Tiny House On A Steel Soldier…………….Expedition Notes.

[BrandonBellrose]

Sorry to see that pic of your daughter - I have a 15, 12, and 10 year old so I feel your pain. Hopefully she's fine and in good hands.

Really enjoying your posts and pics. There's something to be said when all of you sleep in one room. It brings the family closer (for better and worse lol). You probably wouldn't have heard her labored breathing if she was at home in her own room. We spend rediculous amounts of $$ renting houses for vacation each summer and have discovered that our kids look forward to our annual ocean side camping trip more than anything. Five of us in a tent sleeping on the dunes next to the Atlantic with crisp air and waves crashing is hard to beat.

Thanks for your support. Sorry I was unable to respond more quickly but things became touch and go with my son for some thirty hours.

The family of five(plus large dog) have let go of large sums of money while traveling, spending on hotel rooms, eating out three times a days, not including fuel and travel expensives. With the five of us and a dog(the dreaded pet deposit) the numbers become astronomical quite quickly. This always caused us to cut back on what we wanted to do on any trip just to prevent us from going into the poor house. The current setup is unbelievable as far as a cost savings, we cook at home get higher quality meals, zero dog deposits, and no hotel cost with deposits. We can sleep on a beach one day, mountain the next, and then downtown Portland next to the restaurant that allowed us to test that second glass of wine that we might need to sleep off before driving.
Draw back being lack of space in every category. 67 square feet for your toilet, shower, kitchen, beds, storage, food storage, dog , three kids, and two parents is game on. After being on the road for over 150 days you start to figure it out, with the outdoors being your biggest escape for space. We only get at each other on extreme rain days when we are not in a city to walk aimlessly down Home Depot isles thinking about future projects.
As far as you and your kids in a tent and enjoying it so much. I feel as a child there is this primal attraction to being in a tent that we some how grow out of as we get older. I remember all my tent camping as a kid, and its seemed so much better then. Now lugging a tent around is a lot of work, but we still enjoy backpack camping quite a lot.

 

[BrandonBellrose]

Great adventure (aside from the last few updates that is...Certainly hope all the breathing issues get sorted out).

A surplus 5ton is on my bucket list...will be following along.

Looking forward to hearing when a 5ton has been marked off your bucket list.

 

[unkamonkey]

It is your life after all so as long as everybody gets healthy you are doing well. The rest of it, it will work out.

 

[RND1]

Thanks for your support. Sorry I was unable to respond more quickly but things became touch and go with my son for some thirty hours.

The family of five(plus large dog) have let go of large sums of money while traveling, spending on hotel rooms, eating out three times a days, not including fuel and travel expensives. With the five of us and a dog(the dreaded pet deposit) the numbers become astronomical quite quickly. This always caused us to cut back on what we wanted to do on any trip just to prevent us from going into the poor house. The current setup is unbelievable as far as a cost savings, we cook at home get higher quality meals, zero dog deposits, and no hotel cost with deposits. We can sleep on a beach one day, mountain the next, and then downtown Portland next to the restaurant that allowed us to test that second glass of wine that we might need to sleep off before driving.
Draw back being lack of space in every category. 67 square feet for your toilet, shower, kitchen, beds, storage, food storage, dog , three kids, and two parents is game on. After being on the road for over 150 days you start to figure it out, with the outdoors being your biggest escape for space. We only get at each other on extreme rain days when we are not in a city to walk aimlessly down Home Depot isles thinking about future projects.
As far as you and your kids in a tent and enjoying it so much. I feel as a child there is this primal attraction to being in a tent that we some how grow out of as we get older. I remember all my tent camping as a kid, and its seemed so much better then. Now lugging a tent around is a lot of work, but we still enjoy backpack camping quite a lot.

Hope the kids are all recovering? Maybe I missed this, but did you sell your home and belongings to make the tiny house on a steel soldier your new home and have the funds to travel indefinitely? Or will you all return to home once the trip is over?

In the current iphone era, it's getting more and more difficult for families to spend time together and truly connect. We strive to get our kids on the hiking trail and in tents as much as possible as it's the only place we can break the wifi addiction. We're looking into renting an RV for a month next Summer to travel the West. Nothing compared to what you're doing, but it's baby steps. Oh and we have a large golden doodle too lol!

 

[gtbensley]

Yikes, hope your kids are doing better and you can all get back on the road soon!

 

[BrandonBellrose]

Thanks for your support

Sorry I haven’t given a update we were overwhelmed with the two kids in the hospital and our 5 yr old being in critical condition for two of the days. We are happy to report that both kids are doing remarkable better and have been discharged from the hospital. We are going to be staying on hospital grounds until the 5th with some more visits to the doctors to see if the kids have completely healed. Both children caught a local virus that triggered their asthma which became quite serious very quickly, the virus had been circulating around Eugene, Oregon. The hospital did a courageous job trying to stabilize Brailen who was in the worse condition, working around the clock two days straight with the lead doctor spending the night on the floor with him. I can say that their quick decisions, and the fact that they reached out to doctors in Portland more then likely saved his life. They went as far as bringing a robot style communication device so a pediatric ICU doctor from Portland(sitting at his home computer) could navigate Brailen’s room checking on him giving the local doctors advise. This hard work by the staff prevented Brailen from being LifeFlighted to a pediatric ICU in Portland, which would have caused us a gut wrenching decision between two kids in two different hospitals while having a broken truck in Eugene.

Having problems on the road with the truck is tough, but having kids in a hospital a great distance from your home base and our local doctors was stressful. The hospital understood our goals with our expedition and did what they could to accommodate our broken truck with electricity, which helped us to focus on our kids recovery.

 

[gtbensley]

Glad to hear they are doing better!

 

[CCPAJeeper]

So glad you children are doing much better!!

 

[cubezombie]

So happy to hear everyone is on the mend!! Sounds like an amazing hospital you guys ended up at.

 

[Somecallmetimm]

Amazing! Hopefully the tough times are behind you. Sub'd.

 

[onemanarmy]

yea...glad everyone is better.

I'm very interested in how you setup the m109 box. ( i own a m109a3 myself)

the 3 kids and dog ride in the box while traveling?

Do yu have grey/black water tank? How do you shower and use the bathroom while parked in a parking lot for a week? Change clothes? sleep?

Kids aren't in school?

Working any?

Just curious...as I'd love to travel non-stop for a year or so.

 

[chrisquested]

Wow this rig is awesome actually looking at something very similar right now! I am sorry to hear about your children hope all is well!

 

[wiserfool]

Sure would be nice to find a small 24v charger

I use the NOCO Genius G26000, which is built for both 12 and 24 volt systems. It works very well. It is found in many auto stores, but Amazon is probably the best pricing.

Wiserfool

 

[McCarthy]

Updates?

 

[Bellpilot1]

I saw them rolling through Bend, Oregon last Saturday.