Go on, admit it.

You’ve been out hiking and wanted to know what the phase of the moon was going to be that night.

Okay, maybe that’s just me, but that’s important stuff to know. I mean, hellooo, full moons, werewolves…

Now that I’ve got your attention let’s talk about a watch even James Bond would love.

It’s the Casio Men’s Pathfinder Wavecepter Multi Band Atomic Solar Ultimate Watch.

You know this thing is cool. First of all, them name is 10 freakin’ words long! It also includes words like Wavecepter, Atomic, and Ultimate. Seriously, any red blooded American male is gonna be getting a little bit hot and bothered right now. (Ladies, it’s okay, it’s part of our genetic makeup, we can’t help it, just go with it.)

Let’s talk about all the nifty things this watch does. (besides tell you the phase of the moon, which no foolin’, it does.)

It’s got a built in digital compass which is darn helpful when you’re walking around in circles in the woods. Just think if those kids in Blair Witch Project would have had one of these watches. They’d still be alive and we’d never have been subjected to their nauseating camera work.

If one alarm just isn’t enough to trip your trigger, then this watch is just the thing because it has 5.

Who hasn’t been sitting around a campfire just wishing they had a Yacht Timer? Now you’ll have one.

You get an altitude barometer so that when you finally reach that peak of that mountain you can brag to all your friends how you were at exactly 13,321ft and no one will argue with you cuz you’re wearing the Swiss Army Knifes of watches… and they know you don’t mess with the Swiss.

Yeah, it tells time too and is synched to atomic clocks around the world, but that’s so 16th century watchmakeresque… geez… watches that tell time… it’s like inventing a telephone that makes phone calls…

You can check it out at Amazon.

If you are looking for a themed gift for a camping or RV enthusiast, check out the Home Is Where You Hook Up figurine from the Hamilton Collection, available at collectiblestoday.com.

The figurine is sold by itself or you can sign up to buy the entire collection as it becomes available.

I saw it in a magazine and knew I had to get it as a birthday gift for my sister in law who loves to camp. She would go camping every weekend if she had the time and I would be happy to go with her!

The figurine is 5 inches wide and costs $19.95 plus $6.99 shipping and handling.

If you are a really organized person and like to get Christmas shopping done early it would also be a nice Christmas present.

Yes, I know it’s only July but I have a friend who always has all her Christmas shopping done by September. By the time December 1st rolls around she’s finished shopping and baking and has a freezer full of cookies and treats. While me and most other people are rushing around and getting super stressed she just smugly smiles. I start to hate her around December 15th! (not really but I am very jealous).

But I’m digressing. If you like the figurine order it soon because it is a limited production item.

If you are like me, it is always a challenge to get the trash bag to stay where you want it when camping.

I use clothespins to clip it to the canvas on the exterior of of my popup but it falls down as soon as the bag is about a quarter full. Sometimes I will clip it to the clothesline we have hanging up for drying towels but that seems to turn it into a magnet for squirrels, although it is entertaining watching them scurry along the clothesline without falling off and then try reaching into the trash bag for whatever goody their nose is smelling.

Other times I will hang the bag on a bush, small tree, or even the handlebars of my bicycle.

Usually though I just leave it lay on the ground during the day because that is where it ends up falling anyway, or keep it in the back of my SUV.

I knew there had to be a better way and that it didn’t have to be complicated. The ezhoop bagging system is just that. It is a hoop that can be strapped around a tree, post, or the king pin of a 5th wheel. Plus it holds up to 25 pounds of garbage and is designed to hold the typical 13 gallon size trash bag although it will hold larger ones too.

There are three options to buy. One include is for hanging the ezhoop from a tree or post; another for hanging from a 5th wheel king pin and a third kit that includes both. The post kit or king pin kit is $12; the combo kit is $16, or just a hoop is available for $5.

To find about more visit the ezhoop website.

While a machine that makes soda, or pop depending on where you live, energy drinks, seltzer, and sparkling water definitely is not a camping necessity it can be fun.

Soda Club USA offers 2 different styles of soda makers plus 2 unsweetened flavor essences for making lightly flavored seltzer or sparking water, an energy drink mix, 12 soda flavors, and 13 diet soda flavors.

Some of the flavors available include cola, root beer, orange, lemon lime, cream, and cranberry raspberry.

While the company says their machine will save money over time (they say seltzer can be enjoyed for a little as 18 cents per liter and soda for 50 cents per liter and that there is no worry about flat soda because of the bottle’s hermetically sealed caps), I think the initial investment is pretty steep.

