Young Pioneer

After going on my annual Winter Break BBC Period Drama bender, I moved on to watching the 2005 TV adaptation of Little House on the Prairie. Following that, I started watching the "House" shows. (You know, like 1900 House...) Now, I am convinced that I need to go on a camping trip this summer. I just want to load up the back of our car -conveniently it's a SUV...perfect for replicating the Conestoga experience!- And head out into the wilderness. If I'm being honest, I know I cannot survive completely without modern comforts, but I think I can deal with walking down a dirt path in my shower shoes to get to the bathing facilities.

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In my fantasy world, I am an expert camper and can plan a camping trip that would go without a hitch, so to speak, and with my very real lack of expertise in mind, I give you my list of essentials for a weekend of pioneering.

Shelter- I did a bit of searching around and found a product called Magna Screen that catches my attention. It fits over the space left by rolling down the windows of your car, so you can close the doors and treat it as a tent!

Sleep- An air mattress fitted with a sheet a blanket and one pillow each. This fits perfectly in the back of the car when the back seats are down and the supplies are stashed in the front seats.

Food- a pallet of bottled water (1/2 of them frozen in cooler to do double duty as ice), peanut butter, bread, fruit (apples, oranges, bananas, peaches... things that don't need to be kept cold and can be eaten out of hand), beans, brown bread, hot dogs, marshmallows, chocolate, graham crackers,  muffins (maybe corn muffins? YUM!),  plates, silver wear, a roll of paper towels, skewers, can opener, a bag for trash (just in case!)<-- you can see by the length of this list what is most important to me! 

Toiletries- 1 roll of emergency TP, towels, wash cloths, all over body wash, toothbrushes, toothpaste, sun screen, deodorant

ETC.- 2 flashlights, a deck of cards, bug repellent, a book (I recommend Young Pioneers), batteries, Swiss-Army knife, first aid kit, cell phones and car charger...just in case!

It should be noted that in my head, all camp sites come with a picnic table so I didn't include chairs or anything like that.

Time to round up some friends and face the wild yonder!