We test-packed the Pilot in the carport on Sunday afternoon at 93 degrees. Dana timed it: 41 minutes, two disagreements about the cooler and one very sweaty PE teacher. We leave Saturday for 11 nights (Ocala, Elkmont, a cabin near Townsend, Savannah and Skidaway Island), and this is the load-out we settled on.
The rule about the third row
The third row stays folded flat for the entire trip. Nobody sits back there, nobody asks to, and nothing gets unfolded "just for a minute" at a rest stop. In our house, the third row is cargo.
The second rule goes with it: nothing gets stacked higher than the backs of the second-row seats. I need to see out the rear window, and I don't want a bin coming forward if I have to brake hard on I-75. Everything that doesn't fit under that line goes on the roof or stays home.
The kids ride in the second row, Nico's booster behind Dana and Maya behind me. Each of them has a seat-back organizer with headphones, a book, a water bottle and whatever they've decided is essential. For Maya, that's her nature journal and a pencil case with exactly 24 watercolor pencils. For Nico, it's a plastic dinosaur and a rock from the backyard he's bringing to "meet the mountains."
What goes where
- Roof bag: a soft carrier we're borrowing from Dana's brother Javi. It holds the light, bulky things we won't need until Elkmont: four sleeping bags, pillows, our two self-inflating pads, the kids' pads, the blue hammock and four camp chairs. Everything inside goes in a contractor trash bag first, because a roof bag in a mountain thunderstorm is a hope, not a promise.
- Against the seatbacks: the pantry bin (dry food for the first week) and an empty bin I'll explain below.
- The middle: four soft duffels, one per person, and the kitchen bin with the Coleman stove, the 12-inch skillet, the pie irons, the cafetera and the white enamel mugs.
- Last in, by the tailgate: the RTIC cooler, the camp bin (lantern, headlamps, tarp, stakes, Thermacell, fans, Dana's first aid kit and our two rain suits) and the dome tent in its bag.
- Behind the front seats: a small soft cooler for driving-day lunches and a trash bag.
- Glove box: the trip log (a green spiral notebook) and the NOCO jump starter, which has lived there since February.
That's four bins, four duffels, one cooler and a roof bag. The old 70-quart Coleman stays home this time. There's no room for two coolers and a tent, and the new cooler is supposed to hold ice long enough that we won't miss it.
The empty bin is the wet bin. Anything soaked (rain suits, the tarp, river shoes) goes in there so it doesn't touch the duffels. On a trip with mountain afternoons in it, I expect it to be full by Wednesday.
Load-out order
We pack in reverse order of what we need. First in is last out. When we pull into Elkmont on Sunday evening after 8.5 hours of driving, possibly in rain, here's the order things come out:
- Tarp, then the tent, then stakes. Shelter first.
- The camp bin, so we have light.
- The roof bag, so we have beds.
- The cooler and kitchen bin, so we have dinner.
- Duffels, last. Nobody needs a clean shirt in the first hour.
For the two nights that aren't camping or cabin nights, Ocala and Savannah, we don't unload at all. One shared overnight bag rides on top of the duffels with pajamas, toothbrushes and a change of clothes for everyone. Nobody drags four duffels into my mom's guest room or a hotel lobby.
My big mistake on Sunday: I loaded the cooler first, tight against the seats, because it's the heaviest thing we own. Then Dana asked how we'd get a juice box out at a rest area. The answer was "unpack half the car." The cooler moved to the tailgate, where it should have been from the start, and the bins slid forward.
What it looks like loaded
With the roof bag on, the Pilot sits a little lower and will probably lose a mile or two per gallon. The back is full but not stuffed, and I can see out every window. The cargo area smells like hot vinyl and sunscreen, which I assume is how it will smell for the next two weeks.
Maya made a laminated copy of the load-out order and taped it inside the tailgate. Nico packed three pairs of shoes. When I asked why, he said one is for losing, which is honestly the most realistic packing decision anyone in this family made all weekend.
