From the Redwood Forest...

We have found a lovely place to set up camp in the middle of the redwoods right by Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park here in Felton, which is right outside of Santa Cruz. I have always wanted to live in a beach town and completely adore Santa Cruz, but I truly feel at home in this magical little forest. It makes me want to set up a crystal garden and start designing stone fibonacci spirals on the ground.

Well, this forest is not exactly little. If you haven't seen Redwood trees in person, descriptions don't really do them justice. Mitch and I love the area and are thinking about giving it a test run once we have camped out in our tiny house on wheels for a while longer (no rush--we love our tiny home!) The test run would mean picking a home to rent (short term...like 6 months). If we give it a shot and it works for us, then we'll go through with buying property and building upon it. Working for us would mean feeling content with the vibe of the community, and that Mitch could handle the commute since his job demands a lot of traveling around northern California. You'd be surprised how much time gets added onto your drive because of these winding mountain roads, even though you aren't technically traveling that far when you look at a map.

"What are you doing out there, Dianne?" It's a question I've been getting a lot from friends back home in the A. Well friends, right now I'm chillin. I explore my gorgeous, natural surroundings daily with Cairo and Biggie. I plan on going to school to become an AHG (American Herbalists Guild) certified, professional, clinical (insert more official sounding adjectives) herbalist once I figure out the best school and plan of action will be for me. I'd prefer to go to a school where you physically attend class, but it seems the closest school with that option is pretty far up the coast and has already filled registration for 2015. Yikes! I don't know if I can wait another year to go back to school for something I'm already so passionate about. Plenty of schools nearby offer online, at-your-own-pace correspondence courses, but I just don't believe that an earth based practice is best learned via internet. We shall see. For the mean time I'm enjoying being a stay-at-tiny-home-mom and wifey nomad. I'm sure I could find a job tending bar again, or barista-ing, or managing, or maybe even break into produce since I live with a produce master. Mitch is so busy we agreed that I'd remain retired (I love joking that I've taken extra early retirement...just practicing for when I hit my 70's) so that we at least see each other the little bit that we currently do. I've put in a lot of hours over the past couple of years and I love being at home, so this is totally okay with me for the mean time.

Update about our water situation: it cleared up on its' own for a little while, but is back to smelling bad again. How do we deal? Campsite shower rooms, laundromats, lots of hand sanitizer, wipes, and 5 gallon fresh water storage container. We haven't had a chance to fill up the tanks and pipes with vinegar or bleach water and take the trailer on a bumpy ride to wash all inner surfaces yet. This will definitely be done before we set up for dry camping over the Thanksgiving holiday. Speaking of Thanksgiving, we will be camping out in the national park just south of Monterey, CA over the holidays. Mitch needs to stay close by just in case work needs him, so no Yosemite this time. No cooking an enormous, way too much food, feeding my friends, Turkey Day meal this time. I'm sort of bummed about it, but I'm pretty sure I'll be distracted by my beautiful surroundings enough to get over it. There's just no fitting a turkey of any size into my miniature oven. Perhaps a cornish hen or two? Haha.

We have spent some time in RV Parks along the way and have discovered that many of them are rather picky about the trailers and motor homes they allow to stay with them. Most have a rule that anything over 10 years old is not allowed to stay more than a couple of nights, but since so many people are renovating old trailers these days, they do make exceptions. A lot depends on the owner of the park, and we haven't had any real issues thus far, but we haven't exactly stayed in one place for very long. We have seen a bunch of gorgeous airstreams (shiny, aluminum, twinky looking trailers), and can't wait to pick one of those guys up. 

Our little clan ran up to San Francisco the other day to meet up with one of Mitch's friends and his adorable little daughter with the cutest name ever-- Scout. Cairo had a blast burning off some steam with a bunch of other little kids. The playground was one gigantic sand box...Cairo's dream playground, his mom's worst cleaning nightmare. Sand everywhere. (His happiness is worth it. We'll be back.)

Last but not least, I just want to officially thank the state of California for allowing the sale of raw milk in grocery stores to human beings. I've never had it before this week, and lemmejussay, YUM.

