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
Rolling Rita Right Into Winter
I’m back on a quiet beach and winter is forcibly moving in. The transition away from the house was busy, stressful, painful and exciting. It was such a mix of feelings – letting go of the free water, outdoor hose showers, (usually good) WiFi, having my bike parked like a normal person (not heaving it up and down from the rack, inevitably getting chain ring grease on my shirt) and being able to have my stuff out and easily work on projects. The heat noticeably dissipated within a couple of weeks. I was turning the AC off as soon as the...
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Surviving Summer in the Sonoran Sun
It has been a long, hot couple of months here in San Carlos. Before I came to Mexico, I thought I knew what hot was, but after living in Zihuatanejo, I learned a whole new level of hot. Summer in the Sonoran Desert is yet a whole ‘nother level up. When I say it was between 106-115 degrees F for the last couple months, I don’t mean we hit a few highs that high, I mean it was well over 105 from about 9am until sundown all day, every day. There were NO breaks. Being the desert, it did cool...
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Flashback to My Rocky Past
You might recall a previous post when my friends Matt and Kendall, visited here several months ago. Kendall maintains a wonderfully in-depth and well-edited video blog chronicling their sailing adventures. She just posted this video that includes our visit. Fun to reminisce about our shared adventures and mis-adventures! In a couple months they are going to be returning to their boat, which is still here - so hopefully we will have some more fun (and no more rocks, wow that is definitely a theme for me...what's it all mean?). You can see the full post HERE and follow along their...
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Collecting Too Many Stones
I awoke way too early again, and enjoyed lazing in the AC a bit longer. I headed out pretty early to Guaymas (but late enough to miss all the morning traffic). I got to the hotel and wanted to get settled in before a work meeting. The RV lot was quite ample and sprawling, and completely empty. I picked a spot and backed in. I went to the office to pay, there was some weird thing I didn’t understand (the price was listed in dollars but I was paying in pesos and somehow it came out to more than they...
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