Establishing Off-Grid Power at Siltcoos

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April 7, 2025 rswfire PUBLISHED

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elevated and precise — celebratory under load

Journey Phase

adapting; systems coming online

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toward off-grid self-generated power and material autonomy

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Transcript

[0:00] We are back. I just got back from

[0:04] getting water and

[0:05] propane in town and at the local state

[0:09] park. We are now entering the Silt

[0:13] Cous National Recreation Area where I'm

[0:18] camping. While I was putting water in my

[0:20] tanks, I compiled all my clips into a

[0:23] video and it was nearly an hour long.

[0:24] So, I'm going

[0:26] to upload that as part one, and there

[0:28] will be a part two with the rest of my

[0:30] day

[0:33] later. So, I'm pretty happy with the

[0:37] outcome of today, this

[0:39] morning. I feel

[0:42] like like I'm making progress here. So,

[0:45] I have water. I have propane. I can keep

[0:48] my house batteries going with my

[0:50] inverter and my Jeep, which gives me hot

[0:53] water, which gives me a shower, which

[0:56] gives me a

[0:57] fridge, lights, heat.

[1:01] So, I just got to conserve them as much

[1:04] as possible.

[1:07] and, you know, do the math, figure

[1:10] out how long can I

[1:14] um conserve my water, how long can I

[1:17] conserve my propane, how much fuel am I

[1:20] going to use in my Jeep to keep my house

[1:22] batteries charged and my devices

[1:24] charged, all of that. So, learning

[1:27] process while we're off grid here. It's

[1:29] the campground I'm staying at. There's

[1:31] no water or power. It's the cheapest

[1:33] option I could find. And I feel very

[1:35] fortunate because it's right on the

[1:37] coast. The beach is less than a mile

[1:39] away. And we'll walk down there later

[1:42] today. If it's not um the weather, if

[1:44] the weather permits, it's been very

[1:45] rainy, stormy, windy day. So, um after I

[1:50] get everything else done that I need to,

[1:51] I might try to walk down to the beach,

[1:54] look at the ocean. That's my favorite

[1:56] thing in the world to do now. Love that

[2:00] ocean. Looks like the sun might be

[2:02] coming out.

[2:05] I got to park this thing in a very at a

[2:07] very bad angle.

[2:09] So, I'm going to do that and then I'll

[2:12] be back. I guess I can try to take you

[2:14] with

[2:16] me. It's not far down here. We'll see my

[2:19] Jeep on the

[2:21] way. That's always

[2:23] fun seeing my

[2:28] Jeep. Those are the volunteer hosts

[2:31] here. Nice couple.

[2:34] take good care of the

[2:38] place. I turn this wipers

[2:43] off. There's my

[2:45] Jeep. So

[2:48] pretty. My sight's right up here. I

[2:51] didn't realize the angle of this

[2:53] particular campsite. And it is

[2:56] backwards.

[2:57] So, this part's going to be a little bit

[3:00] hard. I did it last time.

[3:03] Do it again. Right there. Well,

[3:05] no. Right there. 13. It's pointing that

[3:09] way. Like you would just pull straight

[3:11] in. You know, you don't do that in an

[3:12] RV.

[3:15] So, there's no way for me to show you

[3:17] this part cuz I got to

[3:19] focus. I'm going to be honest. I did

[3:21] that like a pro. So, this is where we

[3:23] are. And I just got to back up some

[3:25] more. Maybe you can see in the mirror a

[3:28] little bit. Did this like a pro.

[3:31] get really good at

[3:33] this. If I turn There's one problem I

[3:36] have that I really would like to figure

[3:38] out. When my headlights are on, which is

[3:40] all the time when you drive an RV, you

[3:42] can barely see the screen. I turn them

[3:44] off. They'll get brighter. Now I can

[3:48] see. So, I'm just pulling

[3:51] back. This is a very level site. It's

[3:54] one thing I liked about this site. Very

[3:56] level.

[4:03] Okay. A little bit more. Maybe right

[4:06] here. We'll go check

[4:12] it. See how we're

[4:15] doing. My slide is broken, so I don't

[4:17] need to worry about

[4:21] that. I am a pro at this. You see

[4:24] that? That's pretty level.

[4:31] nice and level. Back in our spot. We're

[4:34] here for another week. We're here until

[4:37] uh I think Saturday the 12th, hopefully

[4:39] longer. Um but I'm out of money, so

[4:42] unless my my viewers, my community can

[4:45] help me. I don't know what I'm going to

[4:46] do. Um today we're going to try to look

[4:49] for work on guru.com. I'm a freelance

[4:51] programmer, but I haven't been doing

[4:53] that for um for over a year now. I lived

[4:56] on my savings and I tried a bunch of

[4:59] different things before returning to

[5:00] this. Um, I had some things happen to me

[5:03] that were

[5:04] unexpected and really threw my life off.

[5:07] So, um, I'm not doing this under the

[5:09] best

[5:11] circumstances. Just doing my best.

[5:14] So, going to go get my tea cuz we were

[5:17] definitely This is a good spot where

[5:21] um, we're parked. I'm so happy. Oh man,

[5:26] I'm doing

[5:28] it.

[5:29] So, oh, forgot to put the window out.

[5:33] Oh, it's always something. It's always

[5:36] something. You know, I did that my first

[5:39] day. So, I started this adventure of

[5:41] mine on April 11th, my

[5:43] birthday, which is Friday. So, one year

[5:46] almost. And on that day, I went to a

[5:48] campground in Kentucky. And I for and I

[5:51] put the window down to talk to the um to

[5:53] one of the rangers who was checking me

[5:55] in and I forgot about it and I went and

[5:57] parked my sight. I had two cats with me

[5:59] at the time, my cats

[6:02] and of course they got out that window

[6:05] and I had to go drag them down on the

[6:06] campground. So that was absolutely

[6:09] terrifying.

[6:10] So I don't have my cats anymore. One of

[6:13] them is with my mom. And the other one,

[6:14] unfortunately, I had to give to a animal

[6:17] rescue cuz it just wasn't working in

[6:19] here. Um, I tried and I tried. I loved

[6:22] this cat to death. I had him for 10

[6:23] years. His mom abandoned him was a day

[6:25] old. So, I raised him from birth. Fed

[6:28] him with a

[6:30] syringe. Um, flew through a

[6:33] syringe and you had him for 10 years.

[6:36] That meant the world to me. It's

[6:38] heartbreaking. And I did that back in

[6:40] December. I think about him almost every

[6:42] day.

[6:44] hope that he's doing

[6:46] well. So, my house batteries are

[6:49] probably pretty low because they've been

[6:51] I've been off grid for like four, five

[6:53] days. Um they would have been charging

[6:56] while I was

[6:57] driving. Um we could check the um the

[7:01] display panel, but it's not going to be

[7:03] accurate because when you're charging

[7:06] batteries, it um will show that it's

[7:08] higher for a little while until it

[7:10] stabilizes or whatever. Cuz yeah, it

[7:12] says 12.2. 29 right now and that's not

[7:15] going to be accurate. Um, but we're

[7:17] going to charge them with my inverter

[7:19] using my

[7:20] Jeep. If I can't, there's one issue that

[7:23] I might have and it has to do with um my

[7:26] uh my surge protector that's um

[7:28] integrated into my RV. I that was

[7:30] something I had installed back in

[7:32] Kentucky 6 months

[7:33] ago. And it won't let you charge um

[7:38] won't let you plug anything in if it's

[7:39] not grounded.

[7:41] So, oh my um storage space open while

[7:45] driving. Okay, that's that's bad. I

[7:48] should have locked that. That's on

[7:49] me. Um, normally I do check those

[7:53] things. That's a lesson right there. Um,

[7:56] let's go get my

[7:59] Jeep. So, what was I talking about? I

[8:02] just completely lost my train of thought

[8:05] there. Um, talking about my cats

[8:10] um charging. So, Oh, yeah. Okay. So,

[8:14] um I have a plug somewhere that's

[8:17] supposed to

[8:20] um fake having a grounded plug. You plug

[8:24] that in and then you plug a plug into

[8:26] that plug. And I just I need to find it.

[8:28] It's got I got to have it somewhere. I

[8:31] think that's what I'm going to have to

[8:32] do if I want to be able to charge my RV

[8:34] from my Jeep.

[8:36] So you would hook up the 30 amp to

[8:42] um forget what they call those

[8:45] things. You plug that into another plug

[8:48] that turns it into a 110 volt I think it

[8:51] is. And you know a normal size plug

[8:54] three and then I can plug that into my

[8:57] inverter. So you know we're going to we

[8:59] got a lot to try today. So I'm just

[9:02] rambling. I'll stop now. There's lots

[9:03] more to come.

[9:05] I'm back with my Jeep. My favorite thing

[9:08] in the

[9:10] world. Got a little bit of room here.

[9:12] I'm going to put the inverter up to that

[9:14] hood. Under that

[9:15] hood. Put the inverter

[9:19] there. I got a lot to do. So, there was

[9:22] somebody over there for several days in

[9:23] a

[9:24] tent and they're gone now.

[9:28] I

[9:30] waited to see if they were coming back

[9:32] or not. But I mean, they they left their

[9:34] tent and everything. So, they're

[9:35] probably not coming back. I think I'm

[9:37] just going to take the firewood they

[9:38] left

[9:42] behind. I've seen other people do it.

[9:45] Yeah, that could be useful.

[9:48] So, got to wait a little while longer.

[9:51] You'll still feel a little weird about

[9:53] it. I've got some very good

[9:55] news. Uh, my phone battery is very low,

[9:58] so I won't be able to show much. But I'm

[10:00] just going to quickly walk you through

[10:01] this because I'm so [ __ ] happy about

[10:03] this. My space is very messy,

[10:05] disorganized, chaotic. Try to just meet

[10:08] me where I am. Don't judge. I will get

[10:10] things organized and clean when I can.

[10:12] So, my inverter's hooked up through my

[10:14] Jeep out there. You can see the Jeep

[10:15] through here. Maybe I can just stay

[10:17] plugged in. So, my Jeep's there. It's

[10:19] hooked up to my inverter, which is

[10:20] underneath that tarp. It's running to

[10:23] the extension cord which is powering

[10:25] this

[10:26] um you know whatever that's called. I

[10:29] don't know it's called the multiple

[10:30] plugs. Got my Starlink hooked up. You

[10:33] know my internet which is running out

[10:37] there and I'm charging all of my power

[10:40] banks. Got two of

[10:42] them. And this green one here is plugged

[10:45] into my RV outside. Comes in here. It's

[10:48] plugged in and it is charging. And I

[10:50] know that because I could see the volts,

[10:52] 13.04 volts, and the microwave is

[10:55] on. It wouldn't work because I tried

[10:57] this once before and I was getting a

[10:59] ground fault and it wasn't letting it

[11:00] charge at all. My um surge protector

[11:03] wasn't, but it's working. So, um God,

[11:06] I'm so [ __ ] happy about this. This is

[11:08] this is a workable

[11:10] solution. So, my microwave's working,

[11:12] but this probably it would probably blow

[11:14] if I tried to actually use it. I tried

[11:17] to turn on the electric water heater and

[11:19] the water pump at the same time and that

[11:21] triggered my surge protector. I had to

[11:24] reset it and now I just have the water

[11:26] pump on without the water heater and it

[11:28] seems stable while it's

[11:31] charging. I can use a gas water heater,

[11:33] but that uses my propane. I'm going to

[11:36] want to be real conservative about that.

