It's small.
Every evening, as exhausted as I have been spending up to 12+ hours with the river and paddling programs, is always capped off with folding myself in half as I cram in through the rear side door, completing a near-perfected pivot and swing onto my sleeping pad. The better I become at this, the less time I have to spend smashing the uninvited mosquitos before I switch off the light. Then, as my alarm reminds me that with my set-up, there is no "rolling out of bed" in the morning but rather another tuck, spin, and slip into a persistently damp pair of rubber boots. Some mornings I remember to change back into my work pants before I do this, but the fleece pant/XtraTufs combination is never subject to any judgement. It is fascinating to see my neighbors' own set-ups and what kind of systems they have in place to make it as comfortable as possible. It becomes clear after a short while though that we are all still trying to figure out this kind of lifestyle. Water is only a problem when you realize you are due for another run to the roadside spring on the other side of town. If you are careful not to completely drain it and strand yourself, you can charge a phone with the car battery. Cooking can get buggy at times, but it can be done as easily as any other task that elsewhere is relatively simple and mundane. Having no method to refrigerate presents a diet that consists mostly of canned foods which can be supplemented with eggs, some cheeses, and meats if you can eat them quick enough. It also helps knowing what day our food-barge from Seattle arrives to get the freshest products available (it's Tuesdays).
Now that it has been a month since I last slept in a real bed inside a structure I could at least stand up in, I am committed to keeping it up and continuing to "perfect" this way of living. There are a few times when I get tired of having to deal with crawling in and out, trying to figure out how to keep things drier, and not having a space to just lounge outside of the reach of the mosquitos. However, I remind myself that it is insane to compare what it is like to live out of a vehicle, whose designers most likely did not intend for it to be converted to the purpose in which I have designated, to living in a house. If it was just sleeping in my car that I looked forward to every night, I would not bother with finding the best beach or forest-nook to tuck away on and claim as my front yard. As much as the bugs the night before, the yoga-like moves to get in and out, the slight dampness from time to time can be a bother, it is worth it all. I now enjoy looking at different objects and spaces that were never intended to be lived in thinking, "Look at all that room!"
I have been extremely grateful for the amount of support I have received to make my experience up here possible. Extra thanks goes out to Jimi with Tsuga Canopies for the TS 8.0 canopy system he helped set me up with. Not only does it add an appreciated increased level of privacy, but it allows for the space out of my trunk to be sheltered from the persistent rain we get from time to time. It also helps make my car feel more like a home - like an intentional space to be lived in rather than just a sheltered space that that an individual that has no concern for or interest in comfort can just barely squeeze into and get a night's sleep.
