The Camper, the Cleanup, and the Countdown

 

    It’s been a while since I’ve sat down to write one of these, and honestly, that’s because life has been moving at the speed of drywall dust and Craigslist messages. But we’ve crossed a huge milestone in the DerpLab Escape‑From‑Cody Saga:

We bought a camper.

Not just any camper — a clean, solid, roomy 2014 31’ Nomad we snagged from a family friend who gave us an absolutely ridiculous deal. After weeks of touring new rigs and a handful of used ones that looked like they’d been through a tornado and then “fixed” with hope and duct tape, finding this one felt like winning a side quest.

Some of the used ones were rough. Soft walls. Patchwork ceilings. “Needs a full remodel” levels of rough. And look — I’m not trying to start my Arizona chapter by living inside a construction project. I need something I can actually exist in while we rebuild our lives in the desert.

This Nomad? Nearly perfect.


  • Clean interior

  • Solid structure

  • Tons of room

  • Outdoor kitchen (which is basically mandatory for hot Arizona days)

  • And it’s a bumper pull, which means our truck topper gets to stay on.

  • Zero projects. Zero surprises. Just… ready.

Meanwhile… the House Grind Continues

Buying the camper didn’t magically erase the mountain of work left on the house, but it did make the finish line feel closer.

We’ve been pushing hard to make the place move‑in ready for whoever comes next. When we bought this house, we spent over a week cleaning and fixing things just to make it livable. I don’t want the next people to deal with that. I want them to walk in and feel like the place is ready for their story.

The main level is basically transformed now:

  • Drywall patched

  • Old holes and scars erased

  • Fresh paint

  • Clean lines

  • No more “oh yeah, that’s where something used to be” spots

It’s been a lot of work — the kind that doesn’t look dramatic in photos but makes a massive difference in person.

Next up:

  • Patch and paint the basement

  • Paint the stairwell

  • Paint the upstairs

  • Fix and paint the upstairs bathroom

  • Paint the kitchen

Listing it all out makes it sound like a ton, but honestly? Most of it will go fast. We’re in that final sprint where momentum does half the work.

The Great Purge

We’ve also been selling, donating, and giving away everything we can’t take with us. At this point, we’ve gotten rid of over 85% of our stuff.

It’s wild how much you accumulate when you stay in one place for a while. You don’t notice it until you start pulling everything out of closets and corners and realize you’ve been living with a museum’s worth of “maybe I’ll use this someday.”

Letting it go feels good. Light. Free. Like shedding the weight of the last chapter so we can actually walk into the next one without dragging a U‑Haul full of “eh, maybe.”

Moving Forward

So that’s where we’re at. A camper in the driveway, Ram ready to pull. A house getting polished for its next owners. Rooms being neutralized one by one. And two dogs watching all of this like they’re waiting for us to finally say, “Okay, load up — we’re heading south.”

The adventure is still messy. Still exhausting. Still full of tasks that multiply when I’m not looking.

But it’s happening. It’s real. And every day, we’re a little closer to rolling out of Cody and into the next chapter of our lives.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Shift

Image
  I don’t know when it happened exactly — the moment my brain stopped drifting and started pulling toward a different life — but lately it’s all I can think about. The truck. The camper. The land. The freedom. The quiet. The space to finally build the life we’ve been talking about for years instead of just surviving the one we’re in. It’s like something in me finally snapped into place. Not in a dramatic way — more like a quiet click. A realization that if I want this dream to happen, I have to move toward it every single day, even if the steps are small. And right now, those steps look like this:  • figuring out the truck and camper situation • prepping the house to sell • downsizing a space that somehow feels bigger than it is • trying not to drown in the stress of it all • keeping the dream in focus even when the day-to-day feels heavy The truth is, our current home isn’t huge. But when you’re trying to uproot your entire life, even a small space can feel like a m...
Read more

Finding the Truck That Fits the Life We’re Building

Image
  We’ve spent a lot of time staring at used trucks lately. Hours of scrolling, comparing, zooming in on blurry photos, and trying to decode listings written in what might as well be another language sometimes. It’s become its own little ritual—coffee, couch, and a parade of Fords, Dodges, and the occasional “runs great just needs a transmission” special. One thing became clear pretty fast: Diesel is a must for us. Not because it’s trendy or because we want to roll coal like idiots, but because of what we’re planning. Until we find the right land, we need something tough enough to pull a camper or RV, haul water, drag supplies, and keep going without complaint. Gas trucks can do some of that, sure, but diesel does it without complaining. Buying new isn’t even on the table. We’re not dropping $80k on a truck when we’re trying to build a homestead. So the used market is where we live now. Ford: The Overthinker’s Truck Ford makes great trucks, but wow… they do not make it simple. Ever...
Read more

A Binder From 2012

Image
     Every once in a while, life hands you a moment of clarity disguised as something ordinary. For me, it was a dusty three‑ring binder I hadn’t opened in years. Inside were pages dated August 2012 — printouts, sketches, guides, and plans I’d collected back when the idea of going off‑grid was still just a spark in my chest. I didn’t know it then, but I was documenting the earliest version of the life I’m finally building now. Flipping through it felt like opening a time capsule from a younger version of myself who already knew exactly what he wanted.  What Was Inside the Binder The first page hit me right in the nostalgia:   “How Living Off the Grid Works.” From there it spiraled into a full‑blown blueprint of early homestead dreams: Solar hot water heater plans A DIY septic system guide Notes on generating your own power A 3 dome living‑space layout A thorough papercrete guide — including how to build a mixer And then the big one: a massive aquaponics print...
Read more