C40's Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
CS
Posts: 709
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:24 pm

Re: C40's Journal

Post by CS »

That's an amazing amout of trash. Holy cow.

Love that you guys found beer on the beach. Now if someone would just leave some gluten free beer sitting around here, life would be golden.
Last edited by CS on Tue Nov 22, 2016 11:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

theanimal
Posts: 2628
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: AK
Contact:

Re: C40's Journal

Post by theanimal »

Beautiful light in your pictures.

I get the same offers in terms of things that could better my life. Portable washing machines, ideas for power etc. All are well meaning, but I have the same tendency as you and tend to shoot them down right away. Another area in which to improve.

Looking forward to your next post. And if you're willing to share, it'd be great to see the video your friend makes once he's done with it!

bryan
Posts: 1061
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2014 2:01 am
Location: mostly Bay Area

Re: C40's Journal

Post by bryan »

Nice post!

> - I don’t need to carry around a toilet inside my van, because all I need to poop in is a little hole in the ground, and a trowel takes up barely any space in my van (and in cities there are toilets all over the place)

On one hand I agree, considering I did without one for two years mostly in urban environs. On the other hand a toilet is the one item I kept telling myself I would be sure to include in my final build.

cmonkey
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:56 am

Re: C40's Journal

Post by cmonkey »

I practice that 'do nothing' thing quite often, usually with books I want or video games I'd like to get on Steam. Wait for them to come down in price to less than 90% of the original price. In fact, I might not even want them by then. If I do, then I get them and spend practically nothing.

We don't really get the "You could really use item XYZ" comments. Instead they are just bought for us. :? Unfortunately the only permanent solution is trash service as it just seems impossible to give certain things away.

+1 on the trash level, that is insane. :? Maybe they are in reality minimalists with relatives that just won't STOP giving them shit. :lol:

User avatar
C40
Posts: 2748
Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:30 am

Re: C40's Journal

Post by C40 »

WEBSITE!
I made a website. It’s basically a blog. The website is called My Wild Dreams. So far I’ve just been setting up the front/landing page, and making a few blog posts to get started. I think I will try to get caught up on my trip reports so far. Now’s a good time for that because I’ll be moving slow during the winter.

Here are the main reasons I started the blog:
  • * To work on improving my writing (I think having a website will help me challenge myself more than I do with just forum posts)
    * To have a better place to share my travels, the places I go, and the pictures. I’ve been posting on a couple other travel related forums, but I think this will be a better outlet. I should be able to control the formatting better (though so far, within the blog posts, I definitely can’t). I chose a name that’s not specific to vanliving so that if I want, I could continue the blog after I move on to other things, without having a mismatched name.
Expected subjects:
  • * Travel tales
    * Some overall Vandwelling information
    * Some personal finance information (nearly all people who want to live in vans and travel are interested in that side of it)
    * Pictures!



PODCAST EPISODE
I was on a podcast. It’s called Fighting Failure. The podcast is mostly meant for people considering or making entrepreneurial efforts, but he story would be useful for his target audience. My episode can be heard here: Fighting Failure Episode 6 – A Path to Freedom. We talk mostly about personal finance, early retirement, and reducing spending. It’s 30 minutes long. It’s a pretty basic conversation. Those already familiar with ERE/FIRE won’t learn much new, or anything at all. If you’d like to put a voice to the name, here you go.

How it happened:
Not long after arriving in San Diego, I hung out with an old friend for a weekend. One evening, a friend of his invited us to meet them at a bar/restaurant to watch some UFC fights. While there, my friend was telling one guy (Jared) about me being retired, living in the van, and traveling. Earlier, I’d overheard Jared telling another about a project he was working on. Some stuff about how people don’t go after their dreams (enough) because they let their fear of failure get in the way. Jared talked to me a bit and asked me if I’d be on his podcast. Sure, what the hell.






FINANCE
  • * I chose health insurance for next year. I just continued with the same plan. The total price went up a BUNCH, but for my estimated income next year, the subsidy is huge. My projected monthly premium is under $40!
    * Looking at my data for the last two months, it appears my basic monthly spending will be around $600 per month. That doesn’t include hobbies or entertainment, so my actual spending will be higher. I could get the basic cost down to under $500 pretty easily.



