I have another alternative housing post for you today… This is going to be another head scratch-er, at least it was for me… I remember seeing hippies back in the 1970’s living in retired school buses. Sometimes they were road worthy but mostly I recall them being semi-permanent on a piece of land.

   I try to check my local Craigslist everyday to stay on the look out for a screamin deal on another singlewide mobile to add to our BOL. As it turns out I haven’t been able to locate a good candidate yet… I’ll be watching though and timing is everything! I missed out on several when I was looking for the initial one to purchase.

   Anyway, it was on Craigslist that I found the ad we’ll be discussing today. It is for a “Converted School Bus”… Normally, I wouldn’t have clicked on this ad but something caught my interest enough to take a peek. You can see in the pictures, someone has done a good job turning this place into a comfortable and snug little cabin. It doesn’t have a bathroom but most everything else is there.

   What do you guys think, could you live in a school bus? What if the price was right? I don’t know either but I wouldn’t rule it out, especially for a BOL shelter. It wouldn’t be much different than living in something the size of a motor home, since this is basically what it is after you converted it.

   It appears from what I saw in the ad that the owners lived in the bus for the year that it took to build there new home. They have it rigged up to the electric grid and have running water to the kitchen sink. With the  large wood stove that’s in the pictures, heat wouldn’t be much of an issue at least as long as someone was there to keep the thing stoked up.

   So we have running water, heat and electric. Is there something that could be done to answer the issue of the bathroom? I envision this thing sitting on some one’s BOL, out in the countryside somewhere. I know if it were me I would just add an out building to use for a bathroom and laundry facility! It wouldn’t be difficult to come up with a simple design that could be finished to whatever level of grandeur the specific owner/user required.

   There are all sorts of people that live in RV’s of all different sizes. I’ve seen a number of articles that show entire families being raised in these close quarters. Some of them on the road traveling but mostly at a full time location… That wouldn’t have been my first choice for raising my daughter but I wasn’t faced with an economic need that required it either.

  My interpretation of this as a lifestyle would be for just a single or maybe a couple that got along real well… In the photos I see a kitchen area, small 2 seater dining table, sofa and bedroom area with a mounted television. The whole place couldn’t be more than 300-350 square feet total? It seems that all the necessities are covered. HEAT, WATER and some sort of cooking arrangement. This place actually appears to be warm and inviting, I particularly like the wood panelling throughout. 

   Let me remind everyone that I spend a good deal of my working life out seeing clients in there homes. I’ve seen it all, from chickens living inside with the family, to the old “cat lady”, to actual mansions. It would shock most people to see how there neighbors are really living! More times than I can count I’ve seen a high end luxury car in the driveway but found the living room with no furniture and second hand/garage sale furniture in other rooms. The kitchens are often so messy it would make a 20 year old bachelor blush.

   My point is that where we all live and our perceived standard of living, is subjective at best. I don’t hold this out as a GREAT option but it is an option. I see old school buses going for as little as FREE – just drag it away, on up to several thousands of dollars. I’d be more inclined to spend the money for a running unit or one that was in great shape.

   Looking at the pictures of the subject specimen and the asking price of $6500, it would appear that you would be getting a make shift home for a reasonable price, if you had the ability to put it to use. I have seen this ad running for the last few months and this is always an indicator of a motivated seller and with a little luck, you could get this bus for a couple thousand dollars. Add in the cost of the out building/bathroom and the towing bill to get it moved to your land and what do you have into it?

   No, this isn’t going to be for everyone but a shelter with all the usual requirments for under 10K? Ponderous! I know what your thinking, “I could get a good RV for less than that!” True, maybe that is a better route to take, only you could decide that. I like this idea as I’m a little off from the norm or at least thats what I’m told. This would allow room for the full sized wood stove and give more creative control than a traditional light duty RV… Who knows, maybe this wouldn’t be a good idea but is worth thinking about!

   Now more than anytime in our recent collective history, we have a populous that is going to need to think outside the box, when it comes to shelter. I hope to provide the stimulus to more creative ideas. These ideas will eventually lead many to a more freedom centered life or at least that’s my goal…

Prepper

   Welcome back, I hope everyone had a great holiday! Looks like we have another short week and then onto a New Year… I don’t know about any of you but I think 2010 promises to be interesting… Terror attacks, economic collapse and other fun stuff just ahead… I actually have no better idea than anyone else what we could see in the coming months! I am keeping my head up and eye’s open!

   I don’t want to speak for anyone except “The Prepper Family” but it seems that there is still alot to get accomplished. Our business has been effected just like most every one’s has by this economic recession/depression or whatever we are currently calling it. However, keeping this fact in mind, we all need to still be striving to better position ourselves for whatever the future holds. As we hope that the good times will make another appearance on the scene, we better still be prepping for the possibility that they don’t… To over simplify it – we can’t eat food that we didn’t store! Watch for bargains and get busy!

