So I went to Acadia last weekend. The drive there was kind of miserable, as I-95 always is. On the way home, I took
a no-highway route that was much prettier and nicer. Google claimed it
was 45 minutes longer, but I think in reality it is only about 15-20
minutes longer. Google often doesn't take into account traffic problems
on I-95, so their estimate is unattainable (they claimed 5.5 hours, it
took almost 6). The way home was supposed to be 6.5 hours, and I did it
in a little over 6. Plus the no highway route saved me quite a bit on
tolls, so win-win. Plus this sunset.
The totals for the trip: 757 miles, and I averaged just under 29mpg. I had two tanks over 30mpg, driving there and driving back, but the tank in the park with all the starting and stopping was only about 25mpg. The very last tank was right around 28mpg, mostly because I was facing a stout headwind when I got home and I was driving with a heavy foot on route 9 because every really awful driver was in front of me, like the bozo from VT who slowed to 25 for every corner probably because she couldn't see, since it was half hour after sunset and she didn't realize her car had headlights.
Here is my review of the car
camper: Everything worked as expected for the most part. There were a
couple of gotcha's, like when I put in the lip to keep the stove from
coming out I could no longer get the sink out because I had the propane
cylinder in it, which was too tall. I have been layering and layering
for the bed setup, and now the bedding is so thick I have trouble
getting stuff on the bottom of the buildout out. I had to do a little
rearranging, stuff like I had to pull the microwave down because its
power cord didn't reach. The table actually matches height with the top
of the conversion almost perfectly. I had no major failures (with one
exception which I will note below), other than those of my own doing.
Some
unexpected things: the car is actually really good at keeping warm at
night. It was down in the 40s, and I tried to sleep in my sleeping bag
the first night, and woke up several times trying to kick it off. The
second night I laid on the sleeping bag and just used the blanket, and
that was better. I kicked it off early in the night, and then woke up
two hours later regretting that. Both nights I left the sunroof cracked
open (it has a mode where it leaves the back raised but not open), and I
left the back passenger window open a few inches.
I
was worried about being able to get in and out of the car bed with the
tailgate closed. While for now it is still easier to get in and out
from the back, getting out of the side door wasn't terrible. It didn't
look graceful because I am as flexible as a concrete pillar, but it
really wasn't awful. I should note that it is not possible to shut the
tailgate but not latch it with the bike rack on (even without a bike on
it). The weight is enough that gravity will latch it unless you put a
block or something in the way.
The
not so great: I forgot a bunch of stuff. The biggest of which was my
pillow. My backup, basically just rolling up my towel and using a
kneeling pad I had left in the car didn't work great, and caused me to
use my arms, which in turn led to me popping the valves on my air pad
each night. Part of that is poor valve placement on the pad, but I
don't think it would be a problem with a real pillow. I forgot the
repellent for the bug repeller. I didn't really need it this time of
year, though I could clearly see bugs around, they never bothered me. I
also forgot the tripod, the charger for my e-bike, and my camping
chair. All those turned out to be inconsequential though.
The
other not so great is that with the fan and stuff on the back of the
passenger seat, I can't actually stretch out. The camper measures 6'1"
from the inside of the tailgate to the back of the seat, but I can't
actually put my head in the back of the seat with that stuff there, so I
couldn't fully stretch out unless I angled myself. I am not sure if
there is a good solution; if I move the seat further forward, I can no
longer fit the suitcase on the floor in the front. It already doesn't
fit if I have it expanded and full.
Neither
of the two nights did I sleep fully through the night, but I didn't
really expect that. I slept better than sleeping in seat of the truck
though. While I wasn't fully recharged and fresh Sunday, I got enough
sleep that it wasn't an issue; I wasn't drowsy on the drive home.
The
stadium chair I brought seemed like a good idea at the time; it allows
me to sit up in the back of the car. I don't think I will be bringing
it though. I used it when I got there, but the second night when I got
back from eating mass quantities of seafood, I just sat in the driver's
seat and put the bags of food in the back. That was a lot easier. I did fit in the back just sitting there though.
I
also learned I need to pack the suitcase differently. The stuff I want
to use more often should be more accessible, like putting the stuff for
the laptop in an outer pocket instead of an inner pocket. Slippers were
worthless and a waste of space.
One minor failure was that my cell phone holder fell off three times. Which is annoying.
The
only major failures, other than the pad noted above, was that for some
reason the Jackery doesn't like charging off 12V outlets. When I had
trouble with it in the truck, I assumed it was because the truck does
stupid things with its voltage on the outlets (my coolers have
complained about the output voltages in the truck as well), but when I
got home the Jackery was at 50%. That is almost as if it didn't charge
at all while driving. I did look a couple of times and it said it was
charging, pulling in 80W or so, but the end result says that is either a
lie, or it only charges when the cooler isn't running or something.
