Tag Archives: camping

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A Used Camper: my New Home (in pictures)

Where the camper quest began: sitting beside Dad, my brother and sister and their families.

My camper quest started around the campfire, this past Memorial Day weekend at my Dad’s house in Vermont. My brother and sister in Massachusetts, and their families, came together with me to our old homestead. We had a great time together catching up and enjoying barbecue food. The burgers were cooked over the open fire, and absolutely delicious.

At that point, I was seriously considering taking our family’s vintage camper and making it my new home.

living in a tent

In 2021, I had lived in a tent near Mount Desert Island up through November 5th. As a result, I felt brave enough to try something more sturdy. Perhaps I could make it through the winter this time!

Then my brother-in-law, the handyman in our family, looked it over. He concluded that the camper was uninhabitable. Mice had gnawed it down from roof to floor… and damaged it in so many other ways.

Since this option wasn’t a possibility, I started looking for other campers. As I considered what was out there, I pored through Craig’s List and Uncle Henry’s to find them.

In the end, I didn’t find my new camper home on a website… but looking over those possibilities helped me find it. Since in my mind I was in search mode, when I passed it on the road, I saw it.

And here is the camper I found:

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The Tent Life: Why I Love Living in a Tent

Is it just me, or is there a social stigma associated with living in a tent?

Tent Life is a great way to live!

As I went to the polling place to vote in the Maine midterm elections last week, the poll workers asked me for my physical address.  When I told them that I live in a tent, they were visibly concerned for me.

They encouraged me to get in touch with the Emmaus Shelter in town.  As they saw it, no one who lives in a tent does so because things are going well.

My sister Nicole’s friends jokingly like to call the camping they do for vacation “playing homeless”. 

They would rather enjoy their vacation in a beautiful hotel. They just can’t understand why anyone would want to spend their days off from work in a tent!  And yet, many do!

As for me, even though I have a good paying job, I have several good reasons to be back in my tent again.

Great Reasons to Tent

  1. My “home” is paid off! (and cost me less than $100!)
  2. When you need to “cut the budget” to accomplish a big goal, getting rid of your rent payment is a great way to make it happen
  3. I have a safe place to camp, with a Christian Family, not far from where I work
  4. The weather’s good this time of year
  5. Others pay hundreds of dollars to come camp in the Mount Desert Island area for a week!  And I have the opportunity to do it all summer!
  6. No matter how my day goes at work, when I get home, I’m on vacation
  7. This is a great chance to strengthen my skills, to live anywhere in the world He may lead when the “season” changes
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