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It’s Alive !!!!!

Starlink Antenna
I got the 5th Wheel trailer moved to a better location so I installed the Starlink antenna on the roof of the RV (with bricks on the legs to help hold it down)  and put the remainder of the components on the desk inside the trailer.
Connecting the phone it gave me an initial estimate of 150 Mb/s.  It immediately wanted to shut down for a couple of hours to download an update to firmware.  I’ll go back tomorrow and explore it some more.  So far it looks good.  The longer term plan is to wait until I get the carport cover and then move the antenna to the roof of that.
Note this is not Wyoming in the background.
I got a firm quote of $7965 before tax (which should be $400). That is a price that  includes on site assembly. 

 

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The Rain May Never Fall Till After Sundown….

 It’s now late Monday evening and there has been some rumbling and distant lightning strikes and a gentle rain is falling. It has happened a couple of times and it strikes me that this might be a recurring pattern. I would presume we get some significant solar heating during the day with some strong thermal uplifts, but with the overall low humidity it would take a while to build thunderheads, and therefore the lightning and thunder and rain at night (rather than at 2pm like in Hawaii, Florida, etc). 

It was reminded of my high school play, “Camelot”, when Arthur is selling the whole deal to Guinevere by talking up the weather (and the title of the piece; at 1:31).

I’ve been talking to the girls & Patrick about my trip to Portland at the end of the month. I’m going to extend my stay through about the 17th of August to get the condo ready to sell. Patrick has agreed to come back with me to give me some help moving stuff into a storage unit/and or into the condo. The girls will be holding the cat hostage for his safe return. I’ll plan on a possible return after the cruise in late August to take the final load and pick up the cat. That handles what to do with the cat during my 7 day Mexican cruise with Jan & Mike.
Should be moving the trailer closer to it’s final resting spot tomorrow and waiting to hear back from State Engineer for permission to drill the well. I am certainly not being bored with nothing to do.

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Busy Busy Busy

 So, since I have an address I went back to the Buildings Dept to get a set of Address Numbers to post at the property to allow fire dept, etc to find the location.

7401 Geary Dome Rd

Since there are a bunch of mail boxes at the intersection, I went into the post office to apply for one of the boxes. Unfortunately I got a call the next day that all of the dozens of boxes were currently occupied and I would need to go to the Evansville Post office. Once I had established that I indeed owned the property I was offered a free Post Office Box until the situation was resolved. So my mailing address will be 

  • Dean Kling
  • PO Box xyyz
  • Evansville, WY 82626
Note that I didn’t include the actual box numbers, because I won’t be using the address until later this fall. I will keep you posted.
I spent 3 hours at the local U-Haul dealer and got my trailer hitch installed. So now I’m ready to get a trailer to haul the remainder of my stuff at the end of July.
Good to Go

I spent a couple of hours going through a ton on RV documentation. I think that the RV will be much more livable than I had been planning for. I need to look at getting slab put down and maybe a roof to ameliorate the summer sun.  Something like this:

Width-22′; Length-35′; Height 12′
I did manage to find a way to move the trailer away from the fence line. I called up the local RV dealership and they agreed to come out next Tues and move it for $75. – a good deal.

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Closing has been Closed

 Went through closing on Lot 3B of Geary Dome Estates.  Went immediately to County Offices to get new title for the Fifth-Wheel Trailer and to submit application for permits to get the Conex Boxes registered as storage.  They now do a lot of the back and forth via the web these days.  I got the following in email this evening:

Among the interesting items of note are the address, 7401 Geary Dome Rd. 

Next step in get a ground water permit from the State Engineer. And so it begins.

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It’s Getting Closer

 Just got a call from the realtor’s office. The closing is scheduled for 11:00am on Tuesday June 29th. I’ve got the down payment in my checking account so I should be all set.

In other news I’ve touched base with the realtors that we bought the condo from in 2003.  They have a lot of experience with the Promenade at Bethany Village and recently sold a third floor unit for over $500K. We’ve got a lot of work to do at the end of July but things are moving ahead.

Also, since I had the cash available, I have paid off the cruise I’m going on with Jill & Jan in Feb 2022. It’s a 5 day cruise out of Galveston with stops in Yucatan and Cozumel. I will be flying down to Houston on Feb 4th and spending the night at the Harbor House Hotel.  That should be fun.

