It takes a lot of gear to live on the road. A lot.
Not for everyone, of course. Johnny Appleseed could get along just fine, I suppose, with the clothes on his back, a cooking-pot hat, no shoes, and a bag of cider-apple seeds. But us modern folk, even striving for simplicity, we need a bit more.
And for those with full-time vagabonding ambitions, a bit more than that.
As long as it all fits in Libbie.
What Makes the Cut
Practically the first rule of life on the road is that everything you bring has to justify its volume and weight – which means leave the barbell set at home. Space and vehicle load are strictly finite resources, so even things like a favorite acoustic guitar risk being consigned to storage for the duration. (At the end it made the cut, but barely.)
All the gear and getups gotta be good enough to be worth dragging across the country a couple times (at least).
We Research to Excess
We’ve been planning this trip for five years, more time than reasonable people need, but we had kids to shoo out of the house and many, many things to learn.
And we like to research to unreasonable degrees.
So pretty much everything that made the cut has been through ridiculous amounts of debate, comparison shopping, weighing and measuring, field trials, and test-fitting. And as we learn new things on the road, be assured we’ll highlight the most useful acquisitions when we discover them.
Our Philosophy of Things
We learned from Marie Kondo that our possessions should spark joy. These things do.
Our aim is to buy the best tool for the job, buy it once, and make it last. Bonus points for simplicity, small environmental footprint, defiance of blatant consumerism, and elegance.
We plan to boondock (self-contained, no hookups) most of the time we are on the road, so utilitarian considerations for self-sufficient camping are always high on the list.
Beyond all that, things still have to look pretty because, hey, we got eyes.
Don’t Be Deprive-y
We can stay retired if we watch our budget and plan sensibly. This means that although cost matters, getting gear too cheap for the life we’re choosing isn’t a trade-off we need to make. And besides, chintzy goods would make us feel “deprive-y” – our communal, gut-feel gauge that we’d be giving up too much joy to save a few dollars.
Oh, and here’s fair warning that you’ll bump into affiliate links on the site. You do us a favor when you click them, so thanks much for that, really.
And as with everything on Haven’s Path, we hope you’ll tell us about your best can’t-miss gear and goods. We’d love to know what works for you.