but a clean SHIRT every day is a must! Bob

[Robert Schaller]

I often use the back deck under the rear window (and sun) -- or will drape something that needs drying over the back of a seat! :)

I tried that hanging over the back seat or in the rear deck, but it seems like nothing ever dried in the car. Then I had the great idea to hang it out the window and roll the window up to hold it in. Turned out to be not such a great idea, although it's worked sometimes. Small stuff like socks or gloves you can stick on the dash and use the defroster, but it'll either get too hot inside the car, or if it's cold outside it will fog up your windshield.

Oh yeah, one more thing. things dry a lot faster if they're hanging up instead of lying on a surface. So a couple of wire coathangers are very handy. To get more air circulation, bend the coathangers a little so the fabric doesn't contact itself.


Oh yeah, i wasn't thinking if the poster was a male or female. Guys could probably get across the country with 1 change of clothes.

[Quebec Gen]

The back deck is the perfect place for small stuff! Also, I always bring a camping fan (works with A batteries) so it helps a lot when I want to hang dry clothes in my motel room or when I camp, it gets dry faster.