OnTheWay
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- Joined
- Sep 21, 2015
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{ Old lady fills out registration form, clicks on confirmation email, then tumbles into forum... SPLAT! }
Hello there!
Intro: Amid an evolving plan to downsize into a smaller house with fewer possessions, hence researching the art of getting into a more minimalist mindset, I happened across a Kindle book on Van Dwelling. It looked like an entertaining read so I bought it. But then I couldn't put it down. A couple of hours later, I found myself doing that far away stare at the wall people do when they're really thinking hard about something. Downsizing to a smaller house... still repairs... still expensive utilities... still stuck.
I have a minivan. I've never kept the seats in it, but I've never pictured a cot in it either. A day or two later, just for fun, I stuck one in there just to see if I could fathom sleeping in it. Yup. So fast forwarding a month, without making any changes to the vehicle, I've outfitted it so it sleeps, it cooks, it shelters and it's a bathroom for one person. To test it out I went to a campground for 4 days, just to see how it felt to live out of, and sleep in, a minivan. I got a remote campsite all by itself so I could really get the feel of it. It works. 10 days later, with a lot less stuff than originally included, I went back there again for another stay. Now, without the kitchen sink along, it was easier. So next, before our New England weather becomes too unfriendly, I want to try my hand at a mobile trip. So I'm planning a touring type jaunt into northern Maine where I won't have the security of being docked in a campground, but instead, nomading with as little pre-planning as possible other than general route. It'll likely involve some stealth parking and cooking in odd places (let alone finding a shower) simply because campgrounds will be closing, but I just want to know if being that unattached to a plan or the security blanket of known docking points feels okay.
So rank newbie. I don't know where it goes from here, but I'm way less attracted to downsizing into a landlocked stationery dwelling than I was 2 months ago. Enough so that I spent a services-for-barter store credit on a portable, folding travel spinning wheel because mine isn't built for travel and I don't think this will be the end of it. Any other lone traveling women who have any advice about stealth parking overnight (in a minivan that does not look like a plumber's truck)... I'd sure appreciate tips. That's the only thing that makes me a tad nervous.
Hello there!
Intro: Amid an evolving plan to downsize into a smaller house with fewer possessions, hence researching the art of getting into a more minimalist mindset, I happened across a Kindle book on Van Dwelling. It looked like an entertaining read so I bought it. But then I couldn't put it down. A couple of hours later, I found myself doing that far away stare at the wall people do when they're really thinking hard about something. Downsizing to a smaller house... still repairs... still expensive utilities... still stuck.
I have a minivan. I've never kept the seats in it, but I've never pictured a cot in it either. A day or two later, just for fun, I stuck one in there just to see if I could fathom sleeping in it. Yup. So fast forwarding a month, without making any changes to the vehicle, I've outfitted it so it sleeps, it cooks, it shelters and it's a bathroom for one person. To test it out I went to a campground for 4 days, just to see how it felt to live out of, and sleep in, a minivan. I got a remote campsite all by itself so I could really get the feel of it. It works. 10 days later, with a lot less stuff than originally included, I went back there again for another stay. Now, without the kitchen sink along, it was easier. So next, before our New England weather becomes too unfriendly, I want to try my hand at a mobile trip. So I'm planning a touring type jaunt into northern Maine where I won't have the security of being docked in a campground, but instead, nomading with as little pre-planning as possible other than general route. It'll likely involve some stealth parking and cooking in odd places (let alone finding a shower) simply because campgrounds will be closing, but I just want to know if being that unattached to a plan or the security blanket of known docking points feels okay.
So rank newbie. I don't know where it goes from here, but I'm way less attracted to downsizing into a landlocked stationery dwelling than I was 2 months ago. Enough so that I spent a services-for-barter store credit on a portable, folding travel spinning wheel because mine isn't built for travel and I don't think this will be the end of it. Any other lone traveling women who have any advice about stealth parking overnight (in a minivan that does not look like a plumber's truck)... I'd sure appreciate tips. That's the only thing that makes me a tad nervous.
