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airstream family

Meet Mr. and Mrs. TCP – Airstream Style

With nine months of tiny living under our belt, we feel like it’s finally time to reveal who exactly Mr. and Mrs. TCP really are. Considering the people who read this blog already know our real identity, this won’t come as a huge surprise.

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Our real names are Brandon (Mr. TCP) and Liz (Mrs. TCP) and we hail from the great state of Texas. Well, we thought it was the greatest state in the entire country, until we visited Montana. And let me tell you, Texas has some competition.

Brandon is the brains of this operation, just don’t ask him to do any math equations. He is the website builder, the graphic designer, the videographer, the photographer, the dump station extraordinaire, and the “roll up his sleeves to fix all of the things that break” guy. He is also the pilot of this adventure and has mastered maneuvering the Airstream in and out of some very (very) tight situations.

Something people might not know about Brandon is that he is quite the musician. He was in a band before we hit the road so he had a real chance on rock stardom at one point. Not only can play a ditty, he writes some pretty fun songs. His topics range anywhere from his affection for the dogs to songs about living in a trailer park. Watch out Nashville!

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Brandon’s favorite form of outdoor activity usually includes pedaling or paddling. Hiking isn’t something that really excites him, however, most of the awesome hikes we went on really did light a fire in him.

Liz really is just along for the ride. She doesn’t really have much to offer in the skill department, wait, she is the one who keeps the blog updated. But if it wasn’t for Brandon, the misspellings would be even more rampant than they already are on this thing.

Her greatest skill is just convincing Brandon to do things he isn’t usually 100% on board with. Such as to live full time in an Airstream and convincing him that we just “have to save this dog or else it will die”. But in the end, he really ends up loving the decision he is forced to live with.

Liz is the “worker outer” between the two. She is the reason they have a rower jammed in the back of the truck, along with other various workout gear rolling around that could potentially knock one of us out if we ever get into a wreck.

In reality, she is just a 90 year old lady in a 28 year old’s body. She is in bed by 8PM most nights, loves to quilt, and is constantly yelling at people to get off the lawn.

Oh and she is also the reason we have four dogs. The first one was inherited, then second one was a trick, the third one was another trick and then the last one was a “life or death situation”, so another trick.

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We are just two people living and loving (life) in less than 200SQFT trying to figure out the best life for us. Together, we love our wonderful families, our entertaining friends, and the endless adventures we encounter together.

December 4, 2017

A Year in Review – Airstream Style

written by Mrs TinCanPlan

Holy moly! What an amazingly awesome ride 2016 has been. When we rang in the new year (I was asleep by 10PM) I had NO IDEA we’d be packing up all of our things, buying a (newer) Airstream and hitting the road. It’s stuff dreams are made of, y’all. Lets take a little trip down memory lane, shall we?

At the beginning of April is when this great journey began. We spent one of our last nights in our sticks and bricks house scrambling to get everything in storage (including the old Airstream) and out of the house. Our tenants were moving in to the house in just eight short hours.

We spent a few nights parked in a friends driveway where we learned that we would need an alternate transportation option for the generator. Thankfully we had time to grab a Thule rack while we were still in our hometown.

Once we left Austin for our maiden voyage, we spent a few nights parked in Dad’s driveway. Little did he know this was about to become a trend. We’ve spent many nights parked in that very comfortable driveway, utilizing his fancy washer and dryer, and even washing our house on wheels in his driveway. Thanks, Dad!

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Junction, TX

White Sands National Monument

May is when we really started to learn the ropes. We had replaced all four of the tires on the Airstream at this point, changed the (broken but not really broken) converter, and realized that this GIANT TIN TUBE gets really really hot when the temperature rises.

We experienced our first national park in May. It was overwhelming, awesome, and fueled a fire we didn’t know existed. We hit our first milestone of tiny living for 30 full days, without any accidental deaths. All in all, May was a great month!

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Yosemite National Park

June is when we were introduced to Bend, “real” boondocking, and when we determined we really did need a more powerful tow vehicle. What an expensive discovery that turned out to be, but we do love the power behind the diesel.

We also visited our second National Park which turned out to be absolutely gorgeous and not busy, at all. Crater Lake National Park was partially closed in certain areas due to snow still on the ground, in June, so we were only able to explore on foot and bike.

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Crater Lake National Park

Come July we were needing to move on from Bend, so we ventured to the Oregon coast. While it was lovely, we weren’t a huge fan of the dreary weather so we turned our rig back around to make our way back to Bend for the fourth of July weekend.

