Month: November 2015

The Turtle “After”

So now is the point where we get to show the result of a year of hard work on our tiny home! I’m typing this while drinking coffee at the table and listening to the rain on the roof while keeping nice and warm inside the Turtle. Looking back at the “before” photos, it feels a little unbelievable! This crazy old van is now our cozy home.

I was going to post side-by-side “before and after” photos today, but realized that since I took the “after” photos on a grey and rainy afternoon, the impact doesn’t do it justice, as the “before” pictures were taken on a bright sunny day! So that post is on the horizon.

Here we are!

IMG_3057It kind of feels like a boat. I like that.

IMG_3093Kitchen and Dining Room 

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IMG_3056Bunk beds!

IMG_3064Love the Tardis painting by my talented brother-in-law David

IMG_3047Andy cut down and refinished an old desk he’s had for years to make the table

IMG_3096We love the no-spill bowls for the pets

IMG_3125Andy picked this fabric! We promise not to over-do the turtle references, but it was super cute and coordinated nicely with the other prints

IMG_3085Maximizing the limited closet space

IMG_3106Nothing we own can be larger than 10″H x 9″D

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IMG_3120I love the wood Andy installed next to the new upholstery pattern. 

And there we have it! I’ll post more pictures soon!

Why We’re Here

Hello!

So as you and everyone within earshot knows, we are absolutely loving life in the Turtle! It is a great experiment and a serious adventure. So while we’re starting out here, I thought I’d briefly explain that as we are very new to this lifestyle, I began the blog for two purposes. The first is to document our journey so family, friends, and anyone at all who is interested can follow along with us and enjoy our exploits.

IMG_0068Andy adventuring.  

The second–and the one we are most passionate about–is to discuss the process and how much we’re learning in order to help out others who may be interested in a similar venture! Especially for those who are adopting an older vehicle to refurbish, we have learned so much that we’d love to share, and we want to be the resource for others that we felt we were lacking when we started out.

IMG_1580Gracie adventuring.

The bulk of the full-time RV-ing books we found are written for those who are retired, bought a relatively new vehicle, and plan to live primarily in RV parks. We will certainly find ourselves in parks as needed, and as our first few weeks on Sauvie Island have proven, it’s a comfortable and relaxing way to enjoy your RV. But our main goal is to generally be surrounded by nature for most of the time, with the remaining time spent visiting friends who we aren’t able to see nearly as much as we’d like to, due to jobs, and bills, and air fare, and never, ever enough vacation time.

IMG_2642Scout adventuring.

So keep up with us for whatever reason suits you best!

IMG_0616Amy adventuring.

If you’d like to hear specific tips on gutting and refurbishing your RV, we are excited to share! We did nearly everything on our own, from painting the exterior, to upholstering the interior, to welding the front bumper so we could bring our bikes along, to installing solar panels so we can boondock for longer periods of time.

If you’re interested in seeing what National Parks we explore first (we’re aiming to see them all!), tales from of all corners of the US (and eventually South America), and most importantly, lots of photos of Scout and Gracie (obviously), then we’d love to have you join us!

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Oh, and please bear with me as I learn the ins and outs of WordPress. The posts will eventually look brilliant, I promise, but for now at least they’re live! 🙂

We’re IN!

Ahhhh! We live in the Turtle now!

My intention was to post progress photos as the changes happened, but WOW we were busy, and finishing the Turtle took precedence over writing about it. So the timeline is going to jump around a bit here! In my upcoming posts, I’ll discuss the process and everything we learned along the way as we renovated the Turtle. (Spoiler alert: It’s a LOT)

For now, though, let’s talk about where we are! This is what the Turtle looks like now:

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The Turtle in its natural habitat.

Can you believe it? We love it so much! It’s hard to believe that we’re finally at this point. We were just working away with our heads down for so long that it was hard to recognize or enjoy the accomplishments as they happened. We’d cross a major item off the list and just move on to the next item. So to look at it now is thrilling because we actually have the time to see all the work we put into it! We do still have a number of things we’d like to work on as time goes on, but all the big things that make it livable are complete.

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Mad Max-style.

So at the end of October, we moved out of our cozy little home in John’s Landing and into the shiny blue Turtle! We had it parked in the driveway and were simultaneously working on it and packing up the house for a move throughout October. (What were we thinking?) It was funny towards the end, sleeping in the Turtle and waking up to walk in a fuzzy robe across the driveway and inside to make coffee and get started on projects. Our neighbors probably have plenty of tales to tell. 🙂

We now live, for the month of November, in a quiet little RV park on Sauvie Island. This is absolutely the ideal time of year to be out here. Sauvie Island is a destination during the summer because of the beautiful sandy beach so close to Portland. During fall, people come for the corn mazes and pumpkin patches. But that’s all passed now, so it’s just beautiful silent farm land with bright fall colors everywhere you look!

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We arrived later in the evening on Halloween, after spending the morning having a delicious brunch made for us by friends and then finalizing some things around the house. It had been beautiful and clear the day before, but on moving day, it was absolutely pouring. By the time we arrived at the site, our shoes and coats were soaked through. And for some reason, my current application of hair dye wasn’t holding the color as well as it usually does, and I looked like I had a head wound with all the red rivers running down my face! But we got settled in just fine and sat on the couch just marveling that it’s actually, finally, really happening. Super-perk: the sound of the rain on the roof is absolutely divine.

Our first week has been awesome, with a few challenges.

  • Pros:
  • Right in front of the Turtle is a huge grassy area that Scout is very pleased to have in his life. Frisbee time is paramount to every other aspect of life–he is a Border Collie, after all–and having such easy access to grass means Amy and Andy are more likely to add an extra session or two to the day.

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Blurry photo; it was sprinkling so I just took a quick shot.

  • It’s so quiet out here.
  • Amazon delivers all the way out here, so all the things we didn’t realize we’d need are still available to us–motion-activated light bars for the stairs, pack towels to save space in the shower bag, camp chairs for the patio, dehumidifier, etc.
  • This park has a bathroom and shower, so while we figure out that whole tanks and hoses situation, we will be covered. We have a neighbor who is generously showing us the ropes, so we should be pros in no time!
  • The stars!
  • Cons:
  • Gracie has been an outdoor kitty for most of her life, and is her happiest when she is adventuring. Because we’re right near the road and also have heard coyotes at night, she’s been exclusively an indoor kitty for the time being, and is NOT happy about it.

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Sorry Gracie. It’s temporary.

So, that’s what I’ve got for now! I have loads more to cover regarding the process, and now that I have free time, I’ll be able to post it.

Farewell from the Turtle!