 “Travelers don’t know where we are going, tourists don’t know where they’ve been.” -Paul Theroux We set up our camp beneath towering Ponderosa pines lining a babbling stream, and find ourselves completely alone. The sun shines through the canopy casting dappled light across the forest floor littered with needles and cones. We open up our camp chairs, pour glasses of wine, and settle into the quiet of our own thoughts. We made it.
Finding places like this was just one of the many dreams we had when we first bought our vintage camper off of Ebay for $900. These dreams kept us going through the tougher spots of our remodel project and downsizing our life. We knew that someday, somehow, we’d get here, right here, and all the hard work would be worth it. Over the past 8 years and 110K miles of full-time living in Hamlet, our 1957 Sportcraft travel trailer, we’ve been amazed by the “right here” places we’ve discovered. We’ve found ourselves hiking to nearly 9,000 feet in Texas, pedaling bicycles up steep inclines in a western Washington drizzle, and wandering among eerie hoodoos in sun-drenched Utah. We’ve paddled between foggy, granite islands off the coast of Maine, weeded onion beds in the red dirt of Hawaii, wrangled sheep in Colorado, hiked countless miles of solitary, winding trail, and discovered some of the best places to park our rolling tiny vintage home in North America. Many of these aren’t in conventional campgrounds.
It may surprise you to know that we rarely know where we are going – not because we get lost, but because the journey itself is part of the adventure. This means we rarely know where we’ll spend the night. Our choices depend on how far we want to drive and what captures our imagination along the way. We frequently find ourselves parked far off the grid, on top of a mountain, along a coastal highway, in the middle of the desert, tucked into a quiet neighborhood, or even sometimes a Walmart parking lot when public lands feel just too far away to reach by sundown. No matter where we end up, we always fall asleep in our comfortable bed and wake up to make coffee on our two burner stove. We have all that we need in our little rig.
Everyone has different desires and preferences when it comes to choosing a campsite. Some prefer private RV parks, others prefer national and state park campgrounds, and others want to be completely away from everything and everybody. If you are like us and frequently camp in national forests, BLM campgrounds, or boondock (dispersed camping with few to no services), there are literally thousands of places across the US and Canada that offer gorgeous campsites for every size and type of rig with plenty of sunshine but no electrical hook-ups. To help us find places that fit our camping style, we use (and write reviews for) The Dyrt Pro app. We’ve found this app to be the most useful comprehensive camping resource available. The offline maps are incredibly helpful when traveling far off the grid and away from cell phone service.
Solar is The Key! One thing we can always count on in our wanderings is that the sun will rise; it will illuminate our solar panel and give us the energy we need to power our lives – pretty much no matter where we are. But wait, solar technology on a vintage rig? You got it, during our entire travels we’ve almost exclusively run on solar power. You may be surprised to find out that the first solar panel was developed 140 years ago. Solar has been key in helping us take advantage of our favorite boondocking spots across the nation. We’ve found that a portable panel works really well with our vintage camper. We can set up the solar panel in the sun while keeping the trailer in the shade. It also means that we didn’t have to install a panel bracket on the roof of our 63 year old rig.
We constantly get asked what we can run with solar. Our answer is always, “It depends on what you are trying to power.” With our small solar powered system we run our LED lights, Fan-tastic Vent/Fan, a couple of small household appliances, as well as charge our smart phone, laptops and other personal electronics. Our goal is to live as simply, as minimally, and as inexpensively as possible, and we’ve been able to thrive with our tiny home over the past 8 years! The important thing about solar is that it’s scalable and can be designed to fit your personal power needs. Take a video tour of our solar powered life.
About the Authors: Shari Galiardi & David Hutchison have turned their higher education backgrounds, desire for life-long learning, and thirst for adventure travel into writing, photography, video production, and public speaking tours from coast to coast. Known to their friends as simply Shari & Hutch, you can learn more about their full-time, solar powered adventures on their website at freedominacan.com. Or, follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. They are also contributors to the Vintage Camper Trailers Magazine Issue #50 with their story of "full timing" in a vintage trailer. 
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