Solo Female In 4x4 Adventure Rig Finds Freedom And Adventure On The Road

hi i'm lindsey and this is my overland explorer x10 flatbed camper i've been traveling solo for four and a half years and in this rig for two years so comment inside while i show you around [Music] [Music] so as you walk into the left this is my kitchen area this is actually a diesel cooktop and it doubles as a furnace when the lid is down it actually comes from the marine world very common on a lot of boats i use this microwave more than i'd like to admit but mostly because i do have a large power bank we'll get to that in a little bit and then up here is just like some storage for my dry goods and whatnot and over here i have a bunch of storage for dishes and then i have a sink with uh 42 gallons of fresh water we'll get to that as well and a little extra counter space cutting board a little electric kettle i use quite often for coffee and tea and then i have a bunch of these tiny drawers they're actually really narrow i had to take a standard size silverware holder and cut it everything's just a little tiny in here um i have the top ones for silverware this is like a equivalent of my bathroom drawer with toothbrushes because i don't have a sink in my bathroom and then the rest is basically like tool boxes and other utensils i have my garbage under here and just some other cleaning supplies this is just a false panel so you can see the plumbing of the sink underneath it but i'm a big fan of the exterior of this as well it's really easy to wipe down and clean it's lightweight there's not a lot of wood in the camper i have to worry about much moisture management as well this is my little dinette area this actually folds down into a twin size bed when i bought the camper it actually had a bunk bed you can still kind of see the holes from where the hydronic lift was i don't have any children i'm traveling by myself so i don't have a need for a bunk bed so we took that out added some extra storage up here i sanded and stained these myself this is a quick easy cheap way to put some storage up here kind of keep it open and more arid this is a really cool piece of technology cruising comfort usa it's a 12 volt air conditioner it's 8 000 btus it pulls very minimal amps i used to know the number can't think of it off the top of my head but basically when i'm running this ac in the sunlight i have almost a thousand watts of solar on the roof and i'm about net neutral during the day and then um i have a huge battery bank that we'll get to again and it i can toggle it on and off throughout the night running it off my battery bank which is great for being in areas and when the in the summer with the heat this really keeps the camper pretty cool a nice convenient map of the us actually referenced this more than you would think and this fun picture is actually called girl gone skiing which is funny because i'm girl gone glamping and i love skiing so i thought that was appropriate underneath here is my gray tank and underneath this area is my diesel furnace my shower pump i added this larger window as well again to make it more arid and bright in here and then this table actually my dad manufactured a piece to extend it up i work full-time from the road so i'm able to have a standing desk which is great so back in 2016 i had been living in new york city in chicago for about five or six years and i just got sick of every weekend was just going out drinking where's the next club what's the next best brunch spot and i just wasn't happy i didn't know where i wanted to live it was over the city life and i was visiting a friend in austin texas and if you've ever been to austin there are air streams everywhere and i just started thinking like can i live in one of those maybe i can live everywhere and i i made a six-month plan and then three weeks later i bought an airstream and threw that plan out the window it was a pretty steep learning curve i had no clue about 12 volt versus 110 house power i had no clue about anything hitches receivers towing it was a steep learning curve i hadn't had a vehicle like i said in six years so i bought a truck to go with my airstream and then i actually stayed with my parents for about a month and just practiced everything practiced towing backing up learned everything sold probably 60 70 of my belongings and moved into my airstream so this is my fridge set up here it's a decent sized fridge it's got a small little freezer packed full of stuff it's all 12-volt run so again uses minimal energy and a nice little latch here that's a heavy duty keep it closed while driving up here here's like the motherboard of all the control panel switches it took me a while to actually learn all of these but now that i know it it's second nature i have a 2000 watt inverter pretty simple you just turn it on there that takes my 12 volt battery power converts it to house power so i can use my microwave i can blow dry my hair basically anything you can do with a house i have a big enough battery bank to run that off of and if you know anything about electrical wiring they did a really neat job wiring this all up and tying everything off labeling everything i also have the control panel in there for uh van type van tech life's on