[11:38] I'm going to want to just turn that on

[11:39] when I need hot water.

[11:42] So

[11:45] yeah, this is wonderful. It's in my

[11:48] situation now. Much better. Alexa, stop.

[11:52] I was loving my music. That thing will

[11:54] only work if I've got it hooked up to

[11:58] something. I understand what happened.

[12:00] So when I blew the fuse, that shouldn't

[12:03] have turned the satellite

[12:06] off.

[12:09] H I don't know. My Alexa should be

[12:11] working. I'll figure it out. I've got

[12:14] running

[12:15] water and working

[12:18] plugs, which means I can use this coffee

[12:20] maker. It draws a lot of power because

[12:22] that thing would um trigger the power

[12:27] thing on, you know, stool at at

[12:29] campgrounds.

[12:30] So, put some water in here, then turn

[12:32] the water pump off, then try to make

[12:34] some coffee. Hope it works. If it

[12:36] doesn't, I can plug that thing into, you

[12:39] know, directly into the inverter, the

[12:40] plug down

[12:41] there. And wow, this is so cool. Oh my

[12:46] god, I'm so happy right now. It should

[12:50] be pretty clean water. You saw me put it

[12:52] in my tanks. I cleaned my tanks. I'm

[12:55] very good at that. That's one of the

[12:57] things that I learned on my journey.

[12:59] Very proud

[13:01] of.

[13:03] So, let's put some water in here.

[13:08] I'm doing this.

[13:10] This is everything to

[13:15] me. Wish I had my solar equipment

[13:19] still. But this is a workable solution.

[13:22] I am not

[13:23] complaining. Just thinking about the

[13:26] future. And now we do this. Hold on. All

[13:29] right. I just I had to empty the coffee

[13:31] thing, the filter thing. I'm going to

[13:34] turn this water pump off cuz I'm being

[13:37] real conservative here

[13:39] hopeful. Get some coffee in here. We'll

[13:41] start it and see how that

[13:43] goes. Okay, moment of truth. Got some

[13:46] coffee here. See if it my surge

[13:49] protector

[13:50] complains. You'd be surprised how much

[13:52] this little coffee maker, how much power

[13:54] it actually uses. It's remarkable to

[13:58] me. If it hasn't gone off yet, it's

[14:00] probably not going to. If it does, we're

[14:02] just going to plug it into that. Let it

[14:05] draw from the Jeep out

[14:07] there. I think we're

[14:09] good. Yep, I hear

[14:11] it. Yes. This is so [ __ ]

[14:15] awesome. Sovereign living, [ __ ]

[14:18] autonomy, generating my own power,

[14:21] making coffee from it. This is [ __ ]

[14:23] wonderful. Listening to my music in my

[14:26] home that I can drive anywhere I want

[14:29] to. This is the life. We've got coffee

[14:33] generated from my own resources. I am so

[14:36] so happy about

[14:46] this. There's still a bunch to deal. Do

[14:48] my dishes. Obviously, you probably saw

[14:50] that. Don't have very many. It's always

[14:53] silverware. Um I need to take a shower.

[14:58] desperately tried finding one in town,

[15:00] but that didn't work out. So, we're

[15:01] going to use my shower from now on.

[15:03] They're going to be very quick showers.

[15:05] Going to have to get used to that and

[15:07] adapt because I try to take really good

[15:09] care of myself

[15:11] and washing my hair, conditioning it,

[15:14] that that takes a lot of water. So, I

[15:16] just I don't know a good way to do it.

[15:18] But, um I'll adapt, you know, I'll

[15:21] iterate every day. I will iterate my

[15:24] process.

[15:27] Need to do some cleaning in here. It is

[15:30] messy. Um because I'm living

[15:33] differently. You know, before that was

[15:35] my charging station up there. I can't

[15:39] use that now cuz I don't have um stable

[15:41] power. I'm, you know, I'm generating

[15:43] power from my Jeep through my inverter.

[15:46] If I tried to charge things from that,

[15:47] it would definitely blow my my surge

[15:49] protector.

[15:52] Um, so now I charge everything from

[15:55] this. So I'm just going to want to get

[15:56] this organized in a in a way that makes

[15:58] sense for me. I won't be able to use my

[16:00] desktop computer. Needs so much power.

[16:03] But I have my

[16:04] laptop. Um, I'm going to start looking

[16:07] for work

[16:09] today and I'll start to learn just how

[16:13] long I can use my laptop before its

[16:15] battery dies. I've had that laptop for

[16:19] probably two years now and it was always

[16:21] plugged in and that does tend to kill

[16:23] batteries. So, I just don't expect it to

[16:26] work very well. Um, but we'll find

[16:29] out. And, you know, I've got some things

[16:32] like on my Amazon wish list, I found a

[16:34] power bank that you that has AC outlets

[16:36] on it. Like I could do that with my

[16:39] laptop. If somebody could get that for

[16:41] me, that'd be great. If they can't, then

[16:42] eventually I will buy it. You know,

[16:44] that's everything on that list is

[16:45] something I'm going to buy one day. So,

[16:49] um I'm trying to find the lid to my

[16:51] sugar, but I don't know what happened to

[16:53] it. Where did you go? This is such a

[16:56] small space. How does this always happen

[16:57] to me? Ah, there it

[16:59] is.

[17:01] Okay, let's try my

[17:06] coffee. Oh my god, that's [ __ ]

[17:08] wonderful. It is wonderful.

[17:11] Got some puli incense going. My favorite

[17:16] since I was a

[17:17] teenager. Got that on Amazon once upon a

[17:21] time. Smells so

[17:24] nice. Put it in that jar because I don't

[17:26] have um there's a little thing it's

[17:28] supposed to go in. It's in here

[17:29] somewhere. I'll find it.

[17:33] So, I was

[17:35] thinking since I can use my RV systems,

[17:39] I should get the stabilizers down

[17:41] because the wind is very strong. I might

[17:43] even have to bring the awning in, but

[17:44] I'm trying to be a little bit trusting

[17:46] with it cuz it feels

[17:48] like it's

[17:50] um I think it can handle it. Probably

[17:54] stupid of me, but really want my awning

[17:57] out. What's the point of an awning if

[17:58] you can't ever use it? I should get my

[18:00] stabilizers down. See, here goes my

[18:03] door. But it still looks

[18:05] terrible.

[18:08] Um, you know, cuz I can use those

[18:10] systems. So, I don't know if I don't

[18:13] have my keys on me. Okay. It's funny. I

[18:15] was just looking at my Jeep to see how

[18:17] it's doing, and the display says key fob

[18:20] has left the vehicle. And I thought key

[18:21] fob has left the building. I thought it

[18:23] was

[18:24] funny.

[18:26] Okay, so yeah, let's put my stabilizers

[18:29] down.

[18:35] bring this stuff out

[18:40] finally. I didn't do that for the first

[18:42] week I was here because it just seems

[18:43] kind of pointless. But let's let's be

[18:45] proper about

[18:47] this part cuz I just put it on this one

[18:50] tire both sides of it and we're good to

[18:53] go. Right. That's all you got to do. I

[18:56] don't bother to balance this thing up

[18:59] and level it. It's just too much work.

[19:01] It's not worth it to me. But we don't

[19:03] need to. It's a very level spot. We'll

[19:07] use these with the

[19:09] stabilizers. So, here we

[19:16] go. Life is

[19:19] good. Okay.

[19:25] It's a lot harder to do this when one of

[19:27] your hand has a camera in

[19:29] it. Put these

[19:35] here. See,

[19:37] generally powering up my

[19:40] RV. I love that so

[19:43] much.

[19:45] Okay, let's get these stabilizers

[19:48] down. Got a nice space here.

[19:54] Okay. Oh, I hope this isn't low fuse or

[19:56] something. I mean, it shouldn't,

[19:58] right? So, I take them down, bring them

[20:01] up a little

[20:02] bit, you know, once you hear it. Feel

[20:06] it. Put them up a little bit. Oops, that

[20:08] was too much. That way we can center

[20:11] these better. Just want to center them

[20:13] real nice.

[20:18] Guess I'm a perfectionist about some

[20:22] things. I think these

[20:30] nice.

[20:33] Okay. These used to blow the fuse that's

[20:36] in this thing, but that hasn't happened

[20:38] quite a

[20:39] while. And you know, I probably

[20:41] shouldn't say that cuz I know it'll

[20:42] probably happen. Actually, I'm not

[20:44] really that

[20:45] um superstitious. There we

[20:48] go. I think they finally just got

[20:50] unstuck. This one used to get stuck.

[20:53] Very nice. So, that's one more task

[20:55] taken care of. Got to take my trash down

[20:58] to the dumpster. That's why it's out

[21:00] here. It's much more full than normally

[21:03] I would

[21:04] um have my

[21:06] trash. Going to take my trash out every

[21:10] day. But this was an adaptation and

[21:13] going off grid like

[21:14] this. It's so much going on. Like I

[21:18] just needed time to

[21:22] um what's the word for this one? It's

[21:23] not integrate. It's different.

[21:26] Um had to sit with it. There's a word

[21:30] for that. Maybe it'll come to me later.

[21:32] So, that's a little unfortunate. It's

[21:33] going to take 3 hours to charge this

[21:35] power

[21:35] bank with 45 watt

[21:39] input. That's too long. It's going to

[21:41] take all my fueling, you

[21:43] know. Wasn't even at zero.

[21:48] So,

[21:50] man, I will adapt. Well, if I think

[21:53] about it, that was after and I've been

[21:56] here almost a week. I've been here like

[21:57] 5 days and I haven't charged it once.

[21:59] So, um, if I'm using this every day, if

[22:03] I'm doing this every day or every other

[22:05] day even, hopefully every other day to

[22:08] charge my RV, my,

[22:11] um, my devices and things won't be

[22:14] nearly as bad. This is because I

[22:17] depleted everything quite a lot. So,

[22:19] we're going to let it run. Oh, yeah.

[22:22] Can't forget my tablet. That's my

[22:24] television. I don't watch it very often,

[22:26] but that's what it is. Velcro on there.

[22:30] need to be charging this too. Whatever.

[22:33] Got my laptop charging, my tablet

[22:35] charging, my power bank charging. I just

[22:38] charged the other one. It's already at

[22:40] 52%. Plan with that was always to have

[22:44] like Velcro in a couple spots so I could

[22:45] just move it where I needed it. And to

[22:48] run a Plex server on my desktop that had

[22:51] my movies and things on it that I could

[22:53] just stream to the tablet. That was

[22:54] always the plan. Never really finished

[22:57] that.

