KristyWell, we CONTINUE to wait for our Taxa Tiger Moth trailer, it’s delayed again (9 months of waiting, this is ridiculous). But we have been promised it’s shipping within the week. We have been promised soon so many times now that we no longer believe them. So we continue to prep in whatever ways we can. At this point we are so anxious to get the dang trailer that we both feel like we have “over shopped” and that the trailer is not even going to move by the time we finally get it and load it! To fill our time we have been focused on cell phone signal booster, fridge, and a toilet (UGH, yeah).
Lets start with the WeBoost. This device increases our cell phone signal and internet speed while we are remote. So, 2 bars becomes 4 bars. The trick is our rig is not the recommended length. The device requires 25 ft from receiver to antenna. Our rig is 15ft long, so we are going to have to figure that bit out once we get the trailer, but we connected this thing at home where our signal isn’t fabulous to test it. Sam gets maybe 2 bars normally. We plugged it in, pointed it in the direction of the nearest tower, got all of the signals to register green (which is tricky) and notta. Dejected we put it away and did more research. We discovered some phone apps that will help you to determine where the nearest towers are and what provider they support. Sam and I have different providers (which doubles the likelihood that one of us will have connection. Tried again and VOILA! We were able to double our download speed and triple upload. FABULOUS! Working from the road has us both a little worried, we really want this to work. The phone apps we found the most useful are Opensignal and CellMapper. I must admit, I am going to need to watch more youtube videos on how to use cellmapper more effectively as it’s very technical.
Then my favorite part, the new fridge! We have camped loads of times with a cooler and ice, and did fine, but it’s a royal pain to worry about where and when you need ice, and everything gets wet! The front of the Tiger moth has a fridge platform and a 12V plug to power a fridge, so this was very exciting. Now to figure out what size and functions we want. This was challenging. How the heck do I know what size I need? I mean without ice you have a bunch more room right? How do I know what the difference between a 45l and a 65l is? more must be better? Ok- second issue? do we want a fridge and freezer? just a fridge? or just a freezer? I want ice for my cocktails but not sure what else I would want to freeze, and don’t want to waist half my space just for a little ice. Sam brought out the ruler and found me a box roughly the size of both the 45 and the 65. That helped me visually understand what we were looking at. It’s just the 2 of us, so I think the 45l would be just fine, no need to cool extra space. Sam had been eyeing this company iceco for awhile and found it was of good quality without breaking the bank. The problem is that their 45l doesn’t have the option for split zones. The 65l you can do both zones freezer, or one zone fridge, one zone freezer, or both zones Fridge. But looking at the measurements it wouldn’t fit on our tongue! Our tongue space is limited as is since we need our generator up there too! That ruled out the 65l completely. So back to what do we do about ice? I found someone on the internet similar to us who likes to have some ice to make cocktails and he used an insulated growler in his fridge to keep ice longer! That’s brilliant. I tested the theory and put some ice in a insulated water bottle and it lasted more than 4 days in my fridge! Ok this can work. So we ordered the fridge (https://www.amazon.com/ICECO-Portable-Refrigerator-Compressor-Insulated/dp/B07TLL68BG/ref=sr_1_3?), with an insulated cover and it has arrived! I AM SO EXCITED! We tested it with our Jackery to see how much power it would use and left it plugged in overnight. It used about 20% of the battery. I think this can definitely work!
Ok, the not so fun part. While Sam was doing some research on Moab he found that most of the BLM lands require you to pack out your waste… yeah, your poop. YICK. Look I have no problem going in the woods and burying it, and using biodegradable paper etc. But, this means we now need to invest in a “potty”, and bags to contain our waste, and then store it and dispose of it. Gah. So amazon here we come. There are tons of choices including some that compost and everything. But here is my big problem. SPACE! I really don’t want to have to haul this thing around! So we settled on this one. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/slredirect/picassoRedirect.html/ref=pa_sp_atf_aps_sr_pg1_1?ie=UTF8&adId=A00587871EYD808MUXCCJ&url=%2FPYFK-Portable-Camping-Folding-Washable%2Fdp%2FB08HLLVGNM%2Fref%3Dsr_1_1_sspa%3Fdchild%3D1%26keywords%3Dcar%2Btoilet%26qid%3D1616941924%26sr%3D8-1-spons%26psc%3D1&qualifier=1616941924&id=298394796769211&widgetName=sp_atf) It breaks down pretty small and we can bring it out only when we need it.
If this trailer doesn’t arrive soon we are both going to go broke!