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[Camper_Dan]

Greetings!

I have recently upgraded from my camper van to an RV, and it's been a great choice for me.

I had all my necessities covered with my self built camper van, but this RV is about 1000% more comfortable and more practical.  It's just as easy to drive as the van alone, and gets pretty close to identical gas mileage at 18mpg on the highway.

It's old, a 1976, and it was ugly when I bought it for $800.  The license was out of date by 10 years, but the owner said it ran when it was parked.  It's a 318 Dodge drivetrain, and I've had good luck with them, so  I figured I'd roll the dice.  It was damp inside & moldy smelling, because the roof had developed leaks around the roof vents and the A/C.  Other than the smell, the interior looked brand new, just dusty, and the odometer read only 34k miles.

It was already in a storage lot, so I had a perfect place to work on it, and the rent was only $30/mo. and paid up for that month, and it was only the 3rd.  It only took me 3 days to make it road worthy, livable, and downright new looking both inside & out.  After new batteries, tires, belts, hoses, an oil change, thorough lube & grease job, I have a grand total of just under $2k in it, and it runs, drives, and looks like it's brand new.

I also fixed the leaky roof and ran a rented ozone generator in it overnight to kill off any hidden mold, and it smells brand new inside and the moldy smell has not returned.

After many years in my camper van, I had almost forgotten how luxurious, roomy, comfortable, and convenient a full fledged factory motorhome could be.  Totally off grid ready without the need for solar or any other nonsense.  I can start the generator with the simple push of a button without ever going outside, and I have a microwave for the first time in many years.

So life is good, I can still park for free on many city streets, and since it's an obvious camper it doesn't make any of the neighbors nervous.  None of the negative stigma attached to unknown cargo vans.  The rear dualies also make it much better for forest service roads.

I'm now into forced retirement, and I'm sure glad I saved up good money while working because living on the small amount of SS I'm getting, while possible, would really suck especially with the current gas prices & inflation. 

I plan to travel for now, and maybe settle into an RV park if one feels right. 

I rescued a young lady & her kids from an abusive situation, so I now have a family, and life is brighter than ever.  They all have severe trauma, but know they're safe with me, and we won't be easy to find by their abuser, since we're constantly moving for now.  It's funny how the stars line up... I switch to a MH with extra beds, and a week later we needed them.  I guess somebody somewhere had a plan for all of us.

We're currently camped for free on the Rio Grande, near Albuquerque, NM.  Mid 70's with occasional sprinkles.  We're stocked up on groceries for a week or more, so we might just chill & I'll teach the kids how to fish.  This is a great new adventure for my new family.  Very enjoyable.

That's all for now, hope everybody is safe & happy.

[caroline]

i enjoyed reading your post. it was nice. I hope you and your family are safe out there.

[Camper_Dan]

Greetings!

Things are going well, the trauma from their previous abuse is slowly going away, and we're all enjoying our new lives.  I took them to Disney World, Sea World, Key West, and an airboat ride through the Everglades.

After Florida we headed back West on I-10, and followed highway 101 North up the California coast, frequently camping within view of the ocean.  The seafood along the coast is amazing, and saltwater taffy too!  Today, we're at the Oregon State Fair in Salem Oregon, on our way up to the Olympic Peninsula for maybe a month before heading back South for the winter.

So many places to go & so much to see, for people who have never seen it before.  I have to say I think it's all more enjoyable when you have somebody to share it with. 

With the help from a fellow at a vanlife get together we visited, we've started a money making website, that we can manage from the road.  It looks promising, and the total cost to get it going was really cheap.  I want to get them a reliable income so they can live a good life with or without me.  Made $2500 in the first month, and we're on track to double it this month.  Hired a programmer on Fiverr to automate it as much as possible, and a different person to advertise the website, so we'll see how everything goes.  A work from home business seems ideal, since it can be done from anywhere, even while traveling.  Hopefully it will work out long term, but only time will tell.

Cheers!

[caroline]

glad to hear that! so nice to hear your travel/family stories. hope your business will turn out well! God bless!

[Camper_Dan]

Greetings!

Thanks!  Things are going better than I could have ever imagined.  We've opened a similar but separate business for me, so I will have better retirement income as well.  Everything is now fully automated for both businesses or the actual work is being farmed out to others.  We're paying for hosting, advertising, and website repair/maintenance.  All in our costs are under $100/mo for each business, and with the very first monthly customer for each business, it covers the full monthly cost.

Paying for advertising has really fast tracked both businesses, I could have retired and lived a life of luxury starting 30+ years ago if I had known the right formula then...  Oh well, better late than never!

I bought a minivan so we can explore Western Washington while leaving the motorhome parked.  We had lunch at the top of the Space Needle, spendy, but the view is killer, and rode the monorail into downtown Seattle to visit Pike's Place market & tour underground Seattle.

So much to see & do when you're not also working full time.  I thought I had a done a lot of exploring in the hundreds of areas that I worked in over the years, but I'm now discovering that I barely scratched the surface.  Of course with multiple people with different ideas, that can expand your horizon too.

