Tiny Home Tuesday ~ Road Homes

My middle daughter called the other night, telling me about the 2005 Airstream trailer she bought last week. In between my excited interrupting questions, she managed to get out that it was all the original woodwork, but definitely needed a big cleaning as it had been sitting for years without attention. "Where are the photos?" I demanded asked. She'd get some to me, promise. In the meantime, I was looking up 20 foot long 2005 Airstreams and came across this article by Jakob Schiller along the way.

Ever since I got my little Turtle motorhome, I've been asked "Do you know you can park overnight in WalMart parking lots for free?" Since I avoid shopping in WalMart for 99% of my shopping, sign petitions against their treatment of employees and blatant monied overrun of local governments in locating their stores, regardless of historic sites etc., my using their parking lots for overnighting would seem hypocritical at best and creepy at worst. Well, worst would be more than just creepy but you get the idea.

I'd rather be here

Jakob Schiller, a writer for Wired, looked at the subject with a writer's curiosity and a camera in hand. This is a partial excerpt from his article.

J.D. Gilkey sold the family home and has been driving around the country researching his family's genealogy. He says his travels have brought him to 500 Walmarts in the U.S. and Canada. "€œChristmas of 2011, there were about nine of us in the Walmart parking lot in Albuquerque,"€ he says. "Christmas Eve I put a note on everybody'€™s door to come over in the morning, and I fixed Christmas breakfast for everybody."€

Bob Floyd, right, with his dog Tank. "€œMy wife is in a wheelchair. She had a stroke in 2006, and we were planning to leave on a trip around the United States. It took us '€˜til 2013 for her to get strong enough and for us to figure out how to do it. It took us six weeks. We just came up from the Grand Canyon that afternoon, headed for Birmingham. The guard came by and checked on us every two hours to make sure we were alright."

From left: Megan Hoffman; Sophia Stauffer and her boyfriend, Alex Daby; Deanna Bunch and Kerouac (dog). They were traveling from Prescott, AZ, to Montana. Each of them plays at least one instrument, and they fund their travels by "€œjamming" on street corners. Sophia describes the nomadic life as an opportunity to "€œdo what I want to do and not have to worry about all the bills and worry about what's happening next."

Joe Torpey has been alternating between stays in a Walmart lot and spots in the woods for the past seven years. Due to a back injury he received several years ago, he'€™s had a tough time finding work. "This car saved my life,"€ he says of his 1998 Ford Taurus station wagon. He fears that his car will break down, because he doesn'€™t think he'll last living on the street.

"These are the best years of my life," says retiree Leroy Morris. He lives off social security in his small R.V. with Maggie, his dog. He stays in the Flagstaff Walmarts in the summer and winters in southern Arizona. 
(note: Of course he's happy! It looks like his motorhome is a Toyota mini, like the Turtle!)

 Al Van Abbema sold his house to live out of his R.V. He travels around the mountain states in the warm months and spends the winter in southern Arizona.

These are only some of the photos and mini stories in the article, which goes into more depth and is an interesting read of another facet of American life. Reading it, for me, was like walking into a (no, not a WalMart) public library and getting vignettes of a selection of people in there, with their stories hard or happy. Or both, as is usually the case with humanity. A dream field for a PhD candidate in Sociology.

It is another kind of tiny home living. I won't say never, but even though I'm still not drawn to spending any overnights in a WalMart parking lot - or any parking lot for that matter - at least if that has to happen I know there will probably be  some interesting people nearby. And maybe Christmas breakfast.

Now I'm just waiting on some Airstream photos!

Have a take to the trails Tuesday. Do something ticklish.

Tiny Home Tuesday ~ Mardi Gras!

This tiny home keeps grabbing my attention for a whole lot of reasons, but it seemed perfect to share on this day of Mardi Gras; a lot of color, some built in craziness and altogether pleasing fun. While Colorado seems a different sort of place to find a home like this, it is so. 

You can learn more about the Mermaid Cottage here at VRBO, which is also where all the photos have been taken from.

Happy Mardi Gras! Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Tiny Home Tuesday ~ and Some Not So Tiny Cows

There are a lot of what could be considered very small homes around here. Not tiny, but definitely on the small side, as in many older neighborhoods in America. A lot of them have been added on to, some well, some not so well. There are also a lot of seemingly abandoned homes here, in neighborhoods that are otherwise well lived in, doing fine in a simple way.

Less is more here. You can see the obvious addition, but that's fine. A lot of trees have been cleared out as most of the neighborhood yards are filled with water oaks (bad, they are hollow and fall down easily) and live oaks (good, solid trees, resistant to disease). Probably some clearing is smart as falling trees can do a lot of damage when they succumb to gravity.

