Emily Anderson is one of my dearest friends. We met while attending the same high school in Georgia, and have been close ever since. And now she and her husband, John, live in a van down by the river. Well, sort of. Since February, they have made their home in a 1973 Winnebago Brave. She documents the highs and lows of RV living in her blog, Somewhere, Idaho.
Emily Anderson and her new (old) Winnebago.
What spurred the decision to buy and live in a Winnebago?
I’ve been a fan of the “tiny house” movement for a few years now, and when my husband was offered a job in Idaho, we started to think seriously about paring down and trying it ourselves. Building a tiny house still costs about $7-10K (or more, depending on where/how you source your materials) so we decided to look for a vintage trailer or motorhome instead (vintage being one of my great loves) and bunker down at an RV park for a while. I’d been fantasizing about living an Airstream trailer for some time, but I found a vintage 1973 Winnebago Brave I absolutely loved that was almost live-in ready and within our budget.
How have people reacted to your decision?
Reactions were varied—surprisingly, most of my friends thought it was a pretty awesome idea. Our families were a little taken aback, but I think they’ve come around to the idea. I think those that don’t quite get it have a hard time wrapping their heads around why anyone would opt to live this small when they could afford to rent something with all the regular modern amenities—and occasionally, I wonder the same thing—but I don’t have any regrets as of yet.
Where exactly do you park your home?
We are currently living in a really nice RV park with “full hook-ups” right by the river. Their bathroom and shower facilities are nicer than a lot of hotels’, honestly. Our Winnie bathroom has a toilet and shower, but you can barely turn around in there—and being able to take a nice, long hot shower keeps me from feeling I’m totally depriving myself from all luxury.
How is your dog, Juniper, taking to her new space? Did it take some time to get her acquainted with extra-small space living?
Junebug was EXTREMELY confused for the first few days. She’s a great little traveler, but she couldn’t really figure out what was happening—were we still traveling?! Why were we sleeping in a giant car?! But she’s adapted very well. She has plenty space to play with her toys, stretch out and take a nap—and she gets nice long walks every day, which she needs anyway because she’s a little chunklet!
It gets pretty cold in Idaho, right? How do you stay warm?
It DOES get pretty cold in Idaho. It also rains a lot, snows occasionally, and hails almost as much. The weather is pretty insane. We keep warm at night with a nice electric heater—we could also heat the Winnie with propane, but we don’t want to rely on that as much because of the pets—I’ve always been very wary of cooking or doing anything with gas, really.
What are the best and worst things about your Winnebago?
The best things: it looks AWESOME, it has all of its original interior. Cosmetically, it’s been pretty well maintained inside and out- for a 40-year-old vehicle. It’s compact, but it has all the essentials we need—dinette, kitchenette, and something of a “bedroom.” The worst things: it only had half of its original plumbing when we bought it, and the “toilet” was this weird porta-potty thing you had to empty yourself every few days. DISGUSTING. We’ve already replaced the toilet and plumbing, but for the first few weeks, we were washing our dishes in the laundry room sink, and emptying our own waste into a standing toilet several times a week—that was definitely the WORST, but both those issues could’ve been easily avoided if we knew what to look for (which we do now). Any older vehicle or motorhome is gonna have its issues, but this has really been a learn-as-you-go experience.
Has anything really surprised you about your new life?
Really, I’ve been surprised that it’s so DOABLE, and it keeps our living expenses at about half of what they were when we were renting. We pay our monthly space fee, electric, and we pay $15 for cable, and wifi is FREE. I mean, c’mon! I really wish I’d had this idea in my early twenties. If you’d rather spend your money on eating well, going out with your friends, and traveling, this is definitely the way to go if you’re a boho twenty-something. And it beats the crap out of paying deposits, rent and utilities. And really, who ever gets their deposit back? I don’t think I’ve ever gotten my deposit back once.
Do you really save that much money compared to renting a traditional home?
When we did the math, it was pretty astounding—we can actually bank my husband’s entire paycheck, and pay all of our monthly expenses with my smaller, freelancer’s income. We can save about $8-$10K over six months, and pay off some credit card debt—which puts us in a great place when it’s time to start shopping for a home that’s not on wheels.
What is it like to cook a meal in your new home?
Meals have been something of an adjustment—we have a small three-burner stove, and a tiny oven and a fridge that is somewhere between a mini-fridge and a regular fridge. We have plenty of cabinet space, but our limited fridge capacity only allows us to store about 2 weeks of food at a time. Also, we’re about six hours away from a Whole Foods, and three hours away from a Trader Joe’s. Our meal choices are a little less decadent than they were before, because you really only want to use 1-2 cooking implements at a time, but we still manage to eat well, and eat healthy.
Do you feel isolated or have you found that there’s a sense of community among travel-trailer dwellers?
A little of both. The park is about half-full right now, and people come and go from week to week. After living here a month, I only really recognize about half a dozen people. I think this place will be a little livelier in the spring and summer, when more people are traveling.
You’re a writer—do you find inspiration in your new environment?
I absolutely do! I couldn’t afford to live right on the river if I wasn’t living in an RV! I wake up every day and walk my dog and there are little ducks swimming around and bald eagles flying over the pines…it’s a very rugged, idyllic landscape. It’s also extremely quiet—much too quiet for some—but it gives me a lot of space to think and write.
What is the whole point of living in a travel trailer? What do you hope to come out of this experience?
It’s become something of an experiment—my goal is now to live in the Winnie for a full 6 months, blog about it and save up enough money for us to put a nice down payment on our first home. It’s also an exercise in living small. 90% of our worldly possessions are in a 10X10 storage unit back in Reno, and while we occasionally miss our records and our giant speakers and such, we’re getting by just fine with out them.