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  • - A few weeks ago,

  • I decided to transform the back

  • of my Subaru Forester into a camper.

  • And I'm finally pretty much all done with the setup.

  • And today I'm out in the beautiful woods

  • of Washington State camping.

  • I'm so excited about how everything has come together

  • and that I get to start using my setup.

  • So I thought I'd bring you guys along with me

  • for this little trip

  • and show you what I've got going on back there.

  • (upbeat music)

  • So here is the setup.

  • I will have the video links down below

  • where I talk about the actual platform itself

  • and where I build it, if you have any questions about that.

  • But now I have my bedding all in here.

  • I have some bins down underneath,

  • which I'll talk about in a little bit

  • and I've added tons of accessories that are super cool

  • that I'm excited to share with you guys.

  • So mounted up on the left side of my roof rack,

  • I have the Rhino-Rack Sunseeker Awning.

  • I was putting together this whole setup,

  • and it dawned on me that I didn't have anywhere to sit

  • if it's like raining or super sunny and I'm in the desert.

  • And then I saw that you can get awnings

  • that mount onto your roof rack

  • and just unroll right off of them

  • like staying attached to your car.

  • And it looked so simple and so easy.

  • And I liked that they couldn't just get blown away

  • in the wind if they weren't properly staked down.

  • So I picked this up and it's so easy.

  • It takes like 30 seconds to unroll and put down.

  • And something I really like about it

  • is it gives me a covered entrance to get into the vehicle,

  • if I'm getting in on the side.

  • For example, if it's pouring rain outside

  • and I'm like getting in and out to go to the bathroom

  • in the middle of the night or something,

  • I wouldn't have anywhere to stop

  • and like take off my soaking wet rain jacket and things

  • before crawling into the car,

  • I'd have to just crawl right in.

  • But now with the awning, if I unroll it before I go to bed,

  • then I always have like a nice covered area

  • to step out into.

  • I'll give you guys a look at what this looks like

  • from the side entrance.

  • I usually have stuff down here on the floor for storage

  • but I have all my stuff

  • out on the table over there right now.

  • So here's just another look at the sleeping area.

  • I have my two pillows, one for my head,

  • one for my body, of course.

  • As far as the bedding itself,

  • I just have a twin sheet set on this.

  • And then this blanket is a camping blanket from REI.

  • It's by a brand called Rumpl.

  • I saw it and it looked super cozy and I loved the color.

  • And I also liked that I could use it

  • as just a blanket around camp as well,

  • like sitting around the campfire.

  • Then down under here

  • I have these two plastic bins that I found at Target

  • that fit pretty perfectly.

  • And they can also be pushed quite a ways further back.

  • There's a lot of room to store stuff under these,

  • so I can push it all the way back.

  • I also have a couple of little lanterns here.

  • So in one of these bins, I keep all of my cookware,

  • some coffee, anything kind of food, cooking related.

  • And then in the second bin

  • I just have some miscellaneous like toiletries

  • and my sleeping bag just in case it gets extra cold.

  • So that's pretty much everything that's in my car right now.

  • I do have some stuff piled on the front seats

  • but for the most part,

  • I pulled out all of my accessories and stuff

  • and brought them over here.

  • So I have all of like my cooking stuff

  • and just some other things

  • that make it feel a little more glam

  • and comfortable out here in the woods.

  • I also have this really nice fire pit

  • that I am definitely going to be sitting around tonight.

  • So when I first started considering

  • transforming my car into a camper

  • and doing road trips and sleeping in my car,

  • there were two big questions

  • or issues that I knew I would need to solve

  • for this to be a realistic thing for me to do.

  • The first question was, how I'm I going to have power?

  • Because I need power to shoot content while I'm traveling.

  • When I'm on the go and shooting these types of videos

  • I often will have up to five different cameras with me.

  • I have my mirrorless camera, my little vlog camera,

  • my drone, my GoPro, and sometimes my DJI Osmo Pocket.

  • And depending on what I'm shooting

  • I'm rotating through those throughout the day,

  • so they all need to be charged every day.

  • I also need to have my laptop charged

  • to take all of my memory cards and dump all of my content.

  • And then of course, I also need to charge my phone

  • and just want to power other things.

  • So that is where the Jackery Explorer 1000

  • power station comes in.

