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Living out of my Toyota Tacoma while traveling North America

Savage

Savage

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 12, 2008
468
207
It was suggested that I document my journey here as a few people are interested, @akash.nu especially.

So, here’s my story.


I medically retired from the Marine Corps, summer 2019. I was pretty depressed that I couldn’t continue my military career and didn’t want to find a 9-5 job and live a boring lifestyle.

I basically made an overnight decision to buy a camper for my truck that my wife, me, and our two dogs can live in while exploring the world.

In this thread, I’ll document some of it, although I won’t go into extreme detail here. If you want more info, try:

https://tacoma3g.com/ww/ — An extensive build thread of the truck and its specs, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/wanderingwinterfields — I will try to document the camper build and our journey in videos. I’m very new to filming and editing.

https://www.instagram.com/wanderingwinterfields/ — Additional photos


The Truck: 2017 Toyota Tacoma, bought new in Cali

1C094448-8236-457D-96A8-CBA29CDC5B87.jpeg

0BD95B57-E17E-4E55-B741-DEE4F013F1A4.jpeg



Our Old Tent: Smittybilt “Overlander” roof top tent. Lots of great memories in this and highly recommended.

BAD689DA-869B-4F30-A247-A6E87891E13B.jpeg

90AACA9D-1931-4678-99B6-E7379CE78B11.jpeg



The New Camper (our house): It’s called a Four Wheel Camper and we ordered it with a barebones interior so we can DIY-build it to suit our needs. It will have a sink, stove, fridge, furnace, solar power, tons of storage, etc.

9547B361-78CD-452E-B2DA-3A537F8D5E02.jpeg



The Gear We Carry: *I will update this part later when I have more time.


Photo and Video: Pretty much trying to run a full Apple setup. Replaced my iPhone X for the 11 Pro so I can use it as my primary camera and drop my DSLR completely. Wife has the iPhone X and just got the iPad Pro for editing and graphic design. I might drop my Razer Blade for a 2015 MBP. I have a few tripods, gimble, and I’ll get an external mic.


And finally, The Gang:

0E5F7897-2727-402B-AA06-D906C760A58A.jpeg



Thanks for reading about my shenanigans!
 
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Savage said:
It was suggested that I document my journey here as a few people are interested, @akash.nu especially.

Powered by Apple in the title is just to be silly, although it’s true.

So, here’s my story:

I got medically retired from the Marine Corps, summer 2019. I was stationed in California and my wife and I took a ~15 day road trip back to New York, hitting a lot of national parks and sleeping in a tent on our truck.

A month or so being back, I was pretty depressed that I couldn’t have a couldn’t continue my military career. I didn’t want to find a 9-5 job and live a boring lifestyle.

So, I basically made a leap of faith decision to buy a camper for my truck for my wife and I, and our French Bulldog and Pug, to live out while traveling the continent for multiple years.

This thread is to document some of it, although I won’t go into extreme detail here. If you want more info, try:

https://tacoma3g.com/ww/ — An extensive build thread of the truck and its specs, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/wanderingwinterfields — I will document the camper build and our journey in videos. I’m very new to filming and editing and only have two uploaded, but I have about four more coming.

https://www.instagram.com/wanderingwinterfields/ — Additional photos of the build and the two Cali to NY trips we have already done.

———

The truck: 2017 Toyota Tacoma, bought new in Cali. 45k miles currently. Expecting another 120k or more during road life.

View attachment 929706
View attachment 929710View attachment 929709

———

Our old tent: Smittybilt Overlander roof top tent. Lots of great memories in this and highly recommended.

View attachment 929707
View attachment 929708

———

The camper: It is called a Four Wheel Camper and we ordered in with a barebones interior so we can DIY it. It will have a sink, stove, fridge, furnace, solar power, and tons of storage.

View attachment 929711View attachment 929712

———

The gear we carry: *I will update this part later when I have more time.

———

Photo and video: Pretty much trying to run a full Apple setup. Replaced my iPhone X for the 11 Pro so I can use it as my primary camera and drop my DSLR completely. Wife has the iPhone X and just got the iPad Pro for editing and graphic design. I might drop my Razer Blade for a 2015 MBP. I have a few tripods, gimble, and I’ll get an external mic.

