Big Picture, Pesky Details

We’ve been settled now in the camper on the land for four days and it’s been really fun and feels right. We absolutely depended on the kindness of family and friends for most of December. We stayed for about 10 days with Greg’s parents and for about 10 days in the house of some dear friends while they were on vacation. We were so grateful to have their generosity and love to rely on while we were laying water lines, sewer lines, graywater lines, and getting the camper level and insulated.

And speaking of generosity and love, my uncle and my cousin, Larry and Mike Brown, have both in spades. They gave their time and expertise to us in order to get us up and running in the camper by the New Year. I’ll always be grateful to them both. It took quite a bit of work to get everything set up.

Digging trenches 150 feet long using something called a “Ditch Witch.” Gluing pipes one-by-one to lay water and sewer lines. Cutting large boards to fit around the camper. Insulating pipes. Slashing out paths through the forest using a machete. Raking dirt to fills holes in preparation for sod. Etc., etc. More work than we’d really realized to live in a camper. In our minds, we just moved the camper, pressed the “on” button, and we were good to go! Well, we weren’t quite that ignorant, but we definitely didn’t think of all the details.

Greg and I are big picture, vision-oriented people. We see what can be, bright and shiny on the horizon. Getting from A to B, though, isn’t always an easy, direct line. Details sometimes overwhelm us and weigh us down. Sometimes this is a good thing. I’m not sure many people would have been able to overlook all the details and just DO what we’ve done. But our big-picture minds get us into trouble sometimes. We did have to take out a small loan on our 401K to pay for all the details we didn’t think about to get the camper set up—pipes, septic pumping, sod, etc. It was a small amount, and will only deduct about $40 a month from Greg’s check, so it’s OK.

We’re feeling good right now. We’ve completed step 1. We’re here, we aren’t paying rent anymore, and we have a savings plan for how to get to step 2--the YURT! Meanwhile, there’s all sorts of entertaining things to amuse us here, and the adventure has now officially begun!

Wanna see the camper and the land?? Pictures below! We didn't get any pics yet of the back bedroom/bathroom area or the front of the land, but there's more to come!