My brother and I are moving to the desert
— to the open desert — where we can walk right out the door and right into miles and miles of recreational public land.
Hiking, biking, camping, exploring — all the things we most enjoy, all a Frisbee toss from our doorstep.
We've been trying to make this move for a couple of years, but stuff keeps getting in the way. Early 2025 is our new target. And there's been a major change of plans…
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We were a couple of inches away from trying this in a trailer…
… but we kept bumping into reasons why we shouldn't. There's no question that a trailer or RV is the quickest way to get "out there", but for us, the better option is…
Sheds!
From a cost per sq ft standpoint, from an energy efficiency standpoint, and from a legal, permanent residency standpoint, converted sheds just make better sense.
If RV prices had fallen more after the Covid run-up, if RV park long term rental rates were more stable, and if the electricity needed to keep an RV cool in 115 degrees weren't quite so nuts, we might still be looking at RVs, but…
So now our goal is a cabin-shed, a solar-shed, a carport, and a suitable solar power system. And to make sure we stay within our limited budget, we've developed detailed plans and spreadsheets for everything.
We used a 3D modeling program to produce some renders of our plans and the layout, and you can look at them under the "Exterior" and the "Interior" headings of this site.
Or, you can watch our YouTube video below, or visit our YouTube channel.
As we move forward, we'll try to post some updates on our progress — let's see how close our real-world build can come to our plans!
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Dust, rock, scrub, and sky.
I think each of us has a spirit biome, a land-type to which we feel a deep, even spiritual, connection. Ours is the desert. The other six biomes can be beautiful and fascinating, but for us the desert holds a special magic.
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At dusk, camping in the Chihuahuan Desert, on my 70th birthday. We've primitive camped in all four North American deserts, and each one is magical.
We had intended to share this site only with friends, to let them know what we've been getting up to — sort of like an elaborate email message (Google Sites offers that option). But in the end it was just easier to go ahead and make it a public site. And there's always the possibility that some of this might be helpful to others with similar ambitions.
We'll try to update this site as things move along. We set up a Facebook page, and a YouTube channel — Our Desert Hideout — to track our progress.
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