Seasons Greetings from Why, AZ. I'm thinking of friends and family, near and far. (mostly far...there's nobody close to here!)
I have chosen to spend my retirement living out of a tiny teardrop trailer. Follow my adventures here.
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Oho, Ajo!
Ajo, Arizona lies about 10 miles due north of Why. I have gone there for groceries and propane,
but at a little over 3000 people, and
with no Walmart, or Lowes’s or even a large supermarket, there’s not a lot of
reason to go there. Except that there is no other place to buy
anything within a hundred miles, aside from a couple of convenience stores,
including the Why Not store.
I won’t go into a lot of detail about Ajo here, if you
want to know more, check out the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajo,_Arizona.
Ajo has its pretty places. The plaza is very pretty, as
is the Curley School and the churches.
Plaza: view one
Plaza: view two
Curley School
Catholic Church
Federated Protestant Church
Abandoned Dodge-Phelps mine
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Food, glorious food!
For some reason, food just tastes amazingly better here.
I don’t think that I’ve suddenly become
a much better cook, or that there’s something about the desert air that makes
food tastier. I’m starting to think that it’s because I’m retired. I am focused
on the food while I’m eating, not on tomorrow’s meeting, or staffing goals, or who’s calling in sick…I can savor every bite,
with minimal internal conversation. I am in the here and now with the food. Zen gluttony.
My
food is not always pretty, and I am limited in what I can cook, because I don’t
have an oven, and I don’t want to cook things that have to simmer for a long
time (propane costs!). But, it’s o.k., because it ALL tastes great!!
Kitchen hatch of Tiny Trailer open and ready for use.
Coleman propane stove...anything that gets cooked, gets cooked here.
Chickpea, potato, onion and peanut curry, with faux naan bread (pan grilled flour tortilla)
Not pretty, but it tasted wonderful!
Today's salad for lunch...bag mixed salad, with cottage cheese, celery, tomatoes,
cashews and soy "bacon" bits. Ranch dressing.
I had the Yoplait yogurt for dessert.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Yesterday morning, I awoke fairly early (for me, these days) at about
6:00 A.M., showered , dressed ,and headed for the community pancake breakfast
that is held every Thursday during the winter.
I got a short stack of pancakes and coffee for $2.50!
After breakfast, I headed south to Organ Pipe cactus National Monument. This is a beautiful park, located on the Mexican border, and is dedicated to the preservation of these cacti, which are found in this part of the Sonoran Desert.
The park has a stark beauty, and if I had not been raised on stereotypical images of Saguaro cacti by Yosemite Sam and Wiley Coyote, I might have thought myself on another planet. I took the two driving loops that were appropriate for my PT Cruiser, which took a total of about three and a half hours
Visitors Center
After breakfast, I headed south to Organ Pipe cactus National Monument. This is a beautiful park, located on the Mexican border, and is dedicated to the preservation of these cacti, which are found in this part of the Sonoran Desert.
The park has a stark beauty, and if I had not been raised on stereotypical images of Saguaro cacti by Yosemite Sam and Wiley Coyote, I might have thought myself on another planet. I took the two driving loops that were appropriate for my PT Cruiser, which took a total of about three and a half hours
Visitors Center
Alien Landscape
Organ Pipe Cactus
Rock Formation
The bees love these!
Stark beauty
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Tiny fire
Last night was the first night that I’ve had a campfire
in the two months that I’ve been in Tiny Trailer. My fire pit is tiny, too…about
12 inches by 16 inches. I enjoyed
sitting by the fire for an hour or so, then further enjoyed looking at the
stars for another hour, until I retired to my Tiny Trailer bed to read on the
Kindle app on my Samsung Galaxy Tab.
Monday, December 8, 2014
Thanksgiving in Why
I arrived at Coyote Howls on Sunday November 23rd, and Thanksgiving fell on the following Thursday. I had mixed feelings about the holiday this year...I was thoroughly enjoying my new adventure, and the desert was beautiful, but this was to be the first Thanksgiving in my over 60 years of life that I had not spent with either family or friends who were like family.
There was a community dinner scheduled at the Why Community Center, and the campground had provided me with a ticket, with the expectation that I would bring a covered dish. The campground (which is owned and operated by the Why Water District) was furnishing the main courses...as I understood it (this may not be accurate, but it was only my fourth day...)
I made a vegan Hoppin' John, and made my way to the Community Center. I was surprised at the number of people there...well over a hundred! The meal was delicious, and I felt welcomed. I still missed my friends and family, but overall, it was not a bad Thanksgiving at all...
There was a community dinner scheduled at the Why Community Center, and the campground had provided me with a ticket, with the expectation that I would bring a covered dish. The campground (which is owned and operated by the Why Water District) was furnishing the main courses...as I understood it (this may not be accurate, but it was only my fourth day...)
