August ... Already?

Every day the van looks more and more gypsyesque. Photo bomb by Gobie.

Good googly moogly! Where is the time going?.

I can't believe I'm headed into my 5th month of living in the van. Van dwelling has been (so far) a wonderful experience. I've gotten to meet some great people who will probably be at the top of my friend list forever. I've driven 1,805 miles. I've experienced and recovered from 6 cat escapes. Attended two van runs. Got through my first breakdown by overheating. Slept better than I have in years. Laughed more than I have in years...

And I'm sure a bunch of stuff I'm failing to drag to the front of my memory.


It can only get better.

I figure 5 months is as good a time as any to take stock of where I am and what I'm doing and what I hope to do. I haven't really done much in the way of volunteer work. The freedom I took back when I decided this was how I wanted to live has been enticing. Now I figure it's time to get to the next chapter which is giving back. Granted, the money I've been spending on the road has been like my own little stimulus fund. I spend most of my time in small rural communities so I, at least, know I'm helping by putting money into these small economies.

More and more I find myself with the desire for land. I want someplace to homestead. A place I can pull in at any hour of the night, stagger out, plug in and stagger back to bed. Some small undeveloped piece of land that I can build a tiny house and a huge garden on. Internet access a plus!

I've been looking into the state programs that are offering free land. Most of them say they want you to build a 1000 sq. ft. home to qualify for the free land. My curiosity wonders if they would consider an underground bunker as part of the home since I want to build the majority of my homestead's "house" underground with only a tiny, tiny home on the surface - sort of like a surface mudroom.

I'm also looking into intentional communities. An intentional community of tiny home dwellers who have interests in self-sustainability would be wonderful.

Who knows. Now that I conquered the fears I had prior to living in the van, I know I can probably survive in just about any situation (except going back to being tied to survival via a job I am unhappy doing)

5 months is also a good time to purge items from the van. I have accumulated stuff in my travels. There;'s stuff I haven't seen since packing it away - these are things I don't need and they can go. I'll also soon be bringing bulkier items into the van as Fall approaches and the weather chills. Soon enough I'll be changing out the bin stored at Silver's house for my more warm clothing and packing away all of the summery things. The Inn could use a nice scrubbing too.

The weather today in Maine is warm and sunny - a good day for a cleansing!