Travel Trailer ~ Tiny Home Away From Home

Cedar Pond was sold the first day we put it on the market May 1,2016. We had 2 offers on our home so we knew if the first offer fell through the second probably would not. We were surprised our home was snatched up so quickly and we'd have to leave by June 15 , 2016. That left us 6 weeks to pack up and move to our home over the mountains and far away. However, our future home was occupied by tenants and my husband had not yet retired and needed to stay near Cedar Pond to continue working until the end of September.What to do ? We moved a travel trailer ( above ) to the back yard of our youngest son and his family.  They live within walking distance to our new home. I lived there for awhile and my husband stayed with his younger brother and family withing walking distance to Cedar Pond so he could commute to his job until he retired.( My  husband came over the mountains frequently to stay here and begin getting our future home ready for us to live in .)

The travel trailer is a 1990's model we paid cash for ( cheap ! ) to use as a home-away-from-home when we visited our sons and their families on this side of the mountains. It soon became my real home for awhile. We did not have time to re-model the travel trailer or glamp it up, but the trailer was in pretty good shape, roomy, the air conditioning worked , and I was truly a happy camper.

Here is the living room of my tiny home (above). The carpeting and upholstery are turquoise and in good shape. I decided I would go with the color scheme. Hey, I like turquoise.I filled the trailer with my quilts, some antiques, my house plants, and my spinning wheels. A girl's gotta spin you know !

I did tear out all the original curtains and drapes, they were pink and turquoise with a lot of frilly trimmings popular in the 90's. I replaced them with simple sheer white curtains. The trailer already had blinds installed in all the windows.

We put a flat screen t.v. and DVR player in the trailer on an antique shelf . We were not connected to cable or satellite , we have an ample collection of favorite videos to watch. You can see the small bedroom off the living room here.

The very small,warm and cozy bedroom with the very small sliding door. A bedroom with no space to walk around the bed. The bed is very comfortable though with plenty of storage in the nightstands and above the bed. You just have to climb over the bed to access the storage.

Since our tiny home / travel trailer was in the back yard of our youngest son and his family, his son would practically bounce out of their home in the mornings and head to our trailer to visit. The first thing he would look for is our cat Blizzard. Little grandson really loves Blizzard and Blizzard is very happy to make himself available to grandson. ( Blizzard is on a bunk in the 2nd bedroom of the trailer.)

What you can't see is the sink and stove to the right in the picture, and the dinette that seats 4 to 6 people to the left front of the picture.

Blizzard and our other cat Miss Marple were never allowed out of the trailer when we lived in our youngest son's backyard. They did not seem to mind at all. Here is Blizzard looking out the window at our son's Mennonite neighbor haying his alfalfa field.

My German Shepherd spent the days outdoors and the evenings indoors with me and the cats.I covered a lot of the trailer's original carpeting with my own handwoven rugs.

Even a tiny home has room for a large dog to stretch out.

All my house plants and the small trees and bushes we brought with us were placed around the outside of the trailer. In July I gained a new puppy from one of our granddaughters and the puppy kennel was placed under the awning in front of our trailer. In this picture our 2 youngest grandsons are talking to my puppy , Luna.

Blizzard was never allowed outdoors but he surveyed the comings and goings from the trailer screen door. I loved living in my tiny home and know I could live this way quite happily. So could my cats. I think even my husband could too. However, he retired, out tenants moved out and we began moving into our new home at Laughing Dove Farm.We are so thankful to our youngest son and his family for their generosity in allowing us , our flock of geese, chickens, doves,sheep and dogs to live in their back yard while we waited to move into our new home.

This travel trailer is now our guest cottage.We had a few guests stay in it quite comfortably. Our grandkids like staying in it when they visit. I fill the cupboards and fridge with snacks and beverages. The trailer has a very nice kitchenette and a bathroom, plus a bunk room with 3 bunks.I am planning on making it even better and doing a teensy bit of renovating. We will be adding a nice corrugated metal roof, skirting around it, and a porch. My once tiny home will be our guest cottage.

Our Future Home~ 2016 ,Year of Great Change

 

2016 is shaping up to be a year of big changes for us. My husband is retiring in the fall and we're hoping to move to our place over the mountains and far away. You can see our future home in the pictures. This is a view of the back of our home , I was standing in our field.

My husband loves this place and we work on our future home every chance we get. Our oldest grandson also loves it here and is a big help. Grandson and my husband have some big plans for the pastures, woods, and livestock housing. Unfortunately the trip there requires us to drive over a mountain pass that is treacherous in the winter, and sometimes in the fall and spring too , making our trips not as frequent as we'd like. Plus, it is a 6 hour drive one-way.

We have an old travel trailer there ( shown above ) we use as a guest-house. I have made some simple changes to the interior and have so many more ideas and plans for the trailer, but first we have to sell Cedar Pond and move. I have been very busy since the beginning of the month sorting through my craft room and closets , deciding what things to sell, what to donate, what to box up. I have a BIG job ahead of me !

This is a picture of 6 of our grandchildren taking a walk through our field and heading into our woods. As much as I love Cedar Pond my heart has turned to our home over the mountains and far away. The hard work of packing up and preparing our home for sale has begun. My husband and I are in for a lot of work and a new adventure this year, a year of great change.

