Moochdocking in Boston

Back to our #moochdocking spot with family. #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife

When in Rome... or in this case the North End of Boston which is pretty much the same thing. We did beignets with @livingistheadventure and @h_livingistheadventure in New Orleans so Mike's Pastry seemed like a logical next step. Great times running around town today with them! #Boston #northend #northendboston #mikespastry #pastrytourism

@advodna_ann's had about enough of ticks. #ticksaredicks

Someone pointed out that we hit 5K followers on IG the other day, which coincidentally comes at a time when we’re questioning why we choose to share so much on social media.

Sure, we could say it’s just for us to keep a record of our adventures, and it’s true that through 6 years of blogging - a honeymoon drive SF to Panama in an SUV with a roof top tent, life on “The Farmlet” learning about our food while becoming parents and almost 2 years living and traveling with two kids in a 25’ trailer - I’ve used publishing as a creative outlet, an exercise in processing my thoughts and as a way to reflect on our past, present and future.

But there’s also no question that we’ve gained a tremendous amount from the relationships we’ve formed because we’ve shared our story, whether a casual recommendation of a kid-friendly brewery in a new town from an unfamiliar username or the constant support of the virtual community, some of which have evolved into friendships we’ll have for life. From Airstreamers to traveling families to overlanders to vanlifers to motorcyclists to homeschooling moms and dads, having a group of people “along for the ride” has been motivating and reaffirming, sometimes sharing in a great day and other times helping to transform a terrible day into a hilarious one. And of course, it's been a way to keep up with friends and family back home, sharing our experiences and giving them a glimpse into why we’ve chosen this lifestyle.

So while I can't quite account for who all of you are (other than those self-described as “Hot Russian Teens ready to chat”), I guess we’re all fulfilling a purpose for each other. I've always found that the people most inspiring to me are the normal people who make exceptional choices, people who make the most of what they have, don’t compare themselves to others unfairly and are happy to see others succeed. I hope we can look back at our stories and feel we've been successful in living a bit that way, and maybe one of you, whether we know you yet or not, might get some inspiration from us. At the very least, you’ll end up with a picture of a shiny trailer, a shot of a cute kid or a laugh at the end of the day. Thanks!

Okay, I'll start by saying thanks to everyone who liked and made nice comments on my last post. This community really is the best, and we're happy to be a part of it. Now back to my usual over-detailed posts about stuff you may or may not care about!

So a while ago, we turned our fridge door into a magnetic chalkboard. By now, some of it has scraped off and I need to repaint, so I figured I'd post a little tutorial on how to remove the fridge door (ours is a Dometic) and make one for yourself. 1) Pry the plastic cap off the top of freezer hinge with a knife. 2) Unscrew the hex head pin while holding the nut below 3) Remove the pin which will look like this. You can now open the freezer door (careful, it's not attached at the top!) and lift it off the bottom pin. 4) Unscrew the top fridge door pin, again holding the nut below. 5) The top nut is attached to the pin and looks like this. 6) Remove the top trim on both doors by loosening three screws. 7) Slide the door panels up and out of the channel. 8) Now, if you want it to be magnetic, Google "galvanized sheet metal lowes." Don't waste time with the magnetic paint. You should find 24"x36" sheets for under $10. Trim with tin snips and glue to the back of the fridge/freezer panel (saves the stainless for reverting!) and spray with chalkboard paint (as many coats as you have time for). 9) Let panels dry for 24 hrs and put everything back together! #airstream #airstreamrenovation #airstreamwithkids #chalkboardpaint

It seems like I rarely walk into a hardware looking for something to do what it's designed to do. I want metal strapping not to anchor buildings but to hang our magnet collection. I want weatherstripping to make our cup holders fit better in the car. I want binder clips to hang towels to dry on the awning. Just the other day, I picked up a couple ring clamps to replace the jar lids holding our change jars by the front door (one for the all important laundry quarters and one for everything else!), a much better solution I got from @c_morsey.

And that's something I love about trailer life. You don't have much, but the stuff you have has a specific - if not the intended - purpose. Or two... or three.

This morning, I finally got around to checking the water levels on our batteries and found them way low, likely after some heavy cycling in the Blueridge fog. I took a mental inventory of the trailer. What did I have that could squirt a fine stream of distilled water into those small filler holes? The kids' silicone smoothie pouches were perfect (a bike water bottle probably would have been good too). 🤓
And one final admission/correction for you voracious readers/RV power geeks. I'd said before that I felt comfortable taking our Trojan T-145's down below 50% of their 260 ah capacity. Honestly, what I've been seeing lately is that when our IPN-ProRemote monitor shows them down close to 130 ah, voltage occasionally drops below 12.0. Never had any issues with anything working, but probably not something to do often. We still love our battery setup, but will use 130 as the usable amp hour number in the future.

#rvpower #airstreamwithkids #airganization #airstreammaintenance

One kid packed (and more excited than this face implies) to spend two nights sleeping over at Grammie's and the other napping. Wait, what's that sound? Oh, silence. #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #airstreamwithkids #tograndmothershousewego

Nothing too interesting around here, but boy does it feel good to get some maintenance stuff off the list while we're #moochdocking for a couple weeks. Hitch repainted with RustReformer and a matte black top coat, oil changed in the generator and about 15 missing rivets on the inside that have been lost to rough roads drilled out and replaced! #rvlife #airstreammaintenance #honeydorvedition

Trading "life on the road" for "life by some rhododendrons" for another week. #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #moochdocking

Where we park at Ann's brother's house, we're a solid 100' away from water, power and sewer. As we drove across country in preparation for being here for a month last November, I put together an "Advanced Moochdocking Kit" on Amazon and had it all delivered ahead of us. The setup - a 12V macerator pump, 75' 3/4" dump hose, 75' 1/2" water hose and a 100' 10 gauge extension cord - cost a bit to assemble, but between that month and two weeks this summer (plus two more weeks planned this fall) has been well worth it! I put a link to our "Advanced Moochdocking Kit" up on the blog in the Sticky Articles section in the upper right and will temporarily put the link in my profile. #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #moochdocking #tinyhouse

Apparently all the homebrew I've been drinking at @advodna_ann's brother's house isn't quite "free." Had to put the kids to work grinding grain for the next batch, and for some reason, he felt I was best suited to weighing out the "fresh ingredients." Afterwards, we may have stopped by @medusabrewing to see how the pros do it. #childlabor #homebrew #homebrewing #moochdocking #canirunataptothetrailer

Make yourselves at home. #homeiswhereyouparkit #thebesthouseguestsbringtheirownhouse #moochdocking #itsnothometilthediscoballisup

Could someone please tell the neighbors we're not having some kind of redneck yard sale? I'm just reorganizing the storage compartments. #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #airganization

I always think our adventure mobile looks so modest without the roof box and the trailer (and with a long overdue hand wash). That's actually only of the reasons we liked the idea of an SUV, so we could pull everything out/off of it and have "regular" - okay, still a bit of a beast - car to get around town. After close to 25K miles towing from CA to AK to MA to TX to FL and back to MA, we've haven't had a single complaint. @toyotausa #toyota #toyotasequoia #gogettergrocerygetter #badassmommobile