Plastic Storage Box

I bought this plastic storage box from Walmart this week. It is so handy. I put it under my air mattress at the very end by the tailgate. It is a drawer that opens sliding forward, instead of opening from the top like most plastic storage boxes. So now I can get into it without taking it out of the truck. I liked it so much, I went and bought another one yesterday.
They are a bit pricey $17 plus but worth it with the time they save me.

Funk legend Sly Stone living in a van in LA

The article calls him "homeless" but it doesn't sound like he is homeless to me. It sounds like he is living exactly where and how he likes.

"Inside his van, the former mastermind of Sly & the Family Stone, now 68,
continues to record music with the help of a laptop computer.

"I like my small camper," he says, his voice raspy with age and years of hard
living. "I just do not want to return to a fixed home. I cannot stand being in
one place. I must keep moving."

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/the_rise_and_fall_of_sly_stone_qijyKoYzmAqer1PA0YogSJ#ixzz1ZDi4rX21

Interview with God -- short little movie

Click the link for the short little inspirational movie

http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/popup-frame.html

Flying with Birds in California

Click the link for flying with birds in CA. It's called Parahawking

http://www.parahawkusa.com/Home.html

Wood Burning Stove and Collapsable Home

Wood Burning Stove in van

Collapsable Home Carried on Roof of Automobile-- 1938

Air Mattress Bed too High in Back of Pickup

The bed was too high. Even though I have the highest camper shell that snugtop makes, I was just too close to the ceiling for comfort. AND I was above the top of the tailgate which made it difficult to get in and out.
So today, I will rearrange stuff so the height is lower and see how it works tonight.

There was no problem sleeping on air mattress without wood frame because the air mattress distributes weight so nothing smushes underneath.
BUT it will be nice to have build out so things can be taken in and out from underneath without taking the whole air mattress out.

Here is an
Enclosed sleeping platform and storage
just click the link above
The above presents the same problem--too difficult to get things out from underneath.
Here are two more ways to build a platform that allows easier access to stuff
truck camping platforms

Sleeping in back of pickup Camper Shell

I took everything out of the back of my pickup this morning. I have a camper shell, plastic bed liner and bed rug on it. Then I blew up air mattress to see how it fits in back. It fit neatly between wheel wells. This is the double/standard size by coleman--the roll mattress.
Picture #1
Then I took air mattress out and put my stuff in so it was about all one height.
Picture #2
Then I took and put the mattress on top of stuff which is
Picture #3
Then I got in to see how far my head was from top when sitting up
Picture #4
Then I put bedding on air mattress
Picture #5

I will sleep on it like that tonight before I do any kind of build out to see how the height is.

Picture #1

Picture #2

Picture #3

picture #4

Picture #5

Sandals

Having roamed for 17 years in California, I wear sandals quite a bit.
For the last few years I have been wearing flojos
http://store.flojos.com/pgcart.pga?product=207
I like the eggcrate memory foam. But much to my dismay, they start shrinking and kind of curling up and even separating with real high temparatures.

I have kept a pink and dark brown pair to wear infrequently.

However, last week I bought a couple of pairs of hiking type sandals. I bought some Keenes, which I haven't tried yet. I will later this week and report.

And then I also bought these:
Cabela's Destination Thongs
They didn't get a good reviews. But the price was right. I have done two long power walks with them and they were very comfortable. I will see how they hold up. Cabela's has a three month guarantee and two of the write ups said the thong part by the toe came out at two months.

here are pics of them on me and the soles of them.

Yesterday Gas Prices and Rolling Vehicles with No Drivers

Yesterday I bought gas for $3.40 a gallon-- ouch --still way too high.

Then last night, I was parked at a lake to take a walk. When I got back, the truck behind me had slid out from its parking place into the driveway part of the lot, right behind me. I went into a business to ask if it belonged to anyone. There was no takers but a kind soul did come out and direct me cautiously out of my spot around this truck. Lesson: Make sure and use your emergency parking brake when parked on even a small incline. Truck could have ended up in the lake!

Netflix DVD "The Road"

I watched the netflix DVD "The Road" last night on my computer, here at the campground.
It was an excellent mobile living DVD. The movie is not for the faint of heart, but it is very very touching. The write up sounds a little hokey but it turned out to be excellent. I have read reviews that the movie stayed pretty loyal to the book that it was based on.

