Living Semi-Rough
Summertime and The Living is Easy, the song says, and I've learned the truth of it: I wouldn't want to do this in the winter. When it rains I'm dry, when it gets chilly I'm warm; things could be worse. 61-year-old me is not thriving living and sleeping in a tent, though. I've become very used to more comfort.
What I've read about succeeding at homelessness is that you need a place to stash your gear, somewhere it's not going to be stolen. So my vehicle serves that role, and I guess I'm living in a tent and my car.
I have the use of a two-room tent that my friends Pam and Bill have loaned me. It's designed to be wheelchair accessible, it's a Eureka tent, so there's an entry space for the user to wheel into, and then a sleeping space after they transfer out of their chair. So for my purposes, the entry space is a storage pantry of sorts.
The logistics of having everything I need at hand - for instance, clean clothes and shaving kit in the morning - make for a fairly complex space. There is a coin-operated laundrymat in town.
Things I miss when I'm camping include:
- I miss trash that's simple, trash that goes away. Trash containers and Pickups.
- I miss wifi. I miss having a printer. I do have a cellphone but there's no coverage in the campground.
- I miss easy alternatives, like if 'X' breaks, then I'm going to use Y. Now I only have X.
- I miss refridgeration, having food and drinks in a cold place. I do have a cooler but it's not the same.
- I miss the ability to host company. Can't have people over to the tent, that really doesn't work.