Tiny Living WITH Big Things...And Loving It
38 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | AUG 2018
By Amy Callahan
Quick run-down if you’re just tuning in:
Who - Robyn: husband, college student, part time avocado juggler, veteran, Andre the Giant’s relative (he’s huge, 6’7”). Frank Zappa: 65lbs, rescued
off Victory, bug killer, loves blankets, prefers being little spoon. Opie: 75lbs, rescued 2 days before euthanasia, wood whittler, fave toy Robyn’s
sandals, prefers superman position. Amy: AKA Batman, wife, cosmetologist, enjoying the ride!
What - Instead of building a tiny house, we weren’t sure if we’d like the lifestyle, so we decided to buy a camper and truck instead.
When - May of 2017. We had talked about this 4 years ago, just didn’t follow through. Both the truck and camper were purchased by October of
2017.
Where - Anywhere we can, but hopefully Tybee Island as often as possible.
Why - Landlords haven’t been fun in Savannah, Robyn is finishing up his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Georgia Southern in
Statesboro, see if we can downsize and live like minimalists indefinitely.
So Robyn and I were on our way to Myrtle Beach to pick up our camper home! The trip there was uneventful and the truck ran well. We went through
the process of paperwork, everything was all good and camper was as beautiful as we imagined! We hitched up and off we went back to Savannah
to put in storage. Along the way we decided the duo would need names. Long story short we decided to look into Norse mythology. We ended up
naming the truck Rona, one source said it meant “mighty strength.” The camper was named Gerdi, another source said she was a frost giantess
whose name meant “protective enclosure.” Perfect, right!
We were riding along, and forty minutes outside Savannah, we needed gas. We pulled out our handy apps that told us where diesel stations
would be. Well, as we now know, they lie sometimes. Usually no big deal, just go on down to the next place. Robyn tried to maneuver a U-turn and
succeeded in giving Gerdi the first FLAT TIRE.
We were there maybe 10 minutes before a man stopped to ask if we needed help. YES PLEASE! Turned out this fine gentleman owned a tire shop
down the road. He ran down the street and came back with a truck that had everything to replace a tire for a big rig. I would like to nominate him to
be in the crew pits at NASCAR. He had the tire replaced and us back on the road in no time!
We had Gerdi for 2 months before we actually moved in. This gave us time to finish getting rid of our crap, and what we couldn’t part with, we put in
storage. We also painted some of the cabinets and replaced the hardware. The trim was cheap plastic material, so we put up raw cedar planks. We
love the smell and the transformation it gave Gerdi. It was starting to feel more like OUR tiny home every day!