———

The gang:

View attachment 929714

———


Thanks for reading about my shenanigans!
Click to expand...
I recall your recent posts about what camera would be best for your adventure. I will be following your journey from my home in Finland. All the best, have fun and be safe!!!
 
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This is awesome. Thanks for taking up the challenge for documenting your journey. I tried this in the past and I know it’s not always possible to keep at it while you’re also moving from place to place and facing other real world challenges. I’ll keep following your journey mate. All the best. I hope you’re going to post on your Instagram as well.
 
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Its been something that I would like to do, but sadly, I have roots sunk too deeply, whether its because I have kids, and its too late for me to uproot them or because of my job that I need.

With that said, I have seen a number of YT videos of people doing this very thing, but were struggling due to the pandemic, i.e., lack of supplies, I know that has passed for the time being though

Good luck with your adventure, I am jealous ;)
 
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maflynn said:
Its been something that I would like to do, but sadly, I have roots sunk too deeply, whether its because I have kids, and its too late for me to uproot them or because of my job that I need.

With that said, I have seen a number of YT videos of people doing this very thing, but were struggling due to the pandemic, i.e., lack of supplies, I know that has passed for the time being though

Good luck with your adventure, I am jealous ;)
Click to expand...
Thank you. And it’s never too late. Maybe one day you will find your chance.
 
akash.nu said:
If only we were in the last ice age! That’d have been a piece of cake
Click to expand...
Yup!

Besides how hard it would be to drive a truck through that terrain (it has been done and I think it took a year or more), there are dangerous militias in there that can do whatever they want to you because they don’t have any government to stop them. No one wants to be in there.
 
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Savage said:
It was suggested that I document my journey here as a few people are interested, @akash.nu especially.

Powered by Apple in the title is just to be silly, although it’s true.

So, here’s my story:

I got medically retired from the Marine Corps, summer 2019. I was stationed in California and my wife and I took a ~15 day road trip back to New York, hitting a lot of national parks and sleeping in a tent on our truck.

A month or so being back, I was pretty depressed that I couldn’t continue my military career. I didn’t want to find a 9-5 job and live a boring lifestyle.

So, I basically made a leap of faith decision to buy a camper for my truck for my wife and I, and our French Bulldog and Pug, to live out while traveling the continent for multiple years.

This thread is to document some of it, although I won’t go into extreme detail here. If you want more info, try:

https://tacoma3g.com/ww/ — An extensive build thread of the truck and its specs, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/wanderingwinterfields — I will document the camper build and our journey in videos. I’m very new to filming and editing and only have two uploaded, but I have about four more coming.

https://www.instagram.com/wanderingwinterfields/ — Additional photos of the build and the two Cali to NY trips we have already done.

———

The truck: 2017 Toyota Tacoma, bought new in Cali. 45k miles currently. Expecting another 120k or more during road life.

View attachment 929706
View attachment 929710View attachment 929709

———

Our old tent: Smittybilt Overlander roof top tent. Lots of great memories in this and highly recommended.

View attachment 929707
View attachment 929708

———

The camper: It is called a Four Wheel Camper and we ordered in with a barebones interior so we can DIY it. It will have a sink, stove, fridge, furnace, solar power, and tons of storage.

View attachment 929711View attachment 929712

———

The gear we carry: *I will update this part later when I have more time.

———

Photo and video: Pretty much trying to run a full Apple setup. Replaced my iPhone X for the 11 Pro so I can use it as my primary camera and drop my DSLR completely. Wife has the iPhone X and just got the iPad Pro for editing and graphic design. I might drop my Razer Blade for a 2015 MBP. I have a few tripods, gimble, and I’ll get an external mic.

———

The gang:

View attachment 929714

———


Thanks for reading about my shenanigans!
Click to expand...
This sounds like a grand adventure, bravo! :D
  • Does your camper setup have the ability to plug in for AC? :)
  • If you don’t mind mentioning it, are you living on your military retirement, or are there other sources of income supporting this trip?
  • Do you have a firearm for protection? If I was making such a trip I would probably want one. If that is a yes, I wonder how that would work traveling in different countries as you head south?
  • How many years do you invision this trip lasting, and then what?
I knew of 3 pilots a couple of decades ago who, took a leave of absense from work, sold everything they owned, bought a sail boat and sailed the Pacific from West to East for a year. That impressed me too. :)
 