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Becoming Somewhat Clearer

 I met with the Planning Dept and the Building Dept of Natrona County yesterday and things are starting to take shape.  Thus far, I have had the property surveyed and the percolation test of the lot done. So far I see the following tasks as needing to be done:

1. Close on the property. Until it is properly mine I don’t want to sink a lot of time/money into it. Immediately after closure submit permit to county to use the two Conex boxes as storage units. (Previous owner did not do so and that is required)

2. Apply to the Wyoming State Engineer for APPLICATION FOR PERMIT TO APPROPRIATE GROUND WATER to drill a well and use up to 25gallons per minute for Domestic Use. I think the proper land description is NE¼ of the NE¼ of Section 33, Township 34 North, Range 78 West, 6th Principal Meridian of Natrona Wyoming.

3. Get the well drilled. A neighbor warned me that I’ll probably need to drill down 400′ go get good water (at $34. per foot).  Once the well head is in, I will build a 8×12 foot shed to insulate the well and provide space for eventual solar power installation, and run power to it.

4. Once the well head location is determined, install a septic tank and leach field (greater than 100 ft from the well head).  While that is progressing, I can layout and pour/get poured, the concrete pad for the trailer. I want to build a shed roof over the trailer to reduce heat gain in the summer and provide rainwater catchment. Finally move the trailer on the pad and hook up power, water, and septic system. Once that is done I can get an Occupancy Permit and get address assigned and move in as desired. 

5. I would like to get this done, but time really isn’t critical. I have an apartment lease through the end of the year so I can take my time. 

In other news I have decided to sell my condo in Portland. I am planning to go back in late July to babysit cats while the girls go camping and I may bring Charlotte back for a working vacation.  I will bring back any thing that I am wanting to keep (actually not that much) and have been talking to Jen & Kate about managing the disposal of most of the interior for a reasonable cut of my profits. 

I figure I will still visit the girls once a quarter or so, but for a fraction of what the condo is costing me I can stay in a really nice Residence Inn by Marriott.  This will also free up considerable funds for further development of the Wyoming property.

 

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Draft One

Below is the first draft of what I plan to do with the 2 40 ft containers, (pending of course, my discussions with the county planning department).

Draft 01
The scale is 1 ft / 1 dot.  The wall insulation/framing will probably be less than 1 foot as shown.  The dark lines reflect the wall sections left from the original container. Note this is only a one bedroom design since I am assuming I have the 5-th wheel trailer for a guest house. Your inputs are welcome.

 

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Tour

 Since the surveyor was out and marked all of the property lines, I went over after church to see what exactly I was planning to buy. 

First of all 13 acres is bigger than you think.  The lack of trees and terrain features (especially on the southern end) is somewhat deceptive. The terrain has enough contour though that from the southern square (hereby designated as the Hermitage) you really can’t see the pond or the trailer. 

View from the Hermitage
The light blue square in the upper left is the top if the 40′ trailer. The crumpled black remains below it is a crumpled trampoline about half way down the property.
While walking the property line I met neighbor to the East, one Mike Conners, about my age, and we had a long chat. We exchanged background info and it turns out he, and his wife are former Navy. He was an airedale, served on several carriers in the 1970’s and his wife was a supply clerk. His son is a LCDR (former P-3 and P-8 pilot) who will retire in a couple of years.  Things of interest: he said a well would find good water at about 400′ or so; his well driller stopped at about 100′ or so and the water was somewhat brackish with minerals. (Well drilling price is $32. /ft so that means about $12-13K). He warned that the pond develops a foul smell in the late fall, but that might be due to low 02; he said there might be some bluegill still in it. He was leaving Tuesday for Florida to visit his son and some other friends but would be back around the 4th of July.
Below is a view from the top of the rise under the power poles.
View from the top of the rise

Off the left edge, amongst the pallets and hay bales, is a decent flat spot that might be a good spot for the RV pad. I’m thinking the trailer will go along the road that goes to the left in front of my car. should have a good view of the pond. I also learned that I need to keep water in the car. After about 90 minutes walking around the property a combination of the altitude and low humidity meant I was parched.

