Sleeping in a RAV4 - The Build

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In addition to Tom who helped me rebuild my platform, I also have to give a huge thank you to my neighbor Deb who stood around with me in my driveway for countless hours helping me figure out what the heck to do.

This week's blog post, "The Build", can be found here. It describes in some detail how I designed the re-build of The Ramper. This post is located in "The Ramper" section of the Midlife Mile website.

CLICK here for the page which includes general info on living in a RAV4. And be sure to visit the Gear I Love page for honest reviews and recommendations.

And, for your viewing pleasure...

Co-exist (the first three campgrounds)

For whatever reason, I was not built to play well with others. Whether socially conditioned over the years or just innately introverted, I thrive on quiet and solitude, and much like my own father (sorry, dad), I tend to get annoyed easily by the behaviors and, most especially, noises of others. Not a flattering quality, I assure you. However, this absolute passion for the solitary life has an upside – it makes it easy to pull up roots and head on down the avenue a piece.

When I began my meditation practice a couple of years ago, the patterns and habits of my mind started to become somewhat clear to me. I learned that I was clinging to a notion that I had to protect myself and that pretty much everything I thought or did had to do with, well…me. Along with my uncanny ability to became annoyed so easily, I also saw that I was highly skilled at making it everyone else’s fault that I was annoyed. Poor little old me (PLOM). I found that I had created an isolated life that kept me safely tucked away from much human interaction, or sound for that matter.

My meditation and reflection practices flourished under such sequestered conditions! However, whenever I took my practice out on the road (or to the grocery store), I was a big flop. Habits and patterns flying around everywhere, bouncing off cashiers and into customers. Where was this steadiness of mind I had been so carefully cultivating?

When I sold my home and moved into The Ramper, my intention was set – I was going to become less annoyed by other people (and animals) and embrace this controversial and chaotic world with a more open and gentle heart. The universe was in agreement – let’s give this woman something to practice.

Community of Consciousness – Week 1

THE DOG

My first campground was a pagan paradise. Located in Hudson, Florida and set apart from the more densely populated neighborhoods, the land was at once haunting and serene. With a labyrinth, fairy garden and trails which looped around discs of fielded water, and given I was the only camper there for most of the week, I wanted to love it. And, I really, really wanted to love the neighbor dog that barked intermittently throughout the day, but really got down to it from 10 p.m. to around 4 a.m. Even through earplugs and headphones, I could hear the little bugger. Even in between rounds of neighborly gunfire and fireworks, oh yes, his voice was heard. Nevertheless, I walked around smiling, I calmly left for the day, I sent beams of radiant positive love his way, and most of all – I didn’t yell or leave in a huff until my time was up. Hey, I even meditated at campground #1.

Citra Royal Palm RV Park – Week 2

THE POWER TOOLS

Oh, sweet universe. This place will have its own special blog post at some point. I had booked this campsite for two weeks and have to give kudos to the owner for refunding most of my stay when I left after only three nights. Citra Royal Palm is a tight knit community of mostly permanent RV, trailer, and tiny home set-ups right on the edge of the other-worldly Orange Lake, Florida. Here you will find salt/y-of-the-earth people who truly take care of one another, and you, if you’ll let them. My site was remote and set apart from the main RV park, the vast savannah of a lost lake stretching beyond the rim of land behind me in tangled, primeval weirdness. I was steps away from the abyss. I was inspired (and a little creeped out) by the jungle and the green moats of swamp that cut inland and I could feel the desolation that lay beyond. Here, I felt, I could meditate and write. And, I did. For one day. My second full day saw the start of the weeks-long chain sawing and leaf blowing project that began in celebration of my arrival.

Orange Lake

Location undisclosed as I may be staying FOREVER – Week 2 cont’d & onward

THE LOVE

Yeah. I’m never leaving this place. When things fell apart at campground #2, I watched my mind as carefully as I could and steadied my response in an attempt to just let things be as they were. Refund or no, I would be open and gentle. And, I was! (Okay, Okay…I came closer than usual.) After googling “where to next?” I recalled an offer that had been extended from someone in the SUV/Car camping facebook group I had joined. All it took was a message, and the next day I became the newest member of the tribe.

A wonderland to be sure, this campground is a true counter to the mainstream culture in which most of us dwell. It is a community, as well as a place to pass through or vacation. It is a place of rainbows, a place where the giant arms of live oak trees curve and bend around slender-ous, skybound pines and shelter magnolia and dwarf palmettos. It is a place where the people unite with nature to embrace you – whoever you are – and you know that you are already home.

