On Saturday, 2023-04-08, I made the decision to forego my two-bedroom apartment with my son, and transition to a more reduced and mobile lifestyle. I had been planning this for many years, arguably my whole life, and circumstances presented themselves which made it a wise decision, almost 2 full years in advance of my envisioned timeline.
I was among those laid off from the technology industry in the first half of 2023, and was already one of those still recovering financially from the widespread economic impacts of COVID. I started and ran a business from ~2016-2018, which was not as successful as I hoped, and it left me in rough shape going into the ~2+ years of pandemic lockdown and the rocky social transition to 100% remote work. Contract work was patchy, and I had several rounds of unemployment in between opportunities.
Additionally, I had been aware for some time that the United States economic structure had inflation built-in and was going to slowly crumble eventually. As 2023 progressed, I observed all the foreshadowing of things to come: mass layoffs across industries, not enough employees to meet demand across grocery and retail businesses, skyrocketing food and gas prices, supply issues for all goods, a rise in homelessness, etc.
All the creative projects I work on require a space to work in beyond Van Living. This is where all my actual possessions reside, and here is where I outline how they are categorized, stored and used.
Documenting the ever-evolving setup I use for van life.
The ongoing solar configuration I use is covered in Power Grid. These are the pictures from 2023-04-19 Van Solar Installation.
First recording, documenting the launch of the migration to mobile living. Covers initial mindset, thought process and approach.
Objectives:
Layers:
This is the configuration of my electrical power brick and “cold stuff”.
Stronghold is my moniker for a mobile carport structure I built, which is a fully functional home that can be lived in year-round, even during the winter months. It previously was the “Burner Name” for my five-bedroom home when I had a larger extended family. I migrated the name to the latter structure, which was built for use at festivals, and was designed to be my living space in the long-term, after my son went on to his adult life.
It has evolved to become the name for all the spaces I create. It moves with me, because it essentially is me, and has had many manifestations, documented below. It continues to grow and shapeshift along with me, through all my ongoing adventures. It’s true form will always be the carport it initially emerged as, and also it will continue to follow me on my life journey and take different forms, showing up for me as it is needed in the moment.
“Gary is Stronghold, and its walls are Gary’s arms.”
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| Gear Lists | 6 |
| Going Mobile | 7 |
| Projects | 7 |
| Upward Mobility | 6 |
| Van Life | 2 |
| Videos | 1 |