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Start of a Trend

 Today was a busy day.  The furniture I ordered from Montana Woodworks arrived today. Since I tried to cheap out and ordered directly from the factory rather than through a furniture store it; came palletized and FedEx just dropped them off.

Partially Broken Down
One of the things I liked about the furniture is that it is made from real wood and has sturdy American craftmanship. One side effect I hadn’t really thought about is that it is incredibly heavy. Especially the 9 drawer dresser.
Dresser
I figured that this was well beyond my 150# folding dolly.  After noodling it for a few minutes I decided I needed an appliance dolly, designed for refrigerators, etc.
I made a quick run down to Home Depot only to discover that they didn’t rent anything. I could buy it for $110. + tax but that was it. So I decided to visit Menard’s which I had not visited before.

They had appliance dollies available for $8. for 4 hours.  I got it and ran home and it did the trick. Menard’s looks to be a fully stocked and larger than Home Depot. So that’s where I will be getting my hardware needs in the future.
I got all the furniture moved in, gathered up all the packing materials and pallets and dumped them in the dumpster. I managed to get the bed assembled, and I’ll save the dining table until tomorrow.
Bedroom Set
Tomorrow I’ll also buy some lampshades and assemble the dining table.
In other news, the land survey will happen next Monday. The realtor said there was no problem to accompany the surveyor, I’ll call him tomorrow to confirm. Once we close (still scheduled for mid-June) I need to get permission from the State Engineer to put a well in and then drill the well. The driller is confident we’ll get water (he’s done several wells in the area).  Once we have the well location, the next step is to site the septic tank (must be at least 100′ from the well head) and the drain field.  And lastly, I need to have several long discussions with the county permit office to get a feel for the different permits I will require to get started.

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Decisions, Decisions Part Two

 After sleeping on it and googling more on Mr Gore’s Interwebs and really thinking about what I really want to do I find I’m leaning towards the really cheap option – converting the shipping containers. 

One realization is that, assuming I can live in the trailer that is on site,  time is really not a driving factor. I can take my time and using what help is available and do the work slowly over time. 

Once upon a time, long time ago (circa 1980 or so) I took a welding course in Groton through a Navy/Community College program. I did mostly acetylene gas work, and just started up stick welding when I had to go back to sea. Ed & I re-wired our basement in Seattle in ’75-’76 (get me a couple of drinks and ask me about 08 Gauge wiring) and I had done electrical work in the Navy previously. Finally over the years as a homeowner I have done minor piping / plumbing / irrigation projects. I really don’t see anything in a Conex box conversion that is really beyond my capabilities or ability to learn.

Looking at the long term this is kind of what I envision happening.

1. Get through closing this summer and get a really good look at the land and decide what is going to go where. Touch base with the county and get familiar with County Codes & get an address. Determine the well siting and septic & drain fields. After septic tank is in, re-position the trailer and get the first section of solar panels sited.  Determine (in consultation with Jon & Cathy) where to put the RV parking slab and connect to water & septic system.  Finally, start planting trees.

2. Over the winter if not already decided, decide where I want the Conex boxes, and prepare mounting, slab or whatever.  If possible get all concrete work done at the same time. As soon as the Conex boxes are sited, start construction of shed roof  over them to reduce heat gain in summer months, provide shade for deck area, and allow rainwater collection as auxiliary water source. This will provide backup for well, or replace well, if water not found. Prepare cisterns & water storage. 

3. In Spring, if not before, move out of apartments and onto site, in the 5th wheel trailer, full time. Maybe look at building roof over the 5th wheel to make more comfortable year round.  Determine where and how to store existing furniture.  Maybe in a Conex box or more likely in a rental storage unit. Continue site preps, water collection, & storage, improve solar installation, plant more trees.  

4. Assuming I am comfortable in trailer with access to water, power, propane, etc, I can finish up site work before opening up the Conex Boxes. Once started, I can afford to spend the time to do them right rather than depending on them for living space from the start. 

The more I type this out, the more reasonable it seems. The goal is twofold; first to get an off grid, comfortable living space; second to give me a long term project that I can work on for at least the next ten years. I think it seems do-able. 

Comments welcome.