Now more than ever, our environment needs more defenders. We thought that living in an all solar rig and driving on waste vegetable oil was doing our part. But our vegan road friends, Backroad Bennetts, had us watch Cowspiracy. This documentary made us realize what we eat, specifically meat, has a much bigger impact on the environment than any other aspect of our lives.
Read MoreCome and take a tour of our home, that we lovingly call "The Toaster".
Read MoreWhy would we stop doing something that we were so obstinately for? Something that we believed so deeply in? Doesn’t that make us hypocrites? Honestly, I feel like one. But on the road, there are too many factors that make using a WVO vehicle really difficult.
Read MoreWe all know that recycling can be really confusing: what can be recycled and how should it be recycled? These common questions cause two unwanted things to happen: people improperly recycle and people stop recycling. Both are equally bad. I've compiled a list to help clarify the correct items to recycle, and right ways to do it.
Read MoreSolar panels have to be aimed at the sun to work. I’m serious. They really do. When they are bolted to a vehicle, that doesn’t change...but the location and orientation of the rig certainly does! So where – and how – you park your RV has a big impact on how happy you’ll be with your solar panels’ performance.
Read MoreWe get caught up with the numbers too much. Especially because we keep track of the places we stay, total amount we pay for campgrounds/RV parks, when and if we plug in, how often we shower, etc. We have certain numbers that we are really proud of...
Read MoreI have to admit, recycling on the road is a pain in the butt. This is a common complaint we’ve heard from everyone who lives on the road: where can we go to recycle? This post will share how we find recycling centers - an attempt to make recycling on the road just a tad bit easier for you.
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Big news! The Toaster is 100% propane free! How? By taking out our last propane appliance - the RV stove/oven.
Read MoreWe grew up learning the three pillars of recycling: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. But there's a really important "R" that's missing and will change how you recycle when applied to your daily life.
Read MoreSomething we recently discovered was showering outside the RV. Like most RVs, ours came with an outside shower. But we never used it to wash the dogs or rinse something off outside. We kept waiting for the right combination of circumstances to be able to shower outside: weather and privacy.
Read MoreIf you start reading about off-grid electricity or RV boondocking, you’ll come across mention of phantom loads pretty quickly. A phantom load is something that draws power but isn’t doing anything useful for you directly (and might be keeping itself secret, just to piss you off). Reading about these, they sound like a major obstacle to off-grid living, but our personal experience has shown that these loads are manageable once you understand them.
Read MoreIf you have magic rectangles on your roof that turn sunlight into electricity, you probably want to make sure they get plenty of sun. You probably would go out of your way to make sure nothing else on your roof is casting shadows on them, right? But that’s pretty hard, on an RV roof. There’s not much space, and lots of other things up there to cast shadows. So what about little shadows? Exactly how much do you need to freak out about shading on your solar panels?
Read MoreIn Electrical System Design - Part 1 I broke the electrical systems of our trailer (the Toaster) into the “solar” side and the “load” side, and discussed the solar equipment we are using. This post describes the other half of the system -- the loads, and how we use them.
Read MoreThis is the third part of a four part series that talks about what prevents our RV from being perfect for us, along with potential solutions for the problems.
Read MoreI had the opportunity to be a guest writer for LifeEdited, a great site focused on showing "how to design your life to include more money, health and happiness with less stuff, space and energy. It's life. Edited."
Read MoreThis is the second part of a four part series that talks about what prevents our RV from being perfect for us, along with potential solutions for the problems. This specific post will talk about batteries.
Read MoreBack home I showered daily. Ok, sometimes I'd skip a day if I was lazy or just hadn't sweated enough. But there wasn't ever a need to keep track because I showered whenever I wanted to. I didn't have to think about whether there was enough water or enough electricity to shower. Since in living the Toaster, I don't always get to shower when I want to.
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