Come on - sing it with me

I'm so excited!!!!

Signed a contract with my realtor last friday for the sale of my houses in Oklahoma.  I had just arrived at my daughter's in Maryland barely a week before he called and said he had a buyer.  So I turned around and headed back here where I'll be using the next few weeks to finalize business and finish clearing out the houses.

This has made me think long and hard about my next steps.

Here's what I think so far - opinions and suggestions are welcome.

I bought a 4 x 8 Harbor Freight trailer for my trip back east thinking I would be gone for about 6 months.  It traveled really well and didn't reduce my MPG buy by about 1/2 gallon.  I had to buy a new tarp in Maryland, but thanks to my friend Robert, I now know how to prevent going through tarps like they where sheets in the wind.

So, I'd rather have a tall aluminum Cargo Trailer to make into a portable Shower/Workshop/Kitchen.  I don't plan on sleeping in it as I prefer to sleep in the van for those times when I need or want to make a quick get away. 

I've been looking at places to order one on line, but know that it would probably be cheaper to find one for sale through craigslist or ebay.  But, once the papers are signed on the house I'll have to leave it and don't have much time to shop around.

So, do I sell the 4 x 8 and hope to find an enclosed trailer soon?  Or do I keep the 4 x 8 and take it with me to Georgia, Florida or North Carolina and try to find the perfect cargo trailer enroute.

The next issue is that I've decided I want to buy a small piece of land in or near Cherokee NC.  I want to put a small shed/house/camper/trailer on it - hopefully off grid to use as my home base.  I teach and make native american crafts and can find plenty of work around Cherokee, plus there's an Indian clinic there for my health care needs.  I'm not really selling the houses for very much, they're going "as is" to an investor and I need to plan for future needs instead of blazing through the money and not have anything to show for it when I get older and sicker.

So, what do y'all think?

Peace, Love and Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Pre – build pictures. My Baby Here’s the pictures of my 1994 G20 Van converted by Glaval – Unconverted by ME
 
The access port on the left is where I stick the extension cord through when plugged into shore power.
The 100ft extension cord is resting between the outside and inner walls. The black extension cord (with yellow plugs, pic 3) is plugged into the female end of the extension cord.

Here’s the rust around my windows. Leonard helped me take the window out and I use the grinder to take away all the loose rust. After this I brushed Rust Converter on the frame, and sprayed primer where I was going to paint. (I’ll get to the paint soonish.) The next day we put the window back in. Taking the window out and putting it back in is a two person job.


I taped reflectix to the outside walls, but by the time I got to the back quarter panels I was ending up with a lot of odd sized/shaped pieces of reflectix – so I just taped them together like a crazy quilt. I didn’t bother to cut them to the perfect shape or size figuring any overlap is more insulation value.


 Here’s what the wall looked like after I removed the inner walls.  Lots of wires.  I left all this stuff and it is still behind the walls once I put them back up.  What you don't see won't hurt you.

I was able to remove the carpet and padding by myself



There were a bazillion itsy bitsy rust spots like those shown here. I sanded them, painted on rust converter then sprayed them with primer. Overkill? Maybe – but at least I know the floor won’t rust through from the inside out!

Ok, y’all may laugh – and that’s OK. After mom passed a few years back I ended up with tons of styro places and bowls. Since I try not to use styro (I’d rather wash a plate than throw one away) I came up with a way to use them in the van.  I crumpled them so they wouldn’t work their way back to being stacked together, plus I knew that if I got a lot of squeaking that I could remove the panels and throw them away. But, after several months and much travel they’re working out great. What you don’t see is the layer of reflectix taped to the door from the inside. So, the door has reflectix and either carpet padding and/or styro bowl/plate for insulation.


Here’s I have finished taping reflectix to the outside walls and over the wheel wells and the ¾” foil back styro insulation on the floor. Plus the ¾” subfloor plywood is down. Before putting the styro and subflooring down, I put the walls back up
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Here’s where I laid down some nice vinyl flooring from Lowes. I hated the carpet and love this easy to clean floor now.
 

