Camping, Princess Style

[ElsieD]

I'm interested, too!

[SLB]

Me too, I'm definitely interested.  And, I'm wishing you a nourishing holiday.  

[FauxPas]

On 11/24/2025 at 8:48 AM, Smithy said:

Thank you. Yes, I plan to be heading out sometime after Christmas, maybe in January. I'm still working out where to go and when, and how much food to pack. 😀 As usual there's more in the house, garage, and trailer than one person (or even the former two) needs. Which cookbooks? Which cookware? Which dishes? There were things I was sorry not to have along last time, because I packed in such a hurry. Now I have (relative) leisure to sort it all out.

 

The Princessmobile has spent most of the summer at the shop, for one reason or another, and still needs work before I can launch. Once I start packing and arranging, I'll update this topic to show something of the packing and decision-making, if anyone's interested.

 

Are you underway now, @Smithy? 

[Smithy]

10 hours ago, FauxPas said:

 

Are you underway now, @Smithy? 

 

Grr. If by "underway" you mean "gone from home", yes. If by "underway" you mean "making solid progress" then the answer is different. I left on Thursday, Jan 29, so I could attend a precision trailer driving course the following day in St. Cloud, MN, a couple of hours' drive from home. The course was yesterday. I'm now only about a 30 minute drive from the course, and spending another night here due to *GRRR* mechanical failures. At least I have shore power, and I'm grateful for that. This trailer is really not built for subzero camping, despite its adverts. Propane does not like to vaporize at 20F below, nor even 10F below. It is Not Fun to awaken to frost on the floor and ice on the animals' water bowls, knowing that the propane tanks are probably still half full but have to be changed anyway. 

 

So...I've discovered that my darling's preference of fast food from the service stations is defensible after all, because the last thing I want to do is fire up the oven and dirty up dishes when there's no water in the Princessmobile. The trailer was winterized* last fall, and I want to be sparing of what goes down the drains from the water bottles I packed. That means I need to minimize dirty dishes.

 

So far on my travels I've been through a bucket of fried chicken from my favorite grocery chain back home -- an indulgence before leaving! -- and a couple of green salads on paper plates, with salad dressing from Samin Nosrat's Good Things cookbook. I've eaten half a Ranch Chicken wrap (the other half for tomorrow, probably) and a sausage and egg biscuit from the truck stop where I'm parked. A "breakfast sandwich" of dubious lineage yesterday morning, along with some nondescript potato twinkies (not their name) that even the dog wouldn't eat. Can't think what else there's been.

 

It isn't that I don't have choices. My freezer is well packed with frozen ready-to-heat-and-eat dinners, both from Trader Joe's and from my own cookery.

 

 

The refrigerator compartment is stuffed with remains of my last few weeks' cooking frenzies, as well as an amazing collection of condiments.

 

 

I have my best local friends to thank for this. They volunteered, more than once, to help me load the trailer and get it ready to go. When I realized that I'd need help getting it pried loose from the ice and snow outside my house, and that time was short on the remaining "normal" packing, I took them up on the offer. While Mr. helped me with snow and ice removal, and anchoring things down in the pickup bed, Mrs. moved everything from the house refrigerator to the Princessmobile's refrigerator. And I do mean everything. I'm pretty sure there are 2 bottles of fish sauce in there, for example. She also cleaned the house refrigerator. These are true friends!

 

(Confession: I returned a 1 L jar of homemade sauerkraut after she left. That stuff is old, and I still haven't tried it, and I decided to worry about it after I get back home.)

 

I haven't bothered taking photos of the fast food I've purchased so far, but there will be other opportunities, perhaps more than I'd like. In the meantime, here's what I'm drinking tonight, celebrating Shore Power and Heat!!

 

 

*For those who don't know, "winterizing" a trailer means draining all its tanks and water lines, and running a nontoxic RV-safe antifreeze through the system. That way, no ice should develop to damage water lines or fittings. But you can't flush out and replace it until you're above freezing temperatures.

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

Grr. If by "underway" you mean "gone from home", yes. If by "underway" you mean "making solid progress" then the answer is different.

Sorry for the slow progress and the frigid temps. I’d say you’re underway - you’ve departed your home port and are making progress, even if it’s not as much as you’d like. I’m looking forward to following along in this adventure from my sofa which is blessedly safe from mechanical failures! 

[Maison Rustique]

I always think you are brave doing this alone anyway, but doing it in winter? I do not think I'd have the courage to do that. Especially with all the bad weather going through the country lately. Do you have an ultimate destination?

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, Maison Rustique said:

I always think you are brave doing this alone anyway, but doing it in winter? I do not think I'd have the courage to do that. Especially with all the bad weather going through the country lately. Do you have an ultimate destination?

 

Eventually I plan to be at our old boondocking spot in southern California, or in nearby Yuma. I plan to be in the L.A. Basin on May 1 for a celebration, and that's my only firm date. I had hoped to be in Arizona by next weekend, but the mechanical issues have put the kibosh on that.

On the one hand I'm disappointed to be stuck. On the other hand there are worse places to be stuck. I have power, propane and food all readily available, and if need be (or boredom strikes) I can disconnect the trailer and drive the pickup to town, which isn't far.

 

Here's breakfast.

 

 

In the foreground, the other half of the chicken/bacon/ranch wrap i bought for dinner last night. In the middle ground, coffee in a photo cup I'll tell you about sometime, and the sad amaryllis that really, truly did not like being frozen yesterday morning. In the sink is the small pot I use to collect water for rinsing things (and then the water can go outside onto the ground). 

Edited 6 hours ago by Smithy
spelling (log)

[ElsieD]

Following along.......

[FauxPas]

44 minutes ago, Smithy said:

On the one hand I'm disappointed to be stuck. On the other hand there are worse places to be stuck. I have power, propane and food all readily available, and if need be (or boredom strikes) I can disconnect the trailer and drive the pickup to town, which isn't far.

 

There is this! Very good to have all those things! 

 

And it sounds like you have things mostly under control and will be underway again soon. So I won't worry too much about you, but I will try and channel some St Christopher support for you! And please let us know how things are going, if you can.  🙂

 

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, FauxPas said:

And please let us know how things are going, if you can.  🙂

 

Thank you for your encouraging words and St. Christopher support! 

 

I can share a few things right now, both good news and bad news. The good news is, it's warmed up. Why, it's 23F at the nearby airport this hour! The bad news is, when it warmed up it started snowing.

 

 

Not a lot, but enough that the plows are out on the highway and in the parking lots. I'd really hoped to be out of this by now! 

 

In other news, I had looked all over during the packing process to find my list of things I wanted to be sure to bring this year. I couldn't find it. I reconstructed it to the best of my ability from memory. This morning I found it...here in the trailer, a very logical location but quite forgotten since the Princessmobile had been at the dealer's for repairs and upgrades until last November.

 

 

Well, I didn't do badly from memory. I knew I wanted the small (3 qt) Instant Pot, the small hand mixer, and maybe the toaster, but I couldn't find them. I know which building they're in at home, but the contents have been rearranged and I couldn't find the right boxes. Apparently buried under other boxes. I decided to leave the panini press behind again this year, though I knew exactly where it was in the kitchen because I've been using it a lot. Will I regret it? I don't know. I did buy a reversible griddle (one side flat, one side ridged) and donate the ridged skillet. I kept the flat cast iron skillet (family heirloom) and it's here in the Princessmobile.