I made a vegan Hoppin' John, and made my way to the Community Center. I was surprised at the number of people there...well over a hundred! The meal was delicious, and I felt welcomed. I still missed my friends and family, but overall, it was not a bad Thanksgiving at all...
Why Why?
I wish I could tell you exactly how I found out about
this particular campground in Why, Arizona.
I’m not really sure where I read about it, but when I perused their
website, it met almost all my
criteria. I wanted someplace warm in the
winter, and cheap, with restroom and showers, and WiFi available.
Coyote Howls, East
in Why, AZ, has all that and more.
The one thing (things?) that it doesn’t have is hook-ups of any
kind. For the most part, that doesn’t
impact me, but I had to make provision for at least some sort of self-generated
electrical. My electrical needs are
minimal, mostly consisting of recharging my cell phone, recharging my tablet
(which I use almost exclusively as an E-reader), and occasionally recharging my
laptop battery. I chose to go with a minimal solar charging system, rather than
a generator, for reasons of reliability, noise, and environmental concerns. My
little system consists of a 15 watt
solar panel from Harbor Freight, a 100 watt charge controller also from Harbor freight,
a 400 watt inverter, from guess where…, and a 100 amp/hour deep cycle battery
from Walmart. Everything but the panel is housed in a storage bin which can be
picked up and moved at any time. (See picture below)
The Sonoran desert
beautiful, and so far, except for one rainy day, the weather has been
near perfect.
Coyote Howls office and clubhouse
View from campsite on day one
Butte to the Northeast of campground
Tiny trailer tiny solar charging system. Charge controller, Deep cycle battery
and A/C inverter are in the silver bin. Panel is only 15 watt, but meets my needs.
Tiny trailer compound, Coyote Howls. The screen room provides a living area, and the pop-up dome tent is for storage, so that I don't have to lug everything around in my car
I will be writing and posting about this corner of
Arizona for a while, since I intend to stay until early March. Stay tuned for
posts about the flora, fauna, and things to see and do in this area, as I see
them and do them.
Saturday, December 6, 2014
Stopover in Amarillo, Texas
In order to head southwest to the Arizona desert, I first
headed northwest to Amarillo, Texas. My daughter, sister, and mother all live
in Amarillo, and I wanted to spend some time with them before I headed into the
desert for several months.
I arrived on Saturday
evening, November 15th, and awoke to snow on Sunday morning. I realized after I got up that I had left my “personal hygiene box”, containing shampoo, deodorant,
toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. in the car, so I went outside, and started down the exterior stairs to get my stuff. As it turns out the footing
was slippery and treacherous, and I fell…hard…right on my tailbone. I spent several days hobbling around, and
making some revisions to Tiny Trailer (I added fenders, which are not required
for a trailer that size in Texas, but might be elsewhere, and I didn’t want to
find out where required, alongside a road, illuminated by red and blue flashing lights).
I also put together the components of my solar electrical system (more on that
next post)
I had a really nice visit with my family (we had early
Thanksgiving and Christmas, since I would not be back until almost spring), and
on November 22nd, I headed southwest through New Mexico to Arizona.
Tiny Trailer amid the melting snow in Amarillo
Friday, December 5, 2014
Trial Run in Lewisville, TX
I lived at the City of Lewisville campground from October
5th, 2014 until November 15th, 2014. The campground is
only about eight or nine miles from the home of my friends in Denton, so it was
a good place for my entry into full time tiny trailer living…a little like
camping in the back yard. It was a quick drive to all that was familiar, both
in Lewisville and in Denton.
The
campground is really very pretty, and has all the amenities that I require. I
do not have a bathroom or holding tanks in Tiny Trailer, so it is imperative
that I have access to restrooms and showers.
Also, laundry facilities and WiFi are nice to have, and really desirable,
if I’m going to stay over an extended period.
I spent almost 6 weeks at the Lewisville
campground, and will return in the spring.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
The Rebuild
There are people and companies who build beautiful and
finely crafted teardrop trailers. Mine is neither. I was limited in both time
and funds, so my trailer is a slapdash affair, which still meets my needs. My
purpose in chronicling the rebuild is to give the reader reassurance that If I
can build an ugly trailer, so can you…
After I bought the partially deconstructed teardrop
trailer, I had to rebuild it into something I could use, tow, and live out of
for an extended period. I’m not sure at this point if I’ve achieved all of that,
but it seems to be working so far.
When I bought the trailer, it had no roof, the door was
lying in the sleeping area, and the frame for the back hatch was detached, and
resting loosely against the back. (See picture above) We tied the hatch in place, hooked the trailer
up to my PT Cruiser, and I drove the 30 or so miles to the storage facility
where I could keep and work on the tiny teardrop. (I could not work on it at my
friends’ house, due to HOA restrictions).
