I suggest adding !offgrid@slrpnk.net to the sidebar.

At the same time, consider removing the LemmyWorld reference. Giant centralised Cloudflare walled gardens are not exactly in line with fedi principles, and presumably a good portion of offgridders are somewhat anti-establishment and more inclined to favor decentralised venues.

On the 10th I signed a 12-month lease for an apartment a few miles outside of El Paso, TX. I talk about the reasons in this blog post. Mainly I was having trouble scheduling some medical procedures when I couldn't stay in one area for months to make appts and followups, and had no place to recuperate from surgeries. I also have a wiring problem (fscking mice) that could take a long time for a mechanic to ID and fix.

I basically took everything from the camper into the apt and commenced living without drama. One thing that's struck me is how easy it is to live in a normal dwelling, assuming one has the money to pay for it. Flush toilets and running water are pretty great. Hot showers on demand, a small yard for Muffin to run around in, full size fridge with freezer, etc.

I have no definite plans for 2027 when the lease is up. But if I take early social security in 2028 I'll have even less financial reason to move back into the campervan.

PS: it's not all good news -- during the move I got caught between objects and crushed my right calf so hard that the whole lower leg is bruised all the way down to below the ankle. The degree of swelling would have been hilarious if it weren't so scary and painful. Since I was already getting spinal xrays friday the VA added in images on that leg in case I busted something. Ooooh, just realized I can see the results online by now; the results came back good:

Exam: RIGHT X-RAY TIBIA & FIBULA 2 VIEWS AP and lateral views.
History: right leg injury.
Findings: No acute fracture

At any rate, I'm doing fine and taking the apartment is a tactical rather than strategic move. It'll help me get done what I need done in the next year. We'll see what happens after that.

Not saying I necessarily agree with the info, it just popped into my news feed.

Reminder: I maintain a list of places with laws that affect vehicle dwellers

Not saying I necessarily agree with the info, it just popped into my news feed.

Reminder: I maintain a list of places with laws that affect vehicle dwellers

The RV section starts at around the 8 minute mark

Good morning, it's Sunday!

I woke up at 6am, drove a couple blocks to a legal safe place I could go through the tedious VanLife process of brushing my teeth which, with my setup, requires rearranging everything in my sink & plugging in my DC supply & wiring my portable water sprayer to it, which requires specifically distilled water which I've hauled gallons 2 miles from Target the past few days and this morning I strategically parked alongside a curb so I could drain my teeth brushing liquids out the drain that leads to outside, that is my daily morning teeth-brushing adventure and then I had to put everything away and make sure everything is dry and then I got hungry which is a whole other huge process LOL and I wish I would get hungry BEFORE I brush my teeth but it rarely works out that way haha and now I have food breath and need to brush my teeth again 🤦🏼‍♀️

I want to do outdoor acrobatics but I just got really cold, something about the 7am hour is always the coldest hour of the day, it's like 57° right now with the cold Ocean Air so I snuggled back into bed but it's going to get to 70° today so I will go back out about 9am.

That's my Sunday so far & I'm already exhausted LOL

How is YOUR day so far? 😆

As housing costs rise beyond what many families can afford, more people are looking for shelter outside the traditional housing market. About 486,000 people live full time in an RV, which appears to be more than twice as many as in 2021, according to survey data from the RV Industry Association. About a third have children, and a vast majority earn less than $75,000 a year. A separate survey by the Census Bureau found a similar trend: In 2023, the most recent data available, it estimated 342,000 people were living in an RV, boat or van, an increase of 41% from 2019.

It would be interesting to know what percentage consider their RV live voluntary vs involuntary (ie, no other option).

I planned my retirement this way, but I don't think I could afford traditional housing now even if I wanted to.

I knew I had a slow leak and decided today was the day to do something about it. I'd tried a plug repair years back and failed. This time it worked great.

It's no big whoop to lots of folks but it was a first successful tire repair in the field for me. My confidence is increased. :-)

The other day I realized I've been fulltiming in this rig for 7 years.

Some quick thoughts:

• I was connected to shore power for a short while due to family emergency but otherwise have been off-grid for 2,527 days.
• my body, mind, and finances are in better shape than when I moved in
• I don't see an end to this adventure. My plan is to drag my elderly body into the desert on my last day and let the coyotes eat me. :-)

I expect primary targets to be areas with the classically-homeless encamping and crapping on sidewalks. But law-abiding houseless folk could get caught in the net where local hardliners feel emboldened by the EO. As the saying goes "It's not your fault but it's your problem".

Reminder: I maintain a list of cities with laws that affect vehicle dwellers.

• San jose: - homeless people have "a responsibility to shelter" (article)
• also San Jose - no, no, no, not that kind of shelter. Why can't you just have more money? (article)

I will assume that somewhere out there a city council is making this kind of law because they care about human beings. But most time I think such ordinances means "We don't want your type around here. If you must be here we don't want to see you."

I am reminded of minimum lot size laws that tell citizens that they can only build a home on a lot of at least 3 acres. The intent is to keep out people who cannot meet the Sufficiently Grotesque McMansion standard.

/grouchy rant over.

I have a near-obsession with Pao de Quejo and finally got around to making a batch.

Having an oven (toaster oven in this case) in a van probably isn't common but they are great for comfort foods.

I derate mine to ~600w with an inexpensive router speed control. Takes a bit longer to preheat but holds temps nicely.

My geeky take on the DC-DC charging video that is getting a lot of attention.

Boondocking site at 7,500ft in the Sandia Mtns. Just east of Albuquerque.

Forecast called for some precip, but I was't expecting this much. I've swept 9" off the panels so far.

It does discuss LTVA, but much of the article deals with the tweakers and squatters that are trashing public land. Absolutely stereotypical pics are posted.

Moral of the story: don't be a tweaker and/or squatter and fsck it up for the rest of us :-)

Experiment rather than product, but still an interesting read. Plus it looks cool.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/40497343

I've been procrastinating because it's relatively expensive. But a confluence of factors (mail forwarding dependability, vehicle registration, eligibility for SNAP) finally nudged be to sign on.

Details and costs in the blog post above.

For folks who get aborts/dumps on 6.x check to see if libxcb-cursor0 is installed.

Bartlett’s proposed ordinance amendment to control the parking of recreational vehicles and similar things is a dicey situation. It seems easy to manage, but the specifics pose issues that need addressing. The overall purpose is to protect property values.

Yes, this discussion is about RVs owned by homeowners but the financial incentives are the same

Cf. homevoters

I hope everyone is doing well and catching some of that low December sun on their panels. The good news for folks in the northern hemisphere is solar harvest will start going up again. Those starving battery banks will start getting some relief. :-)

When I built the rig in 2017 I estimated my power requirements then used insolation models like PVwatts to figure out what it would take to meet them year 'round. In practice this meant sizing the array for Decemper in my wintering spots. It's worked surprisingly well. Just enough power in deep winter and power to waste the rest of the year.

Bob Wells, the Cheap RV living guy, has sold his last van-based rig and moved into a Subaru Forester.

He explains his reasoning in the video. I am all for people doing what makes them happy. :-)

Forked from a discussion on reddit. There is widespread belief that charging freezing is ok. That's not necessarily the case.

This situation is a bit different because OP will have access to shore power.

In the bread machine post I promised more foolish experiments. Here ya go, I run a toaster oven offgrid with solar so you don't have to!

Bonus content: I derated the oven's wattage using a harbor freight triac.

• the big idea
• testing and potentiometer adjustment