demand hot water supply and an altitude sensor for my espar furnace bunch of gadgets up there over here is where my little closet area is a little makeup drawer about two foot wide closet it's all i really need but it's it's compact and it's spacious enough for me when i'm getting ready it's not a big deal and then a little bit more storage up here again that's where i have my blow dryer flat iron i do not pretend to be roughing it at all i'm very much glamping and i wanted to set this camper up to simulate a house as close as possible to set myself up for long-term success so i really don't feel like i'm sacrificing that much when it comes to those type of things lots of shoes stored up there as well this is my water tank like i said it's 42 gallons of fresh water it's internal i do a lot of skiing in the winter i do a lot of winter camping and subzero temperatures this way everything's protected from freezing all the plumbing is that peck stuff so it does expand if i was to somehow have a reason that it gets frozen nice and simple there and then in this cabinet i have four lion energy 100 amp hour batteries as well as my victron 2000 watt inverter and my solar charger as well so everything's tucked away in there and this is like one of the big advantages of having the flatbed camper is all that space that you would normally lose with a sliding camber with a wheel hubs are in the bed of the truck you gain all that space so this allows this to be a true four season rig with the tanks being internal and uh still have a closet and other space as well welcome to my bathroom so one thing that for me was a necessity was having a shower and a toilet i guess that's two things a lot of people do this lifestyle without it and that's great but again i don't pretend to be roughing it very much glamping so in my shower i have removable shower head which is great and this toggles the water on and off to help me save water while i'm showering or conserve water i have a five gallon cassette toilet which i i don't mind it at all some people don't love it but i empty it every four or four to five days i don't have to deal with many chemicals for it i don't have to find specific sewer hookups i can just dump it in a porta potty which is great my mom actually sewed these bags up for me for storage keep extra toilet paper q-tips toiletries up there i pull this little curtain when i do shower to keep this part dry and then what's really nice is i just have this little easy accordion folding door so again lightweight not a lot of hardware trying to keep everything minimalistic and light overall with the build and then i'm a big fan of this teak wooden shower floor gives it a little bit of character and again all this fiberglass stuff super easy to clean mold resistant i just wipe it down after my shower and then i have this nice little storage uh shampoo conditioner shower gel caddy up here and you can see i'm i'm standing about four inches up off the floor i'm 510 and i still have quite a bit of headroom in here which is great because i do get a little claustrophobic not in my camper but just in general so this is like nice and spacious for me this is my bedroom this is just a couple inches shorter than a queen size bed and i love the the height clearance in here as well i can sit up here comfortably sometimes i work early mornings up here can read books up here and not feel claustrophobic and cramped so i really like this is like one of my favorite parts about this model of the camper i added this big window up front right here again more air and more sunlight i love that i have a window on every wall of the camper being a female traveling by myself if i hear a weird noise at night i can see out every every side everywhere every direction and make sure everything's good to go these two little windows here do provide a nice cross breeze and then a buddy of mine this summer helped me redo and re-insulate this wood paneling here to make it a little bit more cozy my dad uh fabricated this shelf here which is great i found these bins on amazon which are such an odd shape i think they're supposed to be used this way but it fits perfect for otherwise it's just dead space up there in the nose of it and in here more storage for clothes i have too much too many clothes and i also have a custom made memory foam mattress to fit this size which is very comfy and i want it to be only like three and a half four inches thick again to save space with the head clearance i also have this skylight up here which can be used as an emergency escape as well which it just gives me peace of mind if there was ever a fire or anything happening and i couldn't get out the one door of the camper i like having this i can climb on the roof i can slide down the front window under the hood of the truck if i need to and i you know won't have any issues with there i keep a little clicker for an alarm system for my truck right here next to my head when i'm sleeping in case i do hear anything and if anybody's trying to break in or tamper with a rig i can just set off the alarm lights horns everything starts going off on the truck just a little extra safety precaution i'm not really the best at interior design decorating but my friend christy is and she kind