Alive Off-the-Grid

It’s been an experience. Not new. I’ve camped lots in my lifetime. Hauled food and water to and fro. But this time it’s different.

I need to row to shore.

Instead of carrying a bag from a car, it goes from bike to boat.

Someone I spoke to the other day said they were jealous.

Perhaps for my waterfront living lifestyle. Certainly not for the daily challenges:

• Firstly, I don’t have hot running water. That’s OK. I boil the kettle. 
• I don’t have a shower on board. No worries, there’s a Community Centre nearby. I include a workout for the shower fee. 
• I have a fridge. Awesome. But I have to run a generator for an hour every other day to keep it going.  
• I don’t have shore power. My lights run on my batteries so I conserve with my use, without BC Hydro telling me I have to.  
• I have flashlights and headlamps that work. An inverter if I need to charge my computer.  
• Water tanks are big. Dishwashing runs the volume. I wash sparingly. Pack water everyday for drinking so I don’t run out.  
• Heat is a diesel. Like lighting a fire I have to prep it each night to get it going. I don’t run it during the day to save fuel. There’s a song I sing, particularly when it’s cold and I need to get it going fast. “Come on baby light my fire!”  
• Once I week I haul out a jerry can and fill up the tank. Once a month I motor over to a fuel dock and stock up.

No lawn to mow. No driveway to sweep. Only a dinghy to bail out every morning at my feet.

That would be off-the-grid living (on a boat).