tailgating

Nomad Awnings has developed a vehicle awning as spontaneous and flexible as #vanlife itself. No cranks or legs to mess around with, the awning simply pulls straight out in seconds and throws shade up over the ground next to the car.

After nearly two years, Furrion brings to market the wheeled, battery-swapping fridge it showed at CES 2019. Perfect for overland rigs, off-grid cabins and more, the rolling compressor cooler can be used with or without power for days or weeks.

The Hibear All-Day Adventure Flask keeps your favorite liquids flowing from wake-up to late-night. This all-in-one beverage master's screw-apart design and multi-component system works to fix up coffee, carry water, and shake up a fireside martini.

From the team behind Tepui tents comes HitchFire and its new Forge 15 grill. A burlier breed of hitch-mounted grill, the Forge 15 rides behind the bumper, ready to fire up for everything from a couple burgers at the trailhead to a full tailgate.

The new Dam Cooler debuts as a 25+ quart ice box that saves bulk and weight by ditching poly foam and relying on thin, efficient vacuum insulation panels. It keeps food and drink organized with a series of dividers and trays.

Designed to be a comfier alternative to existing ultralight camping chairs, the Sitpack Campster packs up as small as a compact umbrella but grows into a full-height chair, perfect for pulling up to a fold-out dining table or campfire's edge.

Unlike the typical cooler, the Qool Box relies on vacuum insulation, much like a thermos. The Qool cooler also ditches the bagged ice for special frozen inserts formulated to keep contents cold (or even frozen) for days, without the melting or mess.

Crossbars, bike racks, cargo boxes, roof-top tents and solar panels are just a few things jostling for limited car roof space when venturing outdoors. With the new CBX Solar, Yakima combines two of those into one to better optimize roof storage.

Tentrax sells tiny trailers that are essentially wheeled fiberglass tubs, opening to create a tent or provide cargo access. Tentrax will soon bring the party with a tailgating model that packs a kitchen, cooler, flip-up TV, sound system and beer tap.

Thor Industries used the RVX show to get serious about its products, but it also had some fun ... a lot of fun. Its custom Heartland Cyclone tailgater trailer pulls up stadium-side, screens games on numerous TVs, keeps the beer flowing with a keg fridge, and provides plenty of space to kick back.

Furrion used this year's CES to present its new Outdoor Living lineup, a series of smart products for tailgating and outdoor life. Chief among those products is the Rova, an iceless wheeled cooler that offers up to a week of off-grid cooling power via a removable battery.

Researchers from MIT say that if drivers kept an even distance between cars rather than tailgating in order to push ahead, traffic flow would remain even. This "bilateral control," could double the speed of the average vehicle on busy highways.