This year, I’m planning on winter camping

We’re in early November now and while the ground is still bare, nighttime temps are regularly dropping to the upper 20′s in my part of Michigan. The leaves are all off the trees and snow can happen any day now.

Out on the interstates, I see a steady stream of motorhomes, travel trailers and fifth wheels making their way south, to warmer climes.

I hope to join them in Florida and the gulf states in January. For a few weeks.

But I also hope to do some winter camping this year.

It’s almost a sin in some RV circles to say this but… well… I like winter.

I love snow. The more the better.

And I want to head out there.

My RV is winterized, but as Hank the tech who walked me through the winterizing process in this video explained, I can still use the RV. I can flush the toilet using antifreeze as a chaser. I can use the stove to cook. I’ll eat on paper plates so I don’t have to wash dirty dishes. I’ll bring along bottled water.

There are a bunch of winter festivals, dogsled races, ice fishing contests, snowshoe hikes and the like to take in. A reader invited me to International Falls, MN, where, he says, he volunteers for a dogsled race that is a qualifier for the big Iditarod race up in Alaska. He says the temperature in some years has dipped to 30 below and he was toasty comfortable in his Roadtrek.

Wonder where you keep your parkas and snow-soaked bots and gloves when you come in? Seems like there’d be quite a puddle.

And I suppose camping facilities are a bit limited during winter.

Any winter campers out there? How do you manage? I’d appreciate any and all tips. But winter camping is definitely going to be on my list of 2013 New Year resolutions.

Roadtreking - A Journalist takes up the RV lifestyle - People and Places Encountered on the Open Road

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