We're Homeless..

Yes, according to todays "society" we are homeless. We do have a piece of property but at the moment, it has no address, no utilities, no buildings, and not even a decent road into it. My address on my Driver License is an address I no longer live at and my new license will list only a Post Office Box which is 3.5 by 5 inches in size. I work at a job making just over minimum wage and am currently getting less than 30 hrs per week. Yet even below the poverty level, the government still takes their cut first. Washington says the economy is rebounding, but they've been saying that for a few years and it seems like we're in the same place we were when the almighty Obama said he'd lead us into the promised land. He says he's going to raise the minimum wage to $9.00 an hour but all that will do is cause employers to drop the number of employees and raise the prices of their products so the "investors" still get their cut. But that's a post for a different blog.

Let me tell you just how "homeless" we really are. I'm sitting here in my chair with the A/C running, typing this post on  my laptop while Deb and Ash are watching TV and Deb is also surfing the web. We just had dinner cooked on our stove and in the oven. The refrigerator is packed (granted it's currently only 6 cubic feet, but that's about to change), and I can take a nice hot shower later if I want to. See, we have a home. It just happens to be 300 sq ft, on wheels, hooks to the back of a truck, and goes wherever we want. See, home is where we park it. We're realizing that while we are happy to have the property as a place we will eventually call home and build our dream house on, we are happy living the "full time RV'r" life as well. I've decided that all the solar equipment we bought for the house can be installed on the trailer and we can spend even less on "rent" as our electricity usage will be almost nothing from the park itself.

I'm going to start taking more photos of the trailer itself as we make some upgrades and changes (some we've done already without the photos) and a few repairs that are needed. One of these that will happen eventually is something I threw out at Deb kind of half joking, but she likes the idea so sometime soon our trailer (and truck) will go from this

to this

Or at least a spray version of it. Probably more like this...

Either way the truck will get the same treatment and we'll definitely not be the norm. 

Finally, to end this post, in 8 days we're moving about 50 miles north to Bristow and the Evergreen RV park on route 66. the reason for this move is Ash and I are currently working in Bristow and after three months, the drive is too much and losing two hours a day on the road is more than I want to give. 

One of these days...

One of these days, I'll be able to give this blog the attention it deserves. We are still staying at the Henryetta RV and Mobile Home Park but not for long. When we first decided to stay here, it made sense since it was only 15 miles from our property and we would have a place to come back to at night after working on the road in the heat and find work here in town. Well, the work issue didn't quite go as planned and work ended up being 55 miles away from us and 70 from our property. Add to that the heat and rain and the work on the road has been pretty much non-existent. Spending an extra 2 hours a day on the road along with the gas rising again is taking it's toll on us physically as well as the wear and tear on the Jeep. The only real issue at the RV park has been the water quality is pretty much unusable, but that's the entire town. I also think that the cell tower there is the cause of Deb's earaches. Add all this up and you come to the obvious conclusion that it's time to move.

In comes Evergreen RV Park in Bristow, OK. They are on Route 66 and are only 3 miles from where we work. Yes, that puts us further from our property but for what we will pay per month in comparison to what we will save on gas alone it's a no brainer. We'll also get back another 2 hours per day and save the wear and tear on the Jeep. The park is much nicer and has it's own well that, when I took a drink from the hose bib, tasted like bottled water. This park is nice enough that 99% of the people there stay full time and they are making some new spaces just to have more room for us and two others that want to move in. I just hope I don't have any issue with the truck pulling the trailer on the 50 mile drive over. It hasn't really moved except for the one trip to Okmulgee when Deb and Ash locked the keys in the Jeep (again...). The last time I pulled it we had a blowout that tore up the bed and exhaust, but it was also way overloaded and it was 1000 miles into a 1500 mile trip. We're leaving most of our stuff in storage for a while so it should be much easier.

I'll update again once we're moved as I have a couple of projects to get done including fixing a bad spot on the trailer roof, then installing the solar panels.

Updates For The Masses

Well, it's about time I update the blog. I've bee updating the Facebook page using my phone, but now that the wifi is working at the RV park I can hopefully start getting things updated here as well. Still using Blogsy on the iPad to do it with for today as I sit at the laundromat. Since we're going to be staying at the RV park at least until we get the road completed, it is kind of hard to setup any kind of outdoor laundry and clothesline.