You’ll see the bed frame below. Under the mattress, Leonard made cubbys for me to put my clothes/food/tools. The mattress rests on a piece of ¼” plywood.

I used to have the house battery in a plastic box vented outside. Now I have it in its own wooden space that Leonard built. He made it large enough to fit 2 batteries. The 800 watt inverter is screwed to the front of the bed frame, right behind the driver’s seat. Its easy for me to reach and I can disconnect one of the leads so that the battery doesn’t go down due to Phantom Draw  I do not have the battery box vented.

At the end of the bed frame is a box where I can put my big stuff, like my 20lb propane tank and extra 5 gallon water bottle. Robert Clark made me a cover for it (not shown), so now I can use it as a chair. Its just the right height and in the right place for me to sit and cook on the coleman.

Here’s the counter that Leonard made for me. He built a box type thing for my bar sink and hand pump. I have a tube from the hand pump down into the bottle below. To the right of my sink is my Coleman cooktop, and below are tubs of food items and cooking utensils. I plan on enclosing the open shelves so everything isn’t visible.  

 

The van is far from being “finished” but I’ll get around to it some day.  I think I now have 90% of the things I want for long term boondocking. There’s plenty of work left to do – and plenty of time to do it in. I hope to see you down the road and to share a campfire and a meal with you some day. Send questions or comments to BarkingWaters@gmail.com. Donna Wiggins

Monday 3 18 2013

Found out today that I do indeed have a buyer for my houses in oklahoma so I'm headin back that way tomorrow. I'm a little surprised I'm not having an Oh, S*&t! moment wondering if I've done the best thing. I'm completely OK with this and actually feel like I'm about to begin the part of my life I've hoped, planned and dreamed for. I will soon be houseless, living full time in a 1994 G20 Van. I have a bed, storage, sink, cook top, toilet and outdoor attachments (screen room, shower room) that make everything nice and comfy. This trip I brought my TV, but I've been staying at my daughter's in Maryland and its been coolllddddd, so I've not been in the van except to sleep. And I've slept in it even in the 20s. I sleep under a fuzzy blanket stuffed inside a very warm sleeping bag. I keep the little buddy heater pilot on, though it really doesn't provide much heat, and turn the heater on when I'm awake. I don't sleep with it on - I'm pretty sure the oxy sensor would work just fine, but would hate to wake up dead to realize mine was the one in a million where it didn't work. So, my friends, my complete, happy, easy livin life is about to begin. A few more weeks in Oklahoma to clear up last little bits of business and then I'm on the road for good. Hope to see you somewhere down the line. Peace, Love and Freedom

