By Jeff Glucker
Yesterday afternoon, Orange County public health officials issued an order that sounded an awful lot like a decree to shelter in place. Now that’s being walked back to say the language was a bit too aggressive. But it got me thinking about the current situation and the best ways to handle it. I have lots of distractions here at home, but what if I were a road warrior. Not the Road Warrior but a person who preferred to spend their life out away from the rest of us. What vehicle would best work for someone should a shelter in place order come down?
Since I’m sort of daydreaming here, I’d like to imagine I had the funds to afford an EarthRoamer. These are insanely overbuilt rigs that can go anywhere and keep you on the road as long as necessary. Your shelter in place could be a roving one. The cost, as you can likely guess, is … immense. An EarthRoamer LTi like the one pictured above costs around $500,000. The wild HD will run you over a million bucks. These are the hypercars of the overland set.
Something more realistic would be a truck like Zach Bowman built. He spent nearly a year on the road in his Ram truck with its in-bed living quarters. That’s quite a bit more feasible for my above imagined scenario. Going down even further in price though, I could toss a tent, sleeping bags, a fridge, solar power, upgraded batteries, and a few other things into the back of my Montero and we’d be alright.
What would you want to live out of if you had to shelter in place? (And didn’t have a house, or wanted to roam your shelter around the country…)
Kamil Kaluski
Asked and Answered
Asked and Answered
Slightly more humble, but my wife has a tonnage endorsement and spent several summers on 70-ft(? – I think) sailing ships. Scale that back to something suitable for 3 people, and you’ve got a home that moves without fuel (weather permitting).
Don’t tell your wife that when I saw your comment about her tonnage endorsement, I thought you were making a fat joke.
https://i.imgflip.com/2eintl.jpg
Heh, I think she’d find that funny, but I’m not going to be the one to find out.
The Ministry of One-up-ism has prepared an official reply:
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V4yI2TsrniM/WIbgYEKuwkI/AAAAAAAAMvo/9PTSSkSiq6oI0PVXxXQu3IRyBJGwwR9NACLcB/s1600/deathstar_image2.png
yep. That wins…
….
My 1998 Ford would be good for a few days if needed.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eab09bd81470a33b839ce6bf2d62c65af25707b019ec5c6601f957b5f7a2e689.jpg
I’m not sure the wisdom to selecting a vehicle to shelter “in place”, but if you’re going to have a big tailgate party, the first thing you need is a big tailgate.
You nailed it with that EarthRoamer, those things are amazing.
I’m not sure this would be my choice. An offroad vehicle for between 500k and a seven digit dollar price attracts all the wrong visitors. Would I even dare use it right? At this price, it must be perfect, otherwise it’s laughable. Something that is clean inside, rough outside would be easier to live with.
True, that would be the issue with a lot of the “ideal” vehicles. I just liked that it’s off-road capable. If things get too sideways, having the ability to GTFO would help. Otherwise, the average motorhome would be much better.
Yeah, but you hit the Mad Max Conundrum: You will need fuel, and you will need roads. Ideally, a wood gas burner on a lighter vehicle is more apocalypse-suited. Or you go all in:
https://i.ibb.co/QXj0XgY/b6cf2f9677dda6adcd2338fc0ed7c747.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/y6M3LMK/Mad-Max-camper.jpg
I feel like we’re getting back to my EarthRoamer (well, Jeff’s). Other than causing extra attention, I still think it’s perfect. It can go anywhere, probably uses less fuel than a Winnebago (not any more at least) and would be pretty damn comfortable inside.
Maybe a weaponized EarthRoamer? haha
Several of my vehicles have been “in place” for years, so I don’t need to choose just one. I knew this strategy would pay off eventually.
They live sheltered lives, too. You bought it from Harbor Freight, I think.
If you mean this thing, it was from G.I. Joe’s, back when they still existed. I never replaced it after it collapsed during a snowstorm. My new place has garage and carport space for a significant majority of my vehicles and off-street, paved parking for the rest, so, you know, luxury!
https://live.staticflickr.com/7184/6866508661_e857f9ac16.jpg
The best one is the one you already have.
P.S. I really hope the border with Canada re-opens before late August.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0a0f037613f76490db4727873a7f888bbe6d7899f442184d0a247db4588bd20d.jpg
Not much “shelter” there.
On the other hand a big motorhome would be bigger than some apartments, same for some school bus conversions I’ve seen with a rooftop deck.
It’s very agile though. Space for a decent tent, basic supplies and a whole lot of toothpicks.
Aha, so you can dodge the corona virus! 🙂
I haven’t been keeping hugely on top of the news since I’m not going anywhere, but last I heard, the border was still open to US citizens?
*EDIT* nevermind, saw that the border was closed to non-essential travel today.
I’m thinking that there are plenty of aircraft sitting around doing nothing, and give you a lot of space (if not mobility unless you’ve got a licence and a stack of cash for jet fuel).
I’ve got my 34 foot Class A RV sitting there doing nothing right now. It would do fine in this situation. I don’t think shelter in place requires end of the world. So I’d probably trade it in on something a bit nicer than my 2005 race car RV.
On board powerplant that doesn’t need to refuel for another couple of decades, water purification systems, etc., and enough space to store food for a little while.
An electric go-cart track would fit on the hangar deck too.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bf6d42674d82e6495996864334db9a97912c2a3bd5c2d87ca016d87a23ae8eb4.jpg