of helped me you know little things like having a striped pattern go this way give the illusion of everything being a little bit bigger a little offset color scheme she was really really helpful with that those are things that are not my strong suit something's broken i can troubleshoot it and try to fix it but when it comes to decorating not so much the bed and any most campers or rvs also a lot of times used for storage so when i'm driving i'll throw my laptop i'll throw bottles of wine up here just because they don't tend to fall off or move around when in transit so right now it's nice and clean but a lot of times you'll just see other things thrown up here [Music] [Music] one thing that actually made it a little bit easier for me getting on the road is that i already had the working remote component i've worked for myself for about 10 years i started a logistics brokerage and i ship raw materials import export full truckload ltl shipping i started my company on the east coast so the majority of my customers are on the east coast and i keep east coast hours i really like that in out here in the mountain time zone i start at six and i'm done at two or three there are some days when work is slow and i can throw my laptop in my book bag and hit the slopes at like 12 or 1 o'clock out here and do the last hour of work remotely from a ski resort which is fun but i um i haven't found too many challenges with getting wi-fi or whatnot i use a verizon jetpack hotspot and i'm on the phone a lot for work so if i sell signal i have wi-fi um and then i just kind of map out the coverage zones and try to avoid camping in dead zones during the week when i need to be online for work so my camper sits on a ram 3500 i have a 6'4 hemi engine i get a lot of crap for it not being a diesel but the 64 hemi is a super reliable engine i'm just about 13 600 pounds on the total weight and i'm pretty adequate going up hills it doesn't really struggle too much i don't go too fast in this thing anyways but i've been really happy with the dodge overall i redid the bumper i put on a trail fx guard and actually just used plasti-dip to cover up all the chrome i wasn't a big fan of the chrome that comes on these rams i still have some nice toe hook points up front and then i added some fender flares as well just to kind of make it look a little bit beefier all around and i'm out west a lot so if i do hit anything crazy i look a deer my radiator and everything has a little bit extra protection on there so one thing i really like about the flatbed chassis is i get four additional storage bins as well also i meant to mention the extended cab gives me a huge back seat for storage a bunch of gear back there which is great so in these storage bins i have a backup buddy my buddy propane heater just in case my diesel furnace goes out towing kit with jumper cables and whatnot a hitch hitch to go in my hitch receiver a few times i've had to tow like a motorcycle or something behind me that's helpful the whole camper sits on this tray which comes right from the manufacturer from overland explorer and it has four super strong mounting points there's normally four uh electronic camper jack legs on air i took those off and left those in my parents barn because they're just wind resistant and they add like another couple hundred pounds but otherwise you could just lower each leg and release the clamps and lift the camper up drive the truck right out from underneath it which is great that was a huge component for me buying this rig was that the camper comes off the chassis it's so much better for resale in my opinion this is fiberglass everything i've put into it is going to have it hold its value or even increase its value over time a truck like any other truck is just going to depreciate so that was like a huge selling point for me when i bought the camper it didn't have any uh steps it had like your typical big heavy steps that you takes a while to put in pulled out so my dad being the welder that he is designed and engineered this little flip step which is super easy lightweight it's sturdy and if i'm in and out of the camper at like a truck stop or have to run back there to use the bathroom or whatever it's so easy to get in and out it is a pretty big step up but again i'm tall so i'm happy with it it is a little bit challenging in ski boots though i will say that so the back of the truck has two storage compartments this weatherproof box that came with it where inside i have a high lift some extra propane bottles for the backup furnace and then this is actually a ski box that my dad also manufactured this which is really helpful i do a lot of skiing this can actually hold two to three pairs of skis also my snow brush which is important when you're out in winter but it's it's waterproof it's sealed it's locked my back up camera is actually drilled right into it so nobody can tamper with it or steal it but this is like a huge lifesaver for me because i don't want to go any taller with storage on my roof i'm already at like 11 foot 2 on my clearance so having this box in the back super helpful we also added this additional brake light strip because this box kind of came out and shadows a little bit of the brake lights i want to be easily