This Tiny Life

When I was five years old, my parents had a small 10-foot camper that they kept in their backyard. It was to small to really do much of anything in it. I recall that it had a table that sat right next to a big window. Through that window I could see the backyard. It was like my escape from reality. When I first discovered that the door was unlocked, I would sneak out and sit at the table and play with my pick up sticks.

When my parents sold that camper I was heartbroken. We ended up leaving the city and moving to the suburbs. It was not long after moving into the subdivision that my grandparents bought their Winnebago. This Winnebago was like palatial estates compared to the 10-foot camper that Mom and Dad had in the city. I remember that I used to go and sit in the Winnebago and pretend that I was living there. I would take my journals with me and sit at the table and my imagination would go full throttle.

In my younger years we did a few cross country trips, and camping escapes with my parents and grandparents, but I never really understood the impact those first camping trips would have on my future life. It was not until well into my adult life that we began watching Travel Channel, and Tiny House Nation, and we started realizing that a lot of people have this simple desire and that got me really excited and imagining what life would be like living in a Tiny House or a Camper.

When our youngest son graduated high school we decided we needed to break the norm and dive into a full blown adventure. We decided to purge everything. Easier said than done right? Actually, it really was pretty easy. When you realize that it is just stuff that burdens you down and life is so much simpler without all of that stuff. It makes it way easier.

We bought our first 25-foot Four Winds Camper for $4,500. This was just so we could see if living tiny was really what we wanted to do. We are happy that we made that decision and since living this tiny life for over a year we have decided to consider a slightly larger camper, or maybe even a fifth wheel.

We placed the camper in our back yard, and began living from it immediately. This way we could bring exactly the items that we needed to make life more comfortable and we got rid of everything that we simply did not need.

We began our adventure camping in Michigan and headed south so we could settle in for the winter. We landed in New Orleans, and we have to admit we really like it here. We are currently living in an full time RV Park that welcomes campers, tiny homes, buses. It is a very nice and peaceful area with mild temperatures in the winter, but brutally hot in the summer. As long as you have a working air conditioner you will be good to go!

We sure are happy that we decided to take this adventure. I would not turn back for nothing. Tiny living is the easiest and most simple way to live.