_______________________________________________________________________________

I want to thank “Ranger” for his generous Christmas gift. He sent me a box of Corbon 9mm and a nice card addressed to “The Prepper Family”. So – THANKS RANGER! That was unexpected and pretty cool!

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Floating McMansion

 

   I do a lot of traveling throughout Western Washington for my business and try to keep the camera close by, just in case I see something I can share with the group – I would like to encourage others to do this as well! Anyway, last week I had some business down in Seattle that brought me close to a neighborhood of homes that I hadn’t previously noticed…

   This neighborhood is located in a most unlikely place. Floating just off the side of the road. I saw these homes as I was speeding by and had to do a quick u-turn to get a better look.

Who needs land to have a cabin?

   I suppose that many of you have seen the movie “Sleepless in Seattle”, where Tom Hanks was living in a floating house. Well, I saw it too but hadn’t ever run across the location of this interesting neighborhood. Just like much of what we see in Hollywood, I assumed that it may have been shot on location in another city. It may actually have been but these places still represent what was portrayed in the movie. Basically regular homes built on top of a floating platform.   

   Anyone that’s been reading “Prepper” nation for any time at all will know that I have a thing for – Alternative Housing! This would definitely qualify as alternative in my book! There was one particular house that caught my eye and its the big one that’s built in the “Craftsman Style”, very cool! This particular example shows that apparently a builder isn’t restricted in the size of the home that could be built! As cool as it is and I’d love to get the opportunity to see the interior, it’s still what I would call a McMansion. Probably wouldn’t be a cost effective approach for the prepper to take, in gaining their shelter independence…

 

Floating Neighborhood

  As you can see in these photo’s, the home styles are diverse and range widely in size. They all appear to have a barge of some sort under them, which would stand to reason… I wonder what the moorage costs are in comparison to property taxes. This particular area of Seattle and near the water, would command a high tax bill. At least it would be high for our area. I see the references on the web that show places back East that have taxes well over $10K a year… I can’t imagine having to cover that nut each month even after the home was paid for? WOW!

    Anyway, as interesting as this concept is, I was wondering if there would be a viable prepper solution in any of this? The home I want to call your attention to is the little humble one. This is the one that looked promising to me. From all exterior appearances it isn’t drastically larger than a modern motorhome. The small moorage that it requires would make it more economical as well… I wouldn’t be surprised if this one wasn’t home made, it has what looks like a fairly simple design. I say simple, only in comparison to the larger homes.

Possibilities?

   If you notice the platform on this one, what is it? My best guess is that it’s a small barge with a fiberglass covering to make it more user friendly and aesthetically pleasing. I walked down as close to it as I dared to take a few pictures… I didn’t really want to answer questions about my trespassing, if it could be avoided.

   As you can see, the owners even have some potted landscaping plants on board too… It makes me think that a container garden would certainly be possible as long as enough fresh water could be procured, long term that is… Kind of makes you think…  

Container Gardening

   This area of town is near at least two sizable university’s and the bicycle in the photo makes me wonder if this isn’t being used as student housing? If the right opportunity came along to either purchase a small unit such as this or even build one from scratch and keep it moored in a convenient location? Hmm? Sounds interesting, I bet the concept could be done for much cheaper than a small cracker box starter home in the area. I don’t have first hand info on the moorage costs but if they’re similar to a marina, the costs with shore power wouldn’t exceed $500 a month. Now that isn’t chicken feed and you don’t have much in the area of square footage but once the house was paid for the rental costs could be kept fairly reasonable… 

  This wouldn’t work for the type of future that I’m interested in, with the exception of if I needed to maintain some sort of housing in the city. This would only be applicable to my situation if I decided to keep our business going with employees after making the move to the BOL. We have considered this and are pondering what we may want to do for a crash pad for when we have to come to town…

Reserved Parking?

   Our group -Preppers – is very diverse! What I couldn’t see as doable, someone else would see as a dream come true. This small boat, house, RV or whatever it actually would be called, would fit into this category… A misfit, at first glance but paired up with a creative mind, the possibilities could be endless. Other than the uniqueness of a home like this, it is pretty well camouflaged. If I hadn’t noticed the big showy home down the dock from it, it wouldn’t draw much attention. It even has the ability to be moved, maybe even under its own power, with a little forethought.   

   You decide for yourselves if this is cool or even interesting? I see things like this and find myself having to think about the possibilities, which leads me to the conclusion that if I think twice about something like this – you might want to see it too? I’ll keep bringing things to your attention and you sift through them and keep the one’s you like and just discard those you don’t!

Prepper

   I thought I would start out today with a few links to some recommended reading ideas… I was going to try for another “Book Review” today but I just didn’t have the opportunity to get it put together in time. We’ll do it next week instead!