Write up from Netflix site:

 

The Road

2009R111 minutes

From the ash-covered, post-apocalyptic remains of Appalachia, the Father (Viggo Mortensen) and Son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) take to the road in search of a better life. But the Father's health is failing, lending urgency to a journey impeded by nomadic bands of cannibals. Charlize Theron co-stars in this adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, set in a fictional near future in which the world has been virtually destroyed.

Cast:

Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce, Garret Dillahunt, Michael K. Williams, Molly Parker, Bob Jennings, Agnes Herrmann

Leak in Camper shell -- Rope Caulk

I bought this rope caulking on the advise of a friend:

I first went to Walmart and they seemed to have every type of caulking except this one. I finally found it at ACE hardware. I got the $3.29 size.

rope caulk

The place the camper shell was leaking was in the corners next to the cab. So I wouldn't have been able to get a caulk gun in there. With this stuff, I could just squish it in as far as my fingers could reach.

It's raining lightly now. The campershell is not leaking where it hits the truck bed anymore. BUT now I find it is leaking around the window that leads to the truck cab window. Now I need to fix that.

Addendum:

It has been suggested that I use the rope caulk to seal around the window and see if that works. I have only brought that window down 3 times in the six years I have owned the campershell. So no problem sealing it up. I was told that if I want to ever take the window down, just remove rope caulk and reinstall when I bring window back up. I can handle that. I will try it and report back how it worked.

It has a smaller window within that larger window so I can always open the smaller one.

AND it has two side windows with screens and of course the large back window.

#2 Addendum:

I used the rope caulk to seal the bottom of the window that goes from bed of pickup to cab last night. I put everything out in the sun to dry at campground. Slept in back of pickup last night, high and dry though... it didn't rain last night. ;-) All this makes me want to get a little cabover camper for the back of the pickup. It might be easier. I am going to look into it.

New 7 inch TV

I bought a little 7 inch TV from Walmart yesterday. It can be plugged in. Or it does have an internal rechargable battery that it can run on also. It has a little antenna that worked great.
I went into the menu and selected antenna. It had been on cable. Then I did the search for channels. I was in a little town with no large town nearby. I was able to bring up two channels crystal clear-- High Definition. I was amazed.
Here are two pictures of the TV on and the picture on it.

I sat in the back of my pickup with tailgate down and back window up. No problem with watching it in full sunlight.
It's by RCA and was $79
Unfortunately it is out of stock online for the great price of $59 that Walmart was selling them for.
Here is a link you can click for walmart's website to see the specs on it.
RCA Portable TV

Bike Carrier

I use this folding three bike carrier from camping world.

I like it because when I backed into this pole :

When I backed into the pole, the rubber straps gave and the bikes were pushed back instead of the frames being smashed. Only the one wheel was bent.

Cabela's Sale

I went to the end of season sale at Cabelas yesterday. I was in there for FOUR hours!
I bought the truck tent, click on this link to see:
Truck Tent
I got their last one. Another guy wanted it and was having them hold it at the desk in the camping section. I waited him out. He ended up buying a different one so I got it.

I had bought this air bed at camping world in queen size. I like the bed but it was too wide for my truck. So I returned it. It's difficult to find air beds in the double/standard size. They are usually queen, king or twin. It has battery operated pump, which I really like. It was so easy to use.
But Cabela's had one in the double size. Click link to see:
Easy Roll up Air Bed

I also bought some Keene's sandals and some hiking boots and a few warmer clothing items.

I bought a little collapsable two sided flexible plastic sink for washing and rinsing dishes. I don't see it on their website. But the price was right at $12

Hammocks

If anyone is interested in learning more about hammocks for camping or mobile living here is an interesting forum
http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16592&page=3

Bicycle Carrier

I crashed my bicycle carrier last night. I backed up, in the dark, in the rain, and hit a short, large, very sturdy metal pole. I didn't damage the pole but the carrier was bent bad and the wheel to one of the bikes was bent.
I bought a new bike carrier this morning and transfered the bikes over. I got the same kind as before.
The last one was on sale for $99. This one (same kind) was $79.
Whew!
Now I need to get a new wheel for the bike.

Addendum to this post:
I took bike in for new wheel--it will be $53 including tax. They had to order it and it will take 10 to 12 days before it comes in.
Thankfully the frame and fork of bike were not damaged--all very straight still.

