August 9th, 2009
So finally after many months Dh talked me into going to see his land in the middle of nowhere Nevada. The drive there was beautiful, we had just had a rain storm and the clouds were just amazing…
When we arrived at the beautiful oasis of nothing but sage brush and dust Dh started setting up camp. I quickly grabbed my camera and pled “I’m documenting” to get out of helping!
Oh yeah, remember that rain I talked about…..well of course it soaked everything that was the bottom layer on the trailer (a tarp saved the top layer), which of course was MY CLOTHES, and some of the girls. I quickly hung them out to dry so we’d have our pj’s at bed time and clothes for the next day!
Miss L was not too excited about our arrival as you can see.
Oh look my only link to society (and me already wondering what to do with my time)
The view
The ground!!!!
Dh met a guy that moved from the DC area to live off the grid as well. We met up with he and his wife and new baby son and went to their property where they are building and earth bag/earth ship type of home. They are a very fun couple and we enjoyed our time with them. They raise Alpaca’s, check out their blog here, http://montelloalpacacompany.blogspot.com/
Playing bocce ball
Later we went to our property and had smores and then went to bed and slept peacefully until the coyotes came and attacked our beloved dog and we had to get up and show them who was boss……okay just kidding, we did sleep peacefully but there were no coyotes to be heard or seen!
The next morning we walked the property line, for some reason the girls really wanted to!
One corner of the 10 acres (see the stake by Dh’s legs)
There were lots of cow pies and I didn’t see a single cow the entire time. They are probably all dead, I mean can they really survive off of sage brush?
Hard at work I think. Dh heard about homes made out of old shipping containers. He started digging a hole and the girls helped for a few minutes. I started digging with good intentions and probably less than 2 minutes later I lost my gusto and told Dh I had no motivation to dig a hole that would probably be washed away by the rain by the next time we got there. I promptly plugged in my ipod and sang to the world in my camp chair. That is until my dd twisted my arm and made me read some Leven Thumps to her (great book, btw)
And then I stepped on this and had to perform surgery on myself…….okay just kidding, but apparently there are a few cactii around!
So then we packed up camp and checked out the local town, I think around 200ish people and most of them living in trailers. It is so different from anything I know and it is hard for me to wrap my brain around it all. We went to the local graveyard, I would say cemetary but it is entirely too spooky to not be called graveyard.
Apparently during WWI 10 soldiers died from the flu while on the train. The train stopped in Montello and they buried these “unknown” soldiers there.
And also apparently anything goes for marking a gravesite. It was strange to me that the graves were just in the middle of all the sagebrush and there was really no upkeep at all. I am so used to nice manicured lawns and big mature tree’s. Some of the graves were sunken in and my oldest daughter was getting spooked out becasue of it….she was ready to get out.
After the graveyard we walked across the street to the park. They had some fun equiptment but we laughed because it was all spread out so far from each other. I guess they really wanted the kids to get their wiggles out! We ate turkey dogs and then went to the local gas n grocery store where we had a much needed bathroom break and because the sign said for “customers only” we each got a treat. $5.75 in icecream later we were on our way home!
I’m still unsure of how I feel about Dh’s whole off grid dream. I definitely enjoyed our time with the new friends we met and getting away from civilization for a day. I honestly don’t know if I am cut out for it on a more permanent basis. I do know that as far as a structure to live in that Dh and I are not on the same page. Some of those shipping container homes I’ve seen online are pretty dang sweet. I think Dh could live with one, I might need like 10 and it really tripped out inside to make me love it! So there you have it. Go check out his blog for his side of the story!
http://www.montellooffgrid.blogspot.com/
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