LIVING IN THE BED OF A PICKUP : What we learned camping/hiking three days and nights in the Quail

We have three long trips planned with the Rat (Toyota 4Runner) and Quail (Teardrop that always follows after) in the next 2 1/2 months. We are going to go to the Mojave National Preserve, Death Valley, and the Grand Canyon---each of them for two weeks or so.

So we thought we had better take a camping/hiking trip in this setup to work out any kinks.

We learned a lot.

We camped and hiked three days and nights on a spur off of a side road in Peralta Canyon. In those three days, not one single vehicle, hiker, or mountain biker came by us. It is almost impossible to believe we could get this type of isolation and only be one hour away from home.

To illustrate how unbelievable this is: We left our camping spot late Saturday morning. In an hour and a half we had driven to a car wash and cleaned our units, driven home, and had unpacked EVERYTHING. We are that close to quality hiking and camping in places where no one else is around.

It was like we were the only people on the earth. Quiet, peaceful. A great way to spend Valentine's Day.

As a mountain biker we ran into on one of our trails today said: "Today is why we live here!"

We kept copious notes of everything that occurred to us, and everything we learned.

We know how to travel/camp/hike in the Turtle (Ford 350 with the Lance Camper). We should know how to since we have driven all over the country, more than 55,000 miles, and have spent, in total nights, a bit under three out of the eight previous years living in the Turtle. (That in itself is something so hard to believe that neither of us can quite wrap our brains around it)

But the Rat/Quail is a different animal (yuk yuk). The main difference is that it is much smaller. The sleeping area is quite small—44 inches by 74 inches. We have learned that we can’t have extra blankets or clothes because then there is no room for us. After some trial and error we got it down right. Extra blankets start off as pillows. Other extra blankets start off as padding under the sheets.

We learned that the inside of the Quail is about 10 degrees warmer than it is outside. Our body heat does that. That is an important finding because it shows how different this type of camping is from tent camping where the tent itself provides no insulation. We can also open our windows a bit to make it not feel stuffy and still keep the warmth.

Vicky has learned that she can easily get up and fix us coffee in our outside kitchen in high 30s weather and enjoy it. I (Dan) try to do all I can for the joint effort, but this part of things is what Vicky does, and she enjoys it. If she didn’t, we would work something else out. There is something very ZEN about fixing coffee and breakfast in the dark, with the only light being the small lamp that comes on when she opens the kitchen door.

We learned, or re-learned, about the importance of low sodium V-8 Juice. We each drink one every day, usually on a hike. We became smitten with V-8 years ago while cycling in Death Valley. We were hot and famished--actually we were close to being dangerously overheated. A guy stopped, gave us water, and he had a can of V-8. We shared it, and have been fans ever since. We believe this man has had a good life, as his Karma will carry him through.

We learned that we can fit some more storage area into the Quail. We will be making some trips to Home Depot. There is some unused space that we will be able to use.

We learned we can sleep really well in the Quail. The mattress is very good, it is comfortable. We learned what we need to do to make night-time trips out of the Quail.

We learned that we made the correct decision to upgrade the basic Quail by having an on-board battery and LED lights.

We learned that the meals we have been able to create without refrigeration are filling, tasty, and nutritious. When we are at home Vicky cooks with raw ingredients, so we weren’t sure how we would deal with not having a refrigerator. But if one is careful you can get healthy and tasty stuff that requires little time (Thank you Vicky!!). We aren’t eating Pork N Beans out of can for dinner and oatmeal packets for breakfast. Food is important to us, and is one of our pleasures. We can eat well out of the Quail.

We learned that we made the correct decision to get the absolute smallest and lightest Quail we could get. We built it this way for being able to access very remote areas, because in those remote areas we may not always have a great deal of room to maneuver. Having a small and light unit is helpful. In addition, we can always quickly and easily disconnect the Quail from the Rat and turn it around manually. Being small makes this more doable.

We learned that we can load the Quail and the Rat with everything we will need for a two-week trip to the most remote parts of our country. We are not overloaded. It is easy to find everything we need, we have plenty of space for 30 gallons of water. We pack smartly, and label containers. We know exactly where everything is.

We each have our “responsibilities” and it works well to just trust the other person to do their part.

We learned we are ready for anything and anywhere. Bring it on, desert!

Some photos of our experiment in the Rat/Quail.

Vicky's "kitchen:"