PICTURES

(I’m behind on processing them… here are a few)

On a walk with friends:
Image

Image

Image

Image



I have some To-Dos for December:
  • * Update financial tracking file. Need to revise it to better match my current focus. My old file was build during my acquisition phase and focused on that a lot. I have some ideas but haven’t worked on it at all yet. I’d like to get it ready before January.
    * Need to check my capital gains YTD and see if it makes sense to sell some stocks to reduce it to zero. And maybe I carried forward capital losses… need to check that too.
    * Get the hell out of the city. I’d been in cities (other than while driving) all the time straight since I was in northern Oregon! That’s like 6 weeks. Yesterday I came out to a National Forest northeast of San Diego. It’s very nice up here. The weather is perfect during the day but cold as hell at night. My MIFI internet speed is faster up here than in most cities, so I have the best of both worlds – an amazing place to ride my bike, take pictures, look around, and still the ability to do computer stuff that I want to.

frihet
Posts: 217
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2013 10:33 pm
Contact:

Re: C40's Journal

Post by frihet »

Thanks for sharing your journey. Really beautiful pictures. Looking forward to see more of them on your new blog. The open spaces you have in the US is really something. Strikes an expansive cord in my being. Recently drove from Denver to Crestone for a retreat with some other Swedes. Wished the whole journey that they would stop talking and let the scenery wash through them instead.

Envious of your long silent drives.

User avatar
Ego
Posts: 6359
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:42 am

Re: C40's Journal

Post by Ego »

Hey, the website looks fabulous! And the podcast. Nice job. You did a particularly good job outlining the basic ideas of ER to an audience who wouldn't naturally be open to them. Very well done with both!

BRUTE
Posts: 3797
Joined: Sat Dec 26, 2015 5:20 pm

Re: C40's Journal

Post by BRUTE »

cool interview. very good beginner's explanation of FI, and how it ties into overall life goals.

Gilberto de Piento
Posts: 1942
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm

Re: C40's Journal

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

I liked the interview too. You are good at explaining things in a way that makes sense without overcomplicating.

Farm_or
Posts: 412
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2016 8:57 am
Contact:

Re: C40's Journal

Post by Farm_or »

Great job on the website and podcast. I've book marked your blog and will be following. DH and I have been talking about our next transition, five years later plan. I've traveled a lot and moved a lot, but she hasn't, so it seemed like a good option to vanlife for awhile. We've been reading and researching areas, but there's no substitute for the first hand experience that you get actually living in a place for awhile.

thrifty++
Posts: 1171
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 3:46 pm

Re: C40's Journal

Post by thrifty++ »

Your website is awesome. Its well set out and the photos are so nice. I look forward to reading your blog updates
Whats made you more comfortable to reveal your identity now? Is it because you have left corporate life? I can imagine I will be much less concerned with people knowing my details once I have passed the FI finish line and left full time employment.

User avatar
giskard
Posts: 320
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2016 12:07 pm

Re: C40's Journal

Post by giskard »

Your website is looking great! I followed you on instagram, looking forward to more awesome photos coming up.

User avatar
C40
Posts: 2748
Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:30 am

Re: C40's Journal

Post by C40 »

Thanks everyone!! :-D :-D

I'm in the process of moving over a bunch of posts that I had on a Vandwelling and Overlanding forum to blog posts. I have about 80% of them done. I have putting a lot more detail in these about my travels than I was sharing in my journal posts here, so if you'd like to see more, it's there.
thrifty++ wrote:Whats made you more comfortable to reveal your identity now? Is it because you have left corporate life? I can imagine I will be much less concerned with people knowing my details once I have passed the FI finish line and left full time employment.
Yeah, I suppose it's mainly that. I'm still a bit nervous about it though.

Tyler9000
Posts: 1758
Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 11:45 pm

Re: C40's Journal

Post by Tyler9000 »

Just wanted to join the My Wild Dreams fanboy train. Awesome work!


James_0011
Posts: 392
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2016 12:00 am

Re: C40's Journal

Post by James_0011 »

@c40 really inspirational seriously, thanks for writing.