visible and seen on the road so we didn't like skip any corners with that super easy just plugs into your slot there for your camper for your trailer tow up here i don't know if you can see it up here is the compressor for the 12 volt air conditioner we mounted that on the back which is actually pretty simple then for any kind of like maintenance and whatnot it's easier to access there than inside and then this ladder folds down and on the roof i have three solar panels their jenko solar panels are 330 watts each so just shy of a thousand watts up there and in the winter time i do have to climb up here daily shovel it off to make sure i'm getting enough sunlight to power up my batteries so out here is where my diesel tank is for my s bar furnace it's about a three gallon holding tank which isn't much in the dead of winter i'm using almost a gallon a day if i had a diesel truck i could tap into that auxiliary line but again i have a gas truck so maybe someday down the road that will change this is the drain for my gray water super easy to access right there and then more storage i just keep my water hose in here i really like the zero gravity hose you don't have to deal with the hard plastic hoses in the winter time wrangling them to get them back into a small box and then right here super simple it's where i fill up my water tank if i'm at a campground or somewhere and have city water inlet i could put that there and what's nice about my hot water system is that it is on-demand hot water it heats glycol which wraps around my hot water line so you turn the faucet on at any point within five seconds you have hot water if i'm connected to city water like 10 people can take a shower in a row as long as you have water coming you can take hot showers which is really nice this is just super easy 30 amp plug-in i've actually never had to plug this camper in almost two years on the road with it my solar panels and my battery bank are just so robust that i haven't had a need to fingers crossed this is where you can access the five gallon cassette toilet it's really simple i actually just emptied it earlier today so it's empty right now you pull it out just like a traveling suitcase it has this little arm you extend it it has wheels you flip this up take the cap off and you dump it there's a little button for airflow makes it really easy about 60 seconds down the drain you're good to go it does get a little heavy when it's full it's probably close to 40 pounds so every like i said four or five days i i dump it and just more storage here i have some extra rotor packs for diesel just because the diesel tank isn't that big those are just kind of for emergencies if i'm out camping skiing somewhere without a diesel supply i have some backups all right so we're up here on my roof i actually come up here more than you would think you can bring friends up here have a drink up here have dinner up here gorgeous background this is the top view of the emergency escape skylight i had two other skylights that we had to insulate off just to get the maximum coverage for solar panels i added these little grip stickers typically i try to keep my center of gravity a little bit lower when it's icy up here or when it's windy but it's a great way just to chill out and take in all the views [Music] at least once a week somebody reaches out to me online and asks me how can i do what you're doing how can i get on the road and what i always tell people is just to commit to it just to do it a lot of people they're building out a van for six months eight months a year and you know i'm gonna do that someday i'm gonna do that one day i'm gonna do it when i retire i say just do it now because you're not gonna regret it and you don't need everything to be fully done and perfect to start it i think a lot of people just you know they set these hurdles up for themselves and they just keep pushing back that starting line i say just do it you're gonna figure it out as you go and if you do it for three months six months a year it's gonna change you it's going to shape you i don't think you're going to regret it even if you find out this lifestyle isn't for you i think you try it and you're going to come out better on the other side i hope you've enjoyed seeing a little tour of my tiny home i'm happy to answer any other questions you might have you can find me on instagram i'm girl gone glamping if you ever need anything shipped commercially imported exported you can contact me on there as well and i'm happy to help you out with that through my logistics brokerage i hope you guys enjoyed it [Music] you

Channel: Tiny Home Tours

Views: 147,956

Rating: 4.960969 out of 5

Keywords: tiny house, tiny house on wheels, living big in a tiny house, tiny house movement, tiny home, small house, small spaces, small house design, alternative living, affordable home, off the grid, small space living, tiny house life, diy tiny house, diy home, tiny house tour, van life, camper van, solo female travel, solo female van life, off grid, 4x4 off road, overlanding, overland camping, overland lady, overland build, off road, off road extreme 4x4, off road camper

Id: kd6LSJjOawM

Length: 20min 43sec (1243 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 11 2021