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Huntn said:
This sounds like a grand adventure, bravo! :D
  • Does your camper setup have the ability to plug in for AC? :)
  • If you don’t mind mentioning it, are you living on your military retirement, or are there other sources of income supporting this trip?
  • Do you have a firearm for protection? If I was making such a trip I would probably want one. If that is a yes, I wonder how that would work traveling in different countries as you head south?
  • How many years do you invision this trip lasting, and then what?
I knew of 3 pilots a couple of decades ago who, took a leave of absense from work, sold everything they owned, bought a sail boat and sailed the Pacific from West to East for a year. That impressed me too. :)
Click to expand...
Thank you. Answering this stuff will be fine.

—Yes, I have AC power. It works by: solar power to lithium batteries. Solar usually lasts for about 24 hours of constant use with no recharge (like bad weather). No solar power? The truck’s battery charged the accessory batteries. Afraid to kill your truck battery and get stranded? That can’t happen; there’s a failsafe for that.

—Military retirement will be my main source of income on the road. I get paid way more than enough to do this. I got lucky. I also get a lot of other perks, such as free access to any gym on any military base, and free access to all national parks, etc. I make some passive income from my Tacoma website, and I imagine I might from YouTube eventually, though those two sources are not important to me. Lastly, the cost of living like this is very cheap. I only have to pay for: the truck itself (camper is paid off), gas for the truck, food, our phones, and our healthcare plans for our two dogs. There will obviously be more spending, but this is still much cheaper than living with a mortgage.

—For one, you can’t bring a firearm into Mexico. And generally speaking, it’s known to be a very bad idea in South America. We won’t carry in North America either, for reasons we don’t need to get into in this thread. Our biggest concern however, are the bears and our dogs. But we know everything we can know about how to be as safe as possible with the wild animals.

—My guess for this continent is about 3 years. If all goes well, we are interested in taking it overseas. Africa and Australia come to mind.
 
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Savage said:
Thank you. Answering this stuff will be fine.

—Yes, I have AC power. It works by: solar power to lithium batteries. Solar usually lasts for about 24 hours of constant use with no recharge (like bad weather). No solar power? The truck’s battery charged the accessory batteries. Afraid to kill your truck battery and get stranded? That can’t happen; there’s a failsafe for that.

—Military retirement will be my main source of income on the road. I get paid way more than enough to do this. I got lucky. I also get a lot of other perks, such as free access to any gym on any military base, and free access to all national parks, etc. I make some passive income from my Tacoma website, and I imagine I might from YouTube eventually, though those two sources are not important to me. Lastly, the cost of living like this is very cheap. I only have to pay for: the truck itself (camper is paid off), gas for the truck, food, our phones, and our healthcare plans for our two dogs. There will obviously be more spending, but this is still much cheaper than living with a mortgage.

—For one, you can’t bring a firearm into Mexico. And generally speaking, it’s known to be a very bad idea in South America. We won’t carry in North America either, for reasons we don’t need to get into in this thread. Our biggest concern however, are the bears and our dogs. But we know everything we can know about how to be as safe as possible with the wild animals.

—My guess for this continent is about 3 years. If all goes well, we are interested in taking it overseas. Africa and Australia come to mind.
Click to expand...
I meant air conditioning. :D
Bear spray! 😬
 
I really wanted to put myself back into the Apple ecosystem. I recently moved from a DSLR to the iPhone 11 Pro as my primary camera for my travels. Yesterday, after some hesitation, I decided to replace my Razer Blade 15 with the 2020 MBP 13", 4 Thunderbolt model. Questionable choice aside, I'm so excited to finally be back on macOS. I've always hated Windows but I used to have reasons why I needed it.

I'm excited to set my new workflow up between the phone and laptop. iCloud makes this whole thing sooo much more efficient.

Otherwise, I've been pretty busy. Haven't had time to add to this thread yet, been working on the Tacoma but haven't had time to get any new videos out. Hell, I haven't even had a chance to really set the new Mac up yet.

1594307730391.jpeg
 
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Enjoy your adventure. After Viet Nam, I worked extensively throughout Central and South America; loved the people and wildlife, and fishing. Hopefully, you have taken fish gear. You have to try the peacock bass fishing.

As a retired Veteran, you hang in there, no Veteran is ever alone, remember that.
 
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