But it is a nice alternative to buying and storing cartons of carbonated beverages while camping or RVing, especially on extended trips.

I do like that the soda machine helps cut down on garbage because there no cardboard soda cartons, plastic bottles, or aluminum cans to dispose of. Even though all those items can be recycled, the sad truth is that a lot of recyclable items end up in landfills.

Another plus is that there is no electricity or batteries needed to run the machine.

Here’s the downside. Starter kits for seltzer lovers start at just under $100 and starter kits for soda lovers start at a little over a $100. The starter kits include the machine, reusable soda bottles, CO2 cartridges, and soda flavoring.

Another downside is that the supplies are delivered and not available in stores. Yes, it’s convenient but can be a little tricky for full-time RV’ers who don’t always have ready access to their post office box.

If you would like to find out more, visit the sodaclubusa website.

I love my husband but sometimes he drives me nuts. One of the questions I always ask him before we leave on a camping trip is if the propane tanks on our popup camper are full. He will then walk over to the camper, lift them up to see how heavy they are, and tell me we have plenty of propane.

Then, after getting to the campground where we do not have an electric campsite, we will get our camper set up, set the fridge so it runs on propane and then have the fridge stop cooling after 2 hours because we have run out of propane.

Now our camper fridge is tiny. There is no way it sucks all the propane out of a 20 pound tank in 2 hours.

We have the same problem at home with our gas grill. My husband will assure me that there is plenty of propane in the tank, yet when I turn it on to grill brats the grill stops heating after 5 minutes because, yes you guessed it, the propane tank is empty!

As much as I love my husband I am going on record right now to say he stinks at estimating the amount of propane left in our propane tanks.

That is why I was excited to come across this grill gauge today when browsing the new items at campingworld. It accurately measures the amount of liquid propane left in a 20 pound tank, plus the gauge doesn’t need batteries. The tank can even stay connected to the hose while measuring the amount of propane left.

Guess what my husband is getting as a present from me?

Popcorn made over the campfire is, hands down, the best popcorn to eat. It is even better than movie theater popcorn. I guess it is the combination of fresh air and the crackling wood on the campfire, along with the sound of those little kernels popping and the smell of the fire mingling with the smell of the fresh popcorn.

After going on a camping trip, popcorn made at home in a popper or in the microwave is a disappointment. While it’s still good, it’s nothing like the campfire stuff.

To make campfire popcorn even better, use coconut oil. My preferred brand is Amish Country Coconut Oil. Even though I usually have to have butter on my popcorn, I don’t need or want it when the popcorn is made with Amish Country’s Coconut Oil. Just pop with the coconut oil, sprinkle the popcorn with some salt, and enjoy.

Even though I now can’t say enough good things about how much better popcorn is with the coconut oil, I was skeptical at first. I wouldn’t even try it until one of my husband’s co-workers sent a jar home with my husband with instructions for me to “just give it a try.” (yes, I can be a tiny bit stubborn at times).

After having it one time, I was hooked. Now I have my brother and sister-in-law using it too although they were also skeptical about it making a difference in the taste. But after I made it for them during our last camping trip together, they went to the store and bought their own jar of coconut oil.

While I’m on the topic of campfire popcorn, here’s a few tips on making it.

- Use good quality white popcorn. Yellow popcorn has a lot of hulls and isn’t as tender. My favorites are Rural Route 1 white popcorn and Whole Food’s organic white popcorn.

- Wear an oven mitt or high heat glove (such as a welding glove) on the hand that is holding the popper over the fire because it gets pretty warm while holding and shaking it over the fire. Have a second mitt handy to aid in opening the popper lid after the corn is popped.

- Make sure the popper is designed for use over the campfire and has a long handle on it. The one I own is pictured here. The only downside to it is that it’s kind of small, but the upside is that the popcorn pops really fast - once it gets heated up it only takes a minute or two to make a batch so it doesn’t take long to make a big bowl. And, it’s nonstick so cleanup is fast. I wipe the inside out with a dry paper towel to remove any remaining oil and then with a damp paper towel. The outside gets wiped down with damp paper towels too.

- Arrange the firewood so there is piece that is laying flat or slightly angling down for you to move the popper over. It’s important to keep the popper moving when making popcorn over the fire; otherwise it will burn.

- Remove the popper from the fire while the popcorn is still popping fairly vigorously. The residual heat will finish the popping process and prevent the corn from burning. If the popper is left in the fire until the last few kernels are popping, the popcorn will probably be burnt by the time you get the popper out of the fire, opened up, and the popcorn poured into a bowl.