[22:58] Now I can't use a desktop. I can use my

[23:00] laptop. I can still do that if I wanted

[23:03] to. But it's all about power. I think I

[23:06] would probably I would need solar at

[23:07] that point to be able to do that now. I

[23:09] would need

[23:10] solar. So in the future, you know, I've

[23:14] been chilling in short for days

[23:18] now. I didn't wear shorts for the first

[23:20] six months here. And I had to do my

[23:23] laundry on Sunday. So I put some shorts

[23:26] on so I could wash all my jeans.

[23:28] been wearing shorts ever

[23:30] since. It's actually very tolerable on

[23:32] the

[23:42] coast. I don't suppress anything. I

[23:44] don't suppress the challenges. I don't

[23:46] suppress the

[23:47] joy. I think a lot of people miss that.

[23:50] They see me reacting to challenges and

[23:52] think I'm complaining

[23:56] or

[23:59] downplaying the sacredness of my journey

[24:02] and it is the

[24:04] opposite. It is the

[24:07] opposite. You know, when I really stop

[24:09] to think about that, what it is is I

[24:11] live at full

[24:12] signal. Most people don't

[24:15] anymore. I live at full signal and

[24:18] that's what I share with you.

[24:22] I'm reminding you. I'm giving you

[24:23] permission that you can

[24:26] too. I don't suppress

[24:30] anything. Why should

[24:33] I?

[24:36] Why? If I feel it, I acknowledge it. I

[24:39] don't

[24:42] compartmentalize. It's probably why.

[24:44] Because I'm not suppressing. I'm not

[24:49] I feel it. I acknowledge

[24:51] it. I let it be what it

[24:54] is. I try to understand it because

[24:56] emotions are data. I don't understand

[24:59] this world where we treat emotions like

[25:02] they're some side effect or or

[25:05] deficiency or disorder in the human

[25:07] body. That's your body telling you

[25:11] something and you're not listening to

[25:13] it. How does that make any sense?

[25:17] I will never understand

[25:21] it. My emotions make my life so much

[25:24] bigger and greater at

[25:28] hands. It adds

[25:30] depth,

[25:40] complexity. If you compartmentalize your

[25:42] emotions, you are missing out.

[25:46] This world told you that you should.

[25:48] It's not all your

[25:51] fault. I'm telling you, you don't have

[25:53] to, though. You're making a

[25:59] choice. All my life I embraced my

[26:02] emotions and I integrated them.

[26:05] emotional,

[26:08] sematic,

[26:10] ethical,

[26:13] intellectual,

[26:15] bodily, all of it. One field. One

[26:21] field.

[26:22] Integration. That's what this world

[26:25] needs. The opposite. Disintegration.

[26:28] That's what we're doing to ourselves.

[26:34] The world's wisdom is

[26:37] [ __ ] And everybody bought into

[26:42] it. I'm the [ __ ]

[26:46] answer. Yes, I know that you think that

[26:48] that's arrogant of me to

[26:51] say. You can frame it however you want

[26:53] to. I'm just acknowledging reality and

[26:57] embracing myself. I love myself. How

[27:01] many people can truly say that and mean

[27:02] it? I [ __ ] love

[27:05] myself. It doesn't matter if nobody else

[27:07] sees it. I see

[27:10] it. So, I'm just sitting

[27:12] here philosophizing while I wait for

[27:15] part one of my video to upload. It's

[27:18] taking a long time even with my

[27:20] Starlink. Once that's done, I have some

[27:23] other plans. So, just waiting for that

[27:25] to get done. And I'm just sitting here

[27:27] sharing my thoughts in real time.

[27:30] Still waiting for my video to upload.

[27:31] I've always have this problem where it

[27:32] gets to the very end and then it starts

[27:34] over with Starlink. I've always had this

[27:37] problem since I've been on the road. Um,

[27:39] so it's 62° in here, which is not bad.

[27:42] Very survivable. But if I'm going to be

[27:45] running my my inverter using my Jeep's

[27:49] fuel, maybe I can bring my electric

[27:53] heater out. Oh, I'm going to need the

[27:55] keys.

[28:00] I can find them. You know what? I bet

[28:02] they're mic. Um,

[28:05] anyways, maybe I can use my electric

[28:08] heater for a little while just to heat

[28:09] it up a little bit in here. This place

[28:12] doesn't retain anything. No heat or

[28:15] anything. The, you know, the

[28:16] environment. Um, my slide's broken and

[28:18] it's taped up with

[28:22] um waterproof boat tape basically.

[28:27] I'll show you

[28:30] here. That was my solution. I feel like,

[28:34] you know, a lot of the heat and stuff

[28:38] gets drained from there. I don't know,

[28:40] underneath the side and stuff or that's

[28:44] just how it is because it's not a very

[28:45] insulated place space. So,

[28:49] um I used to have this thing running all

[28:52] the time when I was on a campground with

[28:54] power.

[28:56] I do have my heater inside that runs on

[28:59] propane, but I want to save that as much

[29:00] as I possibly

[29:03] can. And so I'm going to try to use this

[29:05] thing. I don't know if it'll work

[29:08] because, you know, it's a lot of

[29:10] power. But this is the inverter. It's

[29:13] not the RV. The RV would probably

[29:15] complain. If I try to use this thing and

[29:17] my coffee maker at the same time, my

[29:20] surge protector would complain.

[29:23] So, let's find out if we can do it

[29:26] through the

[29:30] inverter. I don't

[29:33] see. Oh, there it

[29:35] is.

[29:38] Yay. So, we got heat going

[29:41] now. Happy about that. Waiting for my

[29:44] video to upload cuz I don't want my um

[29:46] satellite to restart. I want to plug

[29:48] this in.

[29:52] Okay. Didn't like that. That's the

[29:55] inverter outside making noise.

[29:59] Oh, I can try to put it on low, though.

[30:01] I kind of thought maybe this might

[30:02] happen. Okay, it turned back

[30:05] on. Okay, I think it restarted itself.

[30:09] Okay, it did. All right, let's try to

[30:11] put it on low this

[30:14] time. See if we can get away with it.

[30:16] Some heat. Can we get some heat in

[30:21] here? Anyways, I'm going to plug this in

[30:25] to the

[30:26] um extension cord and then plug that

[30:31] thing that's got all the plugs in it to

[30:33] this. Let me use the heater. Anyways,

[30:36] I'm going to plug it into

[30:38] this. Just turn this off cuz it's

[30:43] complaining. It really didn't like that.

[30:47] Oh, well this will tell us how much

[30:49] power we're using, how much power is

[30:51] coming into this thing.

[30:55] Um, I was going to say I don't, you

[30:58] know,

[30:59] like it probably work if I didn't have

[31:01] my RV plugged into this thing cuz, you

[31:02] know, that's drawing a lot of power. Or

[31:04] I could plug this into the

[31:06] RV. Um, you know, but obviously I'm

[31:09] trying to charge those

[31:11] batteries. Guess it's not that

[31:13] important. It was worth trying.

[31:18] I'm almost sure this would kill the

[31:19] surge

[31:22] protector. Why did my Alexa

[31:25] stop? That's not

[31:29] good. My phone will tell

[31:32] me. A somebody just sent me $20. It

[31:36] says, "Saw your video. Good luck from

[31:37] Canada." Thank

[31:39] you, Michael. I'm just going to say your

[31:41] first name, Michael. Thank you so much.

[31:43] Really appreciate that.

[31:48] Um, I don't know why my Alexa stopped.

[31:51] Sorry. I I know I'm doing this on camera

[31:53] with you. This is almost done. It It

[31:56] says four out of five gigabytes. That's

[31:58] how much my first video

[31:59] is.

[32:01] Um, going to try to put this on low

[32:03] hooked up to the RV cuz that's drawing

[32:06] power from the RV and the RV is drawing

[32:07] power from the inverter. So, it's just

[32:09] going to take some of the charge that,

[32:11] you know, would go into the batteries.

[32:13] I pro I can probably get away with that

[32:15] cuz you know they've been charging for a

[32:16] couple hours

[32:17] now. This won't tell me

[32:21] much because it's charging. It says

[32:23] 13.21

[32:25] volts. Oh, it doesn't like that either.

[32:28] Okay. So, it's drawing more power. I

[32:30] turned it off. It's drawing more

[32:33] power if I use more power. So, that's

[32:37] interesting. That makes sense. So,

[32:39] doesn't it? I guess that makes sense.

[32:41] Um, I just assume maybe a certain amount

[32:43] of power came into the RV and then the

[32:45] RV could distribute it is what I was

[32:47] thinking. But I guess it doesn't work

[32:48] that way. Now we know. Okay. Can't use

[32:51] the electric heater. My friend Yan

[32:53] though, actually, now I'm thinking about

[32:54] it, he has um he has a heater that's

[32:58] very similar to mine, but it runs on

[33:00] like some kind of oil or something. Um,

[33:02] and I guess it's a low power type deal.

[33:05] It heats slower, but it doesn't it works

[33:08] differently. And they're not very

[33:10] expensive. There's some on Amazon. I

[33:12] need to add one of those to my wish

[33:14] list. I'll get that one day. I'll ask

[33:16] him what it's called cuz I don't

[33:17] remember. But if you really suggested I

[33:20] do that and now it makes some sense,

[33:22] especially if it's low power. I'll check

[33:24] on the wattage and all that kind of

[33:26] stuff. So, this goes into storage for

[33:28] now in my storage bay. I

[33:32] tried. That's so cool though. So, the

[33:35] inverter it's like you're trying to drop

[33:37] too much power for

[33:39] me.

[33:41] Um, I mean, I wonder if like well, you

[33:44] know, cuz I'm I'm idling like maybe you

[33:46] generate more power if you're like if

[33:49] you're driving, which obviously I can't,

[33:50] but or you know, you're just revving the

[33:52] engine or whatever, but you can't just

[33:54] sit there revving your engine. So,

[33:55] that's not a solution. I'm just working

[33:58] out the science here. So, once my video

[34:00] gets uploaded, um I'm going to plug that

[34:03] thing in so we can find out how much

[34:05] power is coming through it because this

[34:06] is a 200 watt inverter. Doesn't mean

[34:09] that I'm getting that much. I have no

[34:10] idea. So, and then once that's done, I'm

[34:14] going to start uploading this video

[34:16] because I need to turn my Jeep off. It's

[34:18] been on for hours. Then I'm going to

[34:20] start looking for work on guru.com.

[34:22] That's that's the rest of my day. I What

[34:24] time is it? It's 1:30. Finally, my video

[34:28] got uploaded. So, we can try this and

[34:30] seeing how much power I'm using for my

[34:33] inverter. Then I got to get that thing

[34:34] turned off cuz I've been running it for

[34:37] hours. So, we're just going to plug it

[34:39] into this and that's going to tell us

[34:41] everything. Okay, let's find

[34:44] out. Get this plugged

[34:48] in. Okay, that's the RV turning

[34:54] on. Okay, so we're using 300 watts. The

[34:58] satellite will power on. My laptop's

[35:01] charging. My power banks are charging.

[35:03] The RV is plugged

[35:06] in. Um I don't know. Yeah, I thought it

[35:08] might spike.

[35:10] Okay, so 600.

