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
Hangin’ in Santa Cruz
I had to carefully turn into the narrow gates of John and Laura’s long driveway – I managed not to scrape either side. I love this big old house on Pinto Lake. I helped them move in back when I was a professional organizer. That’s how Laura and I met. I adored her from the start, and eventually we became too good of friends to be working together. I love that house, filled with fun and interesting and beautiful art and the wooden stair case that make me feel like royalty everytime I walk down it. I left Rita at...
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To Santa Cruz Again
It was hard to leave Omega Camp, but I knew it would never be easy, I could've spent weeks there, I think! So I decided to make things easier in general by leaving Saturday instead of Sunday - I knew it would take me almost an hour just to get out the 4 mile dirt road, and with the extreme heat it probably wouldn't be wise to spend an entire day driving in it. I wasn't entirely sure where I would spend the night, but I definitely wanted to stop and see my cousin, Diane, just north of Sacramento. Not...
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Omega Camp
Rita got her fancy new tires put on in Fort Bragg and we were off. The first hour or so was the super sketchy winding part where I had to pull over a million times to let people pass. Surprisingly, I’m actually not annoyed at being the slow one. Once we got past that part it was much smoother sailing. Rita was clearly excited about her new tires. I could feel her soul come alive as she bounded along the open road with new and beautiful scenery. This is what her heart needed and she had a permanent smile on...
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Fort Bragg
The first order of business in customizing Rita, was to get a shower installed. There are lines already in place, and a hot water heater. Just needed to waterproof the bathroom, put in a drain and hook up the shower head. Easy peasy, right?! Well...no. I headed up to Fort Bragg, CA to hire my ex for this project and a few others. We owned/lived on a sailboat together for 10 years. He knows how to do everything and he happened to have time to and interest in helping me. 10 long days in Fort Bragg… Did not end up...
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