Kind of hard to believe and maybe a bit embarrassing, but it has taken me a full year to get my build to the point where it was time to camp. The stars aligned finally and I packed up the twins and the dog and headed up to Mammoth. Camped at Shady Rest for the night after grabbing some firewood from my buddy. We kicked around Mammoth for the morning and then opted for Rock Creek. Found a nice campsite by the creek in Big Meadow and enjoyed a night in paradise.
This being the first camping trip, I wanted to see how things worked and add some things to my punch list. Also wanted to test out a few pieces of camping gear and see how they did.
I definitely need some leveling blocks
From my backpacking experiences, items that serve multiple purposes are excellent. Folding chairs also make good hats.
The Dual Zone Dometic is amazing. It sucks about 3 amps or so and is pretty darn quiet. Ice cream in the woods!!
This inexpensive GasOne butane stove also has a hose you can hook to 1lb propane. The butane was awesome and kicked a really hot flame and the stove had decent flame control. Keep the canisters in the van overnight on cold nights. If I need two burners, I would buy a second one of these, they boil water very fast.
This is our first time camping and the boys absolutely loved it. We hiked and they reeled in their first trout. Dad even got a few minutes to fly fish on the creek behind the campsite and scored a couple Browns. The boys love the pop top and like to hang out up there and play with legos and such. Me in the downstairs bed and the dog get's her bed on the floor. Amazing!! Nothing like a campfire
Big thanks to all of you who have helped me along the way. My van ran great and the electrical system performed perfectly. I will never be truly finished with this thing, but it will get better and better. The van was expensive, but you can't put a price on experiences with the kids.