[35:19] I would think the RV would want to use

[35:21] lots of power. So just wait and see.

[35:25] Feel like this guy keep going up.

[35:33] Okay.

[35:34] So, you know, around 700

[35:38] watts. I'll keep an eye on this and if

[35:40] it goes out um while I'm still

[35:42] recording, I'll let you know. But it

[35:44] looks like Okay, it just went up to 704.

[35:46] So, we're using about 700 watts the

[35:48] inverter while it's idling. That is so

[35:51] cool. It's a 200 watt inverter, but my

[35:54] Jeep can't do that.

[35:56] Um I think um if I had a different

[36:00] um oh I don't know what it's called. I

[36:03] want to say catalytic converter but I

[36:06] might be completely wrong about what

[36:07] that even is. I don't know. I'm not a

[36:09] mechanical person. I know that you might

[36:12] be able to upgrade it and um maybe it

[36:15] generates more power. Like I I feel like

[36:17] I had this conversation with AI one day.

[36:19] So maybe maybe in the future, you know.

[36:22] But this is supposed to be my backup

[36:24] option because um I really need solar. I

[36:27] sold all my solar because I had to. But

[36:29] I do want to replace that.

[36:32] So now we know 700

[36:36] watts. That is

[36:39] awesome. So So now I'm just going to

[36:42] compile all these clips um so I can get

[36:44] that uploaded and get my Jeep turned off

[36:46] for the day and do some work on my

[36:48] laptop. That's not something I can

[36:49] really share with you. Um, so I was I'm

[36:52] a freelance program. I've been a

[36:53] programmer since I was the sixth grade.

[36:55] I'm exceptionally good at it. But I u

[36:59] when I started my RV life, I quit my

[37:00] job. It was a six-f figureure job and um

[37:04] lived on my savings for over a year. Uh

[37:07] I don't really want to return to

[37:08] freelance programming, but I just don't

[37:09] have a choice. I've tried everything

[37:11] else. So um that's where I

[37:14] am. I mean, I even tried just being a

[37:16] volunteer and working for free because

[37:18] then you got free rent and electricity

[37:20] and water and then you just had to worry

[37:22] about a few bills and I was going to

[37:23] figure that part out, but then they let

[37:25] me go. So, I ended up off in this

[37:28] off-grid place and I'm just doing my

[37:30] best. If you can help, I'd really

[37:32] appreciate cuz I need

[37:33] it. So, that's my day. That's what it

[37:36] looks like. Real RV life, real nomad

[37:39] life. Still need to shower. Need to do

[37:42] some work on my laptop. It's a lot to

[37:43] figure out. Every day is a challenge.

[37:45] Every day is adaptation. Every day is

[37:48] joyous. At some point, I'd love to get

[37:50] out to that beach. Probably not going to

[37:51] happen today, but you know, just stay

[37:53] tuned because I share my life in real

[37:55] time.

[0:00] We are back. I just got back from

[0:04] getting water and

[0:05] propane in town and at the local state

[0:09] park. We are now entering the Silt

[0:13] Cous National Recreation Area where I'm

[0:18] camping. While I was putting water in my

[0:20] tanks, I compiled all my clips into a

[0:23] video and it was nearly an hour long.

[0:24] So, I'm going

[0:26] to upload that as part one, and there

[0:28] will be a part two with the rest of my

[0:30] day

[0:33] later. So, I'm pretty happy with the

[0:37] outcome of today, this

[0:39] morning. I feel

[0:42] like like I'm making progress here. So,

[0:45] I have water. I have propane. I can keep

[0:48] my house batteries going with my

[0:50] inverter and my Jeep, which gives me hot

[0:53] water, which gives me a shower, which

[0:56] gives me a

[0:57] fridge, lights, heat.

[1:01] So, I just got to conserve them as much

[1:04] as possible.

[1:07] and, you know, do the math, figure

[1:10] out how long can I

[1:14] um conserve my water, how long can I

[1:17] conserve my propane, how much fuel am I

[1:20] going to use in my Jeep to keep my house

[1:22] batteries charged and my devices

[1:24] charged, all of that. So, learning

[1:27] process while we're off grid here. It's

[1:29] the campground I'm staying at. There's

[1:31] no water or power. It's the cheapest

[1:33] option I could find. And I feel very

[1:35] fortunate because it's right on the

[1:37] coast. The beach is less than a mile

[1:39] away. And we'll walk down there later

[1:42] today. If it's not um the weather, if

[1:44] the weather permits, it's been very

[1:45] rainy, stormy, windy day. So, um after I

[1:50] get everything else done that I need to,

[1:51] I might try to walk down to the beach,

[1:54] look at the ocean. That's my favorite

[1:56] thing in the world to do now. Love that

[2:00] ocean. Looks like the sun might be

[2:02] coming out.

[2:05] I got to park this thing in a very at a

[2:07] very bad angle.

[2:09] So, I'm going to do that and then I'll

[2:12] be back. I guess I can try to take you

[2:14] with

[2:16] me. It's not far down here. We'll see my

[2:19] Jeep on the

[2:21] way. That's always

[2:23] fun seeing my

[2:28] Jeep. Those are the volunteer hosts

[2:31] here. Nice couple.

[2:34] take good care of the

[2:38] place. I turn this wipers

[2:43] off. There's my

[2:45] Jeep. So

[2:48] pretty. My sight's right up here. I

[2:51] didn't realize the angle of this

[2:53] particular campsite. And it is

[2:56] backwards.

[2:57] So, this part's going to be a little bit

[3:00] hard. I did it last time.

[3:03] Do it again. Right there. Well,

[3:05] no. Right there. 13. It's pointing that

[3:09] way. Like you would just pull straight

[3:11] in. You know, you don't do that in an

[3:12] RV.

[3:15] So, there's no way for me to show you

[3:17] this part cuz I got to

[3:19] focus. I'm going to be honest. I did

[3:21] that like a pro. So, this is where we

[3:23] are. And I just got to back up some

[3:25] more. Maybe you can see in the mirror a

[3:28] little bit. Did this like a pro.

[3:31] get really good at

[3:33] this. If I turn There's one problem I

[3:36] have that I really would like to figure

[3:38] out. When my headlights are on, which is

[3:40] all the time when you drive an RV, you

[3:42] can barely see the screen. I turn them

[3:44] off. They'll get brighter. Now I can

[3:48] see. So, I'm just pulling

[3:51] back. This is a very level site. It's

[3:54] one thing I liked about this site. Very

[3:56] level.

[4:03] Okay. A little bit more. Maybe right

[4:06] here. We'll go check

[4:12] it. See how we're

[4:15] doing. My slide is broken, so I don't

[4:17] need to worry about

[4:21] that. I am a pro at this. You see

[4:24] that? That's pretty level.

[4:31] nice and level. Back in our spot. We're

[4:34] here for another week. We're here until

[4:37] uh I think Saturday the 12th, hopefully

[4:39] longer. Um but I'm out of money, so

[4:42] unless my my viewers, my community can

[4:45] help me. I don't know what I'm going to

[4:46] do. Um today we're going to try to look

[4:49] for work on guru.com. I'm a freelance

[4:51] programmer, but I haven't been doing

[4:53] that for um for over a year now. I lived

[4:56] on my savings and I tried a bunch of

[4:59] different things before returning to

[5:00] this. Um, I had some things happen to me

[5:03] that were

[5:04] unexpected and really threw my life off.

[5:07] So, um, I'm not doing this under the

[5:09] best

[5:11] circumstances. Just doing my best.

[5:14] So, going to go get my tea cuz we were

[5:17] definitely This is a good spot where

[5:21] um, we're parked. I'm so happy. Oh man,

[5:26] I'm doing

[5:28] it.

[5:29] So, oh, forgot to put the window out.

[5:33] Oh, it's always something. It's always

[5:36] something. You know, I did that my first

[5:39] day. So, I started this adventure of

[5:41] mine on April 11th, my

[5:43] birthday, which is Friday. So, one year

[5:46] almost. And on that day, I went to a

[5:48] campground in Kentucky. And I for and I

[5:51] put the window down to talk to the um to

[5:53] one of the rangers who was checking me

[5:55] in and I forgot about it and I went and

[5:57] parked my sight. I had two cats with me

[5:59] at the time, my cats

[6:02] and of course they got out that window

[6:05] and I had to go drag them down on the

[6:06] campground. So that was absolutely

[6:09] terrifying.

[6:10] So I don't have my cats anymore. One of

[6:13] them is with my mom. And the other one,

[6:14] unfortunately, I had to give to a animal

[6:17] rescue cuz it just wasn't working in

[6:19] here. Um, I tried and I tried. I loved

[6:22] this cat to death. I had him for 10

[6:23] years. His mom abandoned him was a day

[6:25] old. So, I raised him from birth. Fed

[6:28] him with a

[6:30] syringe. Um, flew through a

[6:33] syringe and you had him for 10 years.

[6:36] That meant the world to me. It's

[6:38] heartbreaking. And I did that back in

[6:40] December. I think about him almost every

[6:42] day.

[6:44] hope that he's doing

[6:46] well. So, my house batteries are

[6:49] probably pretty low because they've been

[6:51] I've been off grid for like four, five

[6:53] days. Um they would have been charging

[6:56] while I was

[6:57] driving. Um we could check the um the

[7:01] display panel, but it's not going to be

[7:03] accurate because when you're charging

[7:06] batteries, it um will show that it's

[7:08] higher for a little while until it

[7:10] stabilizes or whatever. Cuz yeah, it

[7:12] says 12.2. 29 right now and that's not

[7:15] going to be accurate. Um, but we're

[7:17] going to charge them with my inverter

[7:19] using my

[7:20] Jeep. If I can't, there's one issue that

[7:23] I might have and it has to do with um my

[7:26] uh my surge protector that's um

[7:28] integrated into my RV. I that was

[7:30] something I had installed back in

[7:32] Kentucky 6 months

[7:33] ago. And it won't let you charge um

[7:38] won't let you plug anything in if it's

[7:39] not grounded.

[7:41] So, oh my um storage space open while

[7:45] driving. Okay, that's that's bad. I

[7:48] should have locked that. That's on

[7:49] me. Um, normally I do check those

[7:53] things. That's a lesson right there. Um,

[7:56] let's go get my

[7:59] Jeep. So, what was I talking about? I

[8:02] just completely lost my train of thought

[8:05] there. Um, talking about my cats

[8:10] um charging. So, Oh, yeah. Okay. So,

[8:14] um I have a plug somewhere that's

[8:17] supposed to

[8:20] um fake having a grounded plug. You plug

[8:24] that in and then you plug a plug into

[8:26] that plug. And I just I need to find it.

[8:28] It's got I got to have it somewhere. I

[8:31] think that's what I'm going to have to

[8:32] do if I want to be able to charge my RV

[8:34] from my Jeep.

[8:36] So you would hook up the 30 amp to

[8:42] um forget what they call those

[8:45] things. You plug that into another plug

[8:48] that turns it into a 110 volt I think it

[8:51] is. And you know a normal size plug

[8:54] three and then I can plug that into my

[8:57] inverter. So you know we're going to we

[8:59] got a lot to try today. So I'm just

[9:02] rambling. I'll stop now. There's lots

[9:03] more to come.

