Our Wi-Fi hotspot completely
changed how we live while
camping. With our smartphones
and a Verizon MiFi, our internet
in the RV is faster and cheaper
than at our old place in Fort Col-
lins. Joe can teach music lessons
over Zoom, and Allie can work
remotely. To find areas with cell
coverage, we use a premium
camping service called Road-
pass Pro from Campendium.
It includes cell coverage over-
lays from AT&T, Verizon, and
T-Mobile, plus reviews of a given
area’s connectivity from other
campers. We haven’t had any
major issues since we started
using that, but we still text each
other “hi” when we park to see
how quickly it goes through.
Nothing makes you more
aware of your energy usage than
living in an off-grid RV. One of
the first things we did during our
renovation was replace all the
Bigfoot’s old incandescent bulbs
with LEDs, which use about 85
percent less power. Those LEDs
and our ceiling fan are the only
electrical things we use regularly,
and neither consumes much
power, leaving plenty of leftover
juice for our phones, laptops,
iPads, and Wi-Fi. Still, we try
to save on the margins. One of
our recent purchases was a tiny
24-inch TV. Aside from being far
superior to watching Netflix on a
MacBook Pro, it uses less power
than streaming on the laptop,
which was a bit of a surprise.
We have 200 watts of solar
panels, which is easily enough to
charge up the 12-volt battery in
the trailer every day. We haven’t
run out of electricity yet, but if
the solar did go out, we’d prob-
ably have a couple of days of
power if we were careful.
At first, we’d lean the pan-
els against something on the
ground when we parked to juice
up our gear, but that was a giant
pain in the ass. We eventually
installed them up top (many
solar panels will include mount-
ing hardware) with VHB tape
and Sikaflex adhesive. Some
would advise you to screw your
panels into place, but we didn’t
want to put any more holes in
our roof. Regardless, mount
your panels. It’s a huge time-
saver. We’d love to install a
lithium-ion rechargeable bat-
tery setup at some point so we
can run higher-power appli-
ances like a Vitamix or a large
Instant Pot, but our giant RV
batteries have been perfect for
the way we like to live. We’re not
running microwaves and coffee
machines; Joe hand-grinds our
coffee beans every morning,
and we have the propane-fired
stove, water heater, and refrig-
erator. For extra lighting outside
and in, we have USB-powered
string lights and portable
lithium-ion battery-powered
lights that work great.began using the convertible dining room table
as a bed. The table was almost meant to collapse
in alignment with the surrounding seats, but we
removed the aging conversion mechanism and
installed a collapsible table leg that looks simi-
lar to something you’d find in a ’60s diner. It’s
nicer to look at and makes for a sturdier table.
When we’re ready for bed, we collapse the table
and add a four-inch memory-foam topper. It’s
great for us, but it puts our two Chihuahuas,
Maya and Ruby, in absolute heaven. Some-
times since the couch is now free extra space,
we leave the bed down on weekends, as a treat
for ever ybody.
Climate control was both a trouble area and
a triumph in our renovation. Fiberglass natu-
rally provides better insulation than most
other RV materials, and our Bigfoot Deluxe
model has an even thicker layer of insula-
tion than some other fiberglass trailers. That
makes this one of the only true four-season
RVs. It stays toasty in the winter, and, thanks
to the terrific cross-ventilation from multiple
windows, it keeps us cool in the summer.
The windows are a double-edged sword, how-
ever: There’s no air conditioning in the Bigfoot,
which means when it’s 100 degrees in the Ari-
zona desert, no amount of crossbreeze can keep
things pleasant. Our most significant improve-
ment in this regard was installing a Maxxair
ceiling fan, which can blow air in or out of a hole
in the roof. The Bigfoot had an original ceil-
ing fan, but Allie’s brother, a van-life veteran,Stay
Connected
from
Anywhere
on Earth
(and Charged)Our 30-amp
solar charge
controller.Our Verizon
Jetpack MiFi
8800L hotspot.48 May/June 2022