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The Landing
I’ve been returning to this document frequently over the past two weeks, trying to write, add ideas, edit, just to hit save and close it again– not knowing what to say or how to say it. It would be practically impossible for me to sum up this past year or to do the 30,000 mile…
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Another See You Soon
“I’m going to need to scan your ID.” My heart begins to race as I hand over the Rhode Island branded rectangle of plastic emblazoned with my face. I’m not in trouble. I remind myself that it’s a real ID that scans. Weeks away from turning 24, you’d think my legality would have sunk in…
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Winner, Winner, *Vegetarian* Chicken Dinner
This blog post was written over the course of the last month and is, like me, all over the place. I steady my shaking hand and gently nudge the block back and forth. Laying on the floor of the shared living room of our ACE provided housing in Sacramento, brow furrowed in deep concentration, I…
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getting my hands dirty
Sitting in the backseat of the pickup truck cradling my bag of gardening tools on my lap, squeezed in between baskets of flowers and bags of soil, and still half asleep, I watch the familiar scenery roll by as we make our way from the farm in Wyoming, RI to Watch Hill driving the same…
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Negative Degrees, Positive Attitude
I burrow deeper into my sleeping bag, grateful for the extra pair of wool socks I decided to put on before getting into bed, and listen to the howling wind angrily course through the Moraine Campground in Rocky Mountain National Park. Like a swaddled baby in an oversized crib, I try to let the gusts…
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A Sedona New Year
It’s hard to believe that 2020, which at times felt endless, has finally come to a close. Unlike years past, this year I didn’t pop champagne, watch fireworks, or celebrate New Year’s Eve with friends or family. Instead, I sat around a campfire, a mug of tea in hand, amongst a group of strangers who…
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Hotel Walmart
This blog post can also be read on Medium. I turned the faucet as hot as it could go letting out a sigh of relief as the water began to defrost my frigid hands. Once I could bend my fingers comfortably again, I took two pumps of soap from the dispenser and began scrubbing them clean.…
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The Big Right Turn
This blog post can also be read on Medium. After the sun sets and darkness sweeps over whatever landscape I am inhabiting for the night, I layer on another sweatshirt, slide into my slippers, and start winding down from the day. I prepare, then eat some sort of dinner, journal, read, and configure a plan…
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One Month
Today officially marks one month of van living. At some point last week, I felt like I really rounded a corner. I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but sometime between when I was lost in the middle of a cow field (like literally in a farmer’s field fenced in amongst the cows) in West…
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Leaf Peeper
Growing up in New England, I was spoiled by fall foliage. It wasn’t anything special to me. The summer came to a close, school started, the air got cooler, the leaves changed color. It just happened and young Annie thought nothing of it. It wasn’t until I went to highschool in the Pioneer Valley of…
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Day by Day
Today marks my first official week of living in the van. And, what a week it has been. I must admit the first few days were kind of cheating. I was with friends in two of my favorite places. There was a sense of familiarity and a certain level of comfort. I’m not going to…
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This is it
14 weeks ago I started working on Ody, my tiny home on wheels, with big dreams of moving out west. On Tuesday, October 13th, I’ll be getting behind the wheel, pulling out of the driveway, and hitting the open road. Who would have thought that my first major milestone as an adult would be moving…
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Beginner’s Mind
Last Friday, I picked up Ody all outfitted with the electrical gear and got down to work. In just a week, I fully insulated, framed and put up the wall and ceiling paneling. I woke up early before work, squeezed in hours between phone calls, and spent my afternoons laboring away. Each day presented a…
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Electrical Installation
Check out my in depth YouTube video for an overview of my electrical equipment and the process I went through to get it installed:
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Phase 3: The Grind
My older brother, Charlie, often refers to the story of the two woodcutters. If you haven’t heard it, it goes something like this: ” Once upon a time, there were two woodcutters named Peter and John. They were often at loggerheads over who chopped more wood. So one day, they decided to hold a competition…
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Shoebox
This Fall, for the first time since I can remember I won’t be going back to school. And, for the first time in eight years I won’t be moving into a dorm room. One of my favorite parts about going back to school has always been decorating my room. I loved creating a little oasis…
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“A Very Punchable Face”
After weeks of back and forth with electricians and car shops in an effort to find somewhere or someone who could help with the installation of all my electrical equipment and wiring throughout the van, I finally found a place and have an appointment to bring Ody in to get worked on. The earliest appointment…
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Wherever you go
This winter, one of the last in-person classes of my college career was a course on Buddhist Meditation Theory. I’ve always had an interest in meditation and was excited to learn more about Buddhism, but I mostly signed up for this class because it seemed like a nice complement (i.e. “layup”) to the computer science…
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Floor It
Last week, I put the final layer of flooring down which completed the first stage of my van conversion. After installing two layers of sub-flooring and framing the wheel wells, it was time for the hardest decision yet: picking out the color of the floors. For someone who is very specific about the aesthetic of…
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Annie Take the Wheel
This past weekend, I shoved two old trundle bed mattresses and camping supplies into the back of Ody and drove up to the White Mountain National Forest with Nina, one of my best friends from high school to celebrate the beginning of our ‘real adult’ lives. We hiked, we swam, we adventured, we drank more…
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Screw that screw
Making the first move is never easy. As Ody patiently waited in the driveway, I was researching, figuring out logistics, and struggling with my electrical plan. But there’s only so much planning one can do before you just gotsta go for it. I decided I could get the base of the floor done. It seemed…
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All Gas, No Breaks
On June 24th, just a week after graduating from college and turning 23 years old, I got a van with the goal of converting it into a tiny home on wheels by the end of August and taking it cross country… meet Ody. I named the van “Ody” after Homer’s great adventurer, Odysseus, “the man…
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