  • Oh my gosh, you guys, this thing is a beast.

  • Jackery very kindly gifted this to me.

  • I am absolutely giddy about this

  • because look at how many things

  • you can charge off of it at once.

  • It has three regular wall outlets on it,

  • two USB type C outlets, two regular USB outlets,

  • a 12 volt outlet,

  • and it can power anything up to a thousand Watts.

  • So you can literally run a television off of this thing,

  • a blender, if it's a thousand Watts or less

  • and the battery capacity is enormous.

  • Like you can charge your laptop many, many times,

  • your phone many, many times.

  • Now the super, super cool thing about this

  • is it can charge off of solar panels.

  • I have my solar panels folded up right here.

  • I don't have them out right now because it's pretty shady

  • but you can hook this thing up

  • to two of the Jackery SolarSaga 100 solar panels.

  • So you can go off the grid and stay off the grid

  • and keep powering all of your stuff,

  • your television, whatever you want

  • with solar panels with this thing.

  • I think that is the coolest thing ever.

  • You don't have to use it with solar panels though.

  • You can also charge it off of the 12 volt plug in your car.

  • So if you're doing a lot of driving

  • you can charge it while you drive

  • and you can also charge it off of a regular wall outlet.

  • I'll have a link to this down below.

  • I will say this one, especially the Explorer 1000

  • is a splurge for your setup

  • but you might not need this much power.

  • And they do make them in smaller sizes

  • that are more affordable.

  • So now the second question or issue that I had in mind

  • when I was preparing for this setup

  • is how am I going to shower,

  • especially how am I going to wash and dry my hair?

  • When I started thinking about this setup

  • I thought it would be so much easier

  • if I had a way to just blow my hair dry,

  • because it takes forever to dry.

  • I get headaches if I try to let it air dry.

  • This thing will power a hairdryer.

  • This is the BaByliss Nano Titanium Dryer.

  • It's a 1000 Watt hairdryer.

  • Most hairdryers are above a thousand Watts.

  • So you will need to make sure

  • that whatever you use is a thousand Watts or less,

  • but this is actually a great hairdryer.

  • You know how most travel hairdryers

  • just like scream in your ear and have absolutely no power,

  • this is actually a legitimate, good hairdryer.

  • It's good heat.

  • It's not too loud.

  • So I'm going to turn this on high.

  • (air whooshing)

  • It totally works and it's absolutely amazing.

  • But next you might be thinking

  • how are you going to take a shower?

  • Well, I have figured that situation out as well.

  • First for privacy,

  • I have this Pop-Up tent pod that I found on Amazon.

  • Super nice and it collapses down

  • so it doesn't take up much room.

  • And then this right here

  • is the Geyser Systems portable shower with a heater.

  • This thing will heat up a hot shower for you.

  • This brand is a small company based out of Colorado.

  • They sent this to me to try out, which is so nice of them.

  • And they designed this product to help people

  • stay clean off the grid

  • while also consuming as little water as possible.

  • It has a three liter capacity and a pump

  • and you can adjust how much water you want coming out

  • by just twisting the nozzle.

  • So if you're really trying to conserve water

  • you can only turn it on a little bit.

  • And this isn't just for showering,

  • it's also for washing dishes

  • or spraying off your feet

  • or anything else you need water for.

  • They actually sell different color sponges

  • that attach right to the nozzle

  • and you can color code them for different things,

  • like a pink sponge for showering

  • and a yellow sponge is for your dishes.

  • You can find this at REI,

  • and they actually sell two different versions.

  • One with the heating capabilities and one without,

  • but you don't necessarily need the heated one

  • to have a hot shower in either of the versions.

  • If you add two liters of regular temperature water

  • and then boil a liter of water on your camp stove

  • and add that in,

  • that should instantly be a hot shower for you.

  • And they have a temperature gauge on the top too

  • that tells you what the temperature is.

  • And the whole thing automatically shuts off

  • if it's over 101 degrees,

  • but if you have the heated version

  • it's designed to plug into the 12 volt outlet of your car

  • while it's running.

  • I could also plug it into the Jackery power station,

  • that works as well.

