Hello all,

A lot has happened since our last post.  We had our aerobic septic system installed, added indoor plumbing, framed out the container, and added two barriers of insulation to the walls.

The addition of indoor plumbing and the septic system was extremely important because our guests previously were somewhat limited to fellas.  Camp Wanderlust is now gal friendly.  In choosing a toilet, it was important for us to select a dual flush system to conserve water.  We have been very happy with the system.

As a natural extension of adding indoor plumbing, we moved forward with framing the interior at 16″ centers.  There was a lot of debate around this area, because we went back and forth about optimal insulation given our environment here in Texas.  Given our budget, we decided to move forward with 1/2″ R-Matte Plus rigid polyisocyanurate foam boards and Owens Corning EcoTouch pink fiberglass insulation rolls.  Coupled together, we have an R-value of approximately 16.  Given this selection, we had to resort to framing at 16″ centers.  Had we chosen to go with closed cell spray foam insulation or some other medium, we could have spaced out our framing a little more.  That said, the overall cost would have been much higher.  Another challenge is the fact that we already had the container furnished with no place to put the contents had we decided to go with a spray-type of insulation.

At this point, the walls are framed and insulated.  Also, we framed in a bathroom around the toilet.  We used knotty pine 30″ pocket doors to conserve space.  In framing in the bathroom, we allowed for a generous sized bathroom with room for a future wooden soaker tub and other amenities.  More importantly, we allowed enough room at the far end of the container for a second bedroom that can accommodate a king bed.

The next project is to wire for electrical and a home automation system, insulate the ceiling, add lighting, and conclude with 1/2″ birch wood walls and a tongue and groove pine wood ceiling.

Thank you for following our progress here at Camp Wanderlust.

Hello all. We finally completed our outdoor shower + tub. We ended up going with a one-use 330-gallon Schutz Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC) tote that I purchased on Craigslist, a Rubbermaid 100-gallon tote, cedar posts harvested from the property, 5/8″ lag bolts, some lumber from the local Home Depot, a propane Triton outdoor water heater, a deep cycle marine battery, a Flojet on-demand pump, and 6′ corrugated panel siding. I am really happy about the way it turned out, and it works great. That being said, I need to build an enclosure around the water heater to prevent the pilot flame from being blown out by the wind. Additionally, I would like to replace the shower curtain with a hinged door.

We also rented a rock saw from Buddy and the fellas at Dripping Springs Rental Center. They are some good ‘ole boys. I enjoyed meeting all of them and look forward to joining them some afternoon around the table to have a cold one and talk about the local issues. The rock saw was my first experience with ‘real’ machinery; it was a great treat for me to get on there…almost like therapy. We trenched for underground electricity and water and used the front blade to push around some brush piles.

All of these projects led up to my birthday get together. I woke up early that morning to a beautiful burnt orange sunrise. The air was cool and crisp. I could not ask for better weather. There was a lot of work to be done that day. We had some wonderful neighbors and friends join us that day. I received wonderful homemade desserts, treats, and other delights. Thank you to all who came out and for your generosity.

I will close this post with comments about our outdoor theater and LED lit water tanks. My brother gave me his mini outdoor projector, a really cool Bluetooth waterproof outdoor speaker, and some 10 watt multi-color light bulbs for my birthday. We use the projector and speaker for our outdoor theater experience. We project onto the side of the corrugated container. The picture is approx. 120″ and is pretty remarkable quality. As a side ADHD distraction, we lit up a couple of IBC totes with color changing LED lights. It is really cool.

Well, time to run. I have some work I need to get done before packing up to visit my family for Thanksgiving. Thank you to our service men and women, family, and friends. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. Be safe and be considerate if you are hitting up Black Friday shopping. There are some vicious shoppers out there.

Stay well.

Hello follower(s) (Mamacita – my one and only favorite follower).  My brother is in town helping me out this week to finish the outdoor shower and run electricity from the meter pole to the container.  Tomorrow is a critical day, which may be tough since I am headed into Austin to hang out with my old roommate and good friends from NY.  They are relatively social and tend to pressure me into exceeding my limits.  I will have to watch myself this evening if I want to be productive tomorrow.

Today was amazing.  My brother, old roommate, a very good friend, and some buddies and I went to the UT vs. Iowa State game at DKR Stadium.  With the passing of DKR earlier this week and the fact today is Veteran’s Day (thank you to all of the men and women who serve our country), the game was special.  They had an amazing tribute with a jet flyover and other spectacles.  Unfortunately, we were a few minutes late to the game because I slept in trying to recover from yesterday evening’s events.  This caused us to miss a few of the pre-game events.  However, we did get to see the Wishbone opening formation that helped propel UT to three (3) national titles under Coach Royal’s guidance.  It was really neat, and the play was a great success!  I think my favorite part was the halftime band formations.  The UT band did a great job honoring our service men and women as well as the late Coach Royal.  I made an attempt to capture the moment with my Mamacita’s camera – thanks for letting me borrow your camera, Mamacita.

