Our decision to downsize from a 2,800+ square foot single family house to a 21-foot long campervan was conceptually easy. But, the downsizing was complicated by the fact we owned a lot of furniture, clothes, books, and “toys.” Our toys included 6 bikes, 2 kayaks, 2 digital pianos, 2 pair of traditional xc skis, 2 pair of skate skis, 2 pairs of ice skates, 2 pairs of Nordic skates, 2 pairs of snowshoes, 3 bags of golf clubs, 2 tennis rackets and one windsurfer. Yes, that’s a lot of toys, but we used to have 7 bikes before I finally let go of the Puch Luzern I purchased in Vail in 1982. I rode that bike numerous times over the Continental Divide, through Yosemite, along the California coast, and down the Canadian Rockies Icefield Parkway. It was a great bike, but I’m digressing from today’s post.

We know the campervan is going to transport us to many great places, but we also want to use our toys at these great destinations. Additionally, we have hobbies (photography for me, knitting for Betsy) that we want to continue to pursue. How will we fit all of this gear into our small van? Short answer, we cannot.

So, gear choices are made, and since we recently left Vermont for warmer weather, I thought describing the gear we brought with us would be a timely topic. Our travel plan is to explore Florida for about five weeks and then head west for Tucson, Moab, and other points still to be determined before returning to New England in late April.

Here’s what we brought on this adventure:

On the Water

On our van’s roof, we carry two Wilderness Systems Pungo 120 kayaks. These are 12-foot long recreational kayaks suitable for flat water. We’ve paddled on lakes, rivers, and in the ocean in these kayaks, but avoid white water and significant waves. To accompany the kayaks, we have paddles, personal flotation devices, dry bags and cockpit covers as well as a collapsible ladder that I use when hoisting the kayaks on top of the roof. We joke that the reason we carry the kayaks on the van is to make it easy to find the van in a parking lot. But, we’ve had some great paddles and look forward to further exploration of the Everglades as a minimum this trip.

On Two Wheels

We have two bike racks on the rear of the van. The upper rack, made by Fiamma, carries two Trek Checkpoint ALR 5 gravel bikes. These aluminum bikes come with 700 by 40 cm tires which are great on both gravel paths as well as asphalt roads. Other cycling gear we carry includes helmets, gloves, cycling shoes, bike bags (two seat bags and one frame bag), water bottles, cycling computers, a tire pump, bike-specific tools and cleaning gear, spare tire tubes, and two sets of 700 by 28 cm tires (to use if we plan to solely ride on asphalt).

The lower bike rack, a Thule swing-away that attaches to the trailer hitch, carries two Trek Roscoe 8 mountain bikes. These aluminum hardtails come with 27.5 by 2.8 inch mid-fat tires capable of taking on both flowing singletrack and loose sand. Most of the cycling gear listed above also is used to support our mountain biking.

Would one set of bikes be sufficient? Sure, the gravel bikes are great for roads and bike paths. But, when we decided to visit Moab we knew we needed to bring our mountain bikes as well to ride some of the great trails in the area.

On Two Legs

For hikes and walks, we bring along two daypacks (an REI Co-op Stoke 19 for me, an Osprey for Betsy), camelbak hydration bladders for both packs, trekking poles (REI Traverse for me, Leki Jannu for Betsy), Nikon binoculars, and a Solo monocular. Other hiking gear includes a fanny pack for short hikes and the Appalachian Mountain Club 10 essentials (compass/gps, water bottles, nutrition, matches/lighter, headlamp, first aid kit, pocket knife, waterproof coat, sun screen and sunglasses, and tarp), though we typically do not carry all of these essentials on our day hikes.

At the Campsite

While the van has a dinette, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom, the great outdoors directly adjacent to the parked van is our living room. Our living room gear includes three folding chairs (two REI Flexite camp chairs and one Cascade Mountain Tech High Back camp chair), two folding tables (one REI roll-top full height table and a “short” roll-top side table acquired thru Amazon), and solar lights. We also have two yoga mats and resistance bands for when we want to do a stationary workout.

With our Eyes and Hands

I bring a backpack full of photography gear (a Sony A7iii mirrorless camera plus lenses and a gopro hero 3) and Betsy has a bag with knitting gear, yarn, and craft supplies and a small sewing box. We also have tech equipment (two Microsoft surfaces, an ipad, two kindles, and our iphones) to stay connected. While our library is primarily on our kindles, we do carry a few paper books:

• Your Guide to the National Parks, Oswald 2017
• National Audubon Society Field Guide to New England, Alden et al 1998
• National Audubon Society Field Gude to Birds Eastern Region, Bull and Farrand, Jr. 1994
• The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals, Chesterman 1978
• Important Trees of Eastern Forests, USDA 1968

Does It All Fit?

On paper, this is a long list of gear that we’ve crammed into the van. Yes, we are hauling a lot of toys, but each item has a storage location. We’ll track what we use and what gathers dust, so when we return to New England, some items may be off loaded. In the meantime, it’s time to for us to take the mountain bikes out for a quick spin around the campground.

(30 minutes later, while cruising around on our mountain bikes, we heard the distinctive “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all” call of a Barred Owl and looked up to see it swooping past us. The mountain bikes are staying….)