Saturday, March 30, 2013

Oh noes

For the last two weeks I've been training on new areas at my job. In the world of my specific company it's considered 'moving up', but I can't get over the feeling that I made a big mistake by allowing this change to happen. Work today actually wasn't all that bad but overall I'm still left thinking that it's either time to find a new job locally or else use this as an excuse to take a leap of faith and try to find a job elsewhere, or just take a super blind leap of faith and simply take off with no job lined up. Haha.

By all means I would hope to be doing something new, and hopefully be 'on the road' by fall of this year. If I could manage to stay at my current job that long and continue the limited spending plan I've been on lately then I could save up some decent money to hit the road with. I simply don't know if I can hold out that long anymore.

A very short, old motorhome popped up on the local craigslist about an hour ago. Actually, I just got distracted and googled the brand and a listing for the same motorhome from 2 and a half years ago popped up. Different sellers I think, and they're only asking $200 more for it now than it was listed for last time. This listing has a better list of what all is inside. They apparently put 0 miles on it since they bought it, which is a little worrisome.

Anyway, the motorhome seems to be quite a bit shorter than my van and not really the best setup in the world but since it is a real motorhome it has that extra little bit of width that makes a huge difference inside. And it's already built inside. Might need modifications, sure but it's all there and built. Oh, and it has all that overcab space too.

It's tempting. I probably won't do anything about it since I have my van and everything but if I was switching my plan to finding the easiest, quickest route to living in a vehicle then this motorhome would be it. Even if I'd just be living in parking lots locally and still working where I work. I'd be saving over $100/week in gas doing that.

Once again I am plagued by CHOICES and INDECISION.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

The weight of options

I get weighed down by the endless options in today's world. Kind of like a computer running too many processes. They start piling up and I get slower and slower until I ultimately just freeze up or mentally shut down.

I feel like I was a more productive, caring, and overall better person when I was younger. And then I started to acquire things and they took up my time. Or at least my thoughts. And then if someone asked me to help them with something I would always be a little upset about how I had things of my own to be working on or doing, but I probably wouldn't be doing them anyway. I didn't have that problem before I had things.

How much of that is from things, and how much of that is simply from living, things not going the way you expected, and a lost focus?

Anyway.

I have a lot of options. A lack of money, but I am debt free and have options. Each option has a handful of really great pros and really bad cons. I get bogged down. I freeze, and shut down.



A few years ago I bought a really neat 1962 travel trailer. The picture above shows it at my campsite in Altoona, IA where I worked the summer of 2011 at Adventureland Amusement Park. When I bought it I never planned on living in it. It was going to be a weekend adventure camper. But I did live in it. Two times. Once for a two month stint in Coffeyville, KS when I worked for Amazon and then for the 3 or 4 months that I worked at Adventureland. It worked out fine. Both campsites had public bathrooms and showers that I used. I didn't really like towing it, though it was easy to tow. I just didn't like STOPPING because I didn't have any 12v lights or anything setup for on the road. It was pretty much a 'plugged in at the campsite' trailer. To be easily remedied but at the time my sole intention was to go from place to place and stay parked when I got there. So that's an option, I still have the trailer.


The van, of course, is an option. But I still have interior building to do, and it's feeling smaller all the time. I consider the van more of the ultimate mobile vision, where I'm traveling more than parking or working. I like the idea of being able to drive away in the middle of the night without ever getting out, and being able to keep my cats in the same area as me when in motion.


I could always just stay put. Keep working where I'm working. I am in the process of being 'promoted', afterall. Being trained on new things. But ultimately a dead end job that doesn't make enough money. Maybe if I saved, and stopped driving the van, or started living in the van near work, then I could actually do something eventually.

I exhaust myself and frustrate myself with posts like this. I reach a point where I have lots more to say but no more desire to say it, or sort it out. I do posts like this elsewhere in more private settings and I've tried to keep them away from here. But as the ultimate goal of this blog, to get on the road and write about it, keeps seeming further away than it was before I need posts like this to fill the void.


Most people say they will do this, and they do it. I did that with the trailer, twice. Maybe I need to shake up my ideas and plans again. Readjust. Or maybe I just need to get it done. I have no deadline here where I'm at. An indefinite free pass. I had deadlines with the trailer, set times to leave my situation.


- Your circular thinking friend, drivebyandy.

Monday, March 4, 2013

New Headliner

I made myself a new headliner for the cab of the van over the weekend. The old stuff was falling down, and since it looks like I'll be taking my cats with me afterall I'm still trying to get rid of any materials that would let cat hair stick to it.

I used a plasticy canvas like fabric material. Also stuff my dad got from his work like my curtains are. There's a few bubbles in it and it's not perfect but for using the old cardboard headliner that had old glue and bits of the old headliner still on it here and there it turned out really well. Not to mention I did the entire project outside on the top of a dog house, in the snow. I really didn't expect it to work out as well or as easily as it did. It was supposed to be more of a quick experiment.



So anyway, cat hair should be less of a problem and a quick wipe down every now and then should be able to keep this new headliner nice and clean.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Random Pictures

I was cleaning out my SD Cards so I could put my trail cameras back outside and I came across some pictures of my solar panels and van that I don't think I ever put up here. There were pictures I took the day I installed my solar panels. A few pictures to get a 'before solar', and then during and after.







 
 
Sadly these pictures have also shown me how much rust has shown up along the bottom in the last few months.