NOTE: I have produced an updated version of this article here.
Only How Many Shopping Days Left???
Yep, it's that time of year. Normally it would be time to fight the crowds and find the sales. But this crazy year, you're likely to be doing a lot of your shopping from the comfort of your home. And if you're like me, you may end up spending way too much time browsing Amazon! Could you use an idea for great Christmas Gifts for use during your travels? Here are two things I really love that you may not already have.Single Burner Camp Stove
This is one of my all time favorites! For me, it's probably the handiest item that stays on our picnic table at the campsite. It gets much hotter, and heats things up way faster than our standard camp stove. And it's just plain quick and easy. To set it up, you simply twist it on top of a propane bottle. You then turn the knob, light it, and you're ready to cook.
This single burner stove is really handy as an extra burner when cooking dinner, or a way to keep something warm. My favorite use though, is using with an old fashioned perculator to brew my morning coffee.
Digital Laser Infrared Thermometer
If you pull a travel trailer, you really should check your wheel bearing temperatures at each stop to be sure they are not overheating. (See the explanation under Things to Keep in Mind Throughout the Day in the Towing a Small Travel Trailer section of my free Beginner's Guide to Small Travel Trailers.) It's a rare, but huge potential problem that can leave you stranded. The most common way to check them is to put your hand on each hub to see if it's excessively hot. This works, but usually gets your hand dirty. Should you ever find you have a bearing overheating, you'll also likely burn your hand finding out!
This digital laser thermometer is a much better solution. You simply aim the laser gun at your wheel hub and pull the trigger. You'll see the red laser beam wherever you aim it, and get an immediate digital reading of temperature. Best of all, no dirty hands.
As a bonus, it's also just a cool gadget. For anyone like me, they'll find all kinds of things to point it at!
Denny Johnson
After having spent most of our adult life in Orlando, my wife Fay and I moved to Knoxville, TN in 2020. We are loving the change of seasons and being near the mountains. Plus, this part of the country is loaded with great places to camp.We camped years ago with a pop-up camper, but got serious about it when we purchased our Casita in 2014. There was a lot to learn as we started traveling with it, and a lot of conflicting opinions on line. That's when I decided that creating a website would be a good retirement project. I started tinyTowable.com to share things we've learned along the way that have worked well for us in hopes that the information would be of help to others.
However, since moving to Tennessee, I've gotten involved with new hobbies (you can check some out on my personal website at https://www.softrite.com) and we haven't camped very much. So, at the end of 2023, I made the tough decision to stop updating this website.
2 thoughts on “Two Camping Related Christmas Gifts We Love!”
We prefer the single burner butane stoves like those used at omelet stations due to their low profile/better stability. I believe they now have a model that will use propane or butane.
I’ve not looked into those Steve, but it sounds like they are worth a look. You definitely need to use the base that goes under the propane tank on the one we haveto assure stability.