Our land

After several weeks of broken hearts and dead ends, the perfect little lot fell into our laps, and with only a couple days left to spare. It's near a river, on a quiet and remote trail, just a 10 minute walk to the beach.

And we've already made progress. In Mexico, nearly every house has a retaining wall. This is for two things, the first being the most obvious, security. The second is to keep your land intact should it rain a lot, and, durring the raining seasons, it rains a lot! We had the retaining wall built, and were working on finishing the fence, water, and septic tank. All should be completed by Christmas. Here's the lot with our proud builder.

Our long term plan is the have a system of Pods built that we can share with friends and family and maybe even earn some rental income. Until then,  and this is finally where the tiny house on wheels comes in, we want to build something comfortable, efficient and off the grid. 

Ready or not...

On December 23, 2010 we headed out for our maiden journey, a 2000 mile trip from Denver, all the way down to the Nayarit Riviera Mexico, just north of Peurto Vallarta. We planned on exploring some of the smaller coastal towns, deciding which town we like best, and purchasing some land. We would then park the RV, and fly home. Perfect right? Here we are on our first night in a Trinada CO Walmart parking lot.

So for 2 more days and nights we worked our way down to the Mexico boarder. We spent one last night in  Nogales, AZ before crossing into Mexico. The boarder crossing is a piece of cake. We showed our papers, paid a small fee, and bam! the RV is legal in Mexico for 10 years. Here we are in Hermosillo, MX with my wife's parents. 

Next stop Alamos Mexico, a beautiful colonial town that shouldn't be missed. 

Then to Celestino and the wonderful beach-front Celestino RV park. Here I am with Zahida's mom and dad.

Next stop: the appropriately named, Playa Amor. Sorry, I know I'm going fast. This blog is supposed to be about building a tiny house. I think a little backstory is important, plus, it was a fun trip!

We stayed here for 5 days until Zahida's parents left on a bus trip to Guadalajara. We then worked our way further down the coast, settling in sleepy Lo De Marcos for the next 10 days.

For the next couple weeks we were busy. Hitting the streets early and staying out all day searching for just the right lot to buy. At first, we focused our search in San Pancho, but after we found ourselves spending our evenings at Sayulita cafe's, we decided to look there.

So...lets back up...

So, lets back up... Last Christmas my wife and I bought a $2,500 motorhome, which we intended to drive from Denver to the Nayarit Riviera Mexico, just north of Puerto Vallarta. My neighbor Ken convinced me that it was better to buy an older RV, and spend some time getting to know the mechanicals so that when something breaks, and something will break, you'll know how to fix it. Well, Ken was right. Along with installing solar, we spent a couple months prepping the RV for the trip. Here she is. 1979 Dodge Tioga, prepped and ready for the trip.

OK... here we go!

Today I bought $200 travel trailer/camper. Year: Unknown. Length: around 26'. Weight: Heavy. Condition: Rough.

Plans: tear down the the frame and trailer. Salvage what I can reuse. Build an amazing tiny house on wheels.