But any way you cut it, not good. On my long trip, I will definitely
need to bring the Anker one with me for safety. I do have an emergency
battery I can use for the fridge that will run it for a half day or so,
but this is really annoying. I might also try swapping the batteries
around; keep the Anker in the back and see if it does better, and then
keep the Jackery to recharge the Anker when it gets too low. Then if it
only charges sporadically it is less of an issue. I will be updating
my Jackery review though to note this deficiency.
All
in all, it does what I set out to do, but I didn't solve any of the
problems I don't like about these kinds of setups. To be clear, that is
okay for its intended usage; I wasn't expecting to solve everything
with it and that was not part of the design. I didn't design anything
around getting rid of the primary complaint I have with tiny setups; it
was designed to be cheap and easy to build, and functional.
The main problem I have with these kinds of setups is that it takes
forever to do anything; doing even simple tasks requires going through a
checklist of steps. Everything has a setup, a process, and a tear
down.
For
example: I made egg sandwiches for breakfast each of the two mornings.
At home, that would take 1-2 minutes of prep, and 3-4 minutes of cook
time. In the car camper, it takes around 20 minutes. You have to take
down the cargo net, pull
out the stove, remove the carpet that prevents rattle while driving,
grab a propane bottle, hook up the propane to it, level it as best you
can. You have to put
something down on the picnic table unless you want pine needles in
everything, or pull out and set up the table I brought. Then pull out
the pan, grab a spatula, pull out the spices, butter the pan, cook the
egg, and make the sandwich. At home everything is within 3 steps, and
almost everything is in arms reach already from the stove. At a
campsite, everything is much farther away, and to get to the fridge you
have to open the car door (I usually left it open), pull the cooler out,
open it, grab a handful, slide it back in, and repeat as needed. My
spices are in a bin, so you have to pull out the bin (from the other
side of the car as the fridge), remove the cargo netting if it isn't off
yet, and so on. When you are done cooking, you have to clean
immediately, and while for eggs cleaning is just wiping it out with
paper towels and then an alcohol wipe (assuming you clean before the
butter/grease solidifies), if I cooked something like mac and cheese it
would require going to the bath house and washing the pot. Then you
have to put everything away and so on and so forth.
I cooked with the stove, and with the microwave as well. I also made a sandwich while in the park. These weren't as bad as the stove as for excess time, but still took notably longer than one might expect.
Everything
is a whole production, and everything is less convenient to boot. Even
just getting to a campsite requires finding a level spot, putting the
screen on the windows, turning off the dome lights, taking the bike off
the back and locking it up, and so on. All this time adds up, and it
gets tiresome to go through the whole production every single time, and
for literally everything you want to do. This is why I had several
entries for setup time in my comparison for the box truck/trailer. I
could theoretically design this to be a lot more convenient, but that
would have required a ton more time and parts.
One
other thing to note: I also learned that my laptop doesn't actually
keep track of time when it is unplugged. I opened it up Saturday
evening, and it still read Friday at 11AM when I turned it off and
packed it. RTCs have been a standard feature on computers since the
80s...
I
stayed in Bass Harbor Campground. It was the only place that still had
openings for the weekend when I booked last Tuesday (I wanted to make
sure the weather was good). I would happily stay there again. The
office is only open 8-6, but they have an after hours check-in
procedure; basically they leave the packet outside the office and you
can check in the following morning.
The campground had all the normal
amenities; a reasonably clean (but not super clean) bath house with
(free) showers, coin operated laundry, a pool that I assumed was closed,
but I saw someone in it when I got back on Saturday.
They do have
wifi, but it doesn't cover the campground, only the office and bath
house area. In the tent section, they had a few water spigots scattered
throughout the area, though not one per site, which for tents is more
than you usually see.
They had a dedicated area for washing dishes attached to the bath house, so
you didn't have to try to do it in a tiny bathroom sink.
The tent sites
were spaced apart in the woods, they weren't all crammed in, though it
wasn't so dense you couldn't see your neighbors. The RV and camper
sites were a lot closer together and had less privacy though. Each site
had a picnic table and fire pit. The place wasn't full, the site on
one side was never occupied, and the other side had a camper van in it.
I noticed that in the primitive section there was about a 50/50 split
of tents vs converted vehicles, which for September isn't too
surprising. It was surprisingly peaceful; there was one college group
there over the weekend but they honored the quiet hours and weren't
obnoxious.
Bass
Harbor is one of the less developed harbors in the area, which is
probably why it was available, but the Island Explorer shuttle does run
out that far (it had a stop at the campground), so you don't have to
drive to the park or Bar Harbor if you don't want to deal with parking
or traffic. I didn't look at the schedules though. It was about 45
minutes by car from the Visitor Center, and about 35-40 minutes from
Cadillac Summit road.
There was a nearby seafood restaurant (I think it was called Seafood Ketch) that was really awesome though. It was perfect weather when I got back from the park loop and lighthouse, and I got my lobster at sunset.