Ashley and I both have found work at Walmart and although we're driving a little further than I'd like we will still be able to take care of the few bills we have and still have some left over. Once we get past the "probationary" period we can request a transfer to a closer store and from what I've heard they are pretty helpful in those situations. We will average about 35 hours a week and they are working to make sure we both work the same days, if not the same shifts, so we can carpool. A 1996 Jeep Cherokee lifted with 31 inch tires is not exactly the best commuter car. It's kind of like driving a sheet of plywood into the wind.

Deb will be here in less than three weeks now and I can't wait to see her. We were finally able to video chat a couple of days ago and although it was great to see her, it almost made it harder. Every time she would talk the dogs would keep looking for her. Their reaction to her coming home will be one to record and post here. We have the day off at work so picking her up will be no problem.

I did have one issue here already though and it's not over. I had two five gallon cans of gas here that we were using as backup on the drive out and I was keeping full for emergencies, and to use for the chainsaw. A few days ago during the storms, I took one and put it in the jeep just in case and forgot to put the lock back on the second one. Two days later we came home from work and the second one was gone. The lady here are the rv park was more than upset and said she thought she may know who took it. However today as we were leaving to come over here I saw my missing gas can, which is pretty distinctive, in the back of a truck in front of us. The truck is from the mobile home side of the park. I will talk with the manager when I get back today but basically if the can is not returned with cash to refill it, I will have no problem getting the police involved. I'll update on the situation as it develops.

Well the washers are done, so I'll end this here. Until next time.....

 

Two Years - Two Months - Eleven Days Later...

Two Years, and Two months ago I sat looking at my computer screen watching as someone tried to outbid me on eBay. The auction was for our dreams. Ten acres of wooded land where we could just get away and live our lives the way we wanted to. I was at work in the report writing room and not even supposed to be on he internet at the time, but there was no way I was waiting until I got home to find out what happened.

We won the auction and were now the proud owners of ten acres of land in Hughes County Oklahoma. Why Oklahoma you ask? I honestly didn't know. It wasn't a place we had even thought of going but our research on the land and the seller (who is carrying the short mortgage) led us to believe this was the place. We prayed about it and put in our bid.

A year later we went to physically check out the property we had bought. It was exactly (other than the ticks) what we were looking for. So much so that we bought two adjoining lots and now have 30 acres. 

It's been a series of ups and downs since then including my losing my job in November two months before we were going to leave and head out there. We've come up with idea after idea about how we can make it work and each one just puts it further off. The only thing that will change a dream into reality is action so....


In less than three weeks, on April 24th 2013 two of us are leaving to move to Oklahoma. Why only two? Deb will be staying here and continuing to work for two months while Ash and I get settled on the property and begin to look for work. She'll fly out on June 11th and we'll really be there.

This is obviously not the ideal situation, but we're all tired of waiting for that perfect moment and are doing whatever it takes to get there. Including a yard sale selling 80% of what we own just to cut down what we're hauling.

I'll be posting more over the next couple of weeks including pictures of the packing. At this point we may look like the Beverly Hillbillies driving there, but we'll make it.

-mike

Found a new service that will be of use here on the blog. It will basically take things we post on other sites from Facebook pages, Twitter, Pinterest and more and add them as content here.

They can be posts like this or pages like the Pinterest one above.

The service is called TINT and you can find them at http://www.tintup.com The basic service we're starting out with is free, but it can go much further once you start paying.

Click the "Our Pinterest" link below the sites logo and let us know what you think.

Site Design Changes

Well, haven't posted much because there's not been much to post. With the rain going on it's really not feasible to uncover, dry off, load a few things, then cover everything back up. I've been going through more things and getting stuff packed inside or thrown away if possible. I got the CB installed in the truck and one Jeep, the last one needs to be a temporary setup for Ashley because I don't think she'll want one installed all the time.

What I have been doing however,

Trailer Prep

Spent the past couple of days getting the big trailer ready to move (as well as a couple of days away) and picked up another small trailer. Hopefully I can get the two trailers packed and ready so when I come out to get this one we won't have much to get put in it. Seems like there's still a lot to do but envy day gets us closer..

On another note, what's up with the

A Little Q&A Session

I though I'd take a few minutes and answer a few of the questions we get asked frequently regarding our move to Oklahoma.

The number one question always seems to be why which in itself is a few different questions. Why move from California, Why Oklahoma? Why leave your extended family behind?

Why move from California? I'm sick and tired of the politics and ridiculous rules and regulations in this state and the social expectations of living in the city. I can't park in my front yard without risking a $75 ticket. I can't replace my windows with upgraded more efficient windows without getting permission from nanny.gov and paying them a fee for the privilege. My neighbors are so