FULL TIME LIVING

10.18.2025

Locked out. Gas run. Tombstone pizza.

Full Time Living in a minivan. The adventures of Pete the poodle and Jef continues in Hoosier National Forest. #minivanlife #FullTimeLiving #HoosierNationalForest #dispersedcamping #SundanceLake

Saturday October 18th

I made the shopping trip into town. Desperately need gas so I can charge up the main battery bank so it can charge the solar generator so it can keep the freezer freezing. The banks did great. 5 days till they depleted because of no solar input. Way too shady here for Pizza. Tomorrow will be the maiden run for the generator. Fun stuff.

I pan baked another Tombstone. My second stovetop attempt and last one. Couldn't use the electric pizza oven. No solar. It turned out okay. Better than nothing!

Always carry spare car keys in your pocket. Some fellow campers got locked out of their truck... door key broke off in the lock. Everything was inside it.. including the phone charging cable for their dead phone. I let them use my phone to call for help. Maybe I could have wire hangered the lock, but it was a borrowed truck and the owner lived locally. Sometimes wire hanger attempts go bad. Damage to lock linkage inside the door, torn weatherstripping, scratched interior was weighed against a set of keys showing up in an hour. What's an hour?

10.17.2025

Today is Pete's Birthday

Today is Pete's birthday. He got extra bacon and lovin from the other campers at Sundance Lake.

Today was also a recovery adventure for neighboring campers. Their 2/wd Ford diesel pickup truck became stuck straddling the narrow gravel road while trying to back their popup trailer into the site. It was stuck real good.

They walked down to ask if I knew much about camping. I do. But the question should have been, do I know much about vehicle recovery. I do! From watching hundreds of YouTube videos I learned a lot.

First, the trailer was jacked up off of the hitch and rolled back into the site out of the way. Next, a series of techniques were applied to get the Ford loose from its slippery trap. I tried jacking it up and placing boards under the tires. It just spit them out. We tried digging around the front and rear wheels, but the tires had no grip. I tried wedging a short steel grill I found in the woods at my site as a recovery board. Several times. It was too short to dig in and was repeatedly spit out.

More digging. More wheels spinning. I noticed the rear end of the Ford was fishtailing left and right quite easily every time a new technique was tried. A risky plan came to mind. I saw it on a recovery video.

The plan. The lady keeps those tires spinning while the dude and me push on the rear drivers side of the bed. If all goes well, we will be able to push the rear end of that Ford a whole 90 degrees back onto solid pavement.

It worked. Nobody got run over. Eventually the right rear tire caught some dry gravel and the Ford was able to line up on the road. Glad it worked. I didn't want to have to bring ol Betsy over to pull that heavy ass diesel around.

Sundance Lake, Hoosier National Forest

in has that is what is all about. Great spot for a little bit of , , and enjoying .

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Full Time Living

In 1993, I bought a 1978 Itasca Class A twenty-five foot motorhome. I thought it was going to be so cool to take my wife and children out on the open road up to the tops of mountains and down to the deepest valleys; outward to wilderness destinations and in to towns and cities near and far, big and small, exploring America, the beautiful. And, it was.

Little did I realize at the time was that I had actually purchased my dream home, and, that fifteen years later here would I be, surrounded by thousands of miles and moments of great memories of time shared with my loved ones, living the life of a full timer. Some would say tough luck brought me to this near nomadic, pseudo-hermit type of lifestyle. Some say I have become a 'fool-timer'. I say, not. Choice led by circumstance led to contentment. Life is good.

I've only been full timing since 2003 - five years. Snowbirding has not yet become part of my routine, although, the thought has crossed my mind many a cold wintry day here in Ohio. Maybe, some day. But, for now I am settled in a good spot on a friend's piece of land with plenty of firewood to burn away those dreams of warmer winter climates.

Sometimes, when I slip into a not so gracious moment and begin grumbling about everything under the sun, I wonder what has become of me. I am living in an aluminum can on wheels with a cat. Psychology might have been a pragmatic course of study back when I was in college. Not so much for illuminating what exactly is going on in my own mind, but, in the mind of those whose facial twitches betray an undercurrent of disapproving puzzlement when they learn of my unusual living arrangements - if only I could read a face - just for my own entertainment value. I love a good laugh. Who better to laugh at than myself. That, I am fairly sure, is not a sin, whereas, it is almost impossible to laugh at someone else without stepping into some bit of sinfulness. And, I do love to laugh.

I really don't have to live like this. It is not always an easy 'road to travel'. Nor, is it an easy task to convince the scoffer that full timing makes sense. To which end I can only reply,'My mind's made up... don't confuse me with the facts'.

This blog is my story.

On FACEBOOK Full Time Living

10.18.2025

Locked out. Gas run. Tombstone pizza.

10.17.2025

Today is Pete's Birthday

Sundance Lake, Hoosier National Forest

FULL TIMING IN OHIO 2008