1. A good tent, easy to put up, take down and stow, is a must. I cannot speak highly enough of the Ozark Trail Instant Tent series, although I did miss the velcroed tent door from the Coleman. If you are able to travel with your belongings (versus carrying everything in a backpack), you can never have TOO much space. We did not spend a lot of time in ours, but our 8 man tent was snug. Our Coleman 8 man had more space, which was nice when the kids wanted to play cards or something at night.
2. Fans inside the tent were a God-send. Living in a tent became much more bearable especially in 95-102 degree Texas weather, once we got two fans.
3. Which brings me to electricity. We learned several years ago that if you have the choice of go electric or not, spend the slight extra to have electric on site (if it doesn't cost extra, it's a no brainier.) Think of all the convenience and things you can jettison if you have electric. Light (no fuel or battery), hot plate (no need to bring fuel or wood), easily heat and boil water (tea kettle like ours or on hot plate.) if you want to get really excited, an iron, a fridge, and a way to inflate air mattresses.
4. Air mattresses, the real kind. Not knowing what kind of sites we were going to encounter (grass, stake able or not, we decided to bring real air mattresses. What a real blessing these have turned out to be. Living in a tent means you are up at the crack of dawn due to the light, and don't go to bed until it's dark. This is a LONG day...15-16 hours. So having a softer place to land and sleep is such a nice blessing.
5. Food. Freeze dried meals (we prefer Mountain House) or dehydrated meals (this includes things like Hamburger Helper or Suddenly Salad) only takes hot water and/or a thermos to heat/rehydrate and eat. We had #10 cans of beef stew, stroganoff, spaghetti, chili Mac, Mac and cheese, broccoli, corn, etc. we bought a plastic storage bowl with a lid, dumped FD food in the bowl, added hot water and a lid, and 10 min later: dinner. Easy to prepare, easy to clean up, no mess no fuss. Plastic or paper bowls, plates, utensils are the way to go!! No worrying about how or where to clean, bugs attacking etc. Sorry Greenpeace.
Point is: pick your battles. I'm not saying you shouldn't cook stuff in a Dutch oven over coals if you want to, but when it's 97F you may not want to. Don't make your life harder than it has to be. You don't do it in a stick built home, why would you want to in a tent?
Also, snacks. We went to Costco and bought a box of 50 pack chips, 48 count granola bars, 48 count fruit rollups, things like that. We didn't go overboard, just enough to snack on during the day (keeps you from having to cook, or make a sandwich mess.)
Also, snacks. We went to Costco and bought a box of 50 pack chips, 48 count granola bars, 48 count fruit rollups, things like that. We didn't go overboard, just enough to snack on during the day (keeps you from having to cook, or make a sandwich mess.)
6. Things to do. We spent a lot of time looking for housing which kept us busy during the day. We also spent a lot of time looking for jobs. But in the "down time" it's nice to have things to keep you from getting bored. We had electric and we have small solar panels which keep electronics charged. Games, shows, books, were all on electronics. Not saying your whole life should be electronic but it was sure convenient to have them in one place, rather than boxes full of books. I wish I had downloaded some movies on to my iPad before we left California.
7. We have learned to let the small things go (or pay attention to them.) My kids and I learned quickly that letting the small things go is important. By the same token, being mindful of the small things (not strewing clothes all over, keeping things picked up), really matter a lot. I am really fortunate that my kids have incorporated a "go with the flow" mentality. I can't imagine what it would be like if they had to have things "just so."
I am especially impressed with my daughter. Those of you who follow me on my normal blog: justkathrynl.blogspot.com, know that she's had a lot of health issues these past six months, many are related directly to stress. For her sake, we have all kept things as calm as possible, but even then, she has done remarkably well. About three weeks in, it started to become a bit overwhelming, but she recognized she was getting overwhelmed and we took steps to counteract it.
8. The importance of sheltering in place (or not.) I am an American Red Cross Shelter Manager. I have always assumed I would be sheltering in place. It has been made clear to me how important it is to be able to shelter in place. I recognize that this may not always be the case, but sheltering in place allows you to establish a routine and a sense of normalcy. Moving every four days had us feel a bit disconnected, although these last two weeks of just moving between two sites has helped us get better established (examples: we know where to camp or where to avoid.) We pretty much used our 4Runner as our storage container, and it stayed put day in and day out at the site.
9. The importance of faith. Times have been challenging. About a week ago, I was really discouraged and ready to chuck it all and go back to California. I was just tired of encountering obstacle after obstacle at every turn (housing, jobs, money.) I really needed something, anything, to break my way.
What turned out breaking our way was a wonderful congregation. A family offered to shelter us in their house. We didn't need to take them up on it, but just the fact that they offered was the key which unlocked the gates to unblock the log jam. DS19 had a job interview for an EMT position, and we came across a house to rent for $800, which was offered to us on the spot without having to jump through a thousand hoops (local job, first, last, security, sellers and realtors who don't respond) that we had been encountering up to now.
We moved into the rental house a few days ago. We are grateful. North and south facing which I love, and air conditioning. No internet though, which makes life interesting. Our local library has excellent WiFi though, and it has pretty decent hours. So we are pretty much going to be living there on a daily basis.