As we walked around the neighborhoods, I spied this party on a trailer. Maybe one of the more interesting grill set ups I've ever seen - need handles? weld on a couple of wrenches -  the only thing better would be seeing it in action. Note the small fridge on the back? It is connected. I think it's a smoke box of some kind. Maybe. What I know for sure is that I've never seen a cooler like that in my life but I really like it. 

Yesterday we went to  a big flea market, the Webster Westside Market. I'd been here many years ago and I have to agree with one passer-by's comment, it's not nearly as good as it was back then. Maybe more people are selling things on ebay. Maybe sellers are more savvy and sell some other way. I only know there weren't a lot of Damn! I really really want that! 'Oh! Wish I had more money' moments. Which is a good thing for the wallet but not so good for strolling and looking. I did see a beautiful wooden tool box though...

There was some visual entertainment though, and a very good carnival style sausage, peppers and onions sandwich to be had. The first peddler I saw was this guy. Or I guess that would be pedaler. Or both.

This tiny trailer made for a popular sweet stop.

I'm not sure what it is about big plastic cattle around here, but this wasn't the first one I'd seen. It wasn't until I actually loaded the photos onto my computer that I realized this woman might have confused herself as to what I was aiming at. I almost thought maybe I really did know her. 

There were some nice plants for sale. These pitcher plants (that's what the sign said) were creepily intriguing.

In the town of Bushnell - all roads lead to Bushnell, no matter where you think you are going first - is the first of the giant cattle. Perhaps they are a couple, he, a lifetime destined to oversee a car lot, she a hamburger stand, never to meet and make baby plastic giant calves. You'll have to extrapolate the significance for yourselves. As for me, I find contemplating the idea one of those roads best not to go down. I'm just still trying to get a shot of him from the other side without causing a car wreck. 

It is quiet here. No, not all tiny and small homes have quiet surroundings in common, though being out of cities and into more rural settings does appear to have its obvious draw. No sterile quiet here, there are sirens and trains and planes, dogs barking and NASCAR fans giving the occasional whoop. I guess quiet is relative.

There are some canals that feed into the lake, making 'waterfront' property. This is one of them. It's sort of waterside property - very tranquillo.

Have a time out of time Tuesday. Do something tactfully transporting.

Tiny Home Tuesday ~ Mine

I wrote the following last night when I couldn't get online from my 'I'm the only one here' camping spot. Where, according to my guru Robert, I could be the next two nights. And fine with me, his oversight to the things being done mean time here time there. What else to I have to do beside hang out someplace in Florida on a long road to someplace else?

This is NOT my motorhome, but it's pretty much the sort they work on here. But they treat me like I own six of these. 

Tonight, my second alone, I’m parked at the (More Than Ok) Camper Corral back field, courtesy of Robert and his wonderful crew. After a long day of finding things wrong and right with the Turtle, Robert showed me where to park and handed over a bottle of wine too, pretty awesome for a guy who doesn’t drink. Sure, there’s always a bottle of cab ready for people like me. I guess. Sometimes it’s better not to question much. Or at all. 

Plugged in, RV's to the left of me

I can tell you this. If you have a motorhome (and mine is definitely one of, if not the smallest and oldest here), this is the place to come if you need anything motorhome related. With an amazing crew of family and those who feel like family, they make you family too, along with taking care of business and doing it right, which may or may not feel like family. 

We aren’t finished, hopefully all parts and pieces and work will be done tomorrow. That’s the goal, Mr. NAPA guy finding my spring coil shocks. And then the basics will be done. She still won’t be real pretty on the outside but on the inside, all will be well and what more can I ask than that? Nothing. For now.

Orange groves and the moon to the right. And no bears! 

Life is good. I am tired and didn’t do much of anything all day, but apparently nodding, looking and learning are exhausting. These people never stopped from 8 until 5 and probably there are still things being done over there, but I’m not going to look. 

It’s wine thirty. Good afternoon. Good night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now it is day again and a lot warmer than yesterday. I hear we'll have this for a couple of days so I'm going to go bask in it. I'll forget the toilet sort of slightly blowing up in the night, though Robert promised me, when I told him about it this morning, that it was NOT caa-caa, but algae from sitting so long. Does that mean I didn't have to clean myself with bleach? It does mean I'm getting a new toilet. Oh wait, back to sunshine and butterflies.

Have a touch and teach Tuesday. Do something trackable.