STUMBLING TOWARD A NEW SUMMER COTTAGE PARADIGM

It's a natural extension of the #vanlife construct, at least as I perceive that construct (which is less about Bohemian-style personal indulgences and more about strategic adventure):

What if, instead of building or buying a conventional summer cottage, one were to convert a piece of private property to serve as a geographical base for a rolling summer cottage that takes the form of an Airstream Interstate?

On user forums, we've seen owners either or buy or build specialized residential garages to accommodate their Interstates.  So what about remote properties that are configured for the purposes of periodically driving the Interstate "cottage" into?  Here's our rig parked at the side of the access road to a piece of land I've owned in Nova Scotia for decades, but I hadn't put it to any use previously.  Right now it's an impenetrable and chaotic young spruce forest that sprang up after the previous owner clear cut it as logging land.  But what else might be done with it, in a minimalist but accommodating style?  In this type of scenario, what is the maximum bang for the minimum buck?

There are a number of potential advantages to this approach, advantages which revolve around regulatory simplification, maximizing security, and minimizing costs both coming and going (there's a pun in there somewhere):

1. If one's rig has a strong boondocking capability, the cost of such a project does not extend much beyond the cost of the undeveloped real estate itself.  
2. There's no need to run expensive utilities to such a property, and no need for the often arduous and stringent developmental permits that must precede them.  
3. There's no need to incur insurance costs, because there are no fixed structures or improvements beyond perhaps a small parking pad which is basically indestructible.  
4. Forward real estate costs, including municipal taxes, remain as low as possible for the same reason.  The primary investment is in the Interstate, not the fixed assets. 
5. There's no worries about challenges like vandalism or squatting when the lawful owner is not present because there's nothing to vandalize or illegally occupy.  
6. The property itself gets to remain almost entirely in its natural evolving state, which is great for those of us who prefer an immersive wilderness experience when we travel.  It's not quite a Leave No Trace (LNT) scenario, but it's probably the closest van-related thing to it.
7. Everything I've listed above not only saves money - it all saves that more precious commodity known as TIME.  Less time on developing a vacation property means more time to enjoy that same property.  

So this was our general line of thinking when we set about trying to discern how we might minimally improve this piece of land to accommodate our Interstate.  Here are a few pictures and musings during the initial part of this process.

The first thing I had to do was re-cut and re-blaze the existing survey lines in that impenetrable mass, so that I could get some bearings.  There's light at the end of that tunnel.  

Someone decided that one of my survey markers would make a nice chew toy.  Judging from the size of the teeth marks, I'd surmise perhaps a fox or a raccoon.  

Believe it or not, this view exists, somewhere beyond that impenetrable mass.  Unfortunately, clear-cutting a forest of this type results in a period of intense disequilibrium as the new growth fights to see which individual trees and plants will out-compete all the others.  It's literally a race to the top in which most trees naturally become losers which then litter the forest floor.  I titled this post "STUMBLING toward a new summer cottage paradigm" because that's mostly what I did during my scoping - I tripped, fell, bruised, and stumbled among all those deadfalls.  

See, if I get down a bit closer to the water, you can tell that I'm not lying to ya.  There is actually a view in there somewhere, if only all those deadfalls and widowmakers could be thinned out. 

As I took this photo, it was mid-May in Nova Scotia, and temperatures were hovering in the high-30's, giving a wintry, somber appearance to the landscape.  It was nice and cool for clearing a bit of deadwood, a task that would more typically have me sweating.  

OK, then, so visualize the rear end of an Airstream Interstate eventually able to be situated where this flagging tape is placed.  A rear end facing a lake view as yet to be revealed.  

So I hatched a minimally-invasive plan to potentially make this happen, and as I write this, I still don't have confirmation from a contractor that it would be technically feasible or advisable as I'm going to propose.  Getting clarity on that is the next step in this process.  Meanwhile as I work that out, I'll leave you with a couple of macro shots, and a different kind of money shot at the very end.

When I literally can't see the forest for the trees, sometimes I find it relaxing to focus on the macro-world.  I noticed for the first time on this trip that there's a local northern plant that looks a lot like southern Spanish moss.  True Spanish moss is a subtropical plant, so it must be a different species. 

This is the more typical northern lichen that is ubiquitous in the area. 

After being bruised and battered stumbling around a chaotic forest, one can always find solace in the likes of this:

Luckily for me, I arrived a few days after the opening of lobster season, and they were in peak condition.  I've never had better lobster. 

EDIT:  The project did get developed, and further details can be found in the blog post titled Top ten lessons form an off-grid month on the road.  And here are a couple of pics of the finished product.

High drone view of the non-cottage parking pad.

Chain-sawing our way to a proper lake vista.