  • And then depending on the temperature

  • of water you initially put in,

  • it'll take anywhere between 15 to 45 minutes to heat up,

  • which I mean you get up, you turn this on,

  • you cook your breakfast

  • and by the time you're all done with that,

  • it's gonna be hot.

  • And then moving over here I have my cooking and food set up.

  • My propane is still in the car, I need to get that out

  • but this cute little mint green stove.

  • Oh my gosh.

  • When I saw this, I was like, that's the one.

  • I knew I needed a stove to do all my cooking on.

  • And this one's so cute.

  • And I liked that it has the wind guards on the side

  • so that a breeze can't go over your flame.

  • The brand of this one is Eureka.

  • I know that REI carries it.

  • I think a lot of outdoorsy type places carry this brand.

  • I think this was a popular one this season.

  • So I will try to find it somewhere

  • and have a link down below if you're interested in this.

  • And then down here, I have my cooler.

  • This is the YETI Roadie 24 cooler.

  • I didn't have a cooler

  • and I knew I needed to get one for this setup.

  • But to be honest, I wasn't sure

  • if I wanted to spend the money on a YETI

  • because everyone raves about them

  • but they're also like pretty expensive.

  • However, the ultimate deciding factor for me to get this

  • was the dimensions

  • because with the platform in my car,

  • a traditional like squatty, wide cooler

  • just doesn't really fit anywhere

  • unless I wanted to set it right on top of the platform.

  • But obviously it can't sit there while I'm sleeping.

  • So I did some measuring and concluded

  • that I really needed something that was taller and skinnier

  • so that it could sit on the floor behind the front seats.

  • And as it turned out,

  • the dimensions of the Roadie 24 were absolutely perfect

  • for what I measured.

  • This cooler was actually designed to be tall enough

  • to fit wine bottles in it.

  • It's also a perfect seat height.

  • They actually sell a custom little pad

  • you can put on top to turn it into a seat

  • because these coolers are virtually indestructible.

  • They're designed to be bear proof.

  • So you can totally use this as a chair.

  • The inside of mine is not super organized right now.

  • I just threw some ice in,

  • like actually just the whole bag of ice in

  • on my way out of town without like nestling anything in.

  • I also bought the little accessory basket

  • that YETI sells for dry goods.

  • Like I have some Hershey's for some smores tonight

  • and stuff that you wouldn't want to get wet.

  • So this does fit perfectly behind my front passenger seats.

  • However, something that I am considering doing

  • I'm gonna grab a lantern here.

  • It's kind of starting to get dark.

  • So if you watch the platform build video,

  • you know how this platform works

  • and how there's a piece that is on a hinge

  • that flips out at the end of the day

  • and props up on these legs for more room at night.

  • And the YETI cooler fits perfectly right in this well

  • but not if that wooden leg is there.

  • So I'm considering trimming one leg

  • so that it just rests on the top of the cooler,

  • because those things are so like sturdy and rugged,

  • that that would totally be fine weight-wise.

  • And then I'd be able to keep the cooler

  • just in one place all the time, even at night

  • and the leg could just sit on it.

  • So we'll see.

  • I'm sure that there are things

  • as I continue to try this setup out,

  • that I'll decide to modify.

  • I'm going to pause on talking about the setup

  • because it's starting to get dark.

  • And I think I'm gonna make dinner

  • and kind of start getting settled in for the night,

  • get a fire going.

  • First there's something I need to get out that I bought

  • that's super fun.

  • I found some USB powered twinkle String Lights at REI,

  • and I'm gonna be plugging these into the Jackery,

  • and lighting up my camp a little.

  • (pop music)

  • Meet me where the meadows grow, by the waterhole

  • Lucid dreams of you and me

  • Sky high busy life, I wanna leave

  • (pop music)

  • Oh, muscle tight, early light, clenched down jaw

  • Say my name or say it twice

  • Shed this layer of overthinking

  • Oh

  • Good morning.

  • Last night was good.

  • I was surprised at how well I slept.

  • The mattress is super comfortable.

  • However, I was in there about 10 minutes

  • before I decided to get my sleeping bag out

  • because it was just chilly.

  • I had the sunroof Kraft about six inches

  • and I think it got down to the high 40s last night.

  • So it was just a little bit chilly.

  • So what I ended up doing actually

  • is I got my sleeping bag out and I crawled in that,

  • but I left it unzipped

  • because I don't like how restrictive sleeping bags are.