The point of this is, what got me through this is knowing that Texas is where God wants us. When I was feeling particularly discouraged, I was like, "why on earth should we be here? I had work in California, sure I was homeless more or less, but I could have resolved that reasonably quickly" and I felt the answer, "when the big one hits the fan, do you want to be in California, or do you want to be self-reliant in Texas?" I said, "I'd like to be self-reliant in Texas, but I have to have a place in order to do that !!"
10. Money matters. SO GRATEFUL we were mostly out of debt when this all happened, and that we had money in the bank. It made the difference between having to stick at the campsite, feeling poor and watching every single penny (adding to our stress level), and being able to travel freely looking for a home, and eating in a restaurant (in air conditioning) just because we could.
So get out of debt, gather together a savings. Ironically, we are still living like we did in the tent so that we can only air condition one room, and our fridge doesn't work well so we are pretty much living with refrigeration alternatives just like the past 8 weeks in a tent. It's pretty funny.
11. Gratitude is key. Last Sunday my youngest met a boy his age at church and mentioned we were living in a tent. He was horrified, and went to tell his mother they needed to do something. His father got wind of our situation, grabbed my son and had DS19 march him over to me and pretty much insisted we move in to their home. Which I appreciate. I am grateful for the offer. As he was talking, I tried to convey that we are grateful for our situation. He said "you need a roof over your head." I said, "we have four walls and a roof, it's just canvas. We have access to hot and cold running water, indoor plumbing and showers." He said, "it's 105F, you need air conditioning." I replied, "we have cars which have air conditioning and access to clubhouses and places which have air conditioning." It took me a while to convince him that we were doing well.
And that is the key. We are doing well. We are grateful to recognize that God has blessed us abundantly. We are grateful to recognize that the shape of the blessings may be different from what we normally think of when we think of blessings, but they are still the same. We have our faith in God, we have each other, we have shelter, food, clothing, and know who we are, and why we are here.
I am especially impressed with my daughter. Those of you who follow me on my normal blog: justkathrynl.blogspot.com, know that she's had a lot of health issues these past six months, many are related directly to stress. For her sake, we have all kept things as calm as possible, but even then, she has done remarkably well. About three weeks in, it started to become a bit overwhelming, but she recognized she was getting overwhelmed and we took steps to counteract it.
8. The importance of sheltering in place (or not.) I am an American Red Cross Shelter Manager. I have always assumed I would be sheltering in place. It has been made clear to me how important it is to be able to shelter in place. I recognize that this may not always be the case, but sheltering in place allows you to establish a routine and a sense of normalcy. Moving every four days had us feel a bit disconnected, although these last two weeks of just moving between two sites has helped us get better established (examples: we know where to camp or where to avoid.) We pretty much used our 4Runner as our storage container, and it stayed put day in and day out at the site.
9. The importance of faith. Times have been challenging. About a week ago, I was really discouraged and ready to chuck it all and go back to California. I was just tired of encountering obstacle after obstacle at every turn (housing, jobs, money.) I really needed something, anything, to break my way.
What turned out breaking our way was a wonderful congregation. A family offered to shelter us in their house. We didn't need to take them up on it, but just the fact that they offered was the key which unlocked the gates to unblock the log jam. DS19 had a job interview for an EMT position, and we came across a house to rent for $800, which was offered to us on the spot without having to jump through a thousand hoops (local job, first, last, security, sellers and realtors who don't respond) that we had been encountering up to now.
We moved into the rental house a few days ago. We are grateful. North and south facing which I love, and air conditioning. No internet though, which makes life interesting. Our local library has excellent WiFi though, and it has pretty decent hours. So we are pretty much going to be living there on a daily basis.
The point of this is, what got me through this is knowing that Texas is where God wants us. When I was feeling particularly discouraged, I was like, "why on earth should we be here? I had work in California, sure I was homeless more or less, but I could have resolved that reasonably quickly" and I felt the answer, "when the big one hits the fan, do you want to be in California, or do you want to be self-reliant in Texas?" I said, "I'd like to be self-reliant in Texas, but I have to have a place in order to do that !!"
10. Money matters. SO GRATEFUL we were mostly out of debt when this all happened, and that we had money in the bank. It made the difference between having to stick at the campsite, feeling poor and watching every single penny (adding to our stress level), and being able to travel freely looking for a home, and eating in a restaurant (in air conditioning) just because we could.
So get out of debt, gather together a savings. Ironically, we are still living like we did in the tent so that we can only air condition one room, and our fridge doesn't work well so we are pretty much living with refrigeration alternatives just like the past 8 weeks in a tent. It's pretty funny.
11. Gratitude is key. Last Sunday my youngest met a boy his age at church and mentioned we were living in a tent. He was horrified, and went to tell his mother they needed to do something. His father got wind of our situation, grabbed my son and had DS19 march him over to me and pretty much insisted we move in to their home. Which I appreciate. I am grateful for the offer. As he was talking, I tried to convey that we are grateful for our situation. He said "you need a roof over your head." I said, "we have four walls and a roof, it's just canvas. We have access to hot and cold running water, indoor plumbing and showers." He said, "it's 105F, you need air conditioning." I replied, "we have cars which have air conditioning and access to clubhouses and places which have air conditioning." It took me a while to convince him that we were doing well.
And that is the key. We are doing well. We are grateful to recognize that God has blessed us abundantly. We are grateful to recognize that the shape of the blessings may be different from what we normally think of when we think of blessings, but they are still the same. We have our faith in God, we have each other, we have shelter, food, clothing, and know who we are, and why we are here.
We are indeed blessed.
