Modern-Day Thoreau

Internet connectivity in a camper is absolute garbage. I mean completely atrocious. This one question is all over the place in mobile living forums and such, for good reason. There really isn't any GOOD option. And the best option for any given person is entirely subjective. So what works for other people realistically might not work for you. So, what do you do? You research, and you do some trial and error. I'm going to lay out my own experience in order of thought/attempt and let others learn from that. What I have now isn't great. As a matter of fact, it's still pretty frustrating. Unfortunately, it's the best I've got so far. Note, my options are a little different because we're keeping the camper in a single location right now. If you're on the move, that could definitely make some of the options I considered completely irrelevant. Still, maybe it helps to hear about what's out there. The first thing I considered doing was migrating my existing ...

 My project this week has been a free-standing staircase. The single stair to get into the camper just isn't enough. I mean, yes, it works. But it's a huge step up or down, the stair itself is really small, and it feels flimsy. The way the stair attaches to the camper, it actually seems to be pulling through the floor a little bit now. All in all, it just wasn't sustainable. If I'm going to be spending a few months going in and out of that door multiple times per day, I want a decent set of stairs to climb. So I started looking into my options for camper stairs. Several people have come up with solutions that are admittedly quite ingenious. One guy made single stair units that nest into each other for storage, and then stack on top of each other for use. I wanted to go that route, but his steps weren't exactly easy to follow and I didn't really need extreme portability for my purposes. We don't plan on moving the camper at all for a few months, and the built...

 So I have to say, thank goodness for the internet. There are so many products and ideas that maybe 15 years ago, either didn't exist or I never would've found them. Now, it's as easy as placing an Amazon order. We have several products that make storage and organization so much more effective, and genuinely increase quality of life here by an absurd amount. 1. Key Holder Probably the thing I interact with most often. Nice place to put our keys up and out of the way, so we don't have a bowl taking up space on the counter, and each key has an assigned spot. Plus, my wallet fits on the hook with my keys, so it's all there together. There's also a small tray on top if you need to store some little nick-nacky stuff. 2. Command Hooks for EVERYTHING I should buy stock in Command, as much as I use the sticky hooks. Pretty much everything that is light enough to go on a hook does, since anything we can do to save counter space helps. Wall space is much more available, a...

 Storage comes at a premium in a camper, so you have to maximize all the space that you can. In the rear of the camper are some coat racks along a recess. Those are great, but how much are you really getting into that area. Instead, my wife suggests using a shower curtain rod and hanging a sort of tiered basket from it. That's a great idea! Or so we thought. We put the rod up and everything was fine. We attached the basket and things looked good. We started putting clothes in the baskets and before we filled half of the spaces, the whole contraption fell. I tried to tighten the rod and it still wouldn't hold. After some deliberation, I decided to use some old 3/4" plywood to prop up the rod. I had an 8' long strip, just wide enough to fit in the recess area. Cut that in half, I suspend the rod 48" up with the ability to hold much more weight. If I just had the wood to burn, I would probably have used 50" or so, but beggers can't be choosers. To keep every...

 We spent our first night in the camper on the day after Christmas. Originally, it was intended to be a kind of demo night to see what we had, what we needed, and what adjustments we might need to make. It wasn't intended to be permanent. However, the next morning we exchanged emails with our real estate agent and she's aiming for a very aggressive time frame. So now we're in the camper semi permanently. Surprise! We're moving a bunch of stuff into storage to get the house ready for market, but we're also getting the camper ready to live in. Water and power are hooked up. Internet is garbage, though, and we need connectivity. I'm picking up a t-mobile hotspot and we're going to try some network tomfoolery to get plex working locally for streaming. It's crazy.  The next week or two is going to be crazy, but hopefully it'll calm down a bit after that. 

 Buying something like an RV is a whole lot harder than swiping your credit card at the Target checkout. If you're buying from a dealership, awesome, they take care of most of that for you. You sign the dotted line and they do the rest. Buying from another person is a little more complicated. Fortunately, the couple that we bought from had their stuff together. What exactly do you need? Bill of Sale - Effectively a receipt. Make sure you use your LEGAL name. And if you're buying with somebody you trust, I'd suggest an OR relationship for both your names, rather than an AND. Odometer Disclosure Statement - It may only matter with the type of RV that you can drive, but we had one anyway. Pretty easy to prove 0 miles on something that can't make itself go. Certificate of Title - or just "Title" for short. Proves that you are the owner. Buyer and seller both sign it, to prove that the transition of ownership was intentional. Got all that? Now take it to your count...