[9:05] I'm back with my Jeep. My favorite thing

[9:08] in the

[9:10] world. Got a little bit of room here.

[9:12] I'm going to put the inverter up to that

[9:14] hood. Under that

[9:15] hood. Put the inverter

[9:19] there. I got a lot to do. So, there was

[9:22] somebody over there for several days in

[9:23] a

[9:24] tent and they're gone now.

[9:28] I

[9:30] waited to see if they were coming back

[9:32] or not. But I mean, they they left their

[9:34] tent and everything. So, they're

[9:35] probably not coming back. I think I'm

[9:37] just going to take the firewood they

[9:38] left

[9:42] behind. I've seen other people do it.

[9:45] Yeah, that could be useful.

[9:48] So, got to wait a little while longer.

[9:51] You'll still feel a little weird about

[9:53] it. I've got some very good

[9:55] news. Uh, my phone battery is very low,

[9:58] so I won't be able to show much. But I'm

[10:00] just going to quickly walk you through

[10:01] this because I'm so [ __ ] happy about

[10:03] this. My space is very messy,

[10:05] disorganized, chaotic. Try to just meet

[10:08] me where I am. Don't judge. I will get

[10:10] things organized and clean when I can.

[10:12] So, my inverter's hooked up through my

[10:14] Jeep out there. You can see the Jeep

[10:15] through here. Maybe I can just stay

[10:17] plugged in. So, my Jeep's there. It's

[10:19] hooked up to my inverter, which is

[10:20] underneath that tarp. It's running to

[10:23] the extension cord which is powering

[10:25] this

[10:26] um you know whatever that's called. I

[10:29] don't know it's called the multiple

[10:30] plugs. Got my Starlink hooked up. You

[10:33] know my internet which is running out

[10:37] there and I'm charging all of my power

[10:40] banks. Got two of

[10:42] them. And this green one here is plugged

[10:45] into my RV outside. Comes in here. It's

[10:48] plugged in and it is charging. And I

[10:50] know that because I could see the volts,

[10:52] 13.04 volts, and the microwave is

[10:55] on. It wouldn't work because I tried

[10:57] this once before and I was getting a

[10:59] ground fault and it wasn't letting it

[11:00] charge at all. My um surge protector

[11:03] wasn't, but it's working. So, um God,

[11:06] I'm so [ __ ] happy about this. This is

[11:08] this is a workable

[11:10] solution. So, my microwave's working,

[11:12] but this probably it would probably blow

[11:14] if I tried to actually use it. I tried

[11:17] to turn on the electric water heater and

[11:19] the water pump at the same time and that

[11:21] triggered my surge protector. I had to

[11:24] reset it and now I just have the water

[11:26] pump on without the water heater and it

[11:28] seems stable while it's

[11:31] charging. I can use a gas water heater,

[11:33] but that uses my propane. I'm going to

[11:36] want to be real conservative about that.

[11:38] I'm going to want to just turn that on

[11:39] when I need hot water.

[11:42] So

[11:45] yeah, this is wonderful. It's in my

[11:48] situation now. Much better. Alexa, stop.

[11:52] I was loving my music. That thing will

[11:54] only work if I've got it hooked up to

[11:58] something. I understand what happened.

[12:00] So when I blew the fuse, that shouldn't

[12:03] have turned the satellite

[12:06] off.

[12:09] H I don't know. My Alexa should be

[12:11] working. I'll figure it out. I've got

[12:14] running

[12:15] water and working

[12:18] plugs, which means I can use this coffee

[12:20] maker. It draws a lot of power because

[12:22] that thing would um trigger the power

[12:27] thing on, you know, stool at at

[12:29] campgrounds.

[12:30] So, put some water in here, then turn

[12:32] the water pump off, then try to make

[12:34] some coffee. Hope it works. If it

[12:36] doesn't, I can plug that thing into, you

[12:39] know, directly into the inverter, the

[12:40] plug down

[12:41] there. And wow, this is so cool. Oh my

[12:46] god, I'm so happy right now. It should

[12:50] be pretty clean water. You saw me put it

[12:52] in my tanks. I cleaned my tanks. I'm

[12:55] very good at that. That's one of the

[12:57] things that I learned on my journey.

[12:59] Very proud

[13:01] of.

[13:03] So, let's put some water in here.

[13:08] I'm doing this.

[13:10] This is everything to

[13:15] me. Wish I had my solar equipment

[13:19] still. But this is a workable solution.

[13:22] I am not

[13:23] complaining. Just thinking about the

[13:26] future. And now we do this. Hold on. All

[13:29] right. I just I had to empty the coffee

[13:31] thing, the filter thing. I'm going to

[13:34] turn this water pump off cuz I'm being

[13:37] real conservative here

[13:39] hopeful. Get some coffee in here. We'll

[13:41] start it and see how that

[13:43] goes. Okay, moment of truth. Got some

[13:46] coffee here. See if it my surge

[13:49] protector

[13:50] complains. You'd be surprised how much

[13:52] this little coffee maker, how much power

[13:54] it actually uses. It's remarkable to

[13:58] me. If it hasn't gone off yet, it's

[14:00] probably not going to. If it does, we're

[14:02] just going to plug it into that. Let it

[14:05] draw from the Jeep out

[14:07] there. I think we're

[14:09] good. Yep, I hear

[14:11] it. Yes. This is so [ __ ]

[14:15] awesome. Sovereign living, [ __ ]

[14:18] autonomy, generating my own power,

[14:21] making coffee from it. This is [ __ ]

[14:23] wonderful. Listening to my music in my

[14:26] home that I can drive anywhere I want

[14:29] to. This is the life. We've got coffee

[14:33] generated from my own resources. I am so

[14:36] so happy about

[14:46] this. There's still a bunch to deal. Do

[14:48] my dishes. Obviously, you probably saw

[14:50] that. Don't have very many. It's always

[14:53] silverware. Um I need to take a shower.

[14:58] desperately tried finding one in town,

[15:00] but that didn't work out. So, we're

[15:01] going to use my shower from now on.

[15:03] They're going to be very quick showers.

[15:05] Going to have to get used to that and

[15:07] adapt because I try to take really good

[15:09] care of myself

[15:11] and washing my hair, conditioning it,

[15:14] that that takes a lot of water. So, I

[15:16] just I don't know a good way to do it.

[15:18] But, um I'll adapt, you know, I'll

[15:21] iterate every day. I will iterate my

[15:24] process.

[15:27] Need to do some cleaning in here. It is

[15:30] messy. Um because I'm living

[15:33] differently. You know, before that was

[15:35] my charging station up there. I can't

[15:39] use that now cuz I don't have um stable

[15:41] power. I'm, you know, I'm generating

[15:43] power from my Jeep through my inverter.

[15:46] If I tried to charge things from that,

[15:47] it would definitely blow my my surge

[15:49] protector.

[15:52] Um, so now I charge everything from

[15:55] this. So I'm just going to want to get

[15:56] this organized in a in a way that makes

[15:58] sense for me. I won't be able to use my

[16:00] desktop computer. Needs so much power.

[16:03] But I have my

[16:04] laptop. Um, I'm going to start looking

[16:07] for work

[16:09] today and I'll start to learn just how

[16:13] long I can use my laptop before its

[16:15] battery dies. I've had that laptop for

[16:19] probably two years now and it was always

[16:21] plugged in and that does tend to kill

[16:23] batteries. So, I just don't expect it to

[16:26] work very well. Um, but we'll find

[16:29] out. And, you know, I've got some things

[16:32] like on my Amazon wish list, I found a

[16:34] power bank that you that has AC outlets

[16:36] on it. Like I could do that with my

[16:39] laptop. If somebody could get that for

[16:41] me, that'd be great. If they can't, then

[16:42] eventually I will buy it. You know,

[16:44] that's everything on that list is

[16:45] something I'm going to buy one day. So,

[16:49] um I'm trying to find the lid to my

[16:51] sugar, but I don't know what happened to

[16:53] it. Where did you go? This is such a

[16:56] small space. How does this always happen

[16:57] to me? Ah, there it

[16:59] is.

[17:01] Okay, let's try my

[17:06] coffee. Oh my god, that's [ __ ]

[17:08] wonderful. It is wonderful.

[17:11] Got some puli incense going. My favorite

[17:16] since I was a

[17:17] teenager. Got that on Amazon once upon a

[17:21] time. Smells so

[17:24] nice. Put it in that jar because I don't

[17:26] have um there's a little thing it's

[17:28] supposed to go in. It's in here

[17:29] somewhere. I'll find it.

[17:33] So, I was

[17:35] thinking since I can use my RV systems,

[17:39] I should get the stabilizers down

[17:41] because the wind is very strong. I might

[17:43] even have to bring the awning in, but

[17:44] I'm trying to be a little bit trusting

[17:46] with it cuz it feels

[17:48] like it's

[17:50] um I think it can handle it. Probably

[17:54] stupid of me, but really want my awning

[17:57] out. What's the point of an awning if

[17:58] you can't ever use it? I should get my

[18:00] stabilizers down. See, here goes my

[18:03] door. But it still looks

[18:05] terrible.

[18:08] Um, you know, cuz I can use those

[18:10] systems. So, I don't know if I don't

[18:13] have my keys on me. Okay. It's funny. I

[18:15] was just looking at my Jeep to see how

[18:17] it's doing, and the display says key fob

[18:20] has left the vehicle. And I thought key

[18:21] fob has left the building. I thought it

[18:23] was

[18:24] funny.

[18:26] Okay, so yeah, let's put my stabilizers

[18:29] down.

[18:35] bring this stuff out

[18:40] finally. I didn't do that for the first

[18:42] week I was here because it just seems

[18:43] kind of pointless. But let's let's be

[18:45] proper about

[18:47] this part cuz I just put it on this one

[18:50] tire both sides of it and we're good to

[18:53] go. Right. That's all you got to do. I

[18:56] don't bother to balance this thing up

[18:59] and level it. It's just too much work.

[19:01] It's not worth it to me. But we don't

[19:03] need to. It's a very level spot. We'll

[19:07] use these with the

[19:09] stabilizers. So, here we

[19:16] go. Life is

[19:19] good. Okay.

[19:25] It's a lot harder to do this when one of

[19:27] your hand has a camera in

[19:29] it. Put these

[19:35] here. See,

[19:37] generally powering up my

[19:40] RV. I love that so

[19:43] much.

[19:45] Okay, let's get these stabilizers

[19:48] down. Got a nice space here.

[19:54] Okay. Oh, I hope this isn't low fuse or

[19:56] something. I mean, it shouldn't,

[19:58] right? So, I take them down, bring them

[20:01] up a little

[20:02] bit, you know, once you hear it. Feel

[20:06] it. Put them up a little bit. Oops, that

[20:08] was too much. That way we can center

[20:11] these better. Just want to center them

[20:13] real nice.

[20:18] Guess I'm a perfectionist about some

[20:22] things. I think these

[20:30] nice.

