Pics of the Old and New Life
I didn’t look back when I left. I cried, but only from sheer exhaustion and relief to be done carrying stuff up and down stairs. I did, however, take a few pictures to share with you.
This is the pile of stuff I got rid of the last week. There was one, equal in size, the week before. This pile actually doubled in size by the time I left. It’s amazing how much junk a house holds!
Did I mention it doubled in size by the time I left? About twelve more large, black bags were added to the pile.
I also took thirty-some big black bags of stuff to the Goodwill amidst five Jeep-loads, had a garage sale, and a local neighbor took four truckfuls of stuff.
I’ve lived on this street for the last eight years:
The last five years have been in this house:
I can’t tell you what’s in all the black bags. I think every house has stupid stuff that can’t be donated or given away. I threw my entire junk drawer away without looking at it, LOL.
You can see in the background that the camper is halfway up: it’s a pop-up, although it has hard sides, not a tent.
This is my Jeep. Isn’t she the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen? When Glenn first came to Ohio, he was in the dog house, and he told me he bought the Jeep for me. And then he forgot.
This is currently the view from my bed, the front window of my camper. I wake up to it every morning. Every night, I fall asleep looking at the clouds stars.
This is the creek running behind my camper:
My campfire and picnic table:
The front of my camper blurred, so you get to look at the back, which I smashed on the very first day I bought it. (See the duck tape?) *sigh* It towed so well, I forgot it was there:
This is my “bedroom:”
This is my office and living room:
(Don’t look behind the curtain. That’s another bed end that holds the litter box, our chests and drawers of clothes, and all the cat food/water stuff.)
This is my kitchen. You can’t see the frig down below, and that off-white metal thing is covering the stove. I haven’t done the dishes yet. Sorry!
What home would be complete without an assortment of knick-knacks and stuff? Somewhere in the move, I lost my plates. Weird.
So that’s my new home! I love it more than any house I’ve ever lived in. It was funny, I was standing in my best friend’s kitchen, and I realized that she has more stuff in her pantry than I probably have in my whole camper! Not quite, but close. 
In the middle of the top shelf, you can see a toy truck and a fifth wheel. I bought that in Michigan last spring to keep on my desk and remind me of the lifestyle I was aiming for. See the doll in the red basket? My dad got me that. It’s made of china, and I couldn’t part with it.
The only downside to my new life?
The big lug is still missing. 
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Natasha Fondren is a writer traveling the U.S. in a camper with her four cats. She is currently enjoying the lizards and desert heat in Arizona.
Pictures! I love the curtains and the plaque (or is that a print?) on the wall. Is the bed comfortable? Can I be a pain in the butt and ask for pictures of it collapsed the next time you take it down? I cannot picture where the popping happens.
I hope your cat comes home soon.
That’s a print. Walmart picture thing, LOL. The other half of it is above the sink, behind the fan.
Look in the picture of the house. In the driveway, in the back, you can see it half-popped up. The roof is half-raised, and the side walls are leaning in. The bed ends, the parts that stick out, are stuck inside the camper. The roof lowers, the sides fall in and lay down, and then the camper is this little compact box.
I’ll take better pictures next time!
PS: The bed is REALLY comfy. It’s a foam mattress that’s really hard, which is great, and on top of it, I put a 2-inch thick smushy foam thing to make it soft. It’s much better than my old mattress: I was waking up with a backache every morning! This bed is heaven.
Oh! And holy crap that’s a lot of stuff you got rid of!
Isn’t it? At some point, last year, I realized that all I use in daily life lives in my purse and computer backpack thing.
And then there was all this STUFF. Lots of it was studio stuff, like posters and stuff. STUFF! I hate it! I’m SO glad to be rid of it!
So exciting to see your new way of life! I’m impressed and thrilled for you. And I admire you, Natasha.
I’m still so happy, I feel silly, Janna! LOL!
Natasha,
Looks fun what you are doing-I love reading your blog. Your prose takes my mind off the blah days I have at the pharmacy. Keep writing!
Becky
Thanks, Becky! Your wish is my command. I’m so glad you read and comment!
I love the pics!! And I love the views you wake up to every morning!! I really hope your cat comes home soon! Has anyone else at the campground seen him?
No one has seen him, Nadine! Which keeps making me freak out and think he’s still in the camper, but… LOOK HOW SMALL it is! He can’t possibly be in there!
Hmm… Cause he couldn’t have crawled into any spaces, right? And if he did I’m sure he would be meowing. I hope he comes back soon!! Please keep me updated!!
I’ll let you know, Nadine. I just did my afternoon walkabout, calling his name, and nothing. I read online that sometimes they come back after a month!
Oh man, I’m gonna miss him. He’s not in any little space. I’ve looked in all of them!
