My mom and I are considering a cross-country trip in July. We plan to go from Arizona through New Mexico and Texas on I-40, then up and over to Ohio to visit family. On the way back, we will go more north and pass through Colorado and Utah. We will be carrying a cooler for food. Regular ice is a royal pain, as everything ends up soggy after the first half day, and you've got to drain the thing and replace the ice pretty often. So, I was wondering if anybody had any experience using dry ice for such a venture. How often does it need replacing, and does it tend to freexe everything? And, does anybody know good places to get it along the way?
Have you looked at electric coolers? They're insulated, like you'd expect, but also plug in to provide active cooling. We used one for a cross country trip a few years ago and thought it was great. Stuff stayed dry and reasonably cold, though not as cold as in a real refrigerator. We could even leave the car 'running' at campsites to keep the 'fridge' going. Ours came with both a wall plug for 110 volts and a 12 volt plug for car use.
There are many places to buy liddle coolers that just plug into your cigarette lighter plug - and some will either keep food hot or cold. My wife and I had one several years ago, when we were making several around-the-country trips. I think we got it at Brookstone - but you can Google 12-volt coolers, perhaps? Sorry - but maybe others on the Forum know just where to get these. Much better than fighting with ice!
I also recommend the electric coolers, they work great. At night you can plug them in at your motel/hotel and also use the 12V system in the car while traveling.. One nice thing is that you don't have to use ice, everything stays dry. Just plug it in at home a day before you leave to get it cold. Dry ice would freeze everything you put in the cooler.
Dry ice is a bad idea. It is costly, wouldn't really last any longer, cannot be purchase at the pump N go's, can only be purchase in large quantities, and you can't touch it at all without burning yourself. If you want to spend the money, get a plug in cooler. I'd opt for the regular ice. Just put it in a tupper ware container inside the cooler and you avoid the mess. Top it of with a small bag ever day at the gas stations.
Another vote for a plug in cooler here - i've used one for a 12 hour trip between ohio and minnesota, and it worked out great
Here's another idea. You can buy ice pack type things (blue goo in plastic) that freeze like ice, but don't melt all over the place. That's what we're using for our MidWest trip tomorrow (Iowa-Chicago-Cleveland-New York). Of course, this only works if you're stopping somewhere with a freezer.
The one I have is a Peltier type. It's light and convenient, and does a reasonable job, though it wouldn't keep things 'fridge cold' in sustained summer heat. Having read up on the Stirling type now, they seem far superior.
In spite of loving my Prius I am still a fan of low tech. I'd suggest you consider a "5-day" cooler, rather than the cheaper 1 or two day varieties. Also, it helps to but the ice in a 10 lb block rather than the 10 lb. bag of cubes. I think most of the 5 day coolers also have a recessed area in the bottom and a drain, to help at least a bit with the soggy-stuff syndrome. PA P