[20:33] Okay. These used to blow the fuse that's

[20:36] in this thing, but that hasn't happened

[20:38] quite a

[20:39] while. And you know, I probably

[20:41] shouldn't say that cuz I know it'll

[20:42] probably happen. Actually, I'm not

[20:44] really that

[20:45] um superstitious. There we

[20:48] go. I think they finally just got

[20:50] unstuck. This one used to get stuck.

[20:53] Very nice. So, that's one more task

[20:55] taken care of. Got to take my trash down

[20:58] to the dumpster. That's why it's out

[21:00] here. It's much more full than normally

[21:03] I would

[21:04] um have my

[21:06] trash. Going to take my trash out every

[21:10] day. But this was an adaptation and

[21:13] going off grid like

[21:14] this. It's so much going on. Like I

[21:18] just needed time to

[21:22] um what's the word for this one? It's

[21:23] not integrate. It's different.

[21:26] Um had to sit with it. There's a word

[21:30] for that. Maybe it'll come to me later.

[21:32] So, that's a little unfortunate. It's

[21:33] going to take 3 hours to charge this

[21:35] power

[21:35] bank with 45 watt

[21:39] input. That's too long. It's going to

[21:41] take all my fueling, you

[21:43] know. Wasn't even at zero.

[21:48] So,

[21:50] man, I will adapt. Well, if I think

[21:53] about it, that was after and I've been

[21:56] here almost a week. I've been here like

[21:57] 5 days and I haven't charged it once.

[21:59] So, um, if I'm using this every day, if

[22:03] I'm doing this every day or every other

[22:05] day even, hopefully every other day to

[22:08] charge my RV, my,

[22:11] um, my devices and things won't be

[22:14] nearly as bad. This is because I

[22:17] depleted everything quite a lot. So,

[22:19] we're going to let it run. Oh, yeah.

[22:22] Can't forget my tablet. That's my

[22:24] television. I don't watch it very often,

[22:26] but that's what it is. Velcro on there.

[22:30] need to be charging this too. Whatever.

[22:33] Got my laptop charging, my tablet

[22:35] charging, my power bank charging. I just

[22:38] charged the other one. It's already at

[22:40] 52%. Plan with that was always to have

[22:44] like Velcro in a couple spots so I could

[22:45] just move it where I needed it. And to

[22:48] run a Plex server on my desktop that had

[22:51] my movies and things on it that I could

[22:53] just stream to the tablet. That was

[22:54] always the plan. Never really finished

[22:57] that.

[22:58] Now I can't use a desktop. I can use my

[23:00] laptop. I can still do that if I wanted

[23:03] to. But it's all about power. I think I

[23:06] would probably I would need solar at

[23:07] that point to be able to do that now. I

[23:09] would need

[23:10] solar. So in the future, you know, I've

[23:14] been chilling in short for days

[23:18] now. I didn't wear shorts for the first

[23:20] six months here. And I had to do my

[23:23] laundry on Sunday. So I put some shorts

[23:26] on so I could wash all my jeans.

[23:28] been wearing shorts ever

[23:30] since. It's actually very tolerable on

[23:32] the

[23:42] coast. I don't suppress anything. I

[23:44] don't suppress the challenges. I don't

[23:46] suppress the

[23:47] joy. I think a lot of people miss that.

[23:50] They see me reacting to challenges and

[23:52] think I'm complaining

[23:56] or

[23:59] downplaying the sacredness of my journey

[24:02] and it is the

[24:04] opposite. It is the

[24:07] opposite. You know, when I really stop

[24:09] to think about that, what it is is I

[24:11] live at full

[24:12] signal. Most people don't

[24:15] anymore. I live at full signal and

[24:18] that's what I share with you.

[24:22] I'm reminding you. I'm giving you

[24:23] permission that you can

[24:26] too. I don't suppress

[24:30] anything. Why should

[24:33] I?

[24:36] Why? If I feel it, I acknowledge it. I

[24:39] don't

[24:42] compartmentalize. It's probably why.

[24:44] Because I'm not suppressing. I'm not

[24:49] I feel it. I acknowledge

[24:51] it. I let it be what it

[24:54] is. I try to understand it because

[24:56] emotions are data. I don't understand

[24:59] this world where we treat emotions like

[25:02] they're some side effect or or

[25:05] deficiency or disorder in the human

[25:07] body. That's your body telling you

[25:11] something and you're not listening to

[25:13] it. How does that make any sense?

[25:17] I will never understand

[25:21] it. My emotions make my life so much

[25:24] bigger and greater at

[25:28] hands. It adds

[25:30] depth,

[25:40] complexity. If you compartmentalize your

[25:42] emotions, you are missing out.

[25:46] This world told you that you should.

[25:48] It's not all your

[25:51] fault. I'm telling you, you don't have

[25:53] to, though. You're making a

[25:59] choice. All my life I embraced my

[26:02] emotions and I integrated them.

[26:05] emotional,

[26:08] sematic,

[26:10] ethical,

[26:13] intellectual,

[26:15] bodily, all of it. One field. One

[26:21] field.

[26:22] Integration. That's what this world

[26:25] needs. The opposite. Disintegration.

[26:28] That's what we're doing to ourselves.

[26:34] The world's wisdom is

[26:37] [ __ ] And everybody bought into

[26:42] it. I'm the [ __ ]

[26:46] answer. Yes, I know that you think that

[26:48] that's arrogant of me to

[26:51] say. You can frame it however you want

[26:53] to. I'm just acknowledging reality and

[26:57] embracing myself. I love myself. How

[27:01] many people can truly say that and mean

[27:02] it? I [ __ ] love

[27:05] myself. It doesn't matter if nobody else

[27:07] sees it. I see

[27:10] it. So, I'm just sitting

[27:12] here philosophizing while I wait for

[27:15] part one of my video to upload. It's

[27:18] taking a long time even with my

[27:20] Starlink. Once that's done, I have some

[27:23] other plans. So, just waiting for that

[27:25] to get done. And I'm just sitting here

[27:27] sharing my thoughts in real time.

[27:30] Still waiting for my video to upload.

[27:31] I've always have this problem where it

[27:32] gets to the very end and then it starts

[27:34] over with Starlink. I've always had this

[27:37] problem since I've been on the road. Um,

[27:39] so it's 62° in here, which is not bad.

[27:42] Very survivable. But if I'm going to be

[27:45] running my my inverter using my Jeep's

[27:49] fuel, maybe I can bring my electric

[27:53] heater out. Oh, I'm going to need the

[27:55] keys.

[28:00] I can find them. You know what? I bet

[28:02] they're mic. Um,

[28:05] anyways, maybe I can use my electric

[28:08] heater for a little while just to heat

[28:09] it up a little bit in here. This place

[28:12] doesn't retain anything. No heat or

[28:15] anything. The, you know, the

[28:16] environment. Um, my slide's broken and

[28:18] it's taped up with

[28:22] um waterproof boat tape basically.

[28:27] I'll show you

[28:30] here. That was my solution. I feel like,

[28:34] you know, a lot of the heat and stuff

[28:38] gets drained from there. I don't know,

[28:40] underneath the side and stuff or that's

[28:44] just how it is because it's not a very

[28:45] insulated place space. So,

[28:49] um I used to have this thing running all

[28:52] the time when I was on a campground with

[28:54] power.

[28:56] I do have my heater inside that runs on

[28:59] propane, but I want to save that as much

[29:00] as I possibly

[29:03] can. And so I'm going to try to use this

[29:05] thing. I don't know if it'll work

[29:08] because, you know, it's a lot of

[29:10] power. But this is the inverter. It's

[29:13] not the RV. The RV would probably

[29:15] complain. If I try to use this thing and

[29:17] my coffee maker at the same time, my

[29:20] surge protector would complain.

[29:23] So, let's find out if we can do it

[29:26] through the

[29:30] inverter. I don't

[29:33] see. Oh, there it

[29:35] is.

[29:38] Yay. So, we got heat going

[29:41] now. Happy about that. Waiting for my

[29:44] video to upload cuz I don't want my um

[29:46] satellite to restart. I want to plug

[29:48] this in.

[29:52] Okay. Didn't like that. That's the

[29:55] inverter outside making noise.

[29:59] Oh, I can try to put it on low, though.

[30:01] I kind of thought maybe this might

[30:02] happen. Okay, it turned back

[30:05] on. Okay, I think it restarted itself.

[30:09] Okay, it did. All right, let's try to

[30:11] put it on low this

[30:14] time. See if we can get away with it.

[30:16] Some heat. Can we get some heat in

[30:21] here? Anyways, I'm going to plug this in

[30:25] to the

[30:26] um extension cord and then plug that

[30:31] thing that's got all the plugs in it to

[30:33] this. Let me use the heater. Anyways,

[30:36] I'm going to plug it into

[30:38] this. Just turn this off cuz it's

[30:43] complaining. It really didn't like that.

[30:47] Oh, well this will tell us how much

[30:49] power we're using, how much power is

[30:51] coming into this thing.

[30:55] Um, I was going to say I don't, you

[30:58] know,

[30:59] like it probably work if I didn't have

[31:01] my RV plugged into this thing cuz, you

[31:02] know, that's drawing a lot of power. Or

[31:04] I could plug this into the

[31:06] RV. Um, you know, but obviously I'm

[31:09] trying to charge those

[31:11] batteries. Guess it's not that

[31:13] important. It was worth trying.

[31:18] I'm almost sure this would kill the

[31:19] surge

[31:22] protector. Why did my Alexa

[31:25] stop? That's not

[31:29] good. My phone will tell

[31:32] me. A somebody just sent me $20. It

[31:36] says, "Saw your video. Good luck from

[31:37] Canada." Thank

[31:39] you, Michael. I'm just going to say your

[31:41] first name, Michael. Thank you so much.

[31:43] Really appreciate that.

[31:48] Um, I don't know why my Alexa stopped.

[31:51] Sorry. I I know I'm doing this on camera

[31:53] with you. This is almost done. It It

[31:56] says four out of five gigabytes. That's

[31:58] how much my first video

[31:59] is.

[32:01] Um, going to try to put this on low

[32:03] hooked up to the RV cuz that's drawing

[32:06] power from the RV and the RV is drawing

[32:07] power from the inverter. So, it's just

[32:09] going to take some of the charge that,

[32:11] you know, would go into the batteries.

[32:13] I pro I can probably get away with that

[32:15] cuz you know they've been charging for a

[32:16] couple hours

[32:17] now. This won't tell me

[32:21] much because it's charging. It says

[32:23] 13.21

[32:25] volts. Oh, it doesn't like that either.

[32:28] Okay. So, it's drawing more power. I

[32:30] turned it off. It's drawing more

[32:33] power if I use more power. So, that's

[32:37] interesting. That makes sense. So,

[32:39] doesn't it? I guess that makes sense.

[32:41] Um, I just assume maybe a certain amount

[32:43] of power came into the RV and then the

[32:45] RV could distribute it is what I was

[32:47] thinking. But I guess it doesn't work

[32:48] that way. Now we know. Okay. Can't use

[32:51] the electric heater. My friend Yan

[32:53] though, actually, now I'm thinking about

[32:54] it, he has um he has a heater that's

[32:58] very similar to mine, but it runs on

[33:00] like some kind of oil or something. Um,

[33:02] and I guess it's a low power type deal.

