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I wanted to formally introduce you all to our little homestead. We can’t wait to do it in person as we visit our friends and family around the country but I thought a virtual tour would work in the interim.
In the front, we have our Tesla Model Y. We affectionately called her Leeloo, the metal ox. She is our faithful steed that’s taken us over 14,000 miles so far this year. We keep her well fed by stopping at superchargers along our route or at our campsites (50 amp preferred). We’ve also pushed her to her limit on a Colorado 4x4 road trying to get to base camp on Grays Peak at 11,000 feet. Our Leeloo is not lifted like a normal 4x4 vehicle and some huge ruts stopped us before we could make it. We’ve cheered her on as we coasted into a charging station with 0% displayed on the screen. Our electrified journey would not be possible without her.
In the back is our home, the Cricket. We haven’t come up with a name yet despite the obvious one (Jiminy Cricket). Our home on wheels is even more versatile than the Room of Requirement dining room we had in our old apartment. The space inside the cricket may be small but it’s able to adapt to any situation we’ve encountered. We’ve found the following configurations so far: Kitchen, Dining Room, Couch, Lounge, and as a garage/storage space when we’re moving camp.
Lounge mode
Kitchen
Bedroom
Outdoor living room
It’s likely we will find more uses for the interior 45 square feet as we continue down the road. Altogether we called the Tesla and Cricket the U.S.S. Enterprise because we’re nerds that watched a lot of Star Trek: Next Generation during lock down. We saw the Enterprise split into two parts (the living quarters and the propulsion sections) which is exactly what we have in our set up.
We had to scrutinize everything we had before deciding what would travel with us, or stay in the storage unit or be sold/donated. Each item along for the journey must have a purpose and usually more than one. We have several examples - the tarp we use to cover the bikes also serves as a clean dry space for the dogs to lounge on while we enjoy our outside living room or as part of our outdoor yoga studio ground cover. The dog water/food platter (meant to keep our old apartment floor clean under the dogs’ water and food bowls) has also become a great fire stoker when Matthew doesn’t want to constantly blow on our fire. Speaking of outdoor living, we have several uses for our campsite space. The space just outside the Cricket door can be our living room, dog grooming area, yoga studio, outdoor kitchen and dog run. We don’t need much interior space knowing that the great outdoors can become our living room simply by setting up camp.
Door County, Wisconsin
Illinois River at Marshall State Fish and Wildlife Area
Lacon, IL
Our very first campsite
Illinois Beach State Park
Zion, IL
We have a few things with us that make our camp feel like home - a small alter with trinkets, candles and incense for me inside the Cricket and the colorful windbreaker we put near the front of camp for Matthew. It doesn’t take much for us to feel at home wherever we go thanks to the Enterprise.
Matthew's first drawing of the Enterprise,
drawn while we still lived in our Chicago apartment.
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