Trail Mechanic III
For 1.5 years I traveled from Texas to The Western Sierras and the surrounding area of California for work and I lived out of my 2015 Toyota RAV4. During that time I traveled almost 6000 miles, met amazing people, traveled and camped in some of the most beautiful places and learned a lot. In October I rejoined my family in the Milwaukee area to start a new job, thankfull for my adventures and experiences.
I stayed primarily at a property that was on Hip Camp, sometimes living in driveways that were closer to the work area with coworkers. The hip camp site only had water but that's fine because I have solar, a Goal Zero Yeti 3000x and power inverters. I was able to live comfortably out of the Rav with my setup, I took out the front passenger seat and built a storage with a bed on top. I installed a diesel heater in the spare tire well, it ran like a champ and kept me warm on cold sierra nights. My "living room" was a BodyArmor 4X4 270 awning with some walls, a propane fire pit, GCI camp table and Blackstone camp grill. I kept my food frozen in my Alpicool freezer and watched tv on my phone for entertainment. Showers took a while to heat up, I didn't want to sacrifice space with a propane water heater so I used an electric kettle to heat water, put it in a Scepter 5 gal Jerry can, used a rechargeable camp shower head in my Kickass shower with my weathertech trunk floor cover as a shower floor. The shower views were epic. This setup survived major wind storms, flooding, heat waves and snow storms and I wouldn't have done anything differently.
I was lucky enough to work for a company that allowed me a lot of time off, I was able to fly home once a month for a long weekend to be with my family.
My top essential gear list is as follows:
- Vevor diesel heater
- BodyArmor 4X4 279 awning
- KickAss shower awning
- Blackstone grill
- Alpicool fridge/freezer
- Goal Zero Yeti 3000x
I had an amazing once in a lifetime adventure but I'm so happy to be home with family where I belong.
I stayed primarily at a property that was on Hip Camp, sometimes living in driveways that were closer to the work area with coworkers. The hip camp site only had water but that's fine because I have solar, a Goal Zero Yeti 3000x and power inverters. I was able to live comfortably out of the Rav with my setup, I took out the front passenger seat and built a storage with a bed on top. I installed a diesel heater in the spare tire well, it ran like a champ and kept me warm on cold sierra nights. My "living room" was a BodyArmor 4X4 270 awning with some walls, a propane fire pit, GCI camp table and Blackstone camp grill. I kept my food frozen in my Alpicool freezer and watched tv on my phone for entertainment. Showers took a while to heat up, I didn't want to sacrifice space with a propane water heater so I used an electric kettle to heat water, put it in a Scepter 5 gal Jerry can, used a rechargeable camp shower head in my Kickass shower with my weathertech trunk floor cover as a shower floor. The shower views were epic. This setup survived major wind storms, flooding, heat waves and snow storms and I wouldn't have done anything differently.
I was lucky enough to work for a company that allowed me a lot of time off, I was able to fly home once a month for a long weekend to be with my family.
My top essential gear list is as follows:
- Vevor diesel heater
- BodyArmor 4X4 279 awning
- KickAss shower awning
- Blackstone grill
- Alpicool fridge/freezer
- Goal Zero Yeti 3000x
I had an amazing once in a lifetime adventure but I'm so happy to be home with family where I belong.
