The Building of a Tiny House on Wheels

From traveling the vastness of the earth by public transport to a bicycle came to me as a flash. I got myself a bicycle and I cycled over 5 years nearly constantly, through more than 40 countries, a total of close to 50.000 kilometers.

Then I became tired and reached a point where I needed rest. Like a full stop. I entered a void where I did not know what I wanted, a rather remarkable place to be in, and a receptive one too, as it turned out.

I met Geo, we worked together on a farm in Paraguay, then we took a motorbike to explore little visited parts of Northern Paraguay, married and planned to take off with a truck.

All I love about cycling I want to keep, and all I dislike will be discarded.

• Cycling often made me want to stay longer in the camp spots I found along the route. Some were so fabulous, surrounded by a vastness of nature that I longed to stay much longer than a night, or at best 2 nights. But I never stayed as I was always short of water and food. A bicycle simply won’t allow you to carry much, nor having electricity to read or write.
  
• The food I ate was crappy, worse than what dogs and cats eat in Europe. Canned tuna fish each evening stays canned tuna fish however much anchovies, expensive quality cheese, veggies and good olives I threw in.
  
• It was not a huge issue but my buttocks and the bordering delicate parts made my skin compete hard with sandpaper.
  
• I started to linger in camp longer and longer as I noticed a shift in liking camping more than cycling on.
  
• I wanted to explore the surroundings by foot, make treks or walk around but with a bicycle I was bound.
  
• I noticed that cycling doesn’t allow me very often to be truly in nature, as I am on roads, even if I go off-road, I am still very often between fences.
  

The latter option will be a constancy now we are traveling by truck, so let’s see how that will affect my state of mind.

What I love about cycling is:

• The simplicity of life
  
• The constancy of being outside
  
• A strong bond with your inner self (whatever that is ; )
  
• Strengthening of intuition
  
• Powerful and healthy body and mental state
  
• The realization that life can be lived cheap and basic
  

A truck will inevitably have downsides and upgrades if it comes to life on a bicycle. I am all in for finding that out!

For quite some time, Geo wanted to move out of his house, instead living in the German forests in a little wooden cabin. Just big enough to fit a bed, a little stove to cook, and some space to move between the two. But having a cabin would mean one steady place and this seemed rather boring to him, so Geo would transform a little van into a Canadian style cabin and move around slowly, trying to avoid Germany altogether. He originally wanted a van like a ‘boxvan,’ but with me coming into his life, things changed. Geo’s main needs were:

• High enough to stand upright
• Wide enough to have a normal sized bed which fit from side to side
• Good insulation
• Enough solar power
• A stealth look
• A wood stove
• Self made and -designed wooden interior
• Sturdiness, unlike the usual collapsible features in a mobile home

As soon as we left Paraguay and reunited in Germany, Geo started the search for a mobile home. Many models to choose from, but me having a great disliking for ready-made mobile homes, the choice for a truck was easily made. Although we could have gone for a little van like a Westfalia or Sprinter, it turned out BIG.

Geo transformed this 2007, Iveco Eurocargo 7.5 ton truck with its 160 hp by himself. Without getting too much into planning he started and within a few weeks the truck was livable enough to start trying. Our home, the Truck, was born.

The space we have inside counts 15 square meters. We have 4 solar panels giving us a capacity of 400 Watts. We can carry as much water as we want (at least 200 liters). There will be a compost toilet, a very big kitchen and two independent sleeping compartments.

The Truck hopefully will be our steady home, a home not anchored to the earth, but where we can move to places with, changing the surroundings. To me it seems a solution, and even a logic continuation to cycling life. Though, it is not a cheaper way of moving than a bicycle!

More about the details in a next post. Be updated when you are curious about another way of living. 🙂

When you read this and are more experienced with living a van- or mobile-home life, we’d love to hear your advice or experience.