Tiny windowless cells and other extreme living situations

akratic · Post by **akratic** » Sat May 21, 2011 12:01 am

Wow rachels, your blog is awesome!
I especially liked the subtitle, and the stories about hitching, sailboating, and pedicabbing. (Although I wish you talked more about the Long Trail hike...)

Normal people, would probably just get a house or an apartment and one or two vehicles. Since we're a little less than normal, we'd like to have a houseboat and a housevan.

This might be kind of random, but it sounds from your blog like you'll be in Chicago soon. If you or James are looking for a couch, shower, or conversation, send me an email to ere@akratic.com or look for me on couchsurfing with the same username.
Coincidentally, my girlfriend is currently on a bike tour of the Pacific NW, she started in Vancouver 10 days ago and is half-way to SF. I think we'd have a fair bit to chat about if you've got some downtime in Chicago, but if not, no worries, thanks for posting your blog.

rachels · Post by **rachels** » Sat May 21, 2011 2:33 am

We're in the Syracuse, NY amtrak station now. We'll be in Chicago for a few hours tomorrow waiting to switch to the Empire Builder. Maybe we'll get lucky and be late enough to miss our train and get a free night in Chicago. Hey, it's happened before.

Piper · Post by **Piper** » Sat May 21, 2011 3:46 pm

I've done the long distance backpacking and totally get it, but I wouldn't want to share my living space with others. I did my PCT trip alone. I do have a partner and he likes the normal middle class life but if I was alone I would definitely want to live portably in a van most likely. In fact, now that I just got a normal good job I'm going to set aside a little something for my van someday.
I used to live in a garage at one time. It was actually quite a spacious little apartment. I had a bed on stilts to make for extra space. I had a full bathroom and a partial kitchen. The apartment was far from town and I needed to go to town every day. I came to see that my apartment was just a place to be for sleeping and storage for my things and that the whole rest of town was my breakfast nook, my back yard, my front yard etc.