Moving right along! This past week my Titan 500 solar generator and solar panels arrived. After some testing and measuring, my friend Lenny and I climbed up on the van and tried our our arrangement of panels. We decided on a pattern that got us 400 watts of solar on the tiny roof, and then proceeded to wire it all up and (gulp) cut holes in the van roof to run the wires inside to the solar controller. Everything went smoothly, and the van now has enough solar power to take care of all my electrical needs when camping off-grid (which I hope to be doing often.) You can see video of the install at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzaFrW_PwYw&t=9s
We’ve had some freezing temps here, but the forecast is for the lows to be in the 40’s for the next 10 days, so I’m feeling like it is pretty safe to de-winterize soon, and then I’ll have water back in my van. What a luxury to not have to go in my building to take a shower or wash dishes!
I got notice that I’ll go to settlement on my property on March 30th. Things are moving very quickly. Once I sell the building I expect to hang around the area for a few days, visit my family upstate a final time and see some local friends before getting on the road.
“Where are you going first?” That’s the question I get asked most often. The answer has changed often since I first started planning this adventure, but now things are firming up, at least a little bit. After visiting my friends in Delaware, I plan on heading south. I want to be warm! I’ll go first to see my friends Leslie and Jonah just outside of DC. I may stay a night or maybe a couple and then head further south. My next stop will be perhaps Assateague or Chincoteague, or maybe the Outer Banks. I’ll stay for a few more nights and then head west to see a former soap-making friend in Salisbury, NC, and after that, on to Asheville to visit yet another friend.
I’m going to be on a very fixed income (my Social Security) so I’m not planning on many fancy campgrounds. I hope to stay mostly in friend’s driveways and in between, boondock in some National Parks and National Forests for free. I’ve done some research and have some ideas of places I’d like to see in between visiting friends, but nothing is set in stone. I think that’s the whole point; I never have to be anywhere at any particular day or time. If I get somewhere beautiful and want to stay a week or longer, I have the opportunity to do so. I’ve crossed the country once in each direction, and saw little along the way because I was on a deadline to be someplace on a certain day. Not this time. I’m definitely planning on stopping to smell the roses along the way.
Guess by this time you might be heading south. Just don’t try to vote as you get into and past the Carolinas 😇
I hope everything works out just as you want.
Good luck and stay in touch.
There was a glitch in the settlement due to an encroachment by my neighbor. It is being worked out and a fence is being put up. I am taking short trips but my “Hejira” has been postponed, probably until mid May