  • So I just crawled in it, leaving the zip open.

  • And then I put the orange down blanket over all of me

  • so that I could still like stretch my legs out

  • and be covered in stuff.

  • And that actually worked really well.

  • I don't know if I'd recommend that setup

  • if you're starting from scratch and don't have anything yet

  • I'd probably just recommend

  • getting a much heavier down blanket

  • or just a sleeping bag that you like to sleep in,

  • but it worked.

  • Also something that I meant to show you guys yesterday

  • is how I'm blocking my windows at night.

  • These are some sunshade covers from WeatherTech.

  • I actually got the idea for this

  • from the same blog post that I got my build idea from.

  • And they're customized for my exact vehicle.

  • If you go to the WeatherTech website,

  • you can put in your make, your model, your year,

  • and they will have a custom cut

  • for the windows of your vehicle, which is really nice.

  • And the nice thing about them is they're reversible.

  • So if you want to keep heat out

  • you put the silver side facing out.

  • If you wanna keep heat in, you flip them around

  • and you do the black side facing out.

  • So the silver side is reflecting the heat

  • within the vehicle.

  • And when I saw this, I knew I really liked this idea

  • because it's very space efficient

  • in the sense that you don't have any curtains hanging down

  • or dangling around your vehicle.

  • I know that curtains are very like

  • Pinterest boho camper chic,

  • but because I was already so tight for space

  • within my vehicle, I really didn't want anything

  • hanging that could be like caught or pulled down.

  • So these popped perfectly into the window spaces.

  • And they're so easy.

  • Also on my build video, I got quite a few questions

  • about the mesh sunroof cover that I talked about.

  • This is just a piece of mesh fabric

  • with some magnet sewn around it.

  • I found it on Amazon.

  • It's not big enough to cover my entire sunroof

  • because it's a panoramic sunroof

  • that if I'm only cracking my sunroof like six inches

  • then it works totally fine.

  • And it was great last night.

  • Something else that's pretty handy

  • for this type of sleep in your car camping style

  • is a roof box, which you can obviously see

  • I have on my roof.

  • There's a squirrel on my table.

  • What are you doing?

  • Get out of there.

  • No, no.

  • Get out of there.

  • Come on.

  • That's my stuff.

  • No, you're not supposed to eat that.

  • That's probably not good for you.

  • Don't worry guys.

  • I didn't leave this out overnight.

  • I had it all in my car,

  • but I just pulled everything out

  • to kind of start rejigging things.

  • Anyway, speaking of rejigging things,

  • a cargo box is pretty helpful

  • if you're bringing a lot of stuff

  • and you don't wanna do a lot of reshuffling.

  • For me, I didn't really want to pile a whole bunch of stuff

  • on top of my bed during the day

  • because one that would block my view out the back

  • while I'm driving,

  • and two, it all has to go somewhere else at night.

  • Like anything that I pile on top of there

  • needs to be put somewhere else,

  • which you can put quite a bit in the front seats

  • if you just shuffle things up there, but it is a lot.

  • And I definitely do wanna be able to fit everything

  • in my car at night.

  • I don't like leaving anything out while I'm sleeping.

  • I like to pack it all away.

  • I found this Kuju Coffee, pour over coffee at REI

  • and I'm boiling up some water.

  • (upbeat music)

  • This thing is so cool.

  • It comes with its own little pour over pouch

  • that folds up that you open up.

  • The brand also sells the coffee in bulk

  • if you don't wanna use like a single use thing,

  • but since I've never tried it,

  • I thought I would do the fancier version

  • and see what I think.

  • (techno music)

  • I'm all packed up and ready to head out.

  • And I wanna check here how much battery

  • is left on my Jackery.

  • So I charged my phone.

  • I charged my camera battery.

  • I ran the USB twinkle lights.

  • I charged my laptop.

  • I ran the Geyser shower off of it

  • to heat the water up this morning.

  • And it still has 74%.

  • I hope you guys enjoyed coming along with me

  • on my first solo camping adventure.

  • I'll have everything I talked about in this video

  • listed in links down in the info bar.

  • And I will see you guys in the next one.

  • Bye.

  • (techno music)

- A few weeks ago,

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