I wish I where so fancy to roll a roof tent when car camping, but since moving more city-ward I've opted for a more gas-mileage friendly vehicle that has no roof rails. Oh, and who am I kidding, I like sleeping in the dirt. Car camping is a blast. Wherever you can park and setup camp, that's camp. I break my packing list into a triangle: bed, kitchen, and gear. Bed: I have no problem throwing up a tent, but in recent years I've really enjoyed sleeping in the open air, rain being the exception. As such I've got a collapsible cot that's great, but I do enjoy setting up the hammock as well. Recently, I discovered underquilts for hammocking. Those things are great. Keeps your bottom-side far more warm. Kitchen: Roll-a-table, and a plastic bin of cookware, a bin of dry foods, the 5 gallon cooler, and a big old water jug. I'm generally not going for longer than a few days, so that's always been more than plenty for me. I do have a tiny backpacking gas stove that I use to boil water in the morning, but I much prefer cooking on a fire, so I got this great collapsible fire pit if there's no suitable fire pit around. And it's sturdy enough to throw the cast iron on. Gear: small black hole duffel of clothes and sundries, camp chair, camp stool, usually some horseshoes, and depending on where I'm going a NRS inflatable paddleboard. Quality thing to go out on the water with. And all of that gets thrown in the back of the fit. Hatch-backs are great! In 2018 I did a solid 6 day trip through west Texas. Two days out from Austin where I was at the time, two days with some friends, and two days back. It was awesome! Not a single campsite rental and starry skies every night. Also, I was the coolest cat around when we were all waiting for a small town BBQ joint to open and I popped the hatch and pulled out the chair and stove to make some coffee. What do you bring with you? And what's been one of your memorable car trips?
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