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My story is interesting and probably fairly unique. I left California in early 2013 to start my life over in some place new and unfamiliar. My friend, who i’ll refer to as “Emily” wanted out too, so i took her with me. Why not? It was a bold move that i’m glad i took. The 1,800 drive was intense and wonderful. It felt like freedom. There was just one problem. Money. With very little money, the odds were really stacked against us. But what choice did we really have? California is and inherently expensive state to live in. I love my home state, but without a decent income, it seemed impossible to accomplish some of the basic things in life i wanted to accomplish. I don’t like the idea of slaving away to another company either, just to afford a roof over my head during times i’m allowed to go home. The rest of that time i’m at work, what’s the home doing? Sitting there.. as useful to me as a storage unit for my stuff. If money was my main goal, i’d be working all the time, showering at friends’ houses, eating out daily and sleeping in my minivan in a Walmart parking lot somewhere at night. Because if i was money motivated, i would sacrifice the roof over my head in exchange for quicker financial freedom.
Enough with the background, on with the story..
In early 2013, I had two cars but could only take one with me. So i gave one to the junkyard because my name wasn’t on the title yet after buying it a few months prior. Smog laws prevented me to really doing a quick transfer to someone else.. bummer. So the car went to the junk yard after i salvaged a battery and a few parks. 🙁
The car i did take was my Lincoln Mark VII, a hot rod of sorts. I knew this car would be dependable (and fast). Ironically, the Lincoln was given to me from a friend of mine who had too many cars and knew i’d probably fix it up, since i was into that sort of thing.
Okay, really, on with the story.
Emily’s mom learned she had cancer and her health was slipping fast. So we loaded up the car and headed back to California for what we thought was a short trip for me and a possible longer stay for Emily. I would make a second round trip later if need be, or so I thought. Without going into detail, i found myself stuck in California and i needed to find a quick solution to my living circumstances. So i thought, hey, i needed an RV. With hardly any money, i did something crazy. I traded my car and $300 for a junk motorhome. I managed to pour about $1,000 into the RV, only to learn that the problems go much deeper with it. I later found myself sharing a room with my friend at her parents’ home in my home town, a town i really didn’t want to be in anymore. Oh well. Luckily however, i was present to help take care of her parents to keep them from needing to go into a nursing home. The rest of the family decided they’d not bother taking care of their parents so Emily and I stayed on to help them out. Life is interesting and full of twists and turns. Sadly, Emily’s mom finally lost her battle with cancer and her dad passed within a few weeks after. By this time, we’d been living in the home and now it was an issue where we were forced to move. But where? Just before mom passed, I bought their minivan from them with what money i did managed to save, with the promise to take care of Emily’s dad. We all knew mom was going to pass any day, and he was no longer fit to drive. The rest of the family, well, let’s put it this way. They finally got involved when it came to “Who’s going to get the minivan, or who’s going to get the house?, What about the belongs”? Vultures.
Emily learned that Dad had a fund set aside for when he passed, enough money we could find a place to live. But there wasn’t quite enough. So we decided to check around. I found a place to park an RV in San Diego, CA but that’s a 2 day drive away and we didn’t have an RV ready yet. My RV was too deep in issues and wasn’t ready and not really for two people anyway. Emily is my friend, not my lover. Awkward situation really. After agreement, Emily and I decided to buy an RV with some of her money and move to San Diego, where she was born and raised. Since she can’t drive for her own medical reasons, it made sense that i stay involved in her life as her driver and to help her set up a place to live somewhere. I’m quite the handy man, actually. I gave away the motorhome i traded my car for, to a guy down the street who wanted it for storage. Okay, great. That’ll work.
Karmically, i got a minivan and we ended up with an RV. So San Diego, here we come. With minivan in tow.
As we reached Weed, California, we broke down. Crap. We found an emergency mechanic, but it’d take days for a repair and so we decided we’re going to find a hotel room in San Diego and ask the mechanic to move the RV into storage when it’s done with repairs. The only hotel we could find that was any decent was $65 per night in El Cajon. After 1 month there, it became we were running out of cash, and fast.
We figured that we could buy another motorhome cheaper than it would be to drive back up to Weed, CA and come back with a u-haul flatbed trailer and drive it all the way back to San Diego. So we ended up buying another RV and had new 6 new tires put on, oil change, etc. Just as we finished the purchase of the RV, we learned the spot we had available to use was no longer available to us. In calling around for another week we finally found a spot in Fresno, California in a gated mobile home community. We drove to Fresno and then back, just to apply in person. A few days later, we were accepted.
With just about every last dollar to our names, we moved to Fresno. San Diego and LA traffic with a large motorhome, towing on a flatbed trailer the minivan was no joke, but in the end, it was totally worth it. We were expecting to stay in the park only a few months until we find something more affordable and preferably closer to the coast. Our neighbors all loved us and our immediate next door neighbor just inherited a house and moved into it then made us an offer we just couldn’t fathom no matter how a person would ask it. “Do you want our house?”.
Granted, the house was in serious need of repairs everywhere. In fact, it needed to be totally gutted, including work around the property too. So today, we are living in the home with new sub-floor, no-kitchen and the outside a nice shade of yuck. The motorhomes?
We’re looking to give away the RV which is now in Susanville, CA (after my sister failed to buy it like she said she wanted to do) and the motorhome we just moved from is now in the storage yard in our park, awaiting the day we can afford to take it out on the open road. (after some floor replacement, et cetera).
The story goes now that we’re planning to finish renovating this house and convert make it a rental, using that income to help us purchase land somewhere.
Between my work and Emily’s inheritance, we should be able to make this a realty very soon. I will begin documenting our story and sharing it here and online on a blog i’ll be setting up. It’s quite interesting.
It’s amazing what can happen in such a little bit of time, and with very little money.
I have both sad and good news about this situation.
The single wide trailer i got for free and after spending a few thousand fixing up, well, i was forced to let it go after getting an eviction notice because i made a few written complaints of neighbors who were not just breaking the rules of the park we were in, but being absolute nuisance at all hours. Loud stereos at 3am nightly, all-day/all-night dog barking, people dumping trash in the recycle bins. Homeless coming into park and rummaging through our bins.. the park manager wasn’t doing her job and decided that I was being a butt.
I couldn’t find a buyer for the home quick enough so i gave the home away to a needy family with the willingness to finish fixing up the place.
But i have my 1989 Fleetwood Southwind RV and now it’s just me by myself here in a few months, on the road… with no particular direction. I need to get back into the swing of making a sizable income again to cover my traveling and other unexpected expenses but i am looking foward to it again.
I will be towing my 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan behind the Southwind RV… wanting to stay along the coast. I’d love to find the perfect spot for me. I’m single guy, working from home/rv.
I’ve been watching Pippi’s videos and love them. In fact, i find it quite nice a young pretty woman has NO problem getting her hands dirty to work on her own place. I think that’s fantastic, even changing oil. I’ve been spending a lot of time over the last few weeks planning my remodel of the RV, what types of income sources I want to work on while living in the RV and how i’d even manage if I don’t want to be in a park.. and just travel. I guess i’ll try homeless if need be… done it before but last time was with a car. This time with an RV.
Special Thanks to Pippi for the videos i really think they are inspirational and uplifting. 🙂
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