“Apollo 23” is on the launch-pad, and nearly ready for lift-off. Wednesday begins a 2-month journey from Delaware to Alaska, down the West coast, and back. I’ve made a rough outline of the first half of the journey.

It looks something like this:

Am I ready? Well, I’m trying.

Have you ever wondered how I pack my trailer?

If “no”, check back in a few days for a cheery travel post.

If “yes”, feed you OCD by reading on.

I’m not really a list-maker, so a lot of casual prep has gone into equipping the trailer, my pantry, and tow vehicle for this ~12,000-mile journey.

For instance, yesterday, I took everything out of the Airstream’s back trunk. You will never see it this clean again.

I laid everything out on the grass, organized, and cleaned everything. Do I need this ‘n that? Could I need this ‘n that? Here’s what goes back there:

2 25-foot fresh water hoses (tip: screw the ends together to prevent contamination in transit)

Shore power cable

Shore power cable extension

30-15 Amp power adapter

Stabilizer Jack crank

Tongue jack manual crank arm

4 leveling blocks

Sewer hose “slunky”

Lithium grease

Tow mirrors (in case the back-up camera fails)

RV in-line water filter

“Water Bandit” (fits over non-threaded water spigots to fill water tank. I also have a 4-way silcock key in the trailer)

Random assortment of spring clamps

Bag ‘O Miscellaneous Stuff: plastic stakes and shovel, etc

See – isn’t this fun?

My pantry is nearly stocked, three boxes deep. Boggle and Scrabble are also tucked in there.

One unusual item I bought for this trip, was a (very) compact washing machine. I have spent so much time in laundry-mats on these trips. What if I could do wash in the trailer? Without rolls of quarters? Without the smell of cigarettes and dryer sheets? So $100 on Amazon later…

It’s smaller than it looks (~23 pounds). Will it pay for itself? Perhaps.

It washes and spins a small load, using 8-9 gallons. It easily fits in the bathroom (aka, the “Interior Illusions Lounge”).

I fill it with the shower (with hot water, if needed).

As a test, I did a load of 6 shirts, and 5 pairs of underwear “off the grid”: solar/battery power, and on-board water tank.

It came out dry enough that just a few hours hung in various places in the trailer had everything dry.

Almost ready.