– Original date: 2020-06-14
– Labels: Iowa, Camper, Nebraska, US
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Greetings and Woofs,
This is a story all about how my life got complicated and I ended up in Iowa. No really, it is an interesting story and not at all how I thought my dive into the wonderful world of nomadic living would begin.
I won’t get into essential details on this part, but I’m including the “too long didn’t read” version because it was the catalyst for all of this. My boyfriend of almost 2 years (living together for over a year), decided my depression was too hard to deal with and dumped me. Skipping over triggering and personal details… I ended up coming back to the idea of tiny living. I had been interested in it ever since I had become homeless the first time. Faced with the idea of being homeless for the third time in my adult life (not to mention multiple times as a child), I decided to go for it. I auctioned off my belongings on eBay. Then I scoured Craigslist, RV Trader, the classifieds in the local paper, went to Camping World (please don’t ever buy from them), and then I found my beautiful Shasta. I saved up for three months and bought her. Luckily the person selling her and I worked out a payment plan. I had planned to fully remodel her, but couch-surfing became a problem. Before I knew it, I was living in her full time, and the repair wasn’t even finished. It was a thrown together, half-done job, but she is livable.
I started out camping in a friend’s driveway, paying a small portion of rent in exchange for electricity, internet, and water. I had to get out of Texas, though. The memories were killing me, and I had family begging me to come back home.
So I hitched up the camper, and Willow and I drove from Texas to Nebraska in 2 days. It was an exciting drive and go figure as soon as I got to Nebraska my family acted like they had no clue I was coming. In fact, they wouldn’t allow me to even stay with them. I barely had any money left, and I couldn’t believe the family that said, “come on up” was saying, “sorry, turn around.”
I had one family member I could count on, but she lived an hour away in Iowa in the smallest of small towns about 10 miles from where I grew up. So I hitched the camper and took off again. I’ve almost been camping out here for a year, and things are going okay. I am, of course, itching to move on, and I am sure my cousin wants her yard back. I’ve compiled a list of things I would do differently after my first year of full-time camper living.
- I would have gotten a mini-fridge sooner.
- I would have tried to finish remodeling her before the winter hit.
- I would have gotten rid of more stuff.
- I would have found a better way to incorporate Willow’s crate with the remodel.
Are you full time? Is there something you would do differently? Mention it in the comments.
With love and paw prints,
Essie and Willow
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