This first link is to a short fiction story over on the Shenandoah blog. It’s an excerpt of what this particular blogger imagines could be the way our Dollar finally dies, a different take than the slow slide that has become a popular theory as of late… This is the first time I have run across this blogger but this particular entry was interesting and I’m sure that as soon as I have the time I’ll look into his other work.

http://johngaltfla.com/blog3/2009/11/18/the-day-the-dollar-died/

These next couple of links are for a blog that is written by the far left author, a somewhat radical James Howard Kunstler. I don’t agree with a lot of the premises that he has come up with but I do agree overall with some of his conclusions… He publishes his blog on Monday mornings each week and I usually take a look. He has a typical leftist disdain for all things conservative.  Specifically in these posts Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin but if you can over look some of his prejudice his writing should prove interesting to you as well…

http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/11/the-fate-of-the-yeast-people.html#more

http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/11/dreams-die-hard.html

This last article I’m linking is by the ever popular Jack Spirko over at TSP -The Survival Podcast… If you’re unfamiliar with his work -- you gotta check him out! This is the first of about 10 principles that he’s come up with to base his “Modern Survival Philosophy” on. Well worth your time to investigate!

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/tenet-one

__________________________________________________________________________________

   The topic I was going to bring up today isn’t exactly something out a left field. Several of the daily videos this week were along these lines. It’s the idea of converting a cargo trailer into a stealth camper. Whether this would be something you might decide to actually live in, like a growing number of people have or just as a cool camping/get outa dodge type BOV rig, its worth considering…

6x6x12 enclosed trailer

   Last weekend on my trip to the BOL, I borrowed a friends enclosed trailer to haul my motherload of storage boxes in. I couldn’t help doing some sizing up of the possibilities. This trailer is only a small single axle unit, 6′x6′x12′ long. I was looking at the size and determined that it would be tempting to get a little larger trailer for a project like this but it might compromise the practicality of the whole show if you got to large.

   I think that a stronger unit would be required, a second axle for sure to handle the added weight of the built in furnishings. I’ve seen several of these completed projects and it would seem that there’s endless possibilities, even if your working with less than 100 square feet.

 

   I’ve done some research into the whole van dwelling and life on the road gypsy movement. I have to admit that it really does call to my soul to have the freedom to come and go with the weather. If I can get Mrs. Prepper to sign on with me, we’ll be taking an extended road trip in something like this or maybe even a purpose built BOV camper van.

72 square feet of open space...

    Are you starting to wonder if I might just get myself a few to many projects and be unable to finish any of them… So am I and even more important, so is Mrs. Prepper! She’s very supportive and willing to do some creative travelling with me in the future but we’ll probably need to have a home base for in between these big adventures I have planned.

 

   If you watched the videos this week you saw the concepts that a couple folks came up with. There is really nothing that you could have with a conventional RV, that couldn’t be included in this Stealth Camper idea. I saw toilets, showers, full and partial kitchens -- the works!

 

 

              

 

   The idea is to be able to go, camp or at least sleep for the night, in areas that wouldn’t be advisable to the full fledged RV crowd. Several websites that I’ve discovered show people with this arrangement parking everywhere from urban industrial parks to places like ‘Slab City’ out in the middle of the desert, local beaches and everywhere in between. 

 

   Lately, we’ve been looking at the proposed budgets for a simpler lifestyle. I think we’ve established that it is easily within any of our reaches to create a lifestyle that requires much less of us financially, if that’s what we’re after. I can’t relate with the few naysayers that sent me hate mail about what a cruddy lifestyle I was suggesting. If there’s a way to have a $100K annual income but annual expenses of only $10-25K, sounds like a person could have a lot of discretionary funds. I for one like the idea of choosing how much money I might require myself to work for, without the ugly head of the bill pile dealing harshly with my reality.

 

 

A free man living in a cargo trailer?

   I see these odd-ball folks living in unconventional ways and wonder what it would be like? I have a handy side that thinks I could probably build one of these campers, hit the road and live a freedom road lifestyle for a few years… Then I get back to my grounding, I have a few debts to still wipe out, a 17 year old daughter and a BOL project that will keep my busy for years to come. I’m pretty happy with our progress and wouldn’t want to stall that train mid track, so I will just day dream about this! I hope that some of these side trips I keep bringing to you, don’t put you to sleep! There is so many interesting lifestyles out there that the (9-5)  j-o-b for the next 40 years program just can’t compete with!

 

   Never stop dreaming of a better way! A Freedom Road that will allow you to experience life in abundance and on your own terms! We’ll keep digging into these different ideas and compare notes. The economy and our government might be going down the crapper but we, the free thinkers, can experience hope and optimism through our foresight!

 

   Have a great weekend and I’ll be back Monday to start this all over again! Next week will probably be a short week but I’m going to try to get some additional posts ready for the long weekend… I always hate it when my favorite websites go off line for a long weekend? Who do these bloggers think they are, lazy-long winded suckers!

 

 

Prepper