Creating a Living Space

The first week or so was a complete blur. We spent our first night falling asleep quickly into a strange (but warm and dry) bed in this bamboo yurt type thing that our friend "KFC" had built the year before.

The second place we moved to was a small two man tent near the "hovel" as we call it. The Hovel is the only solid structure built of wood and metal on the island. It stands at the west end, along with the bamboo yurt and behind that are various building materials. We didn't like being so close to the others, a tent offers very little privacy when you are living in one you really realize that.

The solution to the privacy issue proved to be the very furthest east end. There initially was a bamboo dome shaped area that flooded but remained very shady and cool during the days, with mattresses and a microwave, (lol I'll explain how microwaves are great for parts later). Trash was scattered about, clothes and all the parts to make a garage door. Another unfortunate thing was that there was a precarious bridge allowing access from the mainland, luckily Scotty wanted to tear that down. So, with a little work, and some patience between the two of us, James and I were able to clear out the space at the very end of the island, past the dock with no neighbors, the space had lots of potential.

Now here we are almost five months in and our space has come a long way, but is continually falling into chaos. At it's best we had sitting area's and a kitchen.. and a bathroom with linoleum. But nothing was ever permanent and daily use of space has brought the inefficiency of the layout to our attention and due to other stresses, (finding food, getting 15 gallons of water to the island for drinking and bathing, recycling for money ect), we have never been able to work together long enough to really creating a functional living space. At least not yet.

James is an Aquarius, I am a Virgo. The earthy Virgo analyzes. The Aquarius knows. As our relationship has progressed we are realizing that there is something that blocks our ability to communicate with clarity to one another. We see the world in different lights. Each of us has an aversion to authority or being controlled or told what to do. Rebels in our own right we love one another but have yet to complete a project together.

This is one of the biggest stresses I carry. Chaos rules my living space. Winter is almost here and we are not prepared for heavy rain yet. James will deal with it when he needs to, while I the anxious Virgo wish we could work together long enough to prepare ahead of time. We find plenty of useful items along our travels, we just need to build... I feel the time for teamwork is needed now more than ever between us. We have a pit-bull named buddy and a Papillion named Icarus that depend on us for shelter too. The rain will be here before we know it, the time to build is now.

Baby, How Many People You Know Live on an Island?

Going off the grid in the middle of one of the most dangerous cities in California seemed crazy to everyone.

 

"Stockton has a higher crime rate than Oakland, you're surely going to be robbed or stabbed or shot."

 

"You don't know how to live off the grid."

 

"You'll starve without a 'normal' job."

 

These were the doubts that had been spoken to me, and I carried these voices with me as I sat along the banks of the Calaveras river on a hot afternoon at the end of April 2015 . "I can't believe we're doing this James..." I had told my boyfriend of only 4 days (we had known one another for years however, lol I'm not that crazy..) He looked at me, his blue eyes and dazzling smile melting away my fears, and he told me "Baby... how many people do you know who live on an island?"

 

Well, I had no answer, I knew of none. With all my years of dreaming about bugging out, going off into the wild Christopher Mcandless style floating through my head we loaded up our "boat" with everything we own to go learn to live self sustained in the middle of  the urban wild. I knew nothing of sustainability aside from some brief misadventures in homesteading, and was embarking on an adventure I never could have imagined achieving.

 

Using a dolly, and a rolling toolbox, my lover had created a fantastic cart which we piled all the things we had decided to carry on our journey. We made such a spectale we had car's stopping, asking us questions and strange glances of "These people must be crazy... this isn't the social norm.." We were probably labeled tweakers, or victims of some mental illness. Normally shy and socially anxious I was embarrassed,  the expressions and glances we received as we hauled our life along the levee road told us, "You are not acceptable to society." Good. Fuck Society, I thought. Fuck you willing wage slaves, consumers addicted to impractical products that you work each day just to keep paying off. "These things they aren't buying with money James... the cars, the rent paid the computers and internet accesss and electronics that separate us from actual human interaction... they're paying for it with their lives. Time to earn the money that is non refundable. Offering years of their lives up to barely keep up with the joneses, to satisfy their shallow desires to assimilate to a society that really has no fucks to give for the lower men on the totem pole.

 

James smiled and quoted a favorite modest mouse lyric of his. "Well see what you want to see. You should see it all. Well take what you want from me. You deserve it all. Nine times out of ten our hearts just get dissolved. Well I want a better place or just a better way to fall." He was, and still is amazing to me, and my embarrassment or shame or whatever it was was stilled and I was eager to follow him into the "Urban Wilds" once more.

 

Our "boat" was a huge piece of Styrofoam, with a piece of sheet metal tied atop it... it took us three hours, and several lost items and slips into the water, to get up River Drive less than a  mile east... It was like an redneck scene from a jeff Foxworthy skit, "You might be a redneck if you pack your life onto a barge and go floating down the river sitting atop your belongings.."

 

I carried books with me, and journals, my 8 year old Papillion Icarus. I took an aloe plant, tools and building materials, a VERY small jr 2 man tent and my old bible with a brand new hand made cover. I also took the baby blanket my mom had carried me home from the hospital in after I was born 27 years ago, for "blankie" goes wherever my bed may travel.

 

 I carried all my clothing in huge bags, makeup I would never use again and shoes that would later prove impractical. James brought tools, solar panels from the few yard lights we had, rope, knives, and a strong desire to find a place he where could create for us a better reality. A place where we could create a home. I'm sure he carried fears and worries... but he has little tolerance for doubt my Aquarian Partner, and he has VERY little patience for the worries of me his younger Virgo counterpart. Ah yes we quarreled for the first time in our 4 day relationship... but it was a learning.

 

We finally neared the island I would soon be calling home, where I would meet an amazing group of people, misfits all of us in our own right, but a family in the most unlikely of places. James Hollered as we passed by the thick bamboo covered terrain for the leader of the urban islanders to help us find our docking point.. "Scotty On The ROOF!"