[33:05] It heats slower, but it doesn't it works

[33:08] differently. And they're not very

[33:10] expensive. There's some on Amazon. I

[33:12] need to add one of those to my wish

[33:14] list. I'll get that one day. I'll ask

[33:16] him what it's called cuz I don't

[33:17] remember. But if you really suggested I

[33:20] do that and now it makes some sense,

[33:22] especially if it's low power. I'll check

[33:24] on the wattage and all that kind of

[33:26] stuff. So, this goes into storage for

[33:28] now in my storage bay. I

[33:32] tried. That's so cool though. So, the

[33:35] inverter it's like you're trying to drop

[33:37] too much power for

[33:39] me.

[33:41] Um, I mean, I wonder if like well, you

[33:44] know, cuz I'm I'm idling like maybe you

[33:46] generate more power if you're like if

[33:49] you're driving, which obviously I can't,

[33:50] but or you know, you're just revving the

[33:52] engine or whatever, but you can't just

[33:54] sit there revving your engine. So,

[33:55] that's not a solution. I'm just working

[33:58] out the science here. So, once my video

[34:00] gets uploaded, um I'm going to plug that

[34:03] thing in so we can find out how much

[34:05] power is coming through it because this

[34:06] is a 200 watt inverter. Doesn't mean

[34:09] that I'm getting that much. I have no

[34:10] idea. So, and then once that's done, I'm

[34:14] going to start uploading this video

[34:16] because I need to turn my Jeep off. It's

[34:18] been on for hours. Then I'm going to

[34:20] start looking for work on guru.com.

[34:22] That's that's the rest of my day. I What

[34:24] time is it? It's 1:30. Finally, my video

[34:28] got uploaded. So, we can try this and

[34:30] seeing how much power I'm using for my

[34:33] inverter. Then I got to get that thing

[34:34] turned off cuz I've been running it for

[34:37] hours. So, we're just going to plug it

[34:39] into this and that's going to tell us

[34:41] everything. Okay, let's find

[34:44] out. Get this plugged

[34:48] in. Okay, that's the RV turning

[34:54] on. Okay, so we're using 300 watts. The

[34:58] satellite will power on. My laptop's

[35:01] charging. My power banks are charging.

[35:03] The RV is plugged

[35:06] in. Um I don't know. Yeah, I thought it

[35:08] might spike.

[35:10] Okay, so 600.

[35:19] I would think the RV would want to use

[35:21] lots of power. So just wait and see.

[35:25] Feel like this guy keep going up.

[35:33] Okay.

[35:34] So, you know, around 700

[35:38] watts. I'll keep an eye on this and if

[35:40] it goes out um while I'm still

[35:42] recording, I'll let you know. But it

[35:44] looks like Okay, it just went up to 704.

[35:46] So, we're using about 700 watts the

[35:48] inverter while it's idling. That is so

[35:51] cool. It's a 200 watt inverter, but my

[35:54] Jeep can't do that.

[35:56] Um I think um if I had a different

[36:00] um oh I don't know what it's called. I

[36:03] want to say catalytic converter but I

[36:06] might be completely wrong about what

[36:07] that even is. I don't know. I'm not a

[36:09] mechanical person. I know that you might

[36:12] be able to upgrade it and um maybe it

[36:15] generates more power. Like I I feel like

[36:17] I had this conversation with AI one day.

[36:19] So maybe maybe in the future, you know.

[36:22] But this is supposed to be my backup

[36:24] option because um I really need solar. I

[36:27] sold all my solar because I had to. But

[36:29] I do want to replace that.

[36:32] So now we know 700

[36:36] watts. That is

[36:39] awesome. So So now I'm just going to

[36:42] compile all these clips um so I can get

[36:44] that uploaded and get my Jeep turned off

[36:46] for the day and do some work on my

[36:48] laptop. That's not something I can

[36:49] really share with you. Um, so I was I'm

[36:52] a freelance program. I've been a

[36:53] programmer since I was the sixth grade.

[36:55] I'm exceptionally good at it. But I u

[36:59] when I started my RV life, I quit my

[37:00] job. It was a six-f figureure job and um

[37:04] lived on my savings for over a year. Uh

[37:07] I don't really want to return to

[37:08] freelance programming, but I just don't

[37:09] have a choice. I've tried everything

[37:11] else. So um that's where I

[37:14] am. I mean, I even tried just being a

[37:16] volunteer and working for free because

[37:18] then you got free rent and electricity

[37:20] and water and then you just had to worry

[37:22] about a few bills and I was going to

[37:23] figure that part out, but then they let

[37:25] me go. So, I ended up off in this

[37:28] off-grid place and I'm just doing my

[37:30] best. If you can help, I'd really

[37:32] appreciate cuz I need

[37:33] it. So, that's my day. That's what it

[37:36] looks like. Real RV life, real nomad

[37:39] life. Still need to shower. Need to do

[37:42] some work on my laptop. It's a lot to

[37:43] figure out. Every day is a challenge.

[37:45] Every day is adaptation. Every day is

[37:48] joyous. At some point, I'd love to get

[37:50] out to that beach. Probably not going to

[37:51] happen today, but you know, just stay

[37:53] tuned because I share my life in real

[37:55] time.

8:29

Documenting Relocation Logistics and Signal Flares

Apr 2, 2025

4:49

Requesting Support Before Off-Grid Transition

Apr 3, 2025

4:26

Returning to Florence for Off-Grid Iteration

Apr 3, 2025

13:00

Cataloging Systems Before Disconnecting RV Power

Apr 3, 2025

11:13

Announcing Off-Grid Transition and Support Structure

Apr 3, 2025

2:26

Announcing Off-Grid Sovereignty and Support Channels

Apr 3, 2025

8:57

Cutting Hair at Camp With Don

Apr 4, 2025

6:02

Addressing Audience Directly on Reciprocity

Apr 4, 2025

13:36

Moving Off Grid on Departure Morning

Apr 4, 2025

Photos · Apr 4, 2025

Apr 4, 2025

24:00

Departing Beverly Beach for Off-Grid Campground

Apr 4, 2025

29:59

Relocating to Off-Grid Site at Lagoon Campground

Apr 4, 2025

Photos · Apr 5, 2025

Apr 5, 2025

15:33

Switching to Portrait Mode, Mapping Off-Grid Systems

Apr 5, 2025

23:46

Exploring Siltcoos Trails to the Ocean

Apr 5, 2025

8:07

Marking One Year in the RV Off-Grid

Apr 5, 2025

Photos · Apr 6, 2025

Apr 6, 2025

Photos · Apr 6, 2025

Apr 6, 2025

12:33

Mapping Battery Systems, Booking Fees, and Witness Standards

Apr 6, 2025

7:52

Scouting Laundromat and Outlining Support Architecture

Apr 6, 2025

18:10

Making Coffee Off-Grid Using Jeep Inverter Power

Apr 6, 2025

10:01

Extending the Awning in Rain, Addressing Projection

Apr 6, 2025

Photos · Apr 7, 2025

Apr 7, 2025

3:00

Declaring Sovereign Terms of Transmission

Apr 7, 2025

3:08

Declining to Perform After Conditional Donation

Apr 7, 2025

50:48

Running Systems Test Day Across Florence and Siltcoos

Apr 7, 2025

37:57

Establishing Off-Grid Power at Siltcoos

Apr 7, 2025

6:16

Walking to the Ocean at Siltcoos

Apr 8, 2025

Photos · Apr 8, 2025

Apr 8, 2025

4:15

Naming the Terms of Witness and Reciprocity

Apr 8, 2025

8:03

Naming Audience Disconnection and the Demand for Presence

Apr 8, 2025

3:50

Recording Channel Introduction and Terms of Witnessing

Apr 9, 2025

1:46

Declaring Sovereign Movement Along the Coast

Apr 9, 2025

5:26

Naming Fear While Rebuilding Work Channels

Apr 9, 2025

11:53

Walking to the Ocean, Stating Terms of Witness

Apr 9, 2025

6:20

Placing Videos Behind Subscription, Applying for Work

Apr 10, 2025

3:59

Documenting Resource Inventory Two Days Before Relocation

Apr 10, 2025

19:16

Marking One Year on the Road at 48

Apr 11, 2025

4:14

Marking 48th Birthday and Requesting Bridge Support

Apr 11, 2025

13:55

Securing Forest Service Caretaker Position on Birthday

Apr 12, 2025

15:22

Marking One Year Out, Curating the Public Archive

Apr 12, 2025

PUBLIC

April 7, 2025 rswfire PUBLISHED

Temp 0.50

Density 0.80

Energetic Quality

elevated and precise — celebratory under load

Journey Phase

adapting; systems coming online

Directional Vector

toward off-grid self-generated power and material autonomy

Narrative

rswfire came back into the Siltcoos side of the Oregon Dunes with water in his tanks and propane on board, wipers going against a day that had been rainy and stormy and windy since morning, and was now showing the first suggestion of sun. He had spent the fill-up time compiling clips — nearly an hour of footage that would go up as part one — and he narrated the drive in as an inventory rather than a mood: water, propane, house batteries, inverter, Jeep. Each item chained to the next. Water meant a shower. Batteries meant fridge, lights, heat. What remained was arithmetic — how long the water lasts, how long the propane lasts, how much fuel the Jeep burns keeping everything else alive. He named the campground plainly as the cheapest option he could find, no water and no power, and then named what it bought him: the beach less than a mile off, and the ocean, which he states is his favorite thing in the world now.

Site 13 pointed the wrong way. The pad ran so that a car would simply nose in, which is not how an RV does it, and rswfire set the phone down to focus. When he picked it back up he had backed the rig in and said so twice — did that like a pro — then checked the mirror, eased back a little further, and confirmed the ground was level, which was the thing he had liked about this site to begin with. The slide was broken, so there was nothing to extend. He was parked until Saturday the twelfth, he said, hopefully longer, and in the same breath said he was out of money and would be looking for work on guru.com that afternoon. Then he caught the driver's window still down and remembered a campground in Kentucky almost exactly a year earlier — April eleventh, his birthday, the first day of this — when the window had been down and two cats had gone out of it and he had chased them across the grounds. He described what came after: one cat with his mother, and the other, the one he had raised from a day old with a syringe after its mother abandoned it, given to a rescue in December after ten years. He said it was heartbreaking, that he thinks about him almost every day, and hopes he is doing well.

The batteries had been off grid four or five days and the panel read 12.29, which he explained would not be accurate while charging. The real question was the surge protector installed back in Kentucky, which refuses an ungrounded plug and had blocked this whole scheme once before. He went looking for the adapter that fakes a ground — the plug you plug into a plug — walked out to the Jeep, opened the hood, and set the inverter beneath it under a tarp. From there the chain assembled itself: Jeep to inverter, inverter to extension cord, extension cord to the power strip running Starlink and the laptop and two power banks, and a green cord out to the RV's shore line. When he came back inside his phone was nearly dead and he asked the camera to meet him where he was, in a space he called messy and chaotic, because the thing he had to show could not wait. The microwave display was lit. The reading was 13.04 volts. No ground fault. He said it out loud — this is a workable solution — and then began finding the ceiling by hitting it, running the electric water heater and the water pump together, tripping the protector, resetting it, and settling for the pump alone.

