I've talked to you all about my divorce previously (15 years, wife decided she wanted to leave as soon as she graduated and got her degree after I supported her and worked multiple jobs).
She's officially moving out in two weeks. Then, my lease ends in just five weeks.
Landlord already told me they're going to be selling the home and also raising rent nearly 40% if I wanted to stay. Can't afford it. Have no where to go.
Going to transition to being a 'nomad', selling the remaining few things I own, and just bouncing from airbnb to airbnb along with camping. I figured this would be a good opportunity for me to get out, travel, visit national parks, kayak, camp, fish, see the US and get my mind off everything. It's not stable. But I can't find anything. Everywhere requires "3x income" or some ridiculous score that I don't have.
Anyway. Not sure why I'm posting this here. Guess I just wanted to share with you all since I never did give any updates from my previous posts about "what should I do?"
So, really, for me, the storm is here. And the "build back better" now makes so much sense in my personal life. Weird that now I now have to suddenly build my life back. I've completely lost my identity.
No clue where this road is going to take me. But it's either 'get busy living or get busy dying.'
Say a few prayers for me. God has been good to me recently and has gotten me into the 'acceptance' phase of all this.
Edit: By the way, if anyone wants to give me a follow over on X, I'll be documenting all of my journeys. Hoping to one day get some camera gear and a drone and film everything. Might make some personal podcasts and documenting my testimony. Maybe it'll help someone in the future. https://twitter.com/@thinktankfranks
pretty much what I'm doing. Can't afford to get a van but will be doing it in my SUV.
SUV can work as well. If you can get the rear windows tinted or do it yourself, that will make a big difference for privacy. Dont know the vehicle, but it your can put up a partition curtain behind the drivers seat to give you that "limo" effect, all the better. I am sure you've thought thru things. It will be a great venture, I would love to "rubber tramp" again. There are a few forums on plebbit as well as apps for parking camping. I am pushing the privacy bit more, if your stealth camping. If you're boondocking, do what you want.
I am also going to recommend something else that may or may not fit with you, when I was younger and I did run stealth camping, you can eat very well for free from the dumpsters. Stores dump all kinds of great food all the time. After your first couple of scores, you get over any issues. I ate really well and had a ton of shit to give to others.
Other suggestions, I use to work in the service industry. Most hotels (think big hotels) have an employee cafeteria where service staff and contractors can eat - cheap and good. If you're more scandalous, you can hit the free breakfast at most hotels (smaller ones) by walking in like you're legit and grabbing a plate. The same goes for the pool and gym, a lot of times you'll have to tail gate to get into the gyms, but sometimes you dont.
Wifi sounds like you have that covered, know that starbucks, mcdonalds and a lot of chains have free wifi. Learn about war driving and cantennas. If you stick to fueling at truck stops, you can get points towards showers. Some of the forums have folks that will share passes with you to get you a free shower too. Sorry your ex did you dirty. Living your best life and never looking back (that means dont contact her) will be your best. You'll grow from this and gain a ton of life experience. It sucks now, but you'll look back with good memories on how you dealt with it. If your west coast, slab city might be a great place to kick it for a bit.
Enjoy your adventure and keep us in the loop. Dashboard therapy from the ride will be your friend and the best thing for you.
Thank you. One major issue I'm having is if I remove the seats, the air bags will not deploy. I have a new ford explorer. So I have to work with a more limited area since the seats have to be down instead of removed. This is causing issues as I originally intended to take out the seats, build a platform, and store all of my things and clothes and stuff underneath the platform. Ran into this issue and now I can't do that. I was originally going to install a composting toilet in the back but, with limited space, I now can't do that. I tried to get things set up the other day with bed, power station, and some other things, and it's ridiculously tight. I think I might build a horizontal platform running from each side of the vehicle that's kind of 'lifted up' above the bed area. Then on that platform I could put my power station and free up some space for cabinets. Really difficult to try to plan all this by myself.
For wifi, I was either thinking starlink or this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YKB6VMN?psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_ct_B6NNV09AY1FGYVT1WCWQ
What do you think about that device? It'll of course only work in areas where there's cell reception.
Maybe both so that I have a backup? Starbucks is a good point, too.
Overland Cruiser.
I am looking to build one with a Japanese Car - like a Rav4 or Sienna. Same thing, platform. You should be able to remove the back seat, here's why, think of all the police vehicles that run w/o a back seat. They either have the fiberglass / plastic bench or a platform cage for a service animal. If you're also looking to remove the passenger seat too, I can see an issue, but all of these can be worked thru without too much stress. Either coding or a lot of times, a small resistor inline for that sensor will resolve, details should be able to be harvested in the forums. One thing to search on is "overland cruiser build" that will do the platform as you're seeking to do as well.
As far as your wifi, I have zero experience with that product, but I would worry on the limitation. Personally, you're better off with something like Cricket unlimited plan on a cell - hotpoint. Data caps is what you need to be aware of, especially if you're going to work mobile. You can sometimes freeload from McDonalds- Interstate rest stops - starbucks. Most of these places have a limited broadcast range of their equipment, so boosters and things like a "cantenna" can make it more convenient to work from your vehicle versus going into the establishment. You can go really deep in this space. Learn how to protect yourself too (wifi aspect not physical security aspect- that's a different topic).
I would love to build my overland cruiser with a platform bed, a foam fold out mattress (amazon) or a mattress topper or two. Think comfort and also make sure that platform is level. Nothing worse than sleeping at an angle. IMHO, the priority is the platform, then bedding and privacy. Storage can be milkcrates for the interim. Dont pack for Armageddon, people tend to bring way too much crap. That is why I mentioned the term, wants versus needs in another post. A trial run and as you make life on the road will show you what you need and dont need. Plus, you can build out cubby holes etc as you travel around. KISS method to start. One bite at a time. Since you will be working mobile, you REALLY need to work out the power and data connectivity.
As far as toilet, you can bucket method or look and plan your trips use the facilities you find on the road. That small of a space, I wouldn't be looking at a permanent device.
example of a forum for info.. https://www.explorerforum.com/forums/tags/airbag/
thanks so much for all of your help.
I did spend a lot of time researching the airbags issue on the forums and read several people had their cars at dealerships for weeks just trying to figure it out. Honestly it's not something i'm probably going to be able to solve alone. I'm probably just going to proceed with doing it with the seats folded down. Keep one rear seat in place and work from that seat - with a fold down table. Then have a twin sized bed on one side of the trunk with a 3 inch memory foam and sleeping bag on top. Other side will have a pull out drawer for cooking. Top of that will be storage area to store clothes and things. Starlink for internet. Car fridge will be on floorboard of second row, then power bank and other things will be on a shelf running horizontally across the car (which will basically be above my legs while I'm sleeping in the twin section). Going to have the rooftop tent too, but the car sleep section will be for when it's either a) terribly cold out and the tent is impossible or b) weather is extreme and inside the car makes more sense. Wanted to give myself both options. Would you agree?
AC is yet another concern and I've read about eco wave 2 but then I have to run the hoses out the window somehow. They make an adapter for the sprinter ,but not my vehicle. I've read it's not a good idea to leave the car running for long periods of time for AC. I've found some very small evaporators for $100 each and thought "what if I just buy 5 or 6 of these?" I wonder if that would work. But I'm in high humidity area. And I've read they dont work well in that situation and make things worse.
Honestly I have a lot working against me for what shouldnt be too difficult as I know there's a lot of people that do van life.