- Make sure the fire is burned down to hot, glowing pieces of wood. That is best time to make popcorn over the fire and also the best time to make pudgie pies and roasted marshmallows.

When you go camping, a lot of times you’re going to find that if you want to communicate over distances, your cell phone typically isn’t a very good choice. Many campgrounds are in areas where cell phone coverage just isn’t very good, and then you add in the fact that they’re in heavily wooded areas or in mountainous areas and you’ve got a recipe for zero bars.

And sometimes when you go out hiking you just don’t want to take a cell phone with you for concern you’ll get it dirty or you’ll get it wet and it just won’t work.

So how do you communicate with other people you’re camping with without cell phones?

Well, if you’ve got a healthy set of pipes, feel free to start yelling, otherwise you may want to look into other options.

One of my absolute favorite pieces of camping gear is my Garmin Rino. If you’re familiar with the Garmin brand, then you’re probably wondering how the heck a Garmin GPS is going to help you communicate with the other folks you’re camping with.

Well, here’s the cool thing - Garmin has built in a a FRS/GMRS radio into their GPS. And while it’s bigger than you’re cell phone, it’s also waterproof and a heck of a lot more durable. And with the GMRS radio you’ll get up to 14 miles of coverage although it’ll be less if you’re in heavily wooded or uneven terrain.

And there’s one more feature that is my absolute favorite - the Position Reporting Feature. If you’re with a group of people, and each of them has a Rino with them, you can report your location on a map so that everybody else can see where you are. And you can do the same to them - you can see exactly where they are so if you’ve wandered off and want to know where everyone else is, you can just push a button and you’ll be able to see where they are on your screen. I’ve used this a few times when I was snowboarding in Colorado when I’ve gotten separated from everyone else just to see where they heck my friends were at.

And should you find yourself hopelessly lost out in the woods and you can’t seem to reach anyone, there’s no need to worry - you’ve got a GPS in your hands, just use it to help you navigate back to your campsite.

The one downside, all this technology doesn’t come cheaply. The top of the line Rino 530HCx will run you $386.96 (if you get it through this link, you’ll even get a $50 mail in rebate), but if you watch eBay and don’t need some of the extra bells and whistles, you can get a cheaper model on eBay or Amazon for about $150.

Last week I wrote about a cute yard flag I saw while camping over Memorial Day weekend that I liked so much that I searched for one online and bought it. I said the next thing I was going to look for is lights to hang on my camper.

I found some I think are going to look great hanging from my pop up canopy.

The lights are camper, tent, and lantern shaped.

There are 10 lights on each 8 foot strand.

Plus, each set is only $4.95 plus shipping from the Oriental Trading Company.

But, since I only ordered two sets I have a long way to go before I catch up with my sister-in-law.

She has been collecting campsite decorations for several years and has lights to match every occasion.

When she camps on Memorial Day, near July 4th, and on Labor Day she hangs red, white, and blue rope lights. In October she has orange and black lights. During the rest of the summer she rotates using her coach lantern shaped lights, colored round globe lights, firefly shaped lights, jalapeno shaped lights, beer shaped lights (someone gave those to her husband), or her animal shaped lights.

I better look for more lights if I want to have a bigger collection than she does.

I saw the yard flag in the picture below while camping over Memorial Day weekend and thought it was so cute that I searched online for it this morning and bought one for myself.

The flag is 14 inches by 18 inches and is stitched weather resistant nylon.

It is just the right size for decorating a campsite.

I found it at Oriental Trading Company for $4.95 plus shipping.

Although I don’t usually hang put up decorations while camping I always enjoy seeing what everyone else has, so I am finally giving in and am going to start my own collection of decorations to put up.

The next thing I am going to look for is some cute camping lights. I’ll post a link if I find some.

Picture this.

You’re out in the woods.

Camping.

Just taking in mother nature.

Then suddenly you have an urge for a blended beverage (a daiquiri or margarita perhaps). But what do you do? You’re out in the woods without a blender.

Well, fear not fellow camper. Coleman has got you covered with their rechargeable portable blender.

This sucker can whip up a pitcher of tasty frozen tricks on 30 seconds flat, and even comes in a devilishly good looking red but you can also get it in black or painted silver if that suits you better.

Now one of these blenders probably won’t be making an appearance in a “will it blend” video anytime soon, but unless you plan on blending up an axe handle, you’re not gonna need anything so fancy. And this blender is also a very economical $60 so it’s a purchase that isn’t going to break that bank.

Now I realize that some people will feel this a completely unnecessary item to bring with you while camping, but c’mon, sometimes you just gotta have a little fun while camping.