RE: It sounds goofy at first but it works for me.

[CajunCamper]

 
Like most folks here, we feel our camping wouldn t be complete without a nice campfire at night or to start the day off right on those chilly mornings. We have been both routes, both buying wood at the campsite or nearby, and bringing our own wood from home. We have never been happy with the quality of the wood that we purchased at a campground, plus the price is rediculous, but it does come in handy when you just don t have the room to carry your own wood from home. We have tried using rubbermaid tubs, or just stacking the wood in the back of my van on top of a tarp, but the rubbermaid tubs don t hold nearly enough wood for us and stacking the wood in the back of the van takes up alot of room and is very messy, with bark, dirt and bugs getting everywhere. We even considered inside the pop-up, but were concerned about weight issues and the mess there as well. Stick with me, I m coming to a solution that has worked for us for years. Since we have access to alot of good oak and pecan here I just had to come up with a solution that would enable me to bring my own wood from home, while allowing me  to capitalize on my storage space, distribute the weight and prevent the dirt, bark and bugs from making such a mess. Well here s my solution. I start by first, cutting my aged wood in lengths of about 24 inches and split it into pieces about 12 inches in diameter, that s about as big around as the little propane bottles we use with our camping gear, but you can decide what works best for you, this is just the size I like. If you buy your firewood from someone local that cuts and delivers, this is a typical size that they deal with as well. I then take about three pieces of this cut and split wood and wrap them together with Reynolds food service film, a.k.a. " Reynolds Wrap" . I completely wrap the wood with this stuff. See I told you it sounds goofy, but hang with me just a bit longer. The wrap that I use, I buy at Sam s in the big roll that seems to be a bit heavier and gives you more for the money. Now here are the advantages of wraping your wood in this manner. When you wrap the three pieces together, the wrap holds them together making them easier to handle, keeps them dry at the campsite, prevents bugs, dirt and bark from making a mess in your vehicle, and because of this, you can now stack the wood just about anywhere you have a little extra room. You don t have to have a special place for it and you can distribute the weight. We still usually stack most of the wood in the back of the van, but we can now place wood under seats, spread it around inside the camper, and stack it on top of or mixed in with our other camping gear without fear of the mess. One last suggestion though if you attempt this, start now and cut and wrap a little each day, or each week, don t wait until the day before you go camping to this, it s just easier doing this over time. Okay, now one last thing, the other advantage is that we always have dry wood, we keep our wood stored out back behind the house and even when it rains, the wraped wood stays dry for our camping trips. There, now I m done.

[Turn Key]

 CajunCamper
To be honest, it  seems like a lot of time and expense to me.  But then again, given our TV, I don t have the same concerns that you have.  In the end, if it works for you, it s a great idea![]

[CajunCamper]

 CajunCamper
Hey Turn Key, I see you re from NC Texas, can you tell me anything about Palo Duro Canyon State Park? Ya see I have visions of towing my pop-up to Colorado one day and I have been eyeing Palo Duro as an option for a one or two day stop for the trip.
 
 Thanks

[tlhdoc]

 CajunCamper
Right now I have some nice campfire wood.  The wood factory at work was making picnic tables for the state parks out of oak 4 X 6s.  I got several boxes of the pieces they cut off of the legs.  The wood was packed into boxes and taped shut.  No bark, no bugs and no mess.  One box last us a day.  Of course they are done with the picnic tables now so I can t get anymore.[:@]

[Turn Key]

 CajunCamper
CajunCamper,
 
 Glad to help.  We have been there twice but unfortunately don t know a great deal about the park.  More about that later.
 
 Park is south of Amarillo, about 30 miles.  As you approach the park, the canyon opens up on your right hand side.  I found the first sight breathtaking.  As I have yet to have seen the Grand Canyon (will solve this short coming this October[]), this was about the most awe inspiring sight I had ever seen since my first sight of the Rockies.  The drive down into the canyon is by way of a winding road.  Don t recall it being too bad in either direction.  Might be a bit tough for a large TT but a PU rig should have no real problems.
 
 As I recall, camp sites are nice with standard paved approaches and covered picnic tables.  There is little or no shade as this is basicly a desert enviroment.  Park hosts are radio linked to the top of the canyon and I found this to be a big help on our last trip (more on that later).  Whole park seems very nice and I would think a couple of days camping and hiking would be time well spent.  Now, on to why I know so little.
 
 As stated, we ve been there twice but niether were good trips.  The park was in no way to blame.  The first time we were there for a " day trip"  in a Hyundi Excel.  It was spring and the lowriver crossings were up a bit in the park and we just didn t feel safe about crossing them in that car.  Saw many coming through with no problems and no one stuck.  Just wouldn t risk it myself.  Second time there, we were to have camped for a week.  Got there and set up.  Went into town for some supplies and called home to talk to DD and let her know we had made it.  Found out that DW s step-mother had passed away.  Broke camp that evening and started the long drive home.  Given two trips that didn t work out well for us, I m not sure when we will be back.
 
 Please, don t let my bad luck slow you down.  The views in that park are outstanding and well worth the trip.  Hiking is suppose to be great and camping in the canyon has got to be the best.  Here s a site to give you some info:
 
 [link]http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/paloduro/[/link]
 
 Click the banner at the top of that page and you will return to the Texas P&W home page.  Lots of great info about our parks to be had there.
 
 Sorry I can t give you more info about this park.  We just had two bad experiances which were no fault of the park.  Fiqure you should do a lot better.  If there is any other way I can help, let me know.
 
 Happy Camping!

[hoppy]

 CajunCamper
I m lucky enough to pick up my stash of wood just 10 miles before I enter the  campground. This little old guy (I reckon he must be hitting 100 if a day)  has the must perfect cut, split, seasoned hichory and oak that you can imagine. I just load up the pack of the pick-up, and I m good to go for the entire weekend.
 
    Keeping it out of the rain is no problem, since it is sooooo seasoned.
 
    Cajun, sounds like this is a great idea, and works great for you.
 
    Just a little too much work for me.
 
 
    Keep your kindling dry,
 
     Hoppy

[dee106]

 CajunCamper
we use our vans roof rack, we have the roof rack storage bag, we make ez-bundles (four logs tied with rope) and put them up in the bag, out of the way and stays dry!  when we get to the site we stack in under the bunkend to keep dry , we also have boxed scraps and put them on the roof,
 
 saw one camper with a hitch rack on the back of there camper with a wood pile and cooler!

[wahoonc]

 CajunCamper
Cajun!
 You need to get some of this stuff we use at work!http://www.uline.com/Browse_Listing_5401.asp  [][8D] If you are really feeling flush they will sell you the automatic wrapping machine...for about $6000usd[]
 
 Aaron[]