Back to the life I love!

I hope to be back in an RV soon. A few years ago, circumstances led to me moving out of my wonderful shady spot in the woods, and into a cabin on a river. That was okay, I thought, especially as I was helping to support the friend who owned the campground there. But as time went by, various factors twisted around the situation until I felt it was no longer tenable, so I moved to the nearby town of Fredericksburg, Texas.

I had lived NEAR Fredericskburg--near enough that it was my mailing address--for years, since 1999, mostly. When I moved to the area initially, I was living in a 31' Airstream travel trailer. Combined with a Chevy Suburban tow vehicle, and with my trusty Honda CRX for a commuter car, it was a nice situation. At the time, my total monthly expenses were well under $500; after deducting approximately 60% of my pay, my take-home was almost $800 every two weeks. The way that situation ended deserves a few chapters to explain, but I won't do it here; other people are involved, and I'd rather respect their privacy.

Life is about change, and things changed. I got married, got a different trailer, a different car, a different career...and after going through about a quarter-million in two years, well...I found myself on my own again. I have changed substantially since that time, and so has the career that paid so well. My plans for moving into a "real house" have met with the fact that I'm not happy in a "real house." I like RVs. I like tiny. I like being able to move without packing. I like being out in the natural world, yet carrying enough technology that I don't have to face bears and bugs tooth and claw. Intelligence is what sets humans apart from those toothsome bloodsuckers, right? :)

I took the first step in October: I moved out of my apartment. The place I'd planned to move to, backed out as I was packing, so I wrangled another. But rather than saving me money, the place I landed turned out to be a disaster; the homeowner has no income other than me, and is addicted to television and materialism. Quite the opposite of what I am. I won't go into further detail on that, either, except to admit there are many other things that make me uncomfortable about this situation. For example, he smokes, and I'm allergic to tobacco.

My hope was that I would be able to save a few hundred a month, buy a flatbed trailer, and start building an RV of my design on that platform. I've been kicking thoughts around for years, and I'm pretty sure of what I want the base design to be. Having lived in RVs, and seen much of what typical RVs are like, and what RVers have to put up with, it seems obvious that I'm not going to be able to BUY what I want, no matter where I look, nor how much money I spend. Since I don't HAVE any money lol I don't think that's going to be an issue for me.

But to save money, I need either a responsible homeowner to rent from--so that I don't have to support his crises--or I need to get out of houses completely. I'm on the edge of jumping off the cliff, and moving into a vehicle.

I have two to choose from: A 1995 Chevy Tahoe, and a 1989 Honda station wagon, or Wagovan. I'm fairly small, and can easily live in either, but I really like the Honda. Both vehicles are old, with over 200K miles, and many small problems. Currently, I'm in the midst of replacing the water pump on the Tahoe; I just had the brake booster replaced last month, and should replace the power steering pump and hoses sometime in the next year. I'd like to replace the parking lights with brighter LED lamps on both vehicles, and I should clean and lubricate the door locks and window tracks on both vehicles. They'll both need new tires this year.

Both vehicles have fully-reclining front seats, so I could sleep in those seats if I wanted (and I have, many many times!), but they also have fold-down rear seats, and there is room in the back to put my pallet--which is what I sleep on in a house, so it would be just like home. :) I can sit up in the cargo compartments, so on rainy days, I could fix meals, read, play on my computer, whatever, in the back. I have a Bluetooth keyboard that has a switch to select different devices, and it works with my iPhone, so I could use my iPhone as easily as a computer, at a fraction of the energy cost.

My dream has been to make a living as a writer, since I was a teenager. This is a path I could follow to do it...working full-time to pay for a place to live has been severely crippling, since it takes me a while to unwind from society and get into writer's mode. (That's one reason my blog is so sparse!) As chatty as I am, I won't go into detail about why society is so challenging for me; let it be enough that I think society is insane to a huge degree, and obsessions with television, hypocritical religion, and corrupt politics is part of it. Parents who lie to their children, rather than educate and control them, help promulgate that insanity.

In January, there is a gathering of people who live in vans, RVs, and yes, cars. http://www.cheaprvliving.com/gatherings/ It's about a thousand miles away; in my Honda, that's about $250 in fuel, round trip, worst case. (At current local prices and the mileage I expect to get, it'd be less than $100 lol) If the little car survives the trip, it'll cost me less to make the trip, than to pay rent. My current job is unskilled retail, with no advancement path that interests me; I can easily find matching work anywhere, so even if the car breaks down, I won't be any worse off than I am here. The only challenge is my littles: I have a dog--no problem on the road--and a cat...well, the cat is a bit wild, and I don't think I could contain her. The coyotes would be sure to get her, if not traffic or snakes or well-meaning rescuers.

If I can find a solution for the cat, I believe I will make the attempt. A first step to committing to my dream! :) After that, I will know for sure if I would be willing to stay living in the car long enough to save the money I need to begin my RV project. I estimate I could have a livable RV for less than $3,000, but I plan to do things like:

• build in enough insulation to be warmer than a house in cold climates, with a fraction of the energy
• put in a rainwater-collection system with a solar-powered distiller (I might even collect my own interior condensation and distill my gray water)
• put in a composting toilet 
• have PVC pipes for wiring and plumbing--that is, run my plumbing PVC through 4" PVC--for ease of maintenance and upgrades 
• I'm considering cooling systems that won't use compressors, such as evaporative cooling; designing one for an RV will be challenging, with all the other stuff I plan to have on the roof!
• make the entire cabin removable in minutes, so the flatbed trailer can be driven away and used for cargo
• make it light enough that my Tahoe can pull it, at least if I stay out of the Rockies!
• and of course, add solar power, with lithium iron phosphate batteries.

Of course, I'll do all the work; I'm skilled enough in construction and engineering that I have full confidence in my ability. I expect the total cost to be around $10,000, not counting my labor. I plan to take about two years to complete it, since I'll still have to work for a living; my nest egg evaporated with my marriage, and I'm not old enough to start Social Security. I'm not sure that's going to be around by the time I am old enough. :)