First, some business:
Thanks to a new feature from our blog host, there's a link to our photo gallery at the top of our home page. The pictures in this article are included, plus extras. I'll be uploading more photos periodically and adding more galleries. As always, you can click on any picture in an article to enlarge it.
Today I’ll bring you on a partial tour of our current home. Now, I’ll just put out there that what we’ve got going on works for us. We don’t claim it to be the universal answer to every traveler’s needs. Even though Mr 78sqft bought this trailer used, everything was the way it came from the factory. Any modifications you see are his. We'll address his changes in more detail later; for now let’s do a basic walkthrough of our house.
Come on in!
Our 1993 Casita Spirit Deluxe camper is 16 feet long, tongue to back bumper. The shell is basically 6 feet wide and 13 feet long, which gives us our 78 square feet of living space. (The interior height is 5'10''.) We utilize the various nooks and crannies as basement, attic, dining room/office, bathroom, cellar, kitchen, bedroom, closet, and pantry. We realize it’s generous - to the point of ridiculous! - to dub such small spaces “rooms”, but we find it amusing.
We'll start in the back
Our bedroom is in the very end of the camper.
It’s designed to also be a dining table with bench seats, but we prefer keeping the table in bed mode all the time. Currently we have the bench seat cushions and two foam pads (one four or five inches thick, the other a 2 inch thickness) as our mattress. It can get cool at night, even in the warmer south, and sleeping on top of a sleeping bag and under a blanket and a comforter is just right. You’ll also notice our “attic”: the upper cabinet above the bed. Dennis’s odds and ends are kept here.
The “basement” is underneath the bed. Two plastic bins are mounted on a home-built sliding drawer. Extra toiletries, shoes, and miscellaneous items are put here.
In the middle
Just in front of the bedroom, and to starboard, is our kitchen:
Here it’s in dishwashing mode. Under the drying dishes and towel is a two-burner propane stove. We use it infrequently, on those rare occasions when we can’t set up our outside kitchen.
Opposite the kitchen is our dining room and office.
This table can be dropped to make a second bed. More overhead storage; I keep most of my clothes and sundries here.
Under one seat in the office: our pantry. Canned and boxed food goes here, as well as potatoes and onions.
Up front
Our bathroom:
It’s what’s called a “wet bath”, common to RVs and boats. Shower, sink, and toilet can all get wet and be wiped down.
On the other side of the shower wall, our closet. One rod and three shelves work well to divide it.
Below the closet and A/C unit is our “cellar”:
It's a cool, dark spot just the right size for keeping "the kids" in. (Kids: nightcrawlers for fishing. Super quiet, super well-behaved, and they help put food on the table while not violating child labor laws.) Our clothesline is also stored here.
Coming in a future post
Dennis's modifications to the camper won him a "Most Customized" award at a fiberglass RV rally a few years ago. We'll showcase those changes in a future article. (I have to really get geared up for those more technical topics. *ahem*)
I'm also saving a tour of our van for a later posting. Entertainment center, garage, power plant, woodshop, and tow vehicle are all included in our '91 Chevy Astro. It has also been heavily modified; both for practical purposes and to match Dennis's unique definition of "roughing it comfortably". (I reeeeaaaally appreciate his definition of "roughing it comfortably", let me tell you.)
Currently
We're still enjoying our quiet spot on Lake Winnsboro. The first week we were here the catfish, carp, and bass were crazy active all around us. It's the most top-water activity I've ever seen in one place. Mr 78sqft got busy mixing doughballs and marinating hot dog chunks. Sweet corn wrapped in a bright pink doughball landed my hubby his first carp.
Now we're 1-1 in the carp challenge. Uh-oh. I gotta get fishing!
The bass were fun to catch, too:
Signing off
It's been almost constantly windy on Lake Winnsboro; we might be moving on soon. We have fish to fry, fresh veggies to steam (Brookshire's has had some amazing deals on discounted fresh food), and magnificent white pelicans to watch. The Super Bowl countdown is on and Mr. 78sqft's beloved Falcons are getting ready. See you down the road!