Apologies for any strange formatting/layout issues. The wifi I was using is totally overloaded and I had to post this via the Blogger app.

On the road again...and again...and again.

Functional wifi is still darn near impossible for me to get to...I think I'm going to break down and purchase satellite internet soon. Lack of internet access obviously puts a damper on real time blogging.

Biggie chilling in his back seat protector/dog hammock. He was such a trooper on this trip.

Let me start by saying that living off of interstate food, where the freshest meal I had was Subway, really has me looking forward to finding a plot of land where I can start growing my own veggies again. Preferably or with it's own fresh water source if that's within our price range. I'm talking kale. Lettuce. Artichokes. Carrots. Peas. Beans. Beets. Okra. Peppers. Melons. Berries. *drool*

Mitch and I have been bouncing a number of ideas off of each other about what kind of place we will create. Turning old train cars into tiny guest homes that we can (spray) paint on and maybe run some sort of alternative B&B...shipping containers with ceilings that are just one enormous sky light...who knows what we might do?

We made it into Arizona and crashed by the Grand Canyon. We arrived there just at sunset, so we didn't get to experience sunset at the GC as we had hoped. The next morning we decided that with so much driving left to do in order for Mitch to arrive at his first day of work on time, we should come back another day when we did not have to rush our first Grand Canyon experience. Disappointing, but a better plan in the long run.

Perhaps we would have made it if we hadn't taken a detour through the Petrified Forest National Park. Totally worth it. One of the most beautiful places I've ever laid eyes on. Cairo absolutely loved it there, and Biggie is happy about anything that involves him being with us.

When we first drove into the park...

Cairo and Dianne posing with a ~215 million year old petrified tree trunk that fell in such a way that it became a bridge.  It has petrified into quartz crystal.  Ancient, beautiful, and awesome!

Ancient petroglyphs, no big deal. You must see this in person, my iPhone's camera barely picked up on the intricacies.

About midway through the park, around where Route 66 used to cut through...

Stopped our caravan to walk a trail in the middle of the Petrified Forest National Park.

This one's a framer!

Petrified wood and mountains. The pictures don't do this landscape justice!

On Saturday we crossed the Arizona/California state line and were stopped by the interstate border patrol. I didn't realize California had border patrols for other US states. Border Patrol Lady Cakes tried to confiscate our organic honeycrisp apples, but ol' produce guru 5,000 Mitch knows his stuff and wasn't about to let that happen (Cairo really likes honeycrisps). Apparently they check for out-of-state produce and firewood, and because our fruit was from the state of Washington we were allowed to keep it. Washington state produce is allowed to go just about anywhere, unlike other fruits and veggies. Rainier was the particular brand...as in Mt. Rainier, WA...the more you know *****. Mitchell is convinced that lady just wanted to eat our delicious apples ("Oh, organic? *smile*  Honeycrisp? *smile, side eye* Um, I'm going to have to take these."). We are such conspiracy theorists sometimes.

Bakersfield, CA was our desired stop for that night, but the Mojave Desert's winds had other plans. Luckily we found the Sierra Trails RV Park on Google maps which indicated a cinderblock fence to help shelter us pikeys from the windy night. If those cinderblocks truly were assisting us, I'm afraid of what would have happened to us without them. I felt like I was about to pull a Dorothy up in there. Our little home was rocking and swaying, and the outer cover for the large window above our bed was rattling and knocking ALL NIGHT long. Lovely. -_- I recall waking up and telling Mitch I was scared, which of course he thought was funny because he's an undercover mountain man and whatnot. I have read about fierce desert nights, but really had no idea what we were in for. Needless to say, I will be planning my trips around the desert and its crazy evening forces of nature from now on. By the way, the owner/manager at Sierra Trails is a very nice guy, and if you're ever on the road out in Mojave, CA and get caught in a crazy wind storm, this is a great place to stop and wait it out.