User avatar
C40
Posts: 2748
Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:30 am

Re: C40's Journal

Post by C40 »

Thanks James :-D

New blog post: Get the hell out of the city: Camping near San Diego

Ok, So I traveled down the California coast during October and November. Then I spent about a month in and around San Diego. Because it's tricky to free camp along the coast (especially because the National Forest at Big Sur was closed, I had spent every single night for the last 2-3 months inside cities. It's no big deal, but there are small annoyances: putting up and taking down curtains, moving the van around often, not being able to just step out of the van and pee, etc. Plus, it's great being out in nature. So I was craving it. A lot. So, I got he hell out of the City for a week and went camping in part of Cleveland National Forest that is near San Diego.

A preview of pictures:

Image


Image


Image

bryan
Posts: 1061
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2014 2:01 am
Location: mostly Bay Area

Re: C40's Journal

Post by bryan »

I really need some windows in the van..

C40, what's your assessment of the windows, generally? Anything you would change? I've been thinking of doing a sort of skyline window (long but not too tall, 6"?) across one or both sides.

vexed87
Posts: 1521
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2015 8:02 am
Location: Yorkshire, UK

Re: C40's Journal

Post by vexed87 »

@c40, thanks for sharing all this, its really cool. Sorry if this came up before, but how are you cooking in/by the van? Or are you eating only raw/pre-cooked foods? I don't recall seeing any cooking apparatus during the van build. Also, where are you getting/storing your drinking water whilst wild camping?

User avatar
C40
Posts: 2748
Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:30 am

Re: C40's Journal

Post by C40 »

bryan wrote:I really need some windows in the van..

C40, what's your assessment of the windows, generally? Anything you would change? I've been thinking of doing a sort of skyline window (long but not too tall, 6"?) across one or both sides.
I like the windows. I wasn't specifically looking for windows. The first good van at a cheap price I found happened to have them. Some thoughts:
- Safer driving. It's nice to be able to turn and look through the windows when switching lanes, backing up, etc.
- More work in cities. I have curtains that I have up most of the time in cities. When I first started, I would take most of them down for driving. Now I take fewer down so it's less time and work, but it is something to deal with.
- Cold! I insulated other parts of the van but the windows let out a lot of heat. I don't know if that is really a factor or not because I just let it be about the same temperature inside the van as it is outside. This way I don't have to worry about condensation or deal with heating the van. I just wear the approriate amount of clothes so my body is warm enough. (sometimes that is a LOT of layers). It is possible to make insulated covers, but compared to my curtains, they would be a PITA to store while not on the windows.
- The views are awesome
- If I didn't have windows, I don't think I would bother cutting the walls to add any. I'd probably spend more time outside.
- When you're parked at an angle (when the van is not level) the windows help. Without them, being un-level can cause some feeling of vertigo (because the visual cues of what's normally vertical don't match up with your senses). But I guess having the view of outside helps your brain to understand the positioning and not get bothered.


vexed87 wrote:@c40, thanks for sharing all this, its really cool. Sorry if this came up before, but how are you cooking in/by the van? Or are you eating only raw/pre-cooked foods? I don't recall seeing any cooking apparatus during the van build. Also, where are you getting/storing your drinking water whilst wild camping?
I use a single burner "camping" stove that screws onto the top of 1lb propane bottles. (one of these. I sit that on the floor and cook on it in the van (with proper ventilation). Right now I mostly eat:
- Chicken (Rotiserees, so I don't have to cook it)
- Sweet potatoes
- various vegetables (brocolli, cauliflour, peppers, mushrooms, carrots, green beans, etc.)
- fruit
- lentils
- Indian curry seasoning, +some kind of hot sauce
- sardines
- whey protein shakes

(not all together at once.. my cooked meals contain some combination of the chicken, potatoes, and vegetables)

I store the water infour 2.5 gallon jugs. I keep two in the wooden cupboard next to the fridge. One on the floor that I'm currently using. (its out of the way) and one under the passenger seat. I have a metal growler that I use for water dispensing (and I fill taht a few times a day from the jerrican).

I get the water mostly at grocery stores. Out in the western U.S. they are machines in front of the store where you pay about $0.30 per gallon.

Post Reply