Well, this is very meta.
I'm shooting a video of myself while I'm editing the video that you're currently
watching. Last week was, you know, was,
was kind of tough, you know,
with all the investigative reporting and everything. So I figured this week,
I'll just do something nice and simple. I'll just do like a little, um,
interview and rig tour, nothing complicated.
Unfortunately complicated seems to follow me.
What was the reason why you did it? My home
Was stolen from me by with forged documents. See what I mean?
Hi, I'm Dee and this is my little tiny home.
I kind of call it my gypsy wagon. And that's what it will remind you of,
when you see it.
We started out with a 1975 road ranger that I got for $280.
I got it from a guy who used it for hunting. So it was pretty much trashed.
It was pretty much gutted, and it reeked of beer and cigarettes.
And I threw all my materials, my wood and stuff in it,
hauled it from Oregon down to my son's in Mesa.
My son helped me to build it. It's got a steel frame, he's a welder.
We tried to salvage some things on it and ended up,
he finally got fed up after three months. He took a saw to the original trailer.
The whole thing just ...
What I suggest is to spend the money, get a proper frame,
and I would suggest two axles because of the tendency to,
I have a really heavy duty hitch that does a levelizing, um,
anti-sway.
But you've got just one axle?
I just have one. This is seven foot by 12 foot.
Can you show me what you tow it with?
Oh, now I have this suburban. I used to have a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
It's four wheel drive. My Jeep was not. It's big.
So can carry passengers, which I couldn't do before.
This tows 8,600 pounds.
My Jeep only towed about 5,000. The roof is really good.
It's not like most RV roofs, because we did it like a house roof,
which gives a whole lot more insulation.
So it keeps it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.
My little porch that folds down, I wanted a 4 foot patio and he goes,
well, you can't even put a table and chair on a 4 foot patio.
I'm giving you a 6 foot patio. So that's what I got.
And it folds up when I travel and these poles,
I just got off of Craigslist free.
And so I have it all worked out so I could pack them up against it.
So how does this work? It's on these levelers.
. Yeah. Well this, this,
these are all manual and this just lifts up.
It's on hinges over here.
Right? But it's fully manual. Like there's no hydraulics or anything.
At this point it's fully manual. I would eventually like to do,
I think just some pulleys. I don't even think I have to like make it fancy,
but just some pullies might help. I can get it up myself.
And once it's up there, it pretty much stays up while I strap it.
I do have my own land up in Washington, I camp there mostly in the summer.
And so then it's there for like three,
four months at a time until I start traveling again.
This year - I'm I used to have a store and I gave up my store.
What kind of store?
Dee's arts antiques and collectibles.
Me too. I had an antique store too.
So you'll see when you go inside that, you know,
people think it's like a museum. And then when I travel,
I'll leave it up unless I'm going to be, because it is kind of a pain. I This is
the first thing I tackled on my own, which was not easy.
And I know it doesn't look great, but it's all salvage and it works. It's my,
my batteries, my tools as I call it my little tool shed,
those things all go in there when I'm traveling. So, you know,
and then of course,
this is my electric and I don't have it through the walls and
stuff. It's just a cord on a, you know,
one of those things that you plugged stuff into,
if I go to a campground or if I'm parked at somebody's house or something,
I can plug in with this. I have my two solar panels up there, 200 Watts.
And I only have one battery now, but I will get another one.
And this is from the original trailer, but quite modified. When it's down,
it really looks cute. And then over here, this window, I got for 10 bucks at a
Craigslist or something. I am going to put a screen in here.
Cause in the summer here that'll help a lot.
So, you can come in.
You know what I can't get on camera is how nice it smells in here.
This was an antique changing table. And
so I turned that into my own kitchen galley, and I'm learning some things.
I got some other good ideas for how to make my things down here.
Like my food slide in and out easier. Cause they're really hard to move.
And then, this table comes up. This is,
this is the antique table I was telling you about. And it's anchored in there.
So I use this,
like I have my little grill there that everything's
like, you know, real furniture that can move
when I'm traveling. I hook it in. So it doesn't move.
And this is the same thing. This is an old, it's an antique typewriter table.
And it goes up and down on both sides so I can move it around.
I can move it to here. I can move it around,
wherever I want to use it. I do have more bungees than I would like,
but it'a a necessary evil because I didn't build anything in.
If I were to do it again I would build some kind of built in cupboards.
If I took these things down, I used to, when I went to my land,
I take it all down,
but then it would take me two to three days to get ready to go. Now,
just leave everything strapped in. You know, there's a few things I undo,
but it only me an hour to get ready to hit the road while I'm traveling.
I take this one, I, I tied on permanently to see how well that worked.
And I might end up doing that. Um, because it's kind of a pain.
I take them down and set them on the bed when I'm traveling and then, you know,
they're out of my way and they don't fall. And then when I stop for the night,
I just put them up. And so,
and then I have all these - food in there.
It looks a little sloppy and messy.
It looks lived in that's all.
Anything that's loose has a place.
I'm suspicious when things are too neat. I have ADHD.
So, you know, out of sight, out of mind.