Sunday morning came and it was our last chance to get to our destination of Gilroy, CA: Garlic Capital of the World, HQ for the grocery chain Mitch is now handling produce for. We only had a few short (but seemingly so very, very long by this point) hours to drive. We got into town (FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!) and set up camp, and our trailer's door handle broke and trapped us inside. I'm really, really glad I didn't make Mitch empty his tool drawer and put them in his truck bed to give me more kitchen space! After a lot of sheer brute force, my hero broke the door handle off from the inside out, managed to unlatch (i.e. tear out) the hardware stuck in the door frame. The plus side to this is that we now have a beautiful new door knob (I'm trying to think positive).

That night we ate dinner in San Jose with the gentleman who asked Mitch to come work with him who is a.k.a. "Uncle" Dean to Cairo. Uncle Dean at Uncle Dean's house (Cairo talk) is an awesome chef, and cooked up a load of veggies in homemade minestrone soup along with a delicious, super green salad. He was going to make us some steaks, but I had just posted about how I'm done with beef for a while after driving by a disgustingly overpopulated cattle slaughter farm that I could smell from miles away. Sorry for depriving you of meat, Mitch. Anyway, I bring this up not only because we're thankful to have such a hospitable host that welcomes our mutt, but because Uncle Dean told us something very interesting about minestrone!

It got denser and dirtier than this, and went on for miles.

Sailors often got scurvy when they were away at sea for long periods of time because their diets lacked fruits/veggies (particularly citrus). Preserved fruits and veggies just weren't around like they are today. So since they had lived off of dried meats and fish for weeks at a time, their first meal back on land was usually minestrone that was loaded with bunches of vegetables. I felt so revived after eating my plate and bowl of veggies; I can't imagine how much better those sailors felt after being deprived for so long.

This morning we got up at 4 something A.M. and packed up to drive all the way to Sacramento--another place I've never been to before. The company Mitch currently works for has their corporate HQ up here (the bigger company that owns the company he works for). All of this driving and not staying in one place for longer than 2 days has definitely caught up with me. I'm really do enjoy traveling, but I'm looking forward to some downtime.

We had some plumbing leaks that Mitch resolved on his own along the way, but now we need to disinfect our fresh/potable water plumbing because the water smells...bad. Not like sulfur, but bad enough that I think showering with it might make me smell worse, not better. *sigh* Thank goodness for campgrounds. I've learned that most people use chlorine bleach, but read that others have used white vinegar successfully. We'll have to let you know how well that works, since we definitely want to avoid drinking chlorine bleach in any amount if at all possible.

Well, I think I'm going to put the kettle on and have some tea...maybe even a french press of coffee since I'm so sleepy today. I hope you're enjoying these posts; I've received some positive feedback and we have unexpectedly fantastic numbers, but no comments and not many shares! We promise we'll have more posts about fixing up our trailer even more once we have a little time on our hands. Please feel free to comment or email us if you have any questions!

Don't forget to follow us and +1 or share our posts if you're feeling generous. ;)

Little G

Murphy's Law

(I couldn't get reliable wifi to post this draft, so it's a little postdated...originally written on Thursday 11/13/14)

Wow.  Where to begin?  Driving from Atlanta to northern California with a trailer in tow, a toddler, and a big dog named Biggie is a full time job!

We were supposed to leave a while ago but things kept going wrong, so we ended up scrambling to get things together and left on Tuesday November 11, 2014. I dropped my iPhone4 of 5 years with no so much as a cracked screen in all of that time and it was dead and gone. That probably should have clued me into what we were in for. Within the first couple of hours of driving, our trailer acquired a flat tire in Alabama.

Joy.

This was completely our fault, as we KNEW BETTER than to leave without having replaced the tires on our Shasta, but with all of the issues that kept holding us up, we totally flaked on safety and responsibility and not being idiots.  >.<  Lesson learned...don't do something you know is a bad idea.

Luckily for us, we left early enough to find a tire shop nearby that actually carried our not so common tires (13 inch), and that shop recommended a great and speedy roadside assistance company that replaced both tires and had us up and at 'em again within about an hour and a half total.  Fantastic!

All fixed up with a new pair of tires!

