Of course in many respects life in our pickup camper is no different from our life at home on Whidbey Island. However, in other ways, life is quite different.
We learned a lot from our first road trip, and then got to test out the new camper four times over the course of the summer, learning something with each trip.
I think the biggest difference from the old Chinook, and what it was like on our first road trip, is that this new camper feels more like a home. By that I don't just mean that it is more comfortable (it is, in every way--more on that later). At Katchner Caverns campground we saw a couple who had removed their camper from their pickup, and lived in their camper as if it was a stationary camper. We had not known this was possible. But the implications were clear--if we could easily remove the camper from the pickup then we could drive in the pickup to places we never could take the pickup/camper unit.
That idea was a major motivation for exploring a new camper.
What we found over the summer is what we have found so far on our current road trip--the amount of flexibility and freedom we have from being able to remove the camper from the pickup is remarkable. In this way, our camper is just like our home on Whidbey Island. We don't drag it all around with us either. When we had to carry the camper everywhere, each time we moved it we had to completely shut everything down and put everything away, including storing the bikes. Now we have it set up like a home, with things on the kitchen cabinet and by our bed. We don't waste time every day putting everything away and then getting everything back out again.
When we come back to the camper at the end of the day, everything is just as we have left it.
We find ourselves already at times saying "when we get home," instead of "when we get back to the camper."
In some ways, though, it is better than our home on Whidbey Island because (1) it is much cheaper to live in, and (2) somebody else has to clean the bathrooms.
We have virtually no power bills. We have run our refrigerator almost constantly since we left Whidbey Island 10 days ago. Even when we are driving! It runs off of propane. We have cooked every night and every morning, and occasionally have powered on the central heat. From what I can tell, we have about 2/3 of a 5-gallon tank of propane left.
We have no water bills, unless you count the $2 per day we spend on showers. We haul water in our water jug (the one that the students gave us in Death Valley--little did they imagine, or care, that we will probably use this forever). We pour it into our camper tank so that the handy-dandy water purifier that I had installed cleans it for us (it is already potable, but this provides an extra measure of protection and makes water and coffee taste great).
Our electricity comes from the sun. I had an extra 12-volt battery installed, and then a few months ago had a solar panel installed. It works great. We do whatever we want--lights, TV, water pump, charging up electronics with abandon because as long as we get a few hours of sun on our roof the batteries stay charged up.
Rent? $6.00-$10.00 a day. Add it all up and it is about $300 per month. And we don't mow the lawn, clean anything except an area the size of most peoples' bathrooms, or deal with obnoxious neighbors (we can move anytime).
The downsides? Well, for one, we don't have a bathroom. Or rather, we have a bathroom but use it for storage and use the bathrooms at campgrounds or the great outdoors. It's a bit inconvenient in the middle of the night, but that's something one gets used to quickly. Or else.
We did our clothes shopping at REI. We have, for the most part, moisture wicking clothing, which also means fast-drying clothing. Vicky does the "laundry" in a pan, and then we hang things to dry. They smell great when you put them on the next time. You don't want to bring anything cotton because not only can you not wear it hiking, but it takes forever to dry when hung.
Here's Vicky doing the laundry. Notice the big white water jug compliments of our friends from Case Western Reserve University.
Now you may be asking yourself what I'm doing while Vicky is doing the laundry. My job is to drink red wine and keep up on current events:
Ha ha ha. Actually one of my jobs is to deal with anything electronic which, as you no doubt know in this era, is a big job.
These are the two gauges to monitor our electrical storage and usage:
This means the solar panel is cranking away:
This means the solar panel has the two 12-volt batteries completely charged. A good sign.
Usually after a hike Vicky makes the meal. I say "usually" because I do only about 20% of the food preparation. While she is doing this, I am typically going through the day's photos, removing duplicates and ones I don't think we want to keep. Then, if we are hooked to the internet, I write the blog entry. I also keep everything charged--both phones, three cameras, the computer, the iPad, a toothbrush, an electric shaver, our hiking GPS our biking GPS, and batteries for our bike lights, flashlights, and headlamps. And backup our computer every evening.
Here we are trying to get out into the wild and we have a list of electronic items that we use constantly as long as my arm.
I also deal with the water storage, gray water tanks, and propane system.
It's a nice division of labor, a different division than is needed in our other home on Whidbey Island.
Where we are now has a shower, but when we don't, we have that covered. Another thing we did, like the solar panel, so we can stay out a long time and maybe never need to go to an RV park.
It was tricky keeping track of bills and payments.
We eat well, really well. Because of the refrigerator and because we like simlar foods, a big part of our day is storing, preparing, and eating well balanced meals. No dealing with ice. It helps a ton that we enjoy the same kinds of foods. Except Vicky doesn't drink coffee or wine and I don't drink milk (yech). Peppers: we estimated that we eat about 20 peppers each week.
last road trip, and our experiments this summer, helped us determine what we needed to bring and what we didn't need to bring. We made a different kind of space for everything, with We a liberal use of storage containers. As a result, we don't have "stuff" we have to constantly move and we have a place for everything. We brought fewer clothes than on our last trip, although we will be gone twice as long.
The camper:
double curtains so when we close the night curtains have three skylights to let in light (plus another in the bathroom). lots of light. All windows have screens. the fan works great. Lots of lights.
Canopy that we thought we might even remove. Makes a good clothes rack too.
In the mornings when it is in the 30s just move a switch and the central air comes on. We are warm within minutes. It is well insulated.
back ladder for bikes, hanging towels, getting on top of the roof,
Nothing has just one use. There is a clothes rack in the bathroom, an added feature, but great. Even with all of the storage in there, if we wanted to deal with using the bathroom we could. And sometime we might.
Gauges for safety. We do lots of things for safety. Besides our safety rule when hiking (either of us can). We have everything we need to hike and bike in warm and cold weather. And everything we need to go dancing and look good. We have books, dozens of movies. 24 hair ties (up from 22 on last trip).
We hike with the 10 essentials, plus two others we think are essential: trekking poles and bear spray. I have run into one bear on a hiking trail, and probably was close to another one time when i got the heck out of there, but with the amount of hiking we do, the law of average says we will run into bears. We know what to do, but bear spray is the last defense, and a better one than even a large gauge gun. We take everything carefully, including our driving, which is slower than other vehicles and even slower than other people with campers.
Even in Red Canyon, I carry a pack with fire starter and enough extra clothing that if something necessitated staying overnight on the trail we would survive. I have a bigger pack than most people I see around here (not bigger than is typical for hikers in the pacific northwest, however, or Mountaineers who also take this stuff seriously.
We buy good stuff. Lots of it at REI. I am still using the hiking pants, shirt, jacket, underwear, socks and backpack that I bought my first trip to REI five years ago. Good equipment is a necessity.
Finding hikes is a major activity. One has to look at several sources.
Personality characteristics that are needed are flexibility--you simply don't live the well ordered life than you can life in your own home. And you have to be pleasant on a constant basis--you live in the bed of a pickup, with another person less than 3 feet away from you almsot all of the time. If you are moody or irritable then it would be a dreadful experience. Don't do this with someone you don't simply like a whole lot.
Our families are so important. We make special efforts to stay in contact with them.
One reason we do what we do is that we are avoiding RV parks. We see ourselves more like tent campers, but in a fantastic tent.
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