We've got a really neat arrangement on a farm, getting paid $1,000/mo while staying in a beautiful single full hookup campsite right on the Dungeness River, for pseudo security right at the farm entrance.  Evidently, just our presence, or the presence of our motorhome, helps to deter trespassers, and we're welcome to stay forever if we wish.  We're also welcome to work on the farm and get paid too, but it's not required. 

I don't think we're ready to settle down yet, but it's an interesting possibility for the future, especially in the summer.  So life is good for now, just about perfect weather, and great fishing.

Cheers!

[caroline]

wow! you got a lot of opportunities! Does it ever occur to you to create a blog? you've got a lot of great stories to tell, and you could also help others with travel and stuff.

[Camper_Dan]

Greetings!

Opportunities are everywhere if we allow ourselves to be open to them.

The young lady has decided she wants us to be a couple, and the 40+ years difference in our ages doesn't bother her a bit.  The kids have begged me to say yes, and life is so good right now, I would have been a fool to turn down the offer, so I accepted.

The farmer and I, and our families have become very good friends, so we have decided to make this our new permanent home.  We found a cheap mobile home to move onto the land, and while we'll no longer be getting paid to be here, it will be our home base, and we'll still be free to travel as we wish. 

Even though all the utilities are available, we're setting up our place to be totally off the grid, so we'll have no rent, and no utility bills.  A micro hydro generator for power, rain catchment for water, geothermal for base heating and cooling, and an off grid septic system.  If everything works out as planned, we will later convert the farmhouse to be totally self sustaining as well, and eliminate their utility bills too.

We'll head south for the winter, then return in the spring.  The kids are looking forward to working on the farm, alongside the farmer's kids.  They are great friends, and with my knowledge & skills, plus the vast resources of the internet, we have some pretty great plans to improve the farm and increase the growing season.  I might not make the greatest worker anymore at my age, but I can still be a good teacher, mentor, and supervisor.  Plus I can also still drive almost anything on wheels. 

With satellite internet we'll have more resources than ever available at our fingertips.  They had no internet here before our arrival, not even computers, just an old school farm.  Since we're right on hwy 101, I think a farm stand could increase their revenue as well, by selling fresh fruit, vegetables, farm fresh eggs, and honey directly to the public, because they have a huge surplus above and beyond what they can sell to the stores.

I just bartered some of the surplus for enough meat to feed the farmer's family and ourselves for at least a year.  One whole beef and one whole hog, all butchered, wrapped, and labeled.  Each of us wound up with a whole 8 foot freezer full of meat, for surplus that would have gone to waste.

We're going to try our hand at converting the rest of the surplus into bio-ethanol to help offset the high prices of gas and diesel.  My ideas for the farm are already paying off, and are making a huge difference.

I'm enjoying the challenges for a new and improved lifestyle.  The new businesses are vastly exceeding our expectations and income needs, so the future looks brighter than ever.  With the world going crazy around us, living off the grid and being self sufficient is starting to look like a really good choice though.  We can hunt, fish, and grow our own food without ever leaving the property.

I don't have a blog or anything, and feel like I'm too busy to commit to anything that would need to get updated regularly.  With a new family and everything, it seems like I'm busier than ever, but that's not a complaint.  I've been enjoying every moment of it.

Cheers!

[caroline]

could you share some pictures of the places that you and your family have been to? it must be really nice.

[Camper_Dan]

Greetings!

Sorry, I haven't had a camera since the polaroid days.  I don't even have a cell phone, I just use VOIP with my laptop & a headset.  One less bill to pay, and no phone to annoy me.  People just leave a message, then I can call them back at my convenience, and choose who I wish to call back at all.  If I'm online it does alert me instantly if a call comes in, and I do have the option of answering it if I deem it important enough.  We do have satellite internet for the homestead, and a hotspot for the motorhome. 

I probably should get cell phones for all of us now though, so if we get separated we can find each other.  Never really thought about it until just now...  Having a family is still pretty new for me, so I guess I have a lot to learn and new things to consider.  All in all, we're extremely happy though, and happy to all be together as a family.  Photo albums of the kids growing up might be a good thing as well.  Now that we have a homestead, space for such things won't be such a big issue, and now they could even be digital rather than physical.  I guess I've always been more interested in making memories instead of being a shutterbug, but things are different now.  New ways for new days, and I just need to adapt.

We got the mobile home set up, the hydro power working, and we're moved in.  Still a  lot of work to complete everything, but it will have to wait until spring now that the weather has turned. 

I've secured a cheap campsite near San Diego for the winter, and we're preparing to head South as soon as possible to prevent too much winter driving conditions.  We're home schooling the kids for present, so we don't need to hassle with the public education system vs. our travels.

We'll be traveling South slowly and taking in all the tourist type things along the way.  We're planning on doing Quartzsite in January for the big RV show & swap meet, and to possibly meet up with old friends, and maybe even make some new ones.

Cheers!

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