Back and Forth

Hey all, I want to catch up on my trip so far, so grab a cup of coffee or tea, in my case, and travel the past 9 days with me. On day 3 of my trip, I arrived at Glade Creek Campground and met with fellow VanDweller Dave Campbell from WV. The trip from Kentucky to Beckly Wv was pretty uneventful, except when I stopped for gas at Murphy Gas/Wal Mart, I lost my locking gas cap. Actually, I still have the key and really think it will show up around here once I get my traveling legs under me good and I can finally get organized. Wal Mart sells gas caps, but not for my old van, so I went in town and bought another. Did you know that for those of you in states where Murphy Gas gives you a discount if you use a Wal Mart Shopping card, that you can also sign up with MurPay.com. On that site, you can text how much money you want to spend and get a special code to put in the gas pump. Then pump the gas and what ever the lowest price within 24 hours prior is what you pay. This comes in handy if the gas is skyrocketing. On day 4 of my trip, Dave and I just sat around the camp, ate, walked around the campground and generally had a good, quiet time. The morning of day 5, it was overcast and rain was predicted. Dave asked if we could leave early (we'd planned on staying until Wednesday morning) and I told him I would be happy to stay or glad to go. I really wanted to see my granddaughters in Maryland, so choosing whether to sit in an overcast, chilly campground all day wasn't really a difficult choice to make. So I drove to my daughter's in Westminster MD. Since then I've been here in Maryland, (its now Sunday night). I was here for my granddaughter's 3rd birthday and have enjoyed my stay so far. I'm getting antsy to head on down the road or back to Oklahoma. Why back to Oklahoma already? Well, the realtor called and he has a firm offer on the houses so I might go back to finish clearing out the houses and close on the sale. I've been pulling a 4 x 8 trailer and will offload it here in Maryland then when I come back with the last load, I'll decide what I need with me and what I can leave at my daughter's or give to charity. There's really not that much in the houses, but I kept thinking if I didn't sell the houses and ended going back there in the fall that I'd need what was left behind. I've also been working on orders for customers. I'm going to set up my sewing machine and table in the van tomorrow. Working on special orders while on the road has been one possibility for me to make income and I need to try my hand at it. I've sewn in the van last summer, and used the house battery to power the sewing machine. But, being here for a week, and using my lamp some, I'm not wanting to run my battery down. I have a meter on my inverter but if i get busy sewing and forget to keep track I could ruin this new battery. So, I'm gonna run a power line from my daughter's house to the van. Oh, I also bought a jack up wheel thingy for the front hitch of the trailer. The first time I tried to back up and hitch to it, it took me 7 tries to get it right. Robert Clark has given me some pointers on how to do this without all the false tries. But, with the wheel hitch thingy, if I get close I could just nudge the trailer over and lower it on the ball. Robert also told me what to do so I knew where the back of the trailer was while backing it. See its so narrow that when backing it, you really don't know where it is until its way out of line and in sight of your rear view mirrors. If I don't go back to Oklahoma then I'll head south to Florida. I'll try to get there before the end of the week. I hope you enjoy my blog. I'll be in touch. Peace, Love and Rolling Wheeled Hitch Thingys

Slow Mosey I - day 2

Good evening, This morning I was able to finally stop by Springfield Leather Center in Springfield, MO. I usually buy all my leather and tools at Tandy in Tulsa, but SLC puts Tandy to shame. Wow! I spent over an hour there and then stopped by Jo-Anns to return some fabric and buy some green taffeta so I can finish a special order. Didn't get out of Springfield till about 11am which was a good 3 - 4 hours later than hoped. I'm sitting at McDonals in Princeton, KY and will go find the hosptial to spend the night. There's not a big ole Wal Mart here and I actually enjoy sleeping in a Hospital's parking lot (as long as I can park somewhat far from the ER entrance - for obvious reasons). Its not unusual to see out of state car tags, especially for a town that's right on the highway. The trailer is holding together. Each time I stop I do a walk around. In MO I noticed one of the license tags screws had come off (oh, yeah, now I remember I was going to get some plyers to titghten them down) and the one screw that was left was barely holding on. The fix? Zip Ties. After it started getting dark I started wondering if the hitch ball was tight still. I hadn't checked it and every little bump had me worried. But, here at McDonalds, I looked at it and its still safe and secure. I'm going to the WV GTG and will have a 7 hour drive tomorrow. I'm actually feeling like I'll never get there. But, when you drive 60 mph it takes a while to drive 983 miles. But, that's OK. I hope to be there until Tuesday then hotfoot it over to my daughter's in Maryland to help celebrate my granddaughter's third birthday. Peace, Love and Kudos to the person that invented Zip Ties.

Slow Mosey I. 2013

Left Pawhuska yesterday for my first slow mosey of 2013.

 I left a lot later than hoped, but since I hope to be gone about six months, I bad to be  sure I had everything packed for the 5 classes I'm teaching, plus all the stuff I'm giving to my  daughter  and others along  the_ way.

 I'll soon be putting a video online of my build of my4x8 Harbor  Freight trailer.   Plus I'll post a photo of my van pulling my new trailer and how I put the hitch rack given to me by Leonard S. and modified  by Robert C. on the front of the trailer. Its A pretty sweet setup.

 I haven't checked my MPG yet, but it does seem to be using a little more than usual though I'm still driving about 60.

 I'm heading to the WVGTG and should be there Saturday morning.

 See y'all down the road!

Peace, Love and faith in my trailer building ability!!!