Feather ~Our Little Home On Wheels

This is our little home on wheels, a 16 foot Jay Feather Sport by Jayco. She is small , but I love her. This is our home during the 5 nights spent camping at the Puyallup Fairgrounds while we exhibit my sheep during the Western Washington Fair. So much nicer than the years I would drive to and from the fair every day, at least a 45 minute drive each way. Not a forbidding travel time unless you take into account I leave for the fair before 7:00 a.m. to  get there in time for a very long day and return home around 12:00 a.m. to get ready for the next long day. Now we ( grandchildren & I ) simply walk to the camp-site in the parking lot and climb into our cozy little trailer.

I don't know about you, but I am always curious about the set-up of travel trailers , campers, and R.V.s when I am camping. I resist the temptation to knock on some of the trailer doors and ask if I can see their set-up and how it works for them at the fair especially. I thought you might like to see my teeny home away from home.~ When you walk in the door you step right into the only living area of this small trailer. A table, two sofas, and a mini-kitchen. The sofas convert into a bed when you remove the table and tuck it into the storage slots made especially for it under the top bunk. We have only used it as a bed once , for a granddaughter.

I love the stove, oven, & micro-wave. Yes, I do use them all. I usually roast a chicken and bake muffins, brownies, and cakes when we camp. I cook a lot of side dishes too. I have a full set of pots & pans just for this trailer , plus stainless eating utensils, and all the cooking and serving utensils a person would need in preparing and serving an average meal. I usually serve our meals on regular dinnerware. ( yes, I wash it too  in my nice little sink ! ) There is a refrigerator and freezer in Feather's mini-kitchen and they store a surprising amount of food. Enough for at least a week's worth of meals for our family and I usually have left-overs after our trips to transfer to our home fridge or freezer.

The sleeping quarters are minimal for sure. A double bed that is NOT a double, but still, after we added another really nice foam mattress on top of the mattress that came with the trailer, it is very comfortable. When my husband & I are camping I get the short side of the mattress and I fit there very comfortably. The top bunk sleeps only one, usually a grandchild. During the fair our oldest grandson sleeps here and I share the bottom bunk with a granddaughter. When my husband & I are camping with no grandchildren I use the top bunk for storage and have some very attractive large baskets for that purpose. ( I use the bath tub to store grandkids' back packs & suitcases during the fair. )

The bathroom is VERY small and has a bathtub with shower but no sink. That is a drawback, we use the kitchen sink for brushing our teeth and such, but for me, that is no sacrifice for the privilege of owning this little Feather and all she has allowed us to do.

My bathroom storage. A cloth shoe rack attached to the towel bar gives me plenty of storage that can be left attached through-out the year and even during travel. I keep the sunscreen, insect repellant , anti-biotic wipes, lotions , shampoo, soap...  and any other such items you might need when camping in the pockets.

I do love chickens and have quite a few chicken pillows ,throws, & other items that fit right into Feather as if they were made for her. I couldn't convince my husband we should call her our little "Chicken Coop on Wheels " , so Feather it is. ( Chickens have feathers !!!! )

Because Feather is so tiny I am trying to be creative with her for comfort and storage. My husband is a bit taller than I am and he has long legs. Sitting at the table can be uncomfortable if we have a long spell of cold rain while camping and stay indoors. With this small hassock he can sit back and rest his legs, and when he isn't using it I do. I store my crock pot in the hassock too. ( I use my crock pot often when camping where there is an electrical hook-up.) I love sitting at this table late nights when we're camping, reading while I listen to rain outside.

Our little Feather might be small, but she has a lot going for her. She can be easily towed or backed into campsites, does not require a huge vehicle to tow her, is comfortable, easy to maintain, and we own her outright. I think we have many years to come of happy camping with Feather !

Alder Lake Camp-Out

We've been camping! We went to Alder Lake which is near-by. Alder Lake is a favorite spot of mine. This particular view across the lake is one I could just sit and gaze at for a very long time. Actually, I HAVE done just that.In sunny weather, in rainy and cloudy weather. In cold weather. In Autumn this view is even more spectacular. Being so close to home we used to come here frequently with the kids in the summer. The swimming is good here. There are wonderful picnic grounds, a playground,there is fishing and camping. You can take a quick and easy hike to the dam too. A few times I came up here just to give the dogs someplace bigger than Cedar Pond to swim and retrieve. One cold fall day I was able to watch a herd of elk grazing in the picnic area, completely un-afraid of me or my dogs. Here is a tiny glimpse of our new travel trailer in the camp-site at Alder lake. We brought 2 of our granddaughters camping with us, and we had so much fun! Our first outing with our new trailer. It is a small trailer but I feel so rich and pampered with it. It has a stove, a microwave, a real oven. A shower, bath, toilet! ( I hate using out-houses)I am ready to travel now~We wanted a small trailer our car could pull easily, and one that would fit easily into the many camping sites we are hoping to stay in.

We really needed this past weekend. My husband was able to sit back and relax and do some reading by the camp fire.

The granddaughters also sat back and read to each other by the campfire.

I roasted a chicken stuffed with our garden fresh herbs and stuck butter under the skin.Did you get that? I ROASTED a chicken in my oven while camping!!! We also baked cornbread and brownies. How decadent, but~ Oh so very delicious! Especially after a day in the great outdoors. ( rose and mint bouquet from home)

This granddaughter really enjoyed eating the buttered corn on the cob she helped her Poppa shuck !

Just look at this view of Alder Lake from the picnic grounds, I really do love this camp ground . It is so close to home ( about 45 minutes away ) it is often overlooked by many around here, but as our first adventure with a new travel trailer and a get-away from the busyness of home, it is perfect! The granddaughters loved it too. To see another perspective of this camp-out see our daughter's blog A.Joy At Home.