We were pretty exhausted from frantically packing up the last of our little things and cleaning up our apartment before leaving already, so the tire situation/stress left us feeling pretty drained.  Moving with an energetic toddler and enormous dog who want to "help" makes things a lot harder, although cuter at the same time. I don't recall exactly where in Mississippi we realized we could not go on, but it was far enough out to not know where the heck we were going to park and sleep for the night. Mitch pulled off the interstate and started going down some country roads.  He finally found a spot that he said looked perfect, and after attempting to reverse our trailer into the spot Austin Powers style for a while, I looked out and things went like this:

Dianne:  "Is that a graveyard?" 

Mitch: Scoff, Laugh "Uh, no."  [Looks again.]  "You've got to be kidding me." 

Dianne:  "Not just a graveyard, but a creepy as hell, old, haunted looking little graveyard in the middle of nowhere Mississippi.  That's where you just tried to sleep for the night." 

We both laughed it off in an "Are you serious?!" kind of way.

Heading back towards the interstate, we saw a tiny brick carwash port.  It looked perfect to our tired eyes.  As soon as we all piled into our freezing cold camper and started passing out--fully clothed and just ready to sleep--we heard a couple of knocks/thumps right outside our window.  At this point we were slightly delirious from exhaustion, and sort of alarmed. I've heard stories about Mississippi. Just sayin'. Mitch took Biggie out to cautiously investigate, came back in and said they heard someone up the hill towards the houses a ways from the car wash lot. It might have been someone messing with us, it could have been our imaginations mistaking something settling for someone messing with us, but either way we slept terribly that night as Mitch and I both kept thinking we heard something. I'm talking record breaking bad sleep--between the sudden cold weather, Cairo kicking me off our bed and me being so tired I couldn't fight it (I just curled up on the baby mattress with the dog who wouldn't sleep in his own spot), waking up at full alert after dreaming I heard something yet again, multiple roosters who thought they were supposed to start crowing at 3:30 am...it was down right miserable.

Needless to say, the next day's drive was also difficult. Both of us were cracked out on coffee and copious amounts of Red Bull, but of course still ready to sleep at the drop of a hat. I steered our trailer for the first time with white knuckles when Mitch needed a break--something I was apprehensive about first maneuvering on an unfamiliar interstate.  Of course as soon as I took over the long, flat, smooth roads disappeared and turned into rough, one lane construction detours surrounded by concreted barriers over numerous hills and bridges.  I'm lucky like that.  But I handled it just fine, and now I pretty much feel like I could drive this get up anywhere (and at 70 miles and hour, too...but probably not in reverse).

That night we checked into an RV park in Oklahoma City and got the best rest ever, or so it seemed. It was so great to drive through the states I had never been to-- Arkansas (they have A LOT more casinos than I was aware of), Oklahoma, and now Texas and New Mexico.  I'm pretty bummed that I wasn't able to check out Graceland when we passed through Memphis, but we couldn't exactly take Biggie with us on that tour. I still and always will love the King.

We were able to stop by Cadillac Ranch in Texas and throw up a couple of tags. Even Cairo got in on the fun, but then again this isn't little dude's first rodeo. It was great fun, and really cute to see all of the non graffiti/street artists out there with their spray paint cans getting up. I took some photos of people next to their work and they took some photos of our family. I'm pretty sure that most of the work that was put up while we were there is gone by now...people are constantly coming through. It's okay, I have plenty of spray paint on my boots and jacket to never forget.

The Mc-Riley clan at the Cadillac Ranch.

Tonight we're sleeping in Albuquerque, NM.  I thought it was supposed to be warm here, but there's snow sprinkled all over the mountains!  Our pipes seem to be frozen since in our streak of genius we decided not to use antifreeze in the gray or black water tanks...  We'll blame all of these common sense slip ups on sleep deprivation or something.  ;)  I can't wait for us to get to some place warmer tomorrow. We're hoping to travel to the Grand Canyon, so we'll have to be up bright and early if we're going to make that happen.

Sorry for the run on sentences, I'm about to zzzzzzzzzzzz........

Ready, set...

Mitch calls it our Silveradoshasta. (I think we need to work on the name.)