I first covered the roof with FRP (fiberglass reinforced
plastic) sheets, like is used in inexpensive shower surrounds. It’s cheap,
flexible, and waterproof. But it is not UV resistant, which wasn’t an issue
here, because I planned to cover the whole body of the trailer in canvas and
paint.
I bought two 9x12 canvas drop cloths at Harbor Freight, a
gallon of Titebond III waterproof glue, and a gallon of Cabot polyurethane spar
varnish. Then I proceeded to glue canvas
to the sides first, then to the roof, overlapping the sides by a couple of
inches. A couple of coats of spar varnish (I had to buy more), and a couple of
coats of Rustoleum, and the exterior was covered.
I had wanted to add a couple of porthole windows for more interior light, and a more "retro" look, but could not afford round, tempered glass, domed windows, so I bought a couple of cheap frying pans with glass domed lids, removed the handles, and replaced them with a short bolt, and siliconed the windows into holes I jigsawed into the sidewalls...Viola!
I had wanted to add a couple of porthole windows for more interior light, and a more "retro" look, but could not afford round, tempered glass, domed windows, so I bought a couple of cheap frying pans with glass domed lids, removed the handles, and replaced them with a short bolt, and siliconed the windows into holes I jigsawed into the sidewalls...Viola!
The previous owner has used a flat piano hinge on the
“kitchen hatch” which leaked. I replaced it with a “hurricane type hinge, which
also leaks, but hopefully less so. I am in a caulk and recaulk mode as far as
the hatch is concerned, and the leaks now are minimal, and only occur when it
rains.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
A Reluctant Blogger
I am currently residing in a tiny teardrop trailer, in Why, Arizona. How I came to be here is a story unto itself, which I will explain below. It is my intention to chronicle my travels in a blog, but I am a bit reluctant to do so, mostly because that requires a commitment of time and energy, which I’m not sure that I’m willing to make at this point, and because I may go significant periods without doing much actual traveling.
But, I’m here, and might as well make a beginning. I officially retired about 2 months ago, although I had actually not worked much during 2014. I reached a point where I was tired of the changes that had occurred in my chosen profession (nursing), and no longer felt any joy in the work. So, even though I was far from financially prepared to retire, I did so anyway, vowing to reduce my needs to meet my now much reduced income. Also, I wanted to travel, but hotels and airfare were suddenly outside my budget. I had once built a large log home, but had recently become interested in the Tiny House movement, and was fascinated by the clever uses of space. It was a natural progression to begin to look at tiny trailers to meet my housing needs, and travel desires.
I had looked at different commercially available teardrops from Camp-Inn and Little Guy, which were very nice, but also out of my current price range. I looked at some used trailers on Ebay, and on Craiglist, but none were quite what I wanted. I finally found a teardrop that a young man in a nearby town had built, then had some issues with, and had partially disassembled. I bought it “as is” for $700.00, on September 14, and began a rebuild process. I put a new waterproof membrane on the roof, then covered the entire trailer with canvas, using a waterproof glue, and then coated it with exterior polyurethane spar varnish, followed by three coats of Rustoleum, silver over black, opposite what the factory paint scheme on my tow car, a 2010 PT Cruiser.
On October 5th, I finished packing, and left the Denton, Texas home of my good friends and housemates, where I had lived for four and a half years, and towed the trailer a grand total of ten miles south to a city run campground on the shores of Lake Lewisville. Thus began my “full-time" tiny trailer life.
But, I’m here, and might as well make a beginning. I officially retired about 2 months ago, although I had actually not worked much during 2014. I reached a point where I was tired of the changes that had occurred in my chosen profession (nursing), and no longer felt any joy in the work. So, even though I was far from financially prepared to retire, I did so anyway, vowing to reduce my needs to meet my now much reduced income. Also, I wanted to travel, but hotels and airfare were suddenly outside my budget. I had once built a large log home, but had recently become interested in the Tiny House movement, and was fascinated by the clever uses of space. It was a natural progression to begin to look at tiny trailers to meet my housing needs, and travel desires.
I had looked at different commercially available teardrops from Camp-Inn and Little Guy, which were very nice, but also out of my current price range. I looked at some used trailers on Ebay, and on Craiglist, but none were quite what I wanted. I finally found a teardrop that a young man in a nearby town had built, then had some issues with, and had partially disassembled. I bought it “as is” for $700.00, on September 14, and began a rebuild process. I put a new waterproof membrane on the roof, then covered the entire trailer with canvas, using a waterproof glue, and then coated it with exterior polyurethane spar varnish, followed by three coats of Rustoleum, silver over black, opposite what the factory paint scheme on my tow car, a 2010 PT Cruiser.
On October 5th, I finished packing, and left the Denton, Texas home of my good friends and housemates, where I had lived for four and a half years, and towed the trailer a grand total of ten miles south to a city run campground on the shores of Lake Lewisville. Thus began my “full-time" tiny trailer life.
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