Does anyone have any experience living inside a Jeep gladiator?

[hjdca]

Be super careful on building costs.... They have tripled the last year or so..... Here in California, it is up to $250 a square foot.

Sponsored

 

[JET_83]

lol, yeah I’m not following

Uhhhh. I'm missing something. Guy currently has a house but wants to sleep in his car for 2 years and then get another house. The grass ain't greener, enjoy your bed

 

[atxatxatx]

lol, yeah I’m not following

I'm just guessing here, but he might have to sell the house to pay for some of the divorce costs. It's probably also no longer suited to him, now that he is single

I love seeing him posting here and being really honest, it's a refreshing post to see. I wish him the very best, you have a very tough but rewarding career. Thank you for doing this.

just as an aside, I think a lot of people who live outside of Texas assume that housing there is cheap - in reality that's not the case, property taxes are very high plus utility costs / service fees really add up, add in HOA fees etc(HOAs are very common in Texas). I lived there many years. Land ain't cheap unless you move far away from the mega cities(and Houston is a huge city).

 

[kb5zcr]

I have a 6x12 cargo trailer that I made into a camper, it has AC and a bed, this was a lot cheaper than buying a camper (I'm also in TX). I use it as my fishing/camping rig. Heck, you might be able to park it at your fire station if your Captain is cool. You might want to think about that route.
Remember that TV show where that doctor lived in an rv in the parking lot?

 

[kb5zcr]

I found some free camping areas in Texas City and Galveston.

 

[BAT]

Hell, I might be in the minority, but I'd say go for it! Get a good air mattress (like an airbedz) and sleep under the stars. Grab a bed tent for if it rains and a pop up shade structure for shade and enjoy an extended camping trip! You could use a tent or something for storage.

If it sucks after a month or two, you could always get an apartment and you at least saved a couple months rent. Just post pictures of your setup!

There ain't no sleeping under the stars around here the Mosquitos will drain you dry before the morning comes

 

[same_O_G]

There ain't no sleeping under the stars around here the Mosquitos will drain you dry before the morning comes

Ahh, lol, didn't think about that! Mosquitoes aren't much of a concern in the southwest.

Maybe you could back the truck under something like this? ?‍

https://www.homedepot.com/pep/Outsu...mhBr0PXQiZc6VfJDcWIaAnJiEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Akgladiator]

Well there is a family of three traveling around the world on a 10 year trip living out of a gladiator. If the three of them can do it for 10 years, I guess it is possible. https://hourlesslife.com/

Definitely a prime example of tree huggers

 

[cuellar13]

If it were me, I'd buy the land, figure out where I wanted the house to be built on it, then invest in a nice steel building on the property that could store all of my shit, JT included. I'd run power and water, set up a bathroom in it, and run a window shaker A/C unit. Post up in there until you build your house, and you will already have a killer garage space/workshop once it's done. Power/water/septic will eventually need to be done anyway, and the cost to have them done is probably only gonna increase over time. Here, they put those buildings up in a couple of days once the concrete is poured. That's just me, though.

 

[Hootbro]

Definitely a prime example of tree huggers

What makes them "tree huggers"?

They are members here by the way.

 

[TheFieldJournal]

I've boondocked out west out of my Yukon XL, and a rental Toyota Tacoma. They were both less than pleasant experiences, with the Tacoma being even more of a pain than the Yukon due to the small bed and small cab for storage. I couldn't imagine doing it for two years.

I'd say if you got a travel trailer, and had a place to park it, go for it. Sam Houston National Forest should allow boondocking or dispersed camping.

 

[HooliganActual]

Remember that TV show where that doctor lived in an rv in the parking lot?

FWIW, that was Trapper John, M.D. one of the M*A*S*H* sequels...

 

[staying_tuned]

Another alternative might be to check out hipcamp. Horrid name but our family of 4 was able to do well and we never spent more than $40/night on our trips from PA to TX, WY, MT, FL etc. Cheaper can be found, we were somewhat limited to availability around our route but what's nice is you're on private property. In many cases you'll have easy access to electric and toilet. Some are very primitive but more often than not, we had the basics. Most have a picnic bench or some sort of table and fire-pit ready to go. Surely if you were to contact them and ask about a reduced rate for X weeks or months, they'd likely cut you a great deal. In most cases we ended up being on a tree-line at a farm, some with free fresh eggs, some charged but it was minimal. Like $1.50/dozen. We must have stayed at 20 or 30 different places and only had an issue with one and that was more a scheduling vs. site issue.

If I was in your position I'd find something for $10 or $15 a night and setup a cheap big-box store tent. We've got a cheap coleman 6 person, here it is on amazon for $80 shipped on prime. We have an iKamper RTT and quality sleeping bags but having this act as a fixed place to crash if we got back to camp late and didn't want to screw with the RTT was a huge help.

We too have been saving for years to build. This past year builders have been gobbling up anything over 20 acres at a premium. Materials are insane, $4 for a 2x4. We fully specc'd out a pole-barn based build too down to county prints. Still ended up being unbelievably high and that was with very modest finishes. What we planned to spend for 50+ acres will now get us nothing more than a 2 or 3. Essentially the scraps that the builders & investors don't want and even those are astronomically priced. We don't see that changing in the coming years.

Wife and I dug deep and decided to give up on our dream (for us to realize in our lifetime anyhow) and shifted everything to ensure our children had the option should they choose in the future. We decided to just keep saving and have it ready to pass down. We recently pivoted to finding a home with acreage and made out well in KY. New construction appraisal on the new place was 15% higher than the accepted offer and we'll have our 50 acres. Sold our home 3 months ago, currently renting down the street. We're still in PA and move next month. I mention all of this because what you're doing is incredibly admirable. If we had your discipline, we'd likely have been exactly where we originally wanted to be years ago. Good luck!

 

[Mister Lamb]

Might be a pain to set up and break down every night but at least youll get a good nights sleep. Throw in a M18 Milwaukee jobsite fan and you'll be sleeping like a king

 

[Adventure Rack Systems]

There's woman on YouTube that lives in her Prius year-round, so anything is possible.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0Xuyhv0xzZVYqkd_2oEh9A

Sponsored