What happened to your kitty? Did he run off? That makes me so sad for you having just lost a pet myself.
Otherwise, I enjoy all the pictures and wonder what piles I’ll end up with when we move out. (Been in the same house for 14 years – yikes!) I’ll take pictures, too.
Gee, hope your kitty is okay.
Kath, I’m not sure. He was in the camper when I left, so I think someone may have opened the door and let him out by accident. I’m not grieving yet, as I still hope he will return. And of all my cats, he’d be happy out and about. He has claws, so he can protect himself, and he’s SUPER friendly. Like, he sees a person, he rolls over and begs for pets. So I feel like he’ll be okay.
But I really, really, really, really miss him!
Really cool pictures, Natasha! I’m so happy for you taking this adventure to heart. Keep the pictures coming.
I promise, Rick!
Nice new digs! You can’t get a better view than that. I don’t think I could do it, though. I love crap. I love buying crap, I love displaying crap… MY pantry couldn’t fit in there, that’s for sure.
Kitty could be hiding in there. They can squish themselves into all sorts of impossible places. When we first moved here our jumpiest one hid for a month! When we started renovations, he hid again. He finds the tiniest places to go.
Wherever he is, though, I hope he comes back soon.
Avery, I keep thinking he might be in here, but I’ve truly looked in the teensiest-tiny places. And he’s EIGHTEEN POUNDS. He’s huge! He’s a big lug! Still, he’s nowhere. And he was happy before he disappeared, always out and about while the other ones hid.
My husband is like you.
It’s going to be a problem. He wants a big fifth wheel for lots of stuff, and I like these small digs just fine. I could go a little bit bigger, but not much. And I’m currently still weeding out stuff. 
Wow! That is so unbelievably awesome! I am so jealous!! I love your new little home…espcially the camp fire. I want s’mores now.
It’s amazing how much stuff you got rid of!
Lauren, I love it, too! And it’s amazing how much stuff I accumulated! I have had s’mores, and have been eating way too many marshmallows, let me tell you!
OMG, this all made me smile! I think you drive around the country meeting your blog friends and we all get to take a photo with you and the camper! What a collection AND story you’ll have!
The ability to purge is a beautiful thing. I cleaned out my daughter’s 10×10 room and came away with four huge bags of crap – oh – you know – stuff.
Can’t wait to “go with you via blog” on your journey.
Amy, that would be AWESOME! Right now, the Jeep isn’t feeling well, so we’ll probably just be moving once a month, until we upgrade next year.
I hope all my blog friends will meet me!
Isn’t it AMAZING how much stuff can get packed into a room?! My husband has the SMALLEST room in the house, and I think that room had the most stuff!
You’re killing me with this post, Natasha! Here’s how I read it:
Oh, yeah. All that junk. Uh-huh.
Ah, the street. Yep.
The house—coolzoh. The jeep—still sweet.
Ooo, look at that field! And the creek, and the campsite! Awesome!
AND I LOVE HOW YOU TURNED THE CAMPER INTO A HOME! I LOVE IT; I LOVE IT; I LOVE IT!
And then you show me a picture of Caesar. (Not just my favorite, but really the only one of your babies I really liked—not a cat person, sorry. XD) And now I’m crying. (Oh, geez, I really am!!!!)
OK, now I’ve stopped crying. But really, this is emotional manipulation, I tell you. Caesar needs to return. Now. Bad kitty!
I agree wholeheartedly, Joey! Wasn’t he the best? I mean, ISn’t he the best? I don’t know. I did two walkabouts today, and no luck. I’ll do a third one at 8pm or so. I’ve been leaving food out, too. Oh Joey, Glenn will KILL me. I’m afraid to tell him! They say cats can return even a month later. So who knows?
It is a home now, isn’t it? You’ve seen it when it was a mess, LOL! Today, I didn’t leave all day because I just like being in my home.
I want to do some painting, still, and I’m going to get Glenn to fix some more stuff, but… it’s bliss!
You’re at this campsite till when? September? Because now I’m having the horrible fear that you’ll have to leave without him and then…Oh, geez. I can’t go down that road. He’s going to come back before anything like that happens…
It IS a home——in the purest sense of the word. I love the idea of living in such a small area (but at the same time NOT small, if you know what I mean, LOL) with the distilled elements of who you /really/ are——what /really/ comprises your life——what /really/ matters. Which is why I’m excited to live in a dorm room, which I feel is sorta the same idea, but in a different form.
Will you share pics, too? Gosh, when you go off to college, you’re not gonna have time for us silly Facebook nerds.
Yeah, I’m planning on staying until he gets back, for better or worse.
He’ll definitely be back by the first week of October!
Haha sure, I’ll share pics. Or maybe I’ll just walk around the room with my webcam and upload the video to Facebook, or something. I dunno.
