For years, Virginia and I have dreamed of life after retirement. That dream included travels across the country to visit our national parks and monuments. We also have plans to travel internationally. In preparation for our cross-country adventures, we purchased a small travel trailer called a Scamp, (we named her Betty Lou). We knew there would be a learning curve associated with this new life. Other than a few weekend trips here and there, we never attempted long-term living away from home. This last month has been a major shake-down trek to see if we can function comfortably and sanely together. Like the image above, this trip was an arch, or a bridge, between an old life and new. Along the way we met minor failures and discovered many weaknesses. But more importantly, we learned that this is a lifestyle we can easily embrace. In some ways, it is unlike anything we ever attempted before. In this blog post I will share some of the main areas of growth.
Sometimes it’s hard not to compare ourselves to other campers.
We chose a Scamp trailer because it fits our ethos. We are not hard-core minimalists, but we tend to resonate with simple living on a small scale. A Scamp trailer has everything we need and not too much more. Sometimes we pull up next to a big rig like the one above and wonder what we would do with all that space. For over 30 years we camped in a conventional tent and slept on the ground. It’s a luxury to now have a bed to sleep on (even though it is only 44 inches wide) for the two of us. We enjoy the warmth the Scamp provides in winter and the ability to shut out the noise of the campground. We do most of our cooking outdoors. We will boil water indoors, but not cook. We don’t want the oils and smells of food imbedding in everything around us. On this trip, we visited several early American ruins like the one below. We learned that each room was a dwelling place for one family. It dawned on me that our Scamp has about 75 square feet of living space. 2-3 of our Scamps would fit into one of these rooms. We are living in about the same spatial abundance as an ancient family in the Southwest.
Tuzigoot National Monument, Clarkdale, Arizona
It has been almost two weeks since we’ve had a proper shower. We’ve learned that we can keep ourselves clean with disinfectant wipes. Before we left home in early January, I built a simple shower from a pressurized garden sprayer. It works great for washing hair, and on occasion, we even made it work for a full body shower. Virginia uses it every day to rinse dishes. It’s a keeper.
Sunset at the Grand Canyon from Yavapai Point
For the last month, Virginia and I have been together for nearly the entire time, 24/7. We’ve talked to some couples entering retirement who ask how we can spend so much time together. My response is always, how can you not spend time with your best friend. About the only time we’re apart is when I leave for a few hours to make photographs. I prefer to be alone when I am with my camera. I need that time to think and process my surroundings. Other than those few hours here and there, we spend our time together. For entertainment we enjoy streaming British murder mysteries. Several times we found ourselves without cell service and not able to hotspot. In those instances, we embraced the isolation and quiet, and spent more time reading books we brought along. We have even spent several evenings playing card games. In the coming months we’ll likely look into purchasing a cell booster to improve our connect-ability.
Stormy skies over Sedona, Arizona
While we’ve traveled, we’ve kept lists of things to change or improve. I’ve purchased items on Amazon and had them sent home ahead of us. When we return home, we’ll have about two weeks to catch up on business, restock the Scamp, make some critical changes to our camping environment, and then we’ll be returning to the road. Each time out we’ll fine tune it more and more until we have this thing dialed in to our satisfaction. A few of our enhancements include:
Improving our solar collection by adding an additional panel and making it possible to recharge our solar battery while we drive
Adding more storage for clothing
Changing how we stock food supplies
Reconfiguring the 4Runner and making more efficient use of its space
Adding storage pockets here and there and better organizing “stuff”
Improving our outdoor cooking station
Relamping the interior of the Scamp with warm LED lighting
4 image panoramic stitch of storming skies over Southern California