Sunday, July 19, 2009 - Red Rock, East Chatham NY

Water Under the Mattress, July 19, 2009

It's time for another lap in the barrel

Who could be so naive as to think all the leaks in their rig were sealed!

There was a bit of a paradigm shift in Red Rock today. I've been debating with myself for a long time how to drag a proper workshop along with me on my travels about the country. These debates were focused on my perception that the rig is pretty heavily loaded already and adding workshop tools would surely overload it. Which means offloading the workshop into a cargo trailer to pull with me. I have been trying to convince myself I would be happy with the extra complexity of pulling a trailer. Yesterday I was browsing Backpacker magazine at Barnes & Noble. Today I was surfing around looking at blogs dealing with the Tiny House movement. Backpackers are seriously focused on living light. Tiny House people are seriously focused on living with less. Bingo!

Well now, I'm perfectly happy with the space I have available in this rig. It's the weight, stupid. If I give up the idea of keeping the original features and functions that maintain this rig's resale value I can toss out a lot of weight. I don't plan to sell this rig before I wear it out so what do I care about resale value? Bingo!

One rule of downsizing is to look at what you have and toss anything you haven't used in two years. There's a lot of stuff in this rig I haven't used in two years. Like the overcab bedroom. Like the shower stall. Like the water heater. Like the dinette pullout extensions.

First thing to go was the overcab bed. What do we have here? Two, count them, two leaks - one at each side, hidden under the mattress! Aaaarghhhh - I'd really rather be working on this new weight reduction plan.

Night camp

On my property off Less Traveled Road - The Home Place, Red Rock, East Chatham NY

• I used to camp in a few locations on what little I had left of the family farm
  • In the driveway by the house
  • Across the road where the barn once stood
  • On the 20 acre piece off Less Traveled Road
• Now, with the kind support of the friends who now own the place, I camp across the road where the barn once stood.
• Verizon cell phone service - Terrible, barely usable with an amplifier
• Verizon EVDO service - Terrible, barely usable with an amplifier
• Find other references to Home Place
• List the nights I've camped here
• Check the weather here