Testing our tolerance

by andrewodom on September 9, 2010 · 4 comments


I have a wonderful day job. I work at a computer for a number of hours but whilst there I handle my companies growing online social community as well as many functions of our website(s) and platforms. Part of my job though is to travel in between our locations and conduct marketing/social media workshops as well as work on community building.

Most times I would simply fly in, rent a car, get a hotel room, work, fly out. It is not the most eco-friendly of travel experiences and I always feel guilty about my carbon footprint when both flying and driving a rental car. However on this trip I decided to make it a bit different. Because I was going to have to be gone for a month and I can hardly be away from my wife for a few days without being grumpy, I asked her if she wanted to make a road trip (read: Tiny House dry run) out of it. She agreed and now here we are: Night #2.

I would say so far, so good, but that would indicate there haven’t been a few growing pains already. It is 10:20pm and the temperature outside is 93 degrees; a balmy 93 at that. And since we are “living” in a pop-up camper without temperature control we feel every degree of that. Crystal has, however, made a tidy little home for us in our camper and I have a workstation set up with my computer and peripherals. We are using the ‘other’ bed as a closet and the only available countertop as our kitchen. We are cooking outside on a propane camp cookstove and bathing at the community washroom. It is actually quite nice. We have eaten well. We have slept well. We don’t stink…too bad!

It hasn’t been much of an adjustment yet but I think the month is going to show us a lot of things; teach us valuable lessons when designing our Tiny Home. I do know I have already realized that our kitchen must have some sort of pot rack as those things tend to clutter up much needed counter space and/or cupboard space.

So what about you? Have you been on a camping trip longer than a 4-day weekend or so? What type of camper? Did you rough it or take it smooth?

  • http://twitter.com/aebyargeon Alan Byargeon

    I haven’t done any camping over 4 days long since I was a Boy Scout, and that was a very long time ago. I’m interested in hearing how this works out.

  • http://twitter.com/TheModernHippy Missy D’Haene

    This summer my husband and I took a road trip through Montana, the tip of Wyoming and Washington(where we live). We camped for about 6 or 7 days, I can’t remember exactly. We lived in a tent, which broke a couple days in so we had to replace it, used our car for storage and all around had a blast! We learned a lot, like there are grocery stores everywhere, so I don’t have to pack as much food(we eat gluten free, organic, free range so it can complicate my thought processes). We replace our large tent that didn’t stand up in the wind well, and which seemed like an overly large mockery of a tent, with a smaller more compact tent. Though it doesn’t hold much beyond our air mattress, blankets and us, it’s just right. We learned we don’t need so much stuff to road trip. It’s incredibly freeing, and a constant learning process.
    Good luck with yours, I’m so excited to see how it turns out!

    Missy

    • Andrew Odom

      You are so right about the grocery stores. We got caught in that trap too. We packed a lot of food and while most of it was stuff we grew and canned ourselves, we have quickly learned that one cooler is probably enough rather than two. We don’t have a fridge so we have to rely on ice. Much of what we need can be purchased daily or on an “as needed” basis. As for the size of our pop-up, we have plenty of room. I like our meal times being more intimate and our time to go to bed being more about reconnecting with each other than watching TV or finding a million distractions.

      Thanks for checking is out and please do continue with us on this whole adventure!

  • http://www.alifelessbinary.com/ gé

    I was 7 months on the road in Australia and camped everywhere I went – well, camped, I have a mattress in the back of my 4WD – being by myself I felt more secure to sleep inside the car rather than in a tent.
    I learned big lessons about living simply – for example how water was important and how to save it when you are on limited supply, but still staying clean and well hydrated.

    I also learned how to plan for food and make the most of what I had – sometimes with long stretches between able to stack fresh groceries and with intense heat playing against me (but I managed to resist to the temptation to pile on canned food), how to cook good meals with coals and fire so I wouldn’t have to use my gas bottle (camp ovens are so simple to use and do real wonders!!!), how to choose and keep fruits and veggies fresh for a long time, and that finally, living with 2 shirts and 2 pair of pants wasn’t such a difficult thing to do when you’re in the bush :-)

    The best was the evening with no internet to steal my attention, when I could quietly reflect on the day, with a good book or just gazing into the fire for a while.

    In short, I was looking for a way to live more simply for a significant period of time, and cut my habit of spending money for things I did not really need, and learn to appreciate the little I had. It worked out pretty well as I have a different outlook on things now that I am back to a more settled life. It’s not always easy to resist the temptation to go back to my old habits, but simply thinking back about the deep feelings of contentment I had while living a simple life helps to put me back on the right track. I am just looking forward to the day I can maybe buy a cabin in the wood and turn it into an autonomous house, energy and water-wise and live simply again. It would probably feel being on holidays each night going home, as I have quite a stressful and fast-paced job :-)

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