Returned Quick Set up Tent Today

It is still raining like crazy here. The tent started leaking. When there was about 3 inches of water in the tent, I gave up, packed everything up and left the state park.  I went back to Camping World today and returned the tent. They gave me a full refund, no problem.

Right now, I'm at a motel to clean everything up and get warm and dry and recover a bit!
I used my Wyndham Rewards account to get the motel. I get a 20% discount on the motel from making the reservation through the link on my Worldmark Timeshare account. $36.99 a night.

This looks like something interesting that I might try

Mobile Ebay Income

Check out this lady's blog. She makes money on ebay while she lives mobile.http://ebayrv.blogspot.com/

This is one of her posts on the vandwellers yahoo group:

"Date: Tue Sep 6, 2011 8:25 pm ((PDT))

Selling ephemera on eBay while traveling would work great. I've sold vintage
ladies' designer silk scarves while traveling full-time, and it's a great fit
with mobile living.  Like ephemera, scarves can be tucked into an envelope and
mailed. 

I'm looking at hitting the road again this winter, and will definitely do eBay
along the way.  If you can find a niche selling something very small, it works!
I can store several thousand dollars worth of inventory in a single Rubbermaid
tote.  My packing supplies, computer, portable printer, etc., take up another
tote.  I had a big work counter built into my small rig for ironing and taking
pics of my scarves, with storage space underneath for the totes.

I have to tweak my business practices a little bit to work on the road, but not
much. For instance, when I'm in one place all the time, I can print out my
postage online, but when I'm traveling, I go to Post Offices to mail stuff.  But
that's part of the fun of traveling--going to small town post offices also means
finding small town coffee shops, thrift stores, etc.   

It is really fun to shop for eBay fodder while traveling!  I'm planning to set
up my own version of the "Silk Road" throughout the Southwest...keeping a home
base in New Mexico and another one in Arizona, and hitting some of the ritzier
towns such as Prescott and Palm Springs to pick up inventory.  Then going back
to one of my home bases to sell for a while between trips. 

You hit one of the keys for making this work, Kay--don't spend too much for your
inventory!  If you keep the risk low, selling on eBay is a blast. 

Sue Soaring Sun
The Guppy ~ 1982 Toyota Dolphin
http://eBayRV.blogspot.com/
http://stores.eBay.com/Fun-Frugal-Finds "

Tent Continued

It rained like crazy last night and the tent, I posed about yesterday,  held up. I didn't put any tarp over it, just the little rain fly that came with it. There was no leak at all.

I craweled in the tent about 8pm last night when it started raining. I used my Sprint 3G mobile wifi to get online for a little while. Powered it with the power pack when the battery in my laptop started running low. Finished watching two netflix movies: Cadillac Records-- Very Good
had a glass of red wine and some trail mix then off to a good night's sleep.

I'm thinking about getting a Vizio tv for my travel trailer when I am back living in it. These TVs have built in wifi and can stream netflix videos with no other attachment.

Quick Set Tent

I am trying out the quick set tent by Maccabee Sports. I bought it at Camping World. It seems to be the only tent they sell in their stores. They sell others online. The store representative said it is the first year they have had these tents. No one has returned one yet. There are no reviews on the website yet either. Here is the link to it:
 Quick Set Tent

It comes in a round backpacking friendly bag. It was REAL easy to set up. However, I put up a queen size air mattress inside it and it just about took up the whole amount of floor space. But if you put in a double size or single size, you have plenty or room for your "stuff".

I'm camping at a little lake, in it, for a week.

I slept in the tent for the first time last night, and it was too warm, no breeze. I didn't put on the rain fly, so there was some ventilation on top and one window--the entrance door. There are no other windows. I just put the rain fly on now, because it might rain, and I can imagine it will be even warmer in there tonight. I have my power pack and DC fan for tonight, if it gets too hot. I will let you know tomorrow if it rained and how it held up, if it did rain. It's thundering now.

Burning Man

This couple took an airstream and refurbished it. They are taking it to the burning man festival this week.


Airstream with Moorish touches

Here is a link to the website which sells tickets and explains what it is all about.
http://www.burningman.com/

Burning Man Festival seen from space
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/06/burning-man-photo-space_n_950711.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl11%7Csec3_lnk2%7C93123