Meet Rita (short for Chaparrita) - 2000 Ford E450 Skoolie
I (Jenn) adopted Rita from her creator, Craig, in June of 2024, in Sausalito, CA. She's been converted for full time off-grid living. Craig put a lot of love, thought, effort and countless hours into building her. She's 22 feet long, so she's considered a shorty - like me (5'1").
This blog will document our time together...for however long it is and wherever we roam. The good, the awesome, the bad, the ugly and the hysterical.
Rita and I were built for adventures, risk-taking, saying YES to the unknown and spreading smiles wherever we go.
That's just how we roll.
Latest News
Apartment Interlude
It has been almost 3 weeks now since I ‘moved in’ to this little 1 bedroom apartment at the far back side of town. The idea to get away from the beach during Semana Santa was a sound one and this sublet fell into my lap at a great price. I realized there were a full 5 weeks available left on the rental term my friends had agreed to. After a couple of days I decided ‘why not?!’ to taking the entire time. It’s a good opportunity to getting a lot of projects done in Rita and having an address...
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Settling in to an Unsettled Life
A ridiculous amount of time has passed (or maybe so many things have happened, it just seems longer?) and it seems impossible that I can catch up with my regular style blog here. Below are a lot of pictures with sometimes detailed captions - giving you an idea of what's been going on the past couple months. I am still living in and around San Carlos. I really like it! So much is going on all the time and I'm bopping around from beach to beach, depending on what part of town I want to be near and what social...
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9 Months with Rita
March 7 marks nine months since I agreed to buy Rita. Thought I would celebrate with an in-depth look at the more real-world, material aspects of this life so far. Sort of a pros and cons list (spoiler alert: the pros win!) Things I Love About Rita Her LENGTH – 22 ft is short enough to go just about anywhere and plenty roomy inside. Rita gets a bath! Her LAYOUT – she is designed perfectly for me and how I live. She feels like a Tardis – she looks small from the outside, but feels huge on the inside....
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Bus Life in San Carlos / Guaymas
Aside from figuring out where to buy food, get water and finding the best places to pass the nights, my critical project was finding a mechanic. Rita needed an oil change and was also leaking transmission fluid. I had posted on the San Carlos FB page looking for referrals. I had collected a number of options, as well as random friend requests and messages from people who wanted to be helpful. I began contacting mechanics, understanding all too well this was going to be a process. One woman contacted me and sent me several messages and even called me –...
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