The last major hold up in our plans to take off was finding a vehicle to tow our camper. When we first began our search for a trailer, we had not planned on finding a new(er), beast of a work truck. This was mainly because of how expensive even older, very high milage trucks we found were. I had no idea how much large towing capability would cost, although upon realizing this it totally made sense. (Definitely a duh moment for me.)

Now we ended up going with a smaller, lighter weight trailer because of lower cost all around, easier and safer towing, and the numerous state/national park limits on RV length. Even though our truck can tow a lot more than what we currently have, I'm still happy with our initial decision. I suggest you give yourself plenty of time to shop if you're interested in going the truck plus trailer route and are missing either or both. Mitch and I searched for a 4 wheel drive truck/SUV over several weeks before deciding to fork over the cash for a barely used truck--it's such a better deal for the buyer if you can swing it. We found our 2013 Chevrolet Silverado at a large dealership with a mere 16,000 miles on it. Mitch was correct when he thought Ford dealerships would have cheaper Chevys than Chevrolet dealerships--a stroke of genius, in my humble opinion. And we are very happy with our decision to go with an American car company...now that I've traded in my Honda Accord I will finally stop hearing jokes about my lack of patriotism.

Anyway, I'll spare you the boring details and get to the point--now we can actually leave! We're clearing out our place in Atlanta and should be on the road 24 hours from now. I can hardly believe it. The past few days have been insane, and I'm sure tomorrow will be no exception. Our initial PackRat container was rejected because it weighed over 10,500 lbs. and their trucks tow a max of 6,000 lbs. (technically they will take it as long as it's under 10,000 lbs. but don't tell them I told you that they told me haha). PackRat charged us more for a second smaller unit to break up the load, but at least we talked them down on the price. Mitch is very talented with that sort of thing...I guess 11th grade Mitch wasn't lying when he entered "hustler" as his occupation on a some standardized personality test we found while going through ancient paperwork (yes, he really is that silly and I really do find it hilarious). Cross your fingers that all goes well tomorrow morning when PackRat comes to pick up both storage containers, because we really need to hit the road if Mitch is going to start his new job on time!

I will do my darndest to keep posting while we're on the road and living in nature--we don't exactly have satellite wifi in our trailer. I can't wait to see the Grand Canyon! Wish us luck and safety!

And then there was flooring.

We hope you had and have a Happy Halloween/Samhain/All Saints Day/Dia de los Angelitos/Dia de los Muertos. Whew--that's a mouth full. Also, Happy Anniversary to us! Hurray!!

We need to take off in a few days and still have so much left to do. Mitch is doing an amazing job getting the Shasta trailer ready while I give or throw away most of my belongings to avoid packing as much as possible. I was a military brat so I've moved more than just about anyone I've ever met, and I've been over it for a couple of decades now. Lucky for my procrastinating self, Mitch is pretty much a machine when it comes to this sort of thing.

One thing we have been very excited about is the flooring in our trailer. We spent some time looking for and thinking about what we wanted, and decided on real hardwood floors. (Bourbon Hickory from Lowes, in case you also love it.) These particular floors are very hard, so they'll take a beating and still look great.  Once you look at some of these before photos you'll understand why we're so thrilled to make this improvement.

Pulled up the "new carpet" and discovered this linoleum.

Pulled up the linoleum and found older linoleum.  Under the older linoleum we found this.  #gross

Super gross.

Mitch treated the floors with lots of bleach and elbow grease.  Then he sealed everything with Kilz.

Lots and lots of Kilz.

Kilz it all!!!!  Mooahahahahah!

As I've mentioned in previous posts, Mitch did have to repair the subflooring here and there. I probably should have had him write this blog post since I do not know technical terms, but there some layer of something between the trailer and the hardwood. Styrofoam sheets. Some layer of something. I do not forsee a future in the home improvement biz for me.

Bourbon Hickory hardwood floors

Take your shoes off!

Talk about home improvement! Wowzers. Mitch is currently nailing the boards down...they were the kind that come prefinished and snap together. Not too pricey but definitely not cheap, we decided to splurge a little since we had such little square footage to cover anyway.

