Two Letters From Al Fry
(Page 4 of 5)
March/April 1971
By the Mother Earth News editors
Getting the hardware you need such as kerosene or propane lamps, stoves and heaters is usually simple and inexpensive at swap meets, flea markets and junk stores. This is the fun part and I have hardware that is as high camp as the imagination can conceive. If you have room for instance, a little wood-burning stove is really a fine thing to have in your van, novel as it may seem.
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Your portable toilet can be a chemically laced (most cheap disinfectants will work) airtight G.I. ammo box, plastic pail . . . or the superb (and expensive) Porti-Potti available from trailer supply houses.
No matter what your rig is, it will be simply amazing the amount of stuff you'll be able to cram in, under and on it . . . providing the vehicle has the bearings to take it. I've found, as a general rule of thumb, that if your mobile cabin has tires rated eight ply or better mounted on wheels with eight lug bolts (a pretty standard truck setup), the machine will probably carry (and carry safely) any of the comforts of home you're likely to pack aboard. You may want to add coil springs to protect the frame if you really travel heavy but, otherwise, weight should never be a problem.
There is one problem to prepare for in advance, however, and that is the fact that the "no overnight camping in our town" laws are occasionally enforced. Getting rousted out of a city in the middle of the night can be depressing and is probably entirely unnecessary if you have your water storage, portable toilet and blackout window problems worked out before you find yourself on a less-than-friendly city street.
The water and toilet aspects are already solved if you have designed overnight self-sufficiency into your vehicle and the windows can be taken care of with covers of heavy black plastic applied as tightly as possible to the panes. You'll also find it a good idea to skip a couple side windows and install a large skylight on top of your rig when you're converting it. Your camper's interior will be brighter during the day and you'll have fewer windows to seal at night.
If you have the bread to bypass a converted rig and you're in the market for a manufactured motor home, I advise buying a model with dual wheels for traction and lugging heavy loads, a small six engine for economy (a diesel is even better), at least four speeds forward for steep grades and a body roomy up to the point of ill balance.
There is nothing preventing a good life on the road except a lack of guts and gall. Things work out if you try and jobs are easy to find. Maybe you see a road being built in pretty country and you stop and apply for work . . . or you notice a sign that needs retouching or a building with peeling paint and you give the owner a price for fixing it. There are temporary jobs all over if your attire and smile fit the part.
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