At this point I wasn’t real sure we were going to make it any further in our journey and I was completely fine with it. However, we insisted we move on, so we did and boy am I glad we did! Our next stop was Seattle to visit friends and family.

We spent our evenings taking the ferry from Bainbridge Island into Seattle to dine in great company. Our first ferry experience was, um, not our brightest moment. We just got on a random ferry that was leaving the port in Bainbridge Island, and I quickly realized we might not have gotten on the right ferry. Thankfully, after asking a couple, we were informed that we were in fact on the right ferry. We loved spending time with Aunt Leta and seeing the sites of a big ol’ city.

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Bandon, OR

Smith Rock State Park

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Ferry from Bainbridge Island to Seattle

August was when things really started to get interesting, as if they weren’t already. At this point, I was adamant that Bend, OR was going to be our favorite place but here comes Montana and Glacier National Park. Wow. What an amazingly gorgeous, friendly state.

Glacier National Park is where we encountered our first Grizzly bear, mountain goat, and weird giant beaver looking animal. It’s where we fell even more in love with the life we were leading. It’s where we acquired our first National Parks Pass. It’s where we dusted off our passports and headed into another country, aka, Canada.

As we made our way south, we spent some time on the outskirts of an adorable little town on the border of Montana and Wyoming. We were able to boondock right on the Yellowstone River all while being just fifteen miles from Yellowstone National Park. At this point, we are just knocking National Parks off of our list. After work, we’d venture into Yellowstone National Park and partake in some mini hikes. We saved a good ol’ mountain biking trip for a weekend and it nearly killed me. Fortunately, I survived and we headed onto Grand Teton National Park.

There is this awesome little boondocking spot right outside of the park that over looks the Tetons. And holy moly, it was hands down the most gorgeous spot we had yet to stay. Needless to say, we were starting to love Wyoming as much as we loved Montana.

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Yellowstone River

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Grand Teton National Park

September is when we started to really head back south. After leaving Wyoming, our next big stop was Colorado. This is where I really started to feel the affects of the altitude. You’d think I would be used to it at this point, but for some reason it became even harder for me to breathe.

Anyway, we spent some time in various towns throughout Colorado with our favorite being Pagosa Springs. We had visited a few years ago to ski and loved the fun, vibrant little town so we were excited to be back in the summer.

After leaving Pagosa Springs, we headed to Taos, NM to visit some friends from college. They were kind enough to let us moochdock in their driveway and then take us downhill mountain biking. We had just acquired some new sweet mountain bikes so we were excited to put them to the test. And wow. They aren’t the type of mountain bikes made for downhill mountain biking, but they got the job done and we had a blast. Taos is an adorable little town and we hope to visit during ski season!

At this point we were wrapping up our journey and hadn’t been swimming ALL summer. Which is unheard of for a couple of Texans so I begged to turn our rig southbound straight for the beach. Given a love for the white sandy beaches of Florida, we didn’t object. We spent a few days driving a ridiculous distance to get to our favorite little campground in the Southern United States, Grayton Beach State Park.

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Pagosa Spring, CO

Angel Fire, NM

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Grayton Beach, FL

October was the month that we were expected to arrive back in Austin, TX so we tried to make the most of our final days on the road. We made our way to Tennessee because I really wanted to visit Nashville. We found a great campground right outside of Nashville to spend the week. The spots were GIANT and the leaves were starting to change which was gorgeous.

After leaving Nashville, we made our way to Arkansas which is such a beautiful state that I believe is underrated. One of my favorite little towns in Arkansas sits right in the Ozark Mountains with a fun little downtown area and great hiking all around.

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Eureka Springs, AR

We are incredibly grateful for the time we spent exploring the beautiful western United States and cannot wait to see what the eastern portion has to offer. It’s fun to think up all of the places we can (and will) go. One major adventure I have in mind, includes turning this adventure south and heading through Mexico into South America.

One of my favorite things about our journey is sharing adventures with our family and friends. Our parents have been nothing but supportive and I’d have to say my Dad is our number one promoter. I mean, he is the reason we have so many subscribers.

December 21, 2016

Fay Bainbridge Island Park – Bainbridge Island, WA

written by Mrs TinCanPlan

We landed in our new neighborhood on a Monday evening after departing an adorable little place called Port of Cascade in Oregon. It was our last stop before crossing over into Washington. The further we get away from Bend the harder it is to turn around.

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Finding campgrounds