And I don’t think you need to worry——I’ll still have time for Facebook, but it’ll be a normal and healthy hour or two per day instead of the current MINIMUM of six hours per day, which is the saddest reflection of my life imaginable. >.<
Yes, my parents’ cat stayed with a family about a mile away for around a year and then decided to come back. Cats have minds of their own so when they vanish you never know. One thinks that something bad might have happened but it isn’t a sure thing by any means.
I note your Brookside is by a creek!
Incredibly exciting really. And purging possessions can be good. During my divorce I cleaned out the cellar. The stuff at the curb was waist hight and more in places, a couple bags and boxes wide, the whole length of the lot. Of course, eventually my ex got everything. She hired the largest van available from Mayflower, which still wasn’t enough, and had to have a smaller escort van.
Frankly, I’ve been thrilled to no longer have to move all that crap around. Granted it was kind of fun to think I had tens of thousands of books and record albums but I got to listen to or read only a very relatively small number and those are the only things I missed even a little bit.
Eric, I “feel” like he’s okay. He really likes people. I’m thinking I was not living up to his social expectations.
I hope he comes back, at least when Glenn comes home!
I agree about the crap. I still want to get rid of more stuff. Honestly, I don’t miss it, either. It’s such a dead weight. I think you got the better end of the deal; just think about her trying to go through all that junk! Although, taking your books and record albums… hmmm…
I miss my water dispenser. It held a 5-gallon jug of water, and it dispensed boiling hot or ice cold water. It was awesome!
I only miss the practical things, really.
I LOVE your new house. How cool to pack up and just go, though your location right now is perfect. Come and visit me sometime.
I hope your kitty comes back. If your gut tells you he’s all right, he probably is.
Edie, I hope so. I will totally have to visit Wisconsin! I want to come up during one of your amazing conferences. They always sound fabulous!
Drat about the cat! I hope he comes back soon.
Natasha, your camper is just too cool. That bed looks so comfy, I feel like flying through the computer screen and snuggling up to read a book on it. The views are gorgeous.
This is going to sound demented, but seeing your old house makes me feel nostalgic for it, and I was never even there! The neighborhood was so pretty, though!
Robin, it’s a bit too comfy. In fact, I’m so happy, I just want to sit and be happy. I’m getting nothing done! I want to snuggle on my bed and read a book, too!
I hated that house with a passion. It had mold problems, which gave me really bad asthma problems. I have never been so glad to leave a place in my life! I have nothing but bad memories of that place. It was never comfortable, never felt like home. Let me find a picture of three houses ago, and then you can get nostalgic! It was awesome.
I know what you meant by getting rid of the junk. I’ve been doing the same for the past few weeks, getting the baby’s room set for her debut in November.
You’re going to take pictures of your smiling face as you head down the road, right? I can’t wait to see what adventures you guys are going to encounter. Talk about the trip of a lifetime. I so wish I could be with you guys.
Squeee! November! That’s so soon!!! Ohmigosh, how time has just flown!
I promise to take plenty of pictures! You’ll feel like you’re there! I can’t wait to see the Grand Canyon. I’ve never been! I’m headed to Mount Rushmore, too, and I haven’t been since I was four. I’m so excited!
yes, amazing how much junk can accumulate. We moved a few years back, after Katrina. We got rid of quite a lot then, but we’ve reloaded.
Lovely place. Looks comfy and peaceful.
Charles, it’s amazing how quickly stuff accumulates. Even living in this small space, I’ve already bought three more things which won’t fit when I go to move!
It is lovely, though!
Note: I’m not doing much with my website.
I’m in International Falls, Mn. Somewhere on the west side of Lake Superior (Hwy 61) my beloved cat Acid left the RV without my knowledge. I thought it might have been in the parking lot of the Grand Portage Casino where I had planned to spend the night until I found they didn’t allow that. So far calls to the casino have not been fruitful. I double checked at the rest area in Silver Bay, no luck there. It’s been 3 days and I’m heartbroken. So I know what you are going through with the loss of your cat. Acid has been with me for 13 years. I pray she can be a miracle cat and find her way back to Richfield, WI.
Oh Kathryn! I’m broken-hearted for you! At least I’m in the same place for the next two months. I have been wondering if he would try to make his way up way back up to Cleveland. I’ve heard of some cats who do that. I haven’t grieved, yet, because I’m kinda refusing to believe that he’s gone for good. Oh man, but when I think of it… every night, I wake up every hour and run to the door, thinking I heard a sound.
Gosh, I miss him. I feel for you. HUGE HUGS, Kathryn. I pray we both find our cats!
[...] know I live in a little camper. And when we went to look at bigger campers, I was less than enthused. In fact, while I felt it was [...]