This evening some very dear friends/family came out to check out Camp Wanderlust and hit up the local wineries.  Sarah and Emily, thank you for your visit.  My brother and I drove to Driftwood Estate Winery and the Duchman Family Winery, where the four (4) of us enjoyed tastings.  Both venues were hosting beautiful weddings.

At Driftwood Estate Winery, the associates greeted us with bright smiles and wonderful wine.  They also gave me some recycled wine bottles, which I will use for landscaping and decorative accent/conversation pieces.  Thank you to my friends at Driftwood for the bottles.  I hope to get more during other weekday visits.  As a special bonus while at Driftwood, I met six (6) beautiful ladies from the greater Houston and Austin areas.  They were very sweet.  Lauren (sp?), a Texas Tech grad, was there with her dear friends and wedding party for her bachelorette weekend.  I later discovered, while coincidently running into them again at Duchman Family Winery, they had rented a limo and were doing a tour before heading out to Canyon Lake to stay the evening.  If you ladies are reading this post, I really enjoyed meeting you.  Lauren, I wish you and the lucky guy that gets to call you his wife a blissful life together.

The bride-to-be’s future sister-in-law, also named Lauren, was a fellow UT grad.  We had a nice conversation about her non-profit social work, the UT football game (I still had my burnt orange shirt and sneakers on, which served as a catalyst for speaking about the game), and the fact A&M had just moments before taken down the titan ‘Bama program.  I am upset for my cousin Jon who attends Alabama, but thrilled for my good friends who attended A&M and myself who is still hung up over UT’s loss to Alabama in the 2009 title game.  Alabama has a great program, but I am ready to see another conference win the title.  Perhaps my late grandfather’s Kansas State Wildcats or the thrilling to watch Oregon Ducks will be hoisting the title trophy in January.

Upon arriving at Duchman Family Winery, we weaved through the full parking lot before slowly making our way up their elegantly lit walkway to the tasting room.  With the wedding reception underway, we wrangled through the crowd and got to the bar.  The associates there are also extremely pleasant and greet you with glowing smiles.  Sarah and Emily enjoyed tastings while my brother and I admired the venue and its wine processing and bottling areas.  It is really remarkable to see the entire process that goes into making the wines we ultimately enjoy.  I also had nice conversations with the associates and the bachelorette party.

Well, I need to go for now.  I am headed back into Austin for the evening and my old roommate gave me strict instructions that pre-game at his hotel suite starts promptly at 9:00.

Thanks for following our progress and adventures here at Camp Wanderlust.  I should be posting some new pictures of the outdoor shower and corn hole boards in the next few days.

Well, I am now connected to the outside world with cable and internet.  This is my first post from location.  My Dish Network installer showed up early this morning after a long and sleepless night in the container.  I am suffering from some flu-like syptoms and it did not help that I overloaded my surge protector last night by plugging in a space heater.  Needless to say, with temperatures dropping down into the high 30s and the container not yet having insulation, it was like a freezer box in here.

My installer was great.  He ended up mounting two receivers on the roof for satellite television and satellite internet.  He had to build both on site because the installation was atypical.  Much appreciation to him.

Within the last few days, I have been working on the outdoor shower.  I received a little motivation and know-how from my good friend Bob Brunson, the gentleman behind http://thegreenestlittlehouseintexas.org/About_Us.html.  He is currently leading a workshop on building an earth ship/monolithic dome house.  While camping on the worksite, I took some notes on his outdoor shower and got to work on my own when I returned to my property.  It is tough work.  The drill bits are having a tough time getting through the cedar posts and the ground has quite a bit of limestone, so digging the holes for the posts has been exhausting.

Looking forward, my brother gets back into Texas next week.  We are planning to install a restroom inside the container with a dual flush toilet and stainless steel utility sink.  We will have to be creative as wet/plumbing partition walls will need to go up in advance of having insulation in place.  Also, I want to avoid penetrating the corrugated steel with screws, so we are likely going to have to make small welds and/or use tension bars similar to a curtain rod to hold the studs in place.  Septic permits were filed this week, so we are just waiting on the county to approve our application before the septic system folks can commence work.

Until our next posts, stay well.  Thanks for reading.

