Road Trip Gear Essentials for Self-Contained Travel

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If you’re thinking that the best bet for travel right now is by road, you’re not alone. Though total trip numbers are down, AAA predicts that 97 percent of summer travel in 2020 will be by vehicle. The next step, in terms of social-distancing measures to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus: traveling self-contained.

What is self-contained travel? The technical definition for many campgrounds and public lands usually includes language about toilet systems and permanently installed wastewater holding tanks. In other words, an RV. Many road-trippers have taken note. Sales of RVs have been soaring, especially among first-time owners, according to Reuters. If a self-contained unit is required for a particular campground, rolling up in your compact won’t cut it. But from a broader practical standpoint, self-contained travel means carrying everything you need—all your food, water, and lodging—within your set of wheels.

Even without an RV, if you have a van, truck, or roomy car fueled and provisioned, you can easily find the rest of the equipment needed for better self-sufficiency. Every vehicle situation provides its own set of needs, especially when it comes to sleeping accommodations. No matter your mode of choice, though, certain road-trip gear essentials can keep your next outing self-contained, steering clear of crowded gathering places for days at a time.

 

Cooler

Stocking up on food and beverages, including the finer things in life—blocks of cheese and cold beer—is clutch to maintaining your distance from highly visited places, like grocery stores and bars, while trying to maintain your self-contained status. You can only pack as many perishables as your cooler can keep, so it’s best to invest in something that can hold it’s cold while taking up space. The Pelican 50 Quart Elite provides a durable cooler with long ice retention, and 1.5 cubic feet of storage volume (38 cans). To avoid the lake of floating debris that bags of ice inevitably provide, consider using a block of dry ice, which is colder, lasts longer, and just dissipates in a gaseous form. Even if you aren’t keeping perishables cold, your cooler acts as a sturdy food pantry that goes through less temperature fluctuation than the rest of your vehicle, thanks to its insulating qualities.

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Stove

Eating on the road or at camp doesn’t have to mean relegating yourself to peanut butter sandwiches or freeze-dried meals. A two-burner propane stove provides strong flames on a solid platform, all in a relatively packable form. The GSI Selkirk 540 features twin 10,000-Btu burners with capacity for two 10-inch pots, and a push-button ignition. This means you can simmer a sauce on one burner, while boiling noodles or sautéing vegetables on the other. (Not to dismiss the peanut butter; it’s still a staple travel ingredient that fits any meal.)

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