A lot of people don't like so much stuff, you know,
that's um - and then these lights are great cause they have the USB things here
so you can charge them and they give off,
like I have this one gives off so much light. Like if I want to sit and work,
it gives off a lot of light.
And this flooring is getting a few - I wanted it to do really good flooring.
This is that laminate.
This is going on the third year and this is pretty much shot.
Tell me about this painted piece down here.
Okay. Now this is actually my toilet toilet. Inside - well here,
I'll show you the whole thing, um, it's,
it's real easy to use.
Cause normally this is the only thing on it and it's real easy to undo it.
And then you pull this out and I kinda made my own one,
but I didn't want to pay 12 bucks or whatever they charge.
That's probably the prettiest toilet I've seen.
And when I got luxury there.
And I made my own combination of buckets in there that I use,
it's definitely nice to have.
What about that cabinet?
I actually got that A long time ago. I think I got it at Pier One Imports.
I keep food in there. It' got nice shelves.
This is a necessity for out here. It's a fly swatter, electric battery operated,
fly zapper . I keep my food in there mostly nice.
I have all the Christmas led Christmas lights.
And so when I plug into electricity, that's theirs.
And then I don't have to use these guys. And I do photography.
That's one of the ones I have over there. And I love,
I love my legal and that's crazy to travel, but it stays there.
But I do really like having my, my artistic stuff.
I like to maybe clear this off. I'm trying to get to where I have less stuck in
my little decorative things that my cow with you
have. This is something I was just going to work on.
So it's normally not sitting here.
It's like a little nest.
And so you can see the beauty of that wood.
I did this completely myself and it was a challenge. It was, I mean,
I know all my mistakes trust me,
I would do it very differently if I were going to do it again,
but it is really, really something special.
I love it.
This is my little butane stove,
which I discovered last year at the RTR this is so easy to use.
And here I found on Amazon, I can get this volume,
I think a dozen a time. And it comes down to like $2 and 22 cents.
My next big purchase is going to be the true refrigerator freezer, 12 volt.
And then, and then I collect rocks, and my son is actually,
it's a 3,500 pound axle,
but he's still worried that I need something better.
It says you pick up so many damn rocks, you know?
So it sounds like your son is really supportive.
Oh yeah. My daughter's not so much. So no, she'll at least say, Oh,
that's interesting. But you know, but my son supportive. Yeah. And I mean,
I don't have a choice, you know, I don't have money to live any other way.
How long have you been doing this?
Well, I lived in my Jeep for two years.
And then I'm going on to the third year in this.
What was the reason why you did it?
My home was stolen from me by - with forged documents and
by some multi-billionaire I know who he is, a guy named (BLEEP) in Texas.
Multi-billionaire down in Texas.
So I've heard that I've heard about this, this deed theft and all that,
but some people say, Oh, that doesn't really happen.
It does happen. He targeted older women.
There was a group of us that were targeted and I used to help everybody and I
got burned out and I ended up getting deathly ill. And, um,
I it's just been, I'm still struggling with how sick I got,
um, because of the stress. And if I'd had an attorney,
they never would've gotten away with it,
but I didn't have money for an attorney.
So they forged a document?
They forged documents, made it look like they had my mortgage,
which they did not have. And there was so much, it's so obvious.
And the law is very specific about what they have to prove.
And the courts just let it slide by. They didn't have that.
The law is on my side. The evidence was on my side.
The courts just assume things. And instead of looking at the evidence,
I lost everything. And um, I,
I'm still traumatized by it. I'm going to still try to do something,
but I have very little hope anymore that anybody's going to do the right thing.
I'm dependent on my kids. And it shouldn't be that way. In a way.
This was such a godsend because finding these videos and learning about this and
that people choose this way of life helped me,
even though I didn't technically choose it. Now I'm feeling like, you know,
content that I have something. I'm very grateful for my little home.
And even if I ended up finally getting restitution for my property,
I will not go back to that kind of living.
I will use that money to buy land where other people,
we can do tiny home communities.
There's not enough places for people with tiny homes to be that's safe and more
permanent, where you're not having to move every two weeks. You know?
And I feel that that's a real need, a big necessity in our society.
And these are alternatives and I see the tiny home movement and the nomad
movement as a way to survive and be able to live with some sense of
dignity, I didn't do it by choice.
Um, but now that I am doing it, I love my little home.
I'm very happy that my son helped me to build it. But anyway -.
I
just want to be clear that I didn't bleep out the guy's name because I'm like
afraid of getting sued or something. It's just, I mean,
I haven't even Googled this. You know,
I don't want to be pointing fingers on my channel until I do.
Not that I'm saying I'm going to do it. I'm not promising anything.
Dee
seems like a nice person. She seems like a credible person.
If this happened, I mean, if this guy did this,
then somebody should be talking about it.
I'm not saying it's going to be me. I'm just saying, It's not gonna hurt to
just look and see what I can find.
How
did I get here? When did this become like the Nancy D rew channel?
I remember I used to have so much fun.
Just like installing a sink with you guys. Remember that?
I'm going to go watch that again. Come with me.
Remember like commenting makes your hair shiny. We had a lot of fun!
The good old days.