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How to Camp in a truck that also has ALL of two peoples stuff in it.  

Alright, so I wanted to add a few little supplementary episodes into the #trucklifetour story. These are little info bites of knowledge I have gleaned over the first part of #trucklifetour.  One of the biggest hurdles is how to sleep in the back of the truck (which has a bed built in) and figuring out what to do with all our stuff to accommodate that.  When I came into the truck Brooke already had some pretty strict rules about where she sleeps with her truck which she has developed over a long period of time being a single lady living in a truck.  SO here are Brooke’s basic where to sleep in a truck rules and then I will run through how to make it work with more people and much more stuff.  

Brooke’s ‘Places to sleep in a truck” Rules

-Only sleep in designated sleep spots like a rest area or camp ground.  If those are unavailable choose a spot that is unlikely that anyone will drive by eg. a side road in the middle of nowhere.  

-Only sleep at rest areas and campground as that are monitored by CCTV

-She keeps Mace next to the bed.  Just in case.  

-Don’t sleep in parking pull outs on the highway

-Don’t sleep in weigh stations, even though it looks like a good idea.

-If a spot feels sketchy move on

So with these rules as our basic guidelines Brooke can easily fit in the back with all of her stuff in there, but to fit a second person, and all my stuff we would have to move some bits and bobs around at night to make it work. During the day/driving days the back of the truck has two paddle bags with almost a dozen paddles, my big gear bag with all of my stuff/clothes/paddling gear, Cooking equipment, food, small cooler, bouldering pad (more on that later), Brooke’s bed, and a few sleeping bags, one of which Brooke has generously let me sleep in as all I have is what I brought from Colombia, suitable for the jungle but temps on the tour so far have been a lot cooler. 

Now obviously that is too much stuff for two people to fit around.  So here is how we move it all around to make it work.  My bag bag goes into the truck cab.  Brooke’s gear bag is already behind the seat along with her shoe/boot/climbing shoe collection as well as her Library and my camera bag.  But the seats are vacant as we aren't driving anymore, so we capitalise on all that space by putting my bag on one seat.  The food box, cooking equipment box and cooler fills the other seat and foot well. Paddle bags make their way under the truck, safely out of the way and kind of out of sight.  Brooke and I are friends but not friendly enough to share Brooke’s tiny foam mattress.  So the first few nights of #trucklifetour I slept miserably on the bouldering pad that is designed to take rock climbing falls not be used as a full sized bed.   One of the first things I purchased from good old Walmart was foam mattress topper for under $20 which has made my side of the truck very comfortable.  Brooke sprung for an over $20 foam topper which is a little bigger and more comfortable than mine but I am not too worried, I am still way better off now than trying to make my 5ft, 11” self fit onto a 4ft climbing pad (which now goes under the truck too).  On paddle days wet gear can usually be found drying on the front of the truck or just scattered close by drying out.  

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We usually set up a kitchen, either next to or behind the truck and have a separate box for dried foods, as well as a small cooler which we try to keep cold with ice but we quite often forget. 

In summary, think carefully about how to use your space and how to repurpose your space when driving vs not driving.  Keep Brooke’s basic rules in mind and hopefully you should find yourself easily able to accommodate a lot of stuff and still sleep comfortably.  Good luck and feel free to post comments if you know something to improve our situation. 

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