It only took me just under 2 months to come back with an update. Obviously markets have been a little frustrating, but honestly that feels like the least interesting part. I managed to take off in my truck later than expected (end of May). I've only spent around 8 days in it as a home on BLM/USFS/Free Campsites but it has definitely felt like a roller coaster. Emotions hit hard first ("WTF am I doing this kind of sucks" to "Hey this is kind of fun"). I'm not sure how long I'll be able to continue doing this but I'm going to try and stoke the "hey this is fun" feeling. I have a few Ideas for how to improve my setup and make the rough parts easier. The biggest obstacle so far has been poor sleep. It was starting to get better as the days went on. The feeling of being totally exposed feels like the biggest cause of this but it could be that I had been traveling way more than I had planned (initial plan was just bum around CO for a while, but my procrastination made it so I had to go to a wedding in ID before CO, so I wandered into OR accidentally for a good campsite, then back to southern ID, then Moab and then finally back to CO). Now that I'm in CO, I plan on bumming around the mountains and high desert for a while. I have quite a few friends out here to see so that will be nice as well.
Truck Updates
Set up costs have been a pain, but I feel like getting some of these changes in will make life more pleasant, and the cost is relatively negligible. My biggest change is changing from a 2 burner stove to a single burner. I rarely use 2 burners when cooking (even on a regular stove) and making this change would make unpacking and packing my kitchen tremendously easier since it would put everything in an easier to access and smaller cubby in the deck. I also have plans to add a cargo net to the ceiling to hold lighter items (sheets, towels, etc.) which should make access to the stuff under the deck much easier. Finally I want to add some wood "straps" to some of the inlets in the walls so common items (spices/herbs, toiletries, batteries/fans) easier to access without obstructing the deck cubbies. If anyone is curious I can get some pictures upload after I get this accomplished.
Truck Experiences
A couple of things that I have noticed while living in such a small space (something like 144 CUBIC feet).
- I'm way more comfortable inside the truck than I thought, which is counter to my goal of "spend most of my time outside).
- Sleeping has been the roughest part, but it's getting better. I think it was the combination of feeling exposed, being in a new mattress and being on alert from traveling so much. If this doesn't improve enough it is definitely a deal breaker, but I have high hopes. Surprisingly the fridge hasn't really been an issue. I think I remember @AxelHeyst mentioning fridge noise in his truck camper, which triggered me to put the fridge below the deck. This has reduced the noise significantly.
- Working out has become difficult, mostly because of self limiting. it feels weird to play with a kettlebell out in the open. I'm going to have to get used to this since I don't want my weight training to slip
- Cooking setup has become a chore. I think the updates listed above should help with this though. Also I still have a phobia of bears that has made me avoid some nice areas or fast when I go where bears a likely to be. I believe this has cause a little bit of weight loss that was not welcome.
- My electrical setup is surprisingly sufficient for what I have. I have a single 100ah battery and one 100 watt solar panel (as well as a back up folding one that I had from a previous build attempt). The battery also charges from the starter battery when the truck is running. However, I checked the battery today after sitting without the truck running for 4 days and it is still full. The only thing running off of it at this point is the fridge. The fans and lights run off of a USB battery pack, but that may change based on seeing the main battery do so well just on the one solar panel.
- As expected, I don't love "traveling." My plan was not to move constantly, but that's what's happened for the first week of this experience. I'm planning on staying in a single locale/region for much longer now that I'm where I intended to be. Hopefully this makes things simpler (and cheaper with these gas prices).
I have a couple things that I would like to accomplish (or at least start into) in the near term (the mobile farm may have to wait until I'm more comfortable with this lifestyle).
- Get some hobbies going again. I hit a rut with a bit of self diagnosed, mild depression and basically dropped a lot of my old hobbies. I'm thinking of picking up fishing and/or paddle boarding. A lot of camp sites are near water and it would be nice to do more than just stare at the water when I'm out there. Any suggestions for mobile friendly hobbies would be more than welcome!
- Try and find some sense of community. This one is going to be tougher I think. There are quite a few forums/clubs that cater to RV/van living so that will probably be my first place to seek this out. Does anybody else know a good place to seek out this kind of community IRL?
- Dip my toes into the dating scene after a long hiatus. Dating has never really been my thing and I have never really felt like I've been missing much. With this recent trip I am seeing why so many RVers/Liveaboard Sailors are couples. It seems to me at this point that it would be way more fun to share this with another person. Obviously if I start using some of the online options, the truck living thing is a first mentions since I would assume it's a deal breaker for like 90% of women. This seems like a great way to filter out people that wouldn't match well any way, so I see it as more of a plus.
Definitely took a dive over the last couple months. Currently sitting at ~25.42x TTM. This is due to a combination of nearly doubling my average spending in May due to wedding expenses and having some dental work done. This month is looking better but not sub $1000 like I planned since I had an O2 sensor fail on me and unfortunately it's the only one that I can't get at, so I had to schedule the work be done at a shop. Add on to that the things that I'm going to pick up to finish out the truck and I'm probably sitting around my normal spending level. Not bad but a little disappointing.
Quick Bonus Story
I managed to run into a girl who go her little SUV stuck on some BLM trails in southern ID while attempting to turn around on a tight corner. Unfortunately I only had a shovel to help and couldn't get her unstuck. It looked like she needed a winch to get her out. Unfortunately she didn't have much money (CO -> OR for a job) so calling a rescue truck was out of the question. She decided to try and find some farmers nearby that would have the equipment to help the next morning. Add on to that, I ran into a wolf (or the largest coyote I've ever seen and I've seen plenty of coyote) while I was doing my business behind some bushes. I decided to move on after that incident, since I didn't really want to run into the rest of the pack. I left the girl, since she seemed like she could use it more than me (and this is the kind of giving that I would prefer to do rather than charity). I ran into her as she was talking with what appeared to be three generations of farmers and let her know what was going on and then boogied on out of there. Moral of the story: wolves scare the shit out of me and having plenty of save capital makes things WAY easier.