I've been reading and enjoying this thread, a few pages at a time over the past week or so. There are many things here I can relate to, from the desire to live simply close to nature to pontoon boats. Back when I lived on a 160 acre homestead in the Superior National Forest I used an Alaskan chainsaw mill and later had a Bellsaw with a big insert tooth blade powered by a tractor power take off belt. At that time I lived in a 32 ft. diameter Mandan Earth Lodge, six sided, earthen floor, wood stove in the center to fend off 40 below outside in cold dark of endless winter. Two of my children learned to walk on that uneven floor and have fond memories of those hard years. I was building an octagonal stone house by hand over many years then and had to sell the land when it was almost done. A heartbeaker for sure. I raised Lac LaCroix Indian ponies there, had a big garden and lived next to a ten acre pond with forest all around me in all directions. I could drum beneath the stars without anybody complaining. Can't do that most places.
Later while living where I am now I had a pontoon boat which I rigged with a Gruman canoe sail. What fun that was, feeling the wind pull me along. It was at that time that I, too, had thoughts of living on the water with a bigger pontoon boat, maybe with a shell from a 16' Bambi Airstream as the cabin (minus axle and tongue) or a bent conduit frame work supporting a fabric "tent" of the same Twinkie shape. Seemed like a good idea at the time. I grew up on Ojibwe Lake north of Ely, Minnesota a few miles from Canada by water. Barelyawake, I can feel your longing for being on the water as I am a waterman, myself. It isn't so much the fishing, or even the incredible sunsets and stars at night... nor the loons and eagles... it is simply being on the water, adrift and free. There's a little Huck Finn in all of us.
I also share an interest in tiny homes, alternative living options, and ascribe to the idea of "less is more". Some years back I had a fishing resort here, was hit by lightning through my left ear and lost much of my hearing, have a permanent brain trauma from having the front lobe fried, nervous system trouble, etc. A few years back I developed a partial paralysis with Guillane Barre Syndrome (similar to Polio) which left me crippled for a couple of years until I built up strength in my upper legs to compensate (which is what led me to motorbicycles and where I am now building them for others). I lost everything from that encounter with the great beyond but my life. No more resort, no more marriage, no easy life. So both by natural inclination and by necessity I have learned to embrace doing with less, making what I have be enough and not linking my happiness or well being to my income. Life is good. My brother allows me to live on his property (part of what used to be my property in the days of the resort) and I wanted to build a small cabin on it for me and my dog Aaniimoosh. The county said no, as it would be two primary residences on the six acre parcel. I got around that by purchasing a trailer to use as a cabin. No cabin blending in to the forest, but I could put up a behometh modern mobile home and as long as it had wheels and no foundation, that would be OK. Go figure. I watched eBay and found a 26 foot Airstream travel trailer in poor condition... lucky I was up in the middle of the night with pain in my feet, cruising the internet... buy it now for $200.00, which I did, borrowed a truck from a friend and went to Michigan to pick it up. The owner just wanted it gone. I rebuilt the interior in knotty pine left over from the resort days and set it up as a little home for me and the dog. We lived in it for several years and even went out to Tuscan one winter a few years ago, then to the east coast in Maryland. That trailer was cold in the winter with almost no insulation at all. I had an old caboose stove from a defunct logging rail line up this way and that was our heat. I ended up giving it to my brother as a guest place for his family when I decided to find a better trailer for a permanent home. By then I knew what I was looking for, a 1940's or 50's Spartan Aircraft trailer made by John Paul Ghetty after WWII and built the same way as his top of the line airplanes. Very cool and the best trailers ever made, bar none. I found one in North Dakota and paid $1200.00 for it. Another $500.00 and it was up to snuff. I heat it with a fireview wood stove and it is adequate even at 40 below zero. I recommend highly that anyone looking for affordable, quality housing on a shoe string budget, find out about Spartans. There is a yahoo group of restorers which has been a great help to me, like this bicycle forum. A couple of years ago I started working as a handyman/caretaker on the east coast as a way of escaping the cold of Minnesota winters. Now that I am an elder, and with the damage to my nervous system I no longer handle winter very well. The days of riding bareback and working in the woods are long gone. So I found another old Spartan, a l951, in Iowa and paid a thousand dollars for it. Another 500.00 brought it up to snuff, too. And now I have a winter home in Western Maryland near Camp David where I caretake. I don't own the property at either place, but have two homes which look nice and are comfortable to live in. The one here is a 57 and is about 40 feet long by 8 wide. The one out east is 33 ft long including the tongue and is a breeze to tow behind my old truck. I'll be leaving Minnesota in another month. So that is another way to live on the edge financially, but live pretty well, nevertheless. I'll never be homeless and everything is paid for. If anybody is still reading this book length post I hope it isn't too boring and at least suggests another way of living small. Barely a wake, it saddens me to think of a fellow waterman landlocked. You'll find a way and I'm doing my part wishing it for you. I think the creator wanted for us to be happy and to live
ful lives. May your spirit shine. Wishing all of you all good things,
Silverbear
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