When we started this site four years ago, we included the line in the About This Blog section, “If we could figure out a way to live full-time in the Airstream, we would do it without hesitation.” We’re closer now than ever before to figuring out that way, and we’ve given ourselves a year to make it happen. During that time, we’ll have to liquidate almost all of our assets, prepare our home for market, and set up the technological infrastructure to support Cliff’s work from our “base camp,” which will be Loyd Park.

Situating ourselves in Grand Prairie will give Jon easy access to his office at UT Southwestern Medical Center, while also providing the surroundings of a heavily treed area near Joe Pool Lake. The park’s location is also convenient to home-improvement centers, storage units, grocery stores, and major thoroughfares.

Downsizing to a tiny home won’t be easy, we know. We’ve got an attic and a garage stuffed with stuff. We’ll need to take an inventory and decide what we must keep and store, what we can sell, and what we will kick to the curb. Then we’ll need to have an estate sale to eliminate all but our most treasured heirloom furnishings. Finally, we’ll have to get our hardwood floors refinished and the entire house repainted before we can put it on the market. Of course we will stay in the Airstream while all this takes place, so we shouldn’t have to endure any major disruptions to our lives.

One thing we both agree on is that this is a lifestyle choice, not a result of circumstance. We’re not like Chris Farley’s motivational speaker character on Saturday Night Live who has to live in a van down by the river. Nor are we opting to live in an RV at a trailer park. Rather, we’re downsizing and simplifying our lives. No more maintenance or upkeep or yard work. No more unoccupied spaces or watering schedules or driveway repairs. Life in the Airstream will certainly have similar challenges, but the impact will be smaller. And we’re confident that two adults and five chihuahuas can still live large in a small space.

Besides, if it doesn’t work out, we can still rent an apartment.