In the past few days we have acquired several accessories I've deemed necessary for our Shasta. Many of these are to keep our tiny home organized without taking up tons of space, and others are for safety and comfort. Low-flow-maximizing water conserving shower head, collapsable wash bin, tiny dish drying rack, over the door laundry hamper, collapsable recycling and trash hampers, safe knife storage inside your cabinet door thingy-ma-bobber, a small outdoor propane grill, etc.  It all really adds up!  $$$  There's a lot to consider if you're planning on living in a tiny house with a high spirited little boy for a few weeks or months.

If you're shopping for stuff to pimp out your RV, beware of RV speciality stores. Their markups are insane! I found many of the exact same products on Amazon.com for half the cost. I will admit that they do carry some things that I could not find online (like pink flamingo everything), so just do your research first.

Speaking of research, I noticed that many items made for camping are labeled with a scary notice required by California state law that the materials may cause reproductive issues and birth defects. One of those notices was on a plastic foldable double dishwashing bin sold at Walmart and Amazon. Why would anyone want to wash their dishes in that? Why is it even legal to sell that? Why was the warning so small that I doubt anyone but an OCD label reader such as myself would even see it? Why did the exact same item on Amazon not even mention this in its' product description? Sketchy.

Alright.  It is our anniversary so I'm going to step away from my laptop for now.  We will probably be done painting the next time I write.  Here's a sneak peak:

That Purp.

Blast off in 10...9...8...

Little man helping Daddy fix up the Shasta.

I've been having phone/camera trouble so apologies for the delay in a follow up post.  I wanted to include pictures of our progress on the Shasta!  I guess we'll have to settle on the two I stole from Mitch's Facebook page.

The company called Mitch a few days ago and told him they've decided to move forward with his employment now rather than later.  We thought we'd have until after Thanksgiving to prepare for this move, but now we need to be ready in about a week.  So much for traveling and camping until February!   (We are very pleased with this development.)

So far Mitch has cleaned and repaired the water/plumbing system in the Shasta, rebuilt part of the main bed area, repaired and treated the floor, installed beautiful mosaic tile in the kitchenette area, painted some spots, etc.

Our new tile backsplash in the kitchenette area.  Installed completely by Mitch, wet saw and all.

We have ordered real Bourbon Hickory hardwood flooring to install, and have chosen and purchased the paints we'll use for the walls and cabinets.

When I say "we" regarding construction, I mean Mitch.  At least I picked the color scheme?

We've also acquired a Tempurpedic mattress and some bedding.  I'm not upset.

Anyway, back to the water/plumbing.  Did you know that people use "food grade" anti freeze in their RV water systems?  It looks like pink slime.  YUCK!

"Food grade antifreeze is a low hazard, propylene glycol-based heat transfer concentrate for closed water systems. This corrosion inhibitor is formulated with different compounds to effectively protect steel, cast iron, copper, cupric alloys, and aluminum against deterioration and freezing. Product is either clear or dyed with pink fluorescence for ease of detection."     

https://foodgradeantifreeze.com/

LOW hazard?  Sounds legit (<---sarcasm).  I'd rather drink from a Life Straw and bathe in freezing cold streams....and I hate me some ice cold mountain stream baths.  I took those while I was pregnant with Cairo and camping with Mitch in the mountains of northern Cali...brrrrr.  Have I mentioned that while shopping for a camper/trailer, a water heater and shower was NON-NEGOTIABLE?  Sun showers are okay when it's warm outside but it gets breezy out there!  (We will also have a sun shower.)

We also ordered and received our non-electric, manual clothes washing machine.  No, it's not a washboard.  I've seen and wanted one of these Wonderwash machines since I first discovered them in high school while perusing a yoga/green lifestyle magazine that came with some yoga something or another I ordered.  High school wasn't that long ago, but I guess long enough that yoga studios weren't really a normal thing around every corner...but I digress.  Here's how I'm not going to look or smell like a bum:

The Wonderwash.

