Do You Really Want to Cook Outside—All the Time?
WHEN I STARTED MY NOMAD LIFE nine years ago I swore I would never cook inside my van. I didn’t want an open flame in the middle of so much combustable stuff. I didn’t want the added heat (I had started out in summer). I didn’t want the steam. I didn’t want the...
Weekend Photo 30
Winter dawn — 9 February 2016 — San Felipe, Baja California
Figuring Out What I Actually Use
MY TOOL BOX weighs about 30 pounds. I know I’ll never need to use some of my tools, and it would be nice to lighten my load a little. The trouble is, I’m not certain which tools are unnecessary. But I’ve realized there’s a way I can get a hint. Half in the bag Ever...
The Sounds of Silence
BOONDOCKING WAS AN ADJUSTMENT FOR ME. It wasn't the alone part that bothered me. I’m an introvert, so solitude was pretty much my natural state. What freaked me out was the silence. That was an unfamiliar experience. Like nearly everyone, I had grown accustomed to the...
Sunday Short: Better Than a Bug Out Bag
THE PREPPER-SURVIVALIST-TEOTWAWKI FOLKS talk about bug out bags — the thing you grab when you need to flee in a hurry. It supposedly contains everything you need to survive for a while in case of a disaster or the collapse of society. Ah, but we nomads do much better...
Weekend Photo 29
Sun rising — 4 October 2015 — Monument Valley, Navajo Nation
Starlink Long Term Review
I’VE BEEN USING STARLINK for a while now, so let me give you my impressions on ease of use, signal availability, and speed. Is it a good answer for nomads who need to stay connected to reliable Internet wherever they go? I’m going to look at five things to make my...
Two Budget-Friendly LiFePo4 Batteries
WE’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A TRANSITION from good old lead acid batteries to lithium batteries. We like lithium batteries — specifically Lithium-Iron-Phosphate-4 batteries (LiFePo4) — because we can use nearly all of their capacity, as opposed being able to use only half...
It’s Not Just a Way of Living, It’s a Way of Thinking
IF YOU’VE EVER SEEN THE MOVIE (or read the book) Nomadland, this is our tribe. Those in the movie and many more across the western US are our extended family. We love them very much and I am very proud of them because they are such good people. When we first became...
Weekend Photo 28
Morning fog — 13 November 2014 — Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona
Can a Nomad Live Without Credit?
NINE YEARS AGO I SOLD MY HOUSE, bought a van, and cut up my last credit card. I was free. I hadn’t been the worst credit user, but I was far from the best. Some months I could only pay part of my balance. The periods I was all caught up didn’t last very long. The...
How I Made a Folding Mount for My Omnidirectional Cellular Antenna
I’VE BEEN VERY SATISFIED with the weBoost Drive RV omnidirectional antenna I bought two years ago. And I’m even more satisfied with the folding mounting system I rigged up.The weBoost Drive RV antenna comes with a couple of U-bolts. The idea is to clamp it to...