80April 2015

Thanks to many generous people on the various RVing forums, we had “some” idea of what was involved in getting ready to go “full time”.  But it is still a daunting task!

Well, we have the Trailer (Lucy) and we have the Truck (Linus), what else is there to prepare?

FIRST –  Get the house ready to sell?  What do you mean we need to refinish the floor in the study – and paint the room – and fix that crack in the ceiling ?  Oh, and re-paint the kitchen – and the bedroom – and the hall?  And of course, do something about the old hardwood floors upstairs (carpet maybe?).  And, oh yes, “de-clutter” everything!

Well, the house is on the market, and it looks pretty good – if I do say so myself!

 

We are still getting rid of “stuff”.  The good news is that my son, Michael, is thinking about buying a house before too long — so when the house sells, he will get a great price on a house full of furniture!

Next – While the trailer comes extremely well furnished, it is not really geared for full-time living – especially if you anticipate living “off the grid” a significant portion of the time.  It is our hope/intent to avoid commercial campgrounds a significant part of the time — staying in more rustic and scenic locations on Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management land.  However, those places do “not” come with electrical connections or sewer hook-ups!

No Black Tank – If you read our blog “New Beginnings”, you already know that we gave one another a new Nature’s Head Composting Toilet for our Holiday gift!  No more dumping or pumping the “Black Tank”!  The liquids are separated from the solids, the solids are mixed with sphagnum peat moss which becomes humanure.  For the full story, you can learn  more at:

http://natureshead.net/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E2xOoNov9s

https://www.youtube.com/user/gonewiththewynns

We tested it for a month or so in Michael’s old bedroom, and now have it set up & working in the RV.  —  More …

Electrical Independence – I have been working on designing & installing a solar electric system that will allow us to be totally electrically independent.  Again, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the many folks on the various forums who have provided guidance & personal experience to assist in this planning.  We have the overall design in some pretty good detail, and have begun purchasing and installing components one section at a time.  We have the Inverter (3000 W capacity) to convert battery power (12 VDC) to normal 120 VAC so that we can run the TV, microwave, etc.  We have most of the wiring for the new system in place.  And we have replaced all of the halogen lights with cool, efficient LED lights that use about 1/10 of the power!  (Isn’t that exciting???)  Oh, and I’ve even figured out a way to power the trailer using a regular extension cord for when we park in Barbara’s driveway!  —  More …