I found other non electric ways to clean clothes, but this is the only one that was small enough to drag around yet large enough to fit some of Mitch's clothes in.  The struggle of being an extra tall man's wifey...  Now, being the online review junkie I am before I purchase things, I discovered some information about this machine that made it superior to others.  It has a pressure sealed lid, very sturdy construction, and you can achieve cleanliness comparable to that of an electric washer if you sit there and properly agitate the crap out of those clothes (you have to hear the "plop") for as long as your electric washer would.  I understand that this will be tedious, but it still beats using my hands on a washboard with Mitch's britches.

The only thing my weak upper body is dreading is that there is no spin cycle on the Wonderwash, so we will have to hand wring items.  Thankfully Mitch has sworn to help me with that.  I've almost completed hand sewing my clothespin apron--it's not taking long, I'm just putting it off because Procrastination is my middle name.  Of course we also still need to get a clothesline set up of sorts, but I've researched this before and it's easy peasy.

Another thing anyone planning to live in nature must consider is the footprint they leave behind.  Unfortunately not everyone cares or even realizes that the shampoo or laundry detergent they're using is full of chemicals that harm the natural flora of the area.  Our family swears to always be conscious of the effect our actions will have on the earth, and will definitely be using safe, biodegradable soaps whenever we bathe in streams or do our laundry out there.

I think a non-electric clothes washing option is a good idea for anyone to consider, camping or not.  Especially our friends in LA and NYC, where blackouts have been known to happen.  It's bad enough you're sweaty and don't have A/C--don't let your drawers get stinky, too!  Have you ever read any/watched any long term survivalist books/shows?  Sanitation is important.  I'm not really a doomsday type, but I guess that book about the aftermath of nuclear war from 9th grade made a small impression.  I think the Wonderwash is a great option for dorms and city apartment dwellers who hate dragging enormous sacks of laundry to the laundromat as much as I did.

Well, it looks like I'm getting stuck on a conversation with myself about a washing machine.  I think it's time to wrap this blog post up.  We will be renovating and packing boxes and our POD all week, as well as dumping a ton of stuff we don't need to drag across the country.  Maybe we'll have a yard sale/giveaway and a Farewell Dirty South party.  I'll keep you posted.

In the beginning, there were Pikeys.

Quick outline:

• Why we decided to go tiny house/off grid.

• Things we considered before committing/spending money.

• How we've decided to go about it.

• Our budget vs. our goals.

• "Before" photos of our new old tiny home/camper.

1982 Shasta Friendship 16'

My partner Mitch received a job offer that would relocate us from Atlanta, Georgia to the Santa Cruz/San Jose, California area. It seemed like a sure thing, but then that changed. Our hearts were already set on living on the West Coast (again, for Mitch), so we decided to make it happen--job or no job (the job is still up in the air). Our current lease ends the first week of December 2014, so we think we have just enough time to prepare.

I (Dianne) have done all of my camping with Mitch who is a pro at living off the grid, in the wild, off the land, sustainably.... If the apocalypse ever goes down, I picked the right dude to procreate with because we are going to be just fine! (No, I don't for see an apocalypse-- but the people who do have great tips for living off the grid!) I've roughed it enough to know that a camper would be much nicer than tent camping for a few months. Mitch has lived in a traveling school bus converted into a home, long dreadlocks to boot, so this is all familiar to him.

Us adults started brainstorming and decided to go the gypsy/hippy/tiny house route. After looking at a couple of motor homes and travel trailers within our budget, and upon learning how much weight certain vehicles can tow, we decided a smaller camper would be the least expensive way to accomplish our goals. Big trucks strong enough to tow larger RV's cost big money between the initial purchase, gas, and maintenance...something we're not into.

If you're going to live in a tiny space and off the grid for months, you want to make sure you have everything you need and a few creature comforts to make life more bearable. For me that meant a camper with a flushable toilet and shower, a kitchenette, and of course room for us parents, our little boy, and our enormous dog to sleep comfortably. Air conditioning was a must for me, since we plan on spending time in some pretty hot places on our extended road trip out to the west coast.

I'll spare you the details of our adventures in camper shopping and just say that there are way too many scam artists out there. It was almost funny watching these folks try and lie to us, though...can't hustle a hustler, son! If you don't have a lot of street smarts or experience hustling, just remember this:

"If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."  --Unknown

Test EVERYTHING before you buy it, and if something doesn't work correctly--renegotiate!

