My cabin in BC is water access only and I don’t own a boat. I usually stay up for between 1-2 months before the water taxi comes back to pick me up.
One of the things I discovered living up there without access to stores is I don’t need anything. If something would break, I would need to fix it with what was at hand. If I couldn’t fix it, I would lie down on my couch, have a hot beverage, look out at the view for a while, and then an idea would come to me as how I could fix it with what was at hand. If that idea didn’t work, I would repeat above steps. If it still didn’t work, I would leave it. Because it’s hard to say anything is a pressing need when you have shelter from the rain, a good view, and a hot beverage.
Some times I would begin to run out of something like coffee and worry, “Oh, no. I’m going to run out of coffee.� When the morning came that there was no coffee, I would wake up, make myself a cup of tea and never think about it. Then I would start to run low on tea and I would think, “Oh no, soon there will be no tea.� When the morning came that there wasn’t any tea, I would wake up and make myself a cup of hot water. Lying on my couch, drinking hot water, and looking out at the view I felt even happier because now I was free from the need of coffee and tea.
After six months, I talked to my sister about my experiences up there. I said it was weird; I didn’t need anything. I told here how strange it was to come back to town and see a whole society built on exchanging money. She told me it was the Sears and Roebuck catalog that finally got farmers to leave the country and go to work in factories.
You do have a great view! I was wondering a bit about how you plan food for 2 months, what you do take with you and how much room on the water taxi you need for that much food.
Carolyn H.
I always take:
Lots of brown rice
Oatmeal
Soy protein powder
nuts
raisins
eggs
At least 20 heads of garlic
Fresh fruit
carrots
Brown sugar
Coffee
Tea
Dried red peppers
Season gourmet vinegar
other vinegar
Yukon gold potatos
Oil
Salt
There is usually some other stuff but it gets eaten right away. The above are my staples.
That list doesn’t take much room but once I thought about doing the Atkins diet up there and decided it would probably take a barge to bring up that much food so I went back to my brown rice and oatmeal diet.
Sometimes I get very low on food, but I look at it as a good time to practice giving up my attachment to food.
The water taxis are big. I can bring a lot of stuff. My food doesn’t take much room but I usually bring up propane tanks, books, building supplies for what ever current project I’m working on, etc.
Crow,
It seems to me that you actually live the dream. Sometimes when the world is getting me down I stop by to see what you are doing. It always cheers me up. I have to ask you though, what do you do when you need money?
-Marcus
Hi Marcus,
My last day of work was sometime in November of 2000. It was cold and dark and I was working on a paving crew in Eastern Oregon. The last thing I said to the superintendent was, “I don’t want to be here.”
So far I have evaded work for the past 7 years. That’s success to me.
I thought about it, and I knew conventional wisdom would say I should stay and sweeten my retirement account but my thinking was: to gamble that you have more time is the worst bet you can make.
First I was just going to quit to hike the PCT. Then I wanted one more summer and then another.
So far I have lived off what money I have and it has worked out well. I have everything I want.
What has really amazed me is how little money it takes to make me happy when I don’t work. I get up and say, “Whoo Hoo! Another day not spent on the paving crew!” And just that thought makes me happy.
If I find myself in a situation where I need money, I trust I will figure it out. I could always go back to the paving crew but I doubt I ever will.
What is time off, while you are alive and healthy, doing what ever you want, worth?
Hi crow, you’re right! so very! congrats on getting by off the money grid, well a lot more than the rest of us. I’ll bet you’re packing two lifetimes into one by paying attention to now ;0) love your cabin