My husband and I have a longer-trip predicament in that we occasionally wish to carry more food than the Interstate was designed to accommodate, particularly because it has been our tradition to meet extended family in somewhat remote wilderness locations that are poorly served by g-stores and eateries. We have one workaround for this in mind, but we are interested to know how other folks have addressed this scenario.
We successfully dealt with this challenge last summer by buying a Yeti 50 cooler, super-cooling it prior to departure (well below freezing), packing it full of our frozen home-made meals and ice, and loading it into the back of our minivan. Because the Yeti is so remarkably efficient, the food remained frozen for about the first week of our 3,000 mile (one way) travel (we replenished the ice every few days but really did not start losing ice until about 6 days into it). On Day 8 we arrived at our cottage and transferred the food into a very cold refrigerator, where it lasted unspoiled for the second week.
This was one of the smartest things I've ever done!!!! I fed five adults main meals for seven consecutive days using food I had dragged cross-continent. For the first time in my adult life, I felt like I was actually ON VACATION because I wasn't spending a few hours every day struggling to feed everyone in an area with limited resources (I am the family's chief cook and bottle-washer).
My husband and I knew that the Interstate (a) had a fridge way, way too small for any such workaround and (b) doesn't have the interior space to accommodate a large Yeti or similar device. We figured that, worst case scenario, maybe we could get one of those small grate-style hitch platforms and security netting and carry the Yeti that way.
Having the Yeti OUTside the Interstate would also present another option: I could use dry ice instead of water ice, which means I could keep the entire stock frozen for a couple of weeks if not longer. I wasn't comfortable using dry ice inside a minivan that was crammed to the ceiling with luggage, three adults and a large dog, with the A/C on Recirc 100% of the time because it was mid-summer. I was worried about dry ice sublimating and displacing oxygen in the tightly-enclosed small space.
However, I've already had several folks muse that perhaps I don't want that much weight on the AI hitch. The Yeti 50 containing sixteen four-quart Pyrex storage dishes plus ice comes to at least a hundred pounds. Plus the weight of the hitch platform itself, cables, locks, etc. The initial feedback we have received is suggesting that the Interstate does not respond well to that kind of load (this would be dead weight, not tongue weight, and it makes a difference). Some folks are speculating that it would adversely affect the handling in a conspicuous way (we have not yet experimented).
I know of an owner in the northwest who had a micro-trailer made for his AI (not sure if he reads this forum). This is another option but we would rather avoid a trailer unless there was no other workaround.
Any additional ideas here?
Thanks!
Alison and Lawrence
League City TX
THE INTERSTATE BLOG
We successfully dealt with this challenge last summer by buying a Yeti 50 cooler, super-cooling it prior to departure (well below freezing), packing it full of our frozen home-made meals and ice, and loading it into the back of our minivan. Because the Yeti is so remarkably efficient, the food remained frozen for about the first week of our 3,000 mile (one way) travel (we replenished the ice every few days but really did not start losing ice until about 6 days into it). On Day 8 we arrived at our cottage and transferred the food into a very cold refrigerator, where it lasted unspoiled for the second week.
This was one of the smartest things I've ever done!!!! I fed five adults main meals for seven consecutive days using food I had dragged cross-continent. For the first time in my adult life, I felt like I was actually ON VACATION because I wasn't spending a few hours every day struggling to feed everyone in an area with limited resources (I am the family's chief cook and bottle-washer).
My husband and I knew that the Interstate (a) had a fridge way, way too small for any such workaround and (b) doesn't have the interior space to accommodate a large Yeti or similar device. We figured that, worst case scenario, maybe we could get one of those small grate-style hitch platforms and security netting and carry the Yeti that way.
Having the Yeti OUTside the Interstate would also present another option: I could use dry ice instead of water ice, which means I could keep the entire stock frozen for a couple of weeks if not longer. I wasn't comfortable using dry ice inside a minivan that was crammed to the ceiling with luggage, three adults and a large dog, with the A/C on Recirc 100% of the time because it was mid-summer. I was worried about dry ice sublimating and displacing oxygen in the tightly-enclosed small space.
However, I've already had several folks muse that perhaps I don't want that much weight on the AI hitch. The Yeti 50 containing sixteen four-quart Pyrex storage dishes plus ice comes to at least a hundred pounds. Plus the weight of the hitch platform itself, cables, locks, etc. The initial feedback we have received is suggesting that the Interstate does not respond well to that kind of load (this would be dead weight, not tongue weight, and it makes a difference). Some folks are speculating that it would adversely affect the handling in a conspicuous way (we have not yet experimented).
I know of an owner in the northwest who had a micro-trailer made for his AI (not sure if he reads this forum). This is another option but we would rather avoid a trailer unless there was no other workaround.
Any additional ideas here?
Thanks!
Alison and Lawrence
League City TX
THE INTERSTATE BLOG
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