Yeah…I’ll be staying a while. After all, I’m going to need plenty of time to really write about this most beautiful land and its inspiring stewards. Not to mention my new wolfpack! But, that is yet another story altogether. Stayed tuned!

My setup at undisclosed location

Water Log

Remember that scene in the film Cast Away where Tom Hanks is waving a blazing palm frond in the air yelling “I HAVE CREATED FIIIIIRE”? Yes? Well, that is how I felt recently upon discovering my first Glacier water vending machine in a Publix supermarket. I’m sure everyone at the cash registers wondered why I was dancing around with my Igloo water cooler yelling “I HAVE DISCOVERED CLEAN TASTING WATER FOR 50 CENTS A GALLON”.

Preparing for the road has meant reading and researching a ton. Mostly, though, I have discovered so much I didn’t know I even needed to know by reading the experiences of those who have pioneered ahead. Some things were easy to test out beforehand from the relative safety of home and some had to wait until I was in the field, so to speak. Storing and finding clean drinking water was, of course, a primary consideration.

I have spent agonizing hours reading product reviews and blog posts for everything from portable toilets to solar lanterns. Water storage, though, fell into an entirely different category – absolute survival. Seriously, I can poop in the dark pretty much anywhere if I have a shovel (Okay not anywhere), but clean drinking water that can see me through a few days is not something I can piecemeal together at the last minute. My primary considerations were the space and interior design of my vehicle and sturdiness and material of the container. In addition, in my quest to reduce waste, water bottles were not an option.

Water storage containers range in shape and size from bulky and round, to cube-shaped, to flat, skinny and tall. I started my search for the perfectly sized container early on, and lucky I did. My initial purchase was the WaterBrick – a square, 3.5 gallon container that I thought would fit in the far back of my vehicle. It took forever to arrive and was just slightly too large and bulky for the space I had in mind (plus it had animal hair stuck to it). Back to Amazon it went.

Before settling on the Rotopax two gallon military grade containers (the tall, skinny ones), I picked up a one gallon Igloo water container on a whim at Walmart. With my purchase of two Rotopax and the Igloo (and various water bottles etc), I would now have more than five gallons of drinking water with me at all times. That is, if I could find water!

Enter SUV/Car camping fb group and the collective hive. Dozens of responses to my cry for newbie-help gave me a great deal of information (see below). And yet, since knowing is not doing, I felt uneasy until I actually did it. From a long-time filtered faucet drinker, I’m hear to tell you – you can find clean drinking water on the road. And, you don’t even need to bring your own filtration system. Although I still do have my EHM pitcher, just in case. Keep in mind that you definitely don’t have to pay for clean drinking water, as some of the sources below indicate. For me, however, even after filtering the potable water at my first campground, I was not comfortable with the taste.

Info from the hive

Finding Water

App: Water-Map Created by NGO European Water Project. Provides latitude/longitude for sites with free public water fountains in U.S. and abroad.

Website: Findaspring.com “An environmental conservation foundation committed to ensuring the earth’s precious waters are appreciated and protected.” Search their map to find natural springs near you.

Website: shop.water.com Provides Primo (& Glacier) Refill Locations.

Website: freshpure.com Provides locations of fresh pure water vending machines. Common in whole food markets. Provides alkaline and reverse osmosis options.

Website: watermillexpress.com Gives locations of Watermill Express water vending stations.

Other ideas for finding free drinking water: libraries, public parks, boat launches, city/county/state office buildings, cemeteries Filtering/Purifying Water on the Road Zero water pitcher Berkey filter UV wand GoSun Flow

Epilogue This being week two of my full-time SUV life, I had thus far only stopped to fill up the one gallon Igloo (refer to above Cast Away register dance of glee scenario). My second campground advertised potable water, so I wasn’t too worried about filling up the Rotopax. Enroute yesterday, I felt a niggling voice telling me to stop and fill up both Rotopax containers, which I did at a Primo station along the way. When I arrived at the campground and inquired about the water, the manager said that no one there really drinks it, it can be rusty at times. And...the nearest water vending machine? Nineteen miles away!

Note to reader: This is not intended as a comprehensive or definitive post, so please do leave a comment on ways you ensure clean drinking water in your daily life – either on or off the road.

State forest somewhere in Central Florida