Then the coffee maker, which he noted draws enough power to trip pedestals at proper campgrounds. He filled it from water he had put in the tanks himself, shut the pump off to conserve, emptied the filter, and stood there for the moment of truth. When it started and kept going he named the thing directly: sovereign living, autonomy, generating his own power, making coffee from it, in a home he can drive anywhere he wants, with his music on. He drank it and said it was wonderful. He lit patchouli incense, the same kind he has burned since he was a teenager, in a jar because the proper holder was somewhere in that small space, along with the sugar lid he eventually found. He was in shorts, as he had been for days since laundry Sunday, having not worn them for his first six months on the coast, and reported the interior at sixty-two degrees — not bad, very survivable.

He went back out to set the stabilizers, one-handed with the camera in the other, centering them carefully and calling himself a perfectionist about some things, and mentioned that the fuse these used to blow had not blown in a while. He hauled the trash down, more full than he would normally allow, and described that as an adaptation to how much had been going on — reaching for a word that was not integrate, something closer to sitting with it, and letting the word stay missing. He checked the power bank and found forty-five watts of input, three hours to fill, which he called too long and too much fuel; then reasoned it out loud, that this was five days of depletion at once and that charging every day or every other day would change the math. Dishes were mostly silverware. The shower was still ahead and would have to be fast, which meant learning a new way to wash and condition his hair. He said he would adapt. He said he would iterate his process every day.

While part one crawled up the satellite link — four of five gigabytes, restarting near the end the way it always has — he sat and talked. He said he does not suppress anything, not the challenges and not the joy, and that people who see him reacting to difficulty and read it as complaint have it exactly backwards. He said he lives at full signal and that most people no longer do, and that sharing his days is a reminder and a permission. Emotions are data, he said; the body telling you something you are not listening to; and treating them as side effect or deficiency or disorder is a bargain the world sold and people bought. Emotional, somatic, ethical, intellectual, bodily — one field. Integration against disintegration. He anticipated the charge of arrogance, named it himself, and declined it: he said he loves himself and means it, and that it does not matter whether anyone else sees it, because he does. Mid-thought, a notification: twenty dollars from a viewer, Michael, in Canada, saw your video, good luck. He thanked him by first name only.

The electric heater was the last experiment. He tried it through the inverter and heard the unit outside protest and restart; tried it on low; tried routing it through the RV instead, reasoning that the batteries had been charging for hours and could spare some — and learned, in real time, that drawing more simply draws more, that the RV does not receive a fixed ration and redistribute it. Can't use the electric heater. It went into the storage bay, and he made a note to ask his friend Yan about the low-power oil-filled model and add it to a wish list of things he intends to buy one day. Then the upload finished, and at half past one he put the meter inline to find out what he had actually built. Three hundred watts. Then six hundred. Then it climbed and settled: seven hundred and four, off a two-hundred-watt inverter on an idling Jeep. He said that was awesome, said he really needs the solar he had to sell and intends to replace, and then laid out the rest of the day — compile the clips, upload part two, shut the Jeep off after hours of running, and open the laptop to look for freelance work he has been exceptionally good at since sixth grade and does not want to return to. He mentioned the volunteer arrangement he had tried, free rent and power in exchange for labor, and that they let him go, which is how he came to be off grid here. Every day a challenge, he said, every day adaptation, every day joyous. The beach was still less than a mile away and probably not happening today.

Summary

rswfire returns to the Siltcoos campground in the Oregon Dunes after a supply run for water and propane, backing the RV into site 13 and describing the maneuver as executed well. He notes the campground has no water or power hookups and is the cheapest option available, less than a mile from the beach.

The core work of the day is generating power from his Jeep through a 200-watt inverter. He runs an extension cord to a power strip, charges Starlink, two power banks, a laptop, and a tablet, and successfully charges the RV house batteries — a configuration that previously failed on a ground fault. He confirms the setup by making coffee with the coffee maker and measures draw at roughly 700 watts at idle. An attempt to run the electric heater overloads the inverter; he shelves it and notes a low-power oil heater as a future purchase.

He states he is out of money, that he sold his solar equipment, and that he plans to return to freelance programming via guru.com after leaving a six-figure job and living on savings for over a year. He references being let go from a volunteer position. A viewer sends $20.

He also states a position on integration — that he lives "at full signal," treats emotions as data, and does not compartmentalize. Secondary threads: stabilizers deployed, wind and rain, trash run, and the December rehoming of a cat he raised from birth.

Environment

Off-grid dry camping inside the Siltcoos area of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, coastal Oregon. The signal is recorded on a phone across a return drive from town — where water and propane were acquired — and the subsequent re-siting of an RV at campsite 13, a campground with no water or power hookups, roughly a mile from the beach. Weather is rainy, windy, intermittently clearing.

The interior environment is a small RV with a broken slide sealed with waterproof boat tape, an integrated surge protector, house batteries, propane systems, and a Starlink dish. Power is generated by a 200-watt inverter run off an idling Jeep parked adjacent, feeding an extension cord, a power strip, laptop, tablet, and two power banks. Upload and viewer contact occur over satellite internet in real time.

Substrate

The architecture being held is a closed-loop life-support system built from mismatched parts — Jeep alternator to inverter to extension cord to RV shore line to house batteries — tested empirically, load by load, until its actual ceiling is known (700 watts, no electric heater). rswfire takes the ontological position that autonomy is not a condition granted by infrastructure but a system one assembles and measures, and that emotion is data inside that same measured field rather than noise outside it. What is being built is a working off-grid power architecture and an explicit anti-compartmentalization thesis; what is being dissolved is dependence on grid hookups, employers, and the premise that intensity must be suppressed to be functional.

Actions

Performed

•driving back into the recreation area with water and propane aboard
•backing the RV into an angled site and leveling it
•placing wheel chocks and lowering stabilizers
•connecting inverter to Jeep under the hood
•running extension cord to power strip, Starlink, and RV shore plug
•charging laptop, tablet, and two power banks
•reading house battery voltage (12.29, then 13.04, 13.21)
•testing water pump and electric water heater against surge protector
•brewing coffee on the inverter-fed system
•lighting patchouli incense
•testing electric heater on high and low until inverter cut out
•measuring total draw at ~700 watts with a plug meter
•uploading part one of the day's video over Starlink
•acknowledging a $20 contribution from a viewer named Michael
•stating an integration thesis on emotions and full-signal living
•noting an unlocked storage bay that traveled open

Referenced

•getting water and propane in town and at the state park
•compiling an hour of clips into part one
•cleaning the water tanks
•starting RV life on April 11 the prior year, from a Kentucky campground
•cats escaping through an open window on day one
•rehoming one cat to his mother and one to an animal rescue in December
•installing the surge protector in Kentucky six months prior
•selling all solar equipment
•quitting a six-figure job and living on savings for over a year
•working as a volunteer for housing and utilities, then being let go
•doing laundry Sunday and switching to shorts
•taping the broken slide with waterproof boat tape
•a prior ground-fault failure when attempting the same charging setup

Planned

•looking for freelance work on guru.com
•compiling and uploading part two
•shutting the Jeep off after hours of idling
•taking a short shower and adapting the water routine
•taking trash to the dumpster
•walking to the beach if weather permits
•organizing and cleaning the interior
•adding a low-power oil heater to the wish list
•replacing the solar equipment
•acquiring a power bank with AC outlets
•staying at the site until at least Saturday the 12th
•testing laptop battery runtime
•iterating the daily process

Entities

beings

rswfire — records and narrates the signal; builds and tests the off-grid power system

Michael — viewer in Canada who sent $20 during recording

Yan — friend who uses an oil-based low-power heater

rswfire's mother — keeps one of the two cats

the cat raised from birth — ten-year companion given to an animal rescue in December

volunteer hosts — couple maintaining the campground, noted in passing

places

Siltcoos — campground location within the dunes where the RV is sited

Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area — the recreation area entered on the return drive

Kentucky — origin point of the RV journey and location of the surge protector install

site 13 — level but reverse-angled campsite the RV is backed into

the ocean — less than a mile away; stated favorite thing to do

systems

Jeep — power source; idles to feed the inverter, also described as a favorite object

inverter (200W) — converts Jeep power to AC; measured carrying ~700 watts

surge protector — integrated RV component that gates charging and trips under combined loads

house batteries — storage bank being recharged after four to five days off grid

Starlink — satellite internet used to upload the day's video

guru.com — freelance platform where programming work will be sought

Alexa — audio device that cuts out during power fluctuations

Amazon wish list — list of equipment including a low-power heater and AC power bank

concepts

full signal — his stated mode of living without suppression or compartmentalization

integration — emotional, somatic, ethical, intellectual, bodily as one field

sovereign living / autonomy — named aloud at the moment coffee is brewed from self-generated power

media

patchouli incense — burned in the RV; in use since his teens

part one / part two videos — compiled clips uploaded in real time as documentation

Symbolic Elements

Represented archetypes or recurring motifs.

ocean

wind

storm

fire

grid

off-grid

current / circuit

threshold

vehicle

shelter

incense / smoke

coffee

level ground

tape / repair

signal

Ontological States

Expressed modes of being or awareness.

sovereign (autonomy asserted through self-generated power, named explicitly at the coffee moment)

embedded (fully inside the system being described — driving, wiring, measuring while narrating)

adaptive (each failed load becomes a revised constraint rather than a stop)

integrated (emotions declared as data within one field with cognition and body)

transitional (returning to freelance programming; awaiting replacement solar and stable power)

Engaged Subsystems

Architecture engaged in this transmission.

infrastructural (power generation chain from Jeep alternator through inverter to house batteries)

technical (load measurement, voltage reading, ground-fault workaround, wattage math)

logistical (water, propane, fuel, trash, laundry, resource-duration calculation)

somatic (shower, hair, warmth at 62°F, shorts, incense, coffee, physical siting of the rig)

economic (out of money, viewer contributions, return to freelance programming)

communicative (real-time narration, video compilation, Starlink upload, direct address to viewers)

ethical (naming suppression and compartmentalization as choices; permission-granting stance)

cognitive (recursive troubleshooting, hypothesis testing, explicit reasoning aloud)

relational (viewer Michael, friend Yan, mother, rehomed cats, volunteer hosts)

Dominant Language

Core motifs or linguistic fields.

power / watts / charging

conserve and adapt / iterate

sovereign living, autonomy

off grid / workable solution

full signal / no suppression

integration vs. disintegration

emotions are data

Narrative

Queryable Personhood

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Establishing Off-Grid Power at Siltcoos

Energetic Quality

Journey Phase

Directional Vector

Tags

Summary

Environment

Substrate

Actions

Performed

Referenced

Planned

Entities

Symbolic Elements

Ontological States

Engaged Subsystems

Dominant Language

Hand your life to anything that reads.