A Tiny House Insight
The start of an idea?
My grandmother and her gentleman friend toured the country, visiting family, friends, and interesting touristy type places.
They traveled in simple style and planned their trips, the food to take, the clothes to wear, and their budgets. They were very frugal, and some thought they were quite different. When they traveled to far places, they did not stay in other families or friends homes, nor did they stay in hotels, lodges, resorts, camping trailers, or tents.
Instead they stayed in the black sedan in the background. Grandmother slept in the back seat, and her friend slept in front seat. The food was in coolers in the trunk along with a suitcase for clothing. For more storage they made a platform with a lift top so it doubled as a bed and storage area in the back seat. The storage was in the foot area between the back and front seat.
They crammed a lot of stuff, miles, life, and memories into that sedan. They had what they needed and nothing more. It was a simple life for them in their later years that they chose.
They chose only to travel with the basic necessities. The only time they stayed in the car was for sleeping at night, or driving to a new place. Otherwise, the rest of the time visiting; was used for visiting. They did not need to drive to place for lodging and so that saved them time and money.
Tiny Green Cabin Park Model
They had exchanged the motels, hotels and resorts for life experiences. They sound like the forerunners of tiny house folks.
They also planted a seed in me that I could live small, and without all the trappings of what society says I need and by example that I could acquire some great life experiences.
Pictured are; Upper Right Plymouth Rock National Park, tiniest US Park
The next picture is Henning, my grandmothers friend, my sister, and myself. I was 11.
The 3rd picture is a park model rendering by Tiny Green Cabins.
I think a number of people have taken such a trip using their car as hotel as well. But I think modern American society tends to pass that off as “young and looking for adventure” or even reckless. I think it is very cool though and I like the notion that your grandmother and her friend realized their goal (to travel and see people, things), let nothing stop them, prioritized their desires (especially in regards to budgeting), and then took that first step. Pioneers indeed!
I thought at the time, their decision was financially driven and in a way it was. They had the dollars to travel and stay in the best of places, When they passed, grandmother in her 90′s still had 6 figures in her savings. It was simply they chose to travel and live as they did, and to make the dollars they have stretch as far as possible.They just enjoyed what they were doing.