Hey guys, Pedernales Electric Coop (PEC) installed the 25kVA transformer pole and the meter pole with meter base/loop today.  We have electricity folks…and the lights come on without the hum of the 5,000 watt Honda generator running in the background.

The guys from TexasData – wireless internet for the Texas Hill Country – also stopped by today to evaluate whether my current configuration can benefit from their services.  Unfortunately, the “fixed wireless” network (Canopy microwave platform developed by Motorola) they use operates at a frequency that requires a direct line of sight to their towers.  The problem is my live oak trees are too tall to accommodate this requirement.

To my surprise, I came up with the idea of using the recycled electricity poles PEC released into my custody to mount the radio dish.  The special thing about this idea is that I expanded upon it and have landed on the idea of putting up three (3) poles in a triangle pattern spaced approx. 10′ apart.  My plan is to build a deck at about 20′ above ground level that will serve as an observation deck to take in the hill country sunset, play cards with my buddies up in the air, serve as my bow stand/tower, and lastly as a launching deck for a planned zip line that will span approx. 400′ to the southeast corner of my property.  This solves the problem with the internet, allows me to use the recycled electricity poles I have sitting on the ground, capitalizes on the topography of the property, and provides additional recreation/utility.

If you have ever witnessed the process of running an electricity line extension, you would understand that my idea of building a zip line is essentially the same as running new electric lines.  Now I just need to see if PEC or another utility group that has the truck/equipment that drills, lifts/places the pole(s), and runs the line(s) can help me out for a fair price.  Pretty exciting idea, huh?  Things just all came together in my head as both the electric company and the internet guys were on the property at the same time.

The last thing I will mention in this post is the idea of adding humming bird, butterfly, and bird houses/sanctuary environments on the property.  I am placing a great deal of emphasis on the xeriscaping, which will include plant/flowering species that attract all of these beautiful creatures.  As an added benefit, I am fairly certain there are property tax benefits for creating the environment I am speaking about in my area.

Hope you enjoyed today’s update.  Thanks for reading and supporting our passion.

Hello all.  I have decided to start a blog about my country living adventure.  I closed on approximately three (3) unrestricted, beautiful oak and cedar covered acres near Dripping Springs, Texas on September 26th.  I chose the site because it is located near several large ranches in what some are now considering the ‘Tuscany of Texas’ belt, an area that is gaining world-wide recognition for its wineries and vineyards.  My property is just down the road from a few very nice wineries and an exotic ranch.  I recently became a wine club member at one of the vineyards.

On October 2nd, a shipping container sales, lease, and fabrication group out of Dallas – LC Container – delivered my 45′ Waterfront conex shipping container.  The container was originally a deep red color, but because of its age and some rust spots, I chose to have it cleaned up and painted white.  In doing so, I was very keen on leaving the original shipping markings.  I love the charm and idea of taking a box that once transported goods across the globe and repurposing it as my home.  I never even considered changing the character of the container.

Before I forget, electricity will be added to the property by Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) on 10/16.  Septic will be coming in the next several weeks, hopefully just in time for a little birthday soiree in mid-November.

My journey in choosing the lifestyle of having a conex shipping container as my home began in 2006 when I went to work for a real estate private equity firm in Dallas that is a leader in inland trade ports/intermodal centers.  The first day of my career had me receive a lesson about TEUs, or twenty-foot equivalent units.  I was hooked on the idea from there and began researching conex repurpose projects on the internet.  I have come across so many amazing projects that have inspired me over the years.  When I relocated to Austin in late 2011 and began looking for property, I decided the time was right to move forward with my own conex repurpose project.

Since having the container delivered, I have spent considerable time on the property adding traditional yard games to create a sort of camp-like haven for myself and friends.  I am calling my property ‘Camp Wanderlust’.  It is a place for people to come get lost in themselves, or found depending on their perspective.  I have added a walking path using native Austin limestone blocks that my neighbor gave to me.  Additionally, I have completed a bench anchored to oak trunks that had to be cut because they suffered from a tree disease and had died.  The bench provides a front row seat for the washer pits, ladder golf, horseshoes, fire pit, tire swing, and BiminiRing.  I plan to add tetherball, a mini-disc golf course, a sand volleyball court, a trampoline and foam pit, a 20-yd rollaway dumpster pool, and other yard games that come to mind down the road.

Aside from the tailgating activities, I will be adding a rainwater catchment system, vegetable garden, xeriscape landscaping, and perhaps a recycled electricity pole and limestone quarry blocks tranquility cabin.  I also plan to plant some grapes that I can use to launch my organic wine label Wood Duck Cellars.

I will plan to add more posts as material things develop out on my ‘lil slice of heaven.  Hope you enjoy tracking our progress at Camp Wanderlust.