[By the way, our lives were a lot different before we had our son. We weren't bad people...just...experienced in a lot of areas most people aren't. Well, that's enough of that. We're good people, and our lives revolve around raising our son in a nurturing, loving, healthy, safe environment.]

Yesterday, we ended up purchasing a 1982 Shasta Friendship 16 foot camper for a final renegotiated price of $1700. It has a full bathroom (toilet, sink, stand up shower, medicine cabinet), full kitchenette (propane-and-propane-accessories 4 burner stove/mini oven, mini microwave, mini fridge), a/c...a dream come true for the girly girl in me. This thing absolutely needs a makeover, but that's the part we're most excited about!

Even though we live inside a major city, we are lucky enough to have a gravel driveway to park our Shasta camper in at our current home. We plan on ripping out the walls, ceiling, and floor to treat for rust and reseal it to fix and prevent leaks. The camper needs a new freshwater tank to replace the punctured one (we talked the seller's price down to cover the expense of this issue). After the plumbing, electrical (which seems 100% fine), and sealing issues are taken care of--the beautifying can begin. All of this work is going to be a heck of a lot easier to accomplish when it's right outside our front door!

I can't wait to start shopping for the fun stuff, but we are on somewhat of a budget. I'm not trying to go "glamping." Spending $10,000 to restore a camper would kind of defeat our purpose. Another issue--we need a 4x4 truck or SUV to tow this bad boy around. Luckily, it's small and light enough that we do not have to purchase a 3/4 or full ton 4x4 truck to haul it around. Mitch and I both own our cars out right, so we plan on trading them in for one reliable vehicle to tow our new home. By the way, I'm totally okay with Mitch buying me a Caddy after we do end up settling down after all of this.

Another bonus of it being so short--it is allowed into all of California's national and state parks with RV parking. There are limits to how long your camper can be, which vary from park to park, so if you're considering doing something like this and are shopping for a camper--please be aware of this and check those limits out! National parks are the best, but there are a lot more state parks on the coach. The fees are very inexpensive, and sometimes there are annual passes one can purchase which cuts the cost even more.

I'll keep posting pictures and details of our progress in preparing for our journey and new life on the road, as well as our budget. I am trying to keep the total start up cost of this within $5,000. We have a lot of things we will be selling off, which will contribute to keeping out-of-pocket expenses down. For the time being, however, we are $1700 down with $3300 to spare on fixing up this Shasta.

Did I mention Mitch was trained by a master carpenter, has built/restored old houses and restaurants, and either owns or has access to any and all tools needed for free? It helps to have such a manly man with all of his manly skills and tools to keep costs down by doing everything yourself (okay, himself...I can't construct jack to save my life). We also have a friend who used to restore and rent out campers should we need any advice.

I hope that documenting this process will help any other people out there considering tiny home living some ways to go about it. I'm sure our way won't be perfect for everyone, but bits and pieces might be right for you. I've seen photos of a couple living out of their Honda Element, so this plan is luxurious in comparison. On the other hand, have you SEEN some of the multimillion dollar Class A Motorhomes? I'd like to think we're going to exist something like I imagine gypsies do, or like Pikeys in the movie Snatch. Minus the incoherent accent and caravan of other people/families in campers traveling with us.  Although it would be awesome to start one, don't ya' think?!


Check out some the "BEFORE" photos of our new home:

We will be adding a rack to the back for extra storage and our bicycles.

The tiny bathroom is through the mirrored door.

We are going to rebuild and extend the platform for our bed, after we finish repairing the water system beneath it.

We will rearrange the table here so that the dining area converts into our son's bed.

There's so much work to do, and so many things to consider and prepare for...how we earn money for gas and food...I could make this first blog entry 10 times longer and still not touch on everything. One step at a time, though!

Please share our blog with others if you enjoy reading it!  It would help us immensely!

Feel free to comment on our posts or shoot us an email, and we'll do our best to respond promptly:

OGsustainability@gmail.com


-OGs

*Last but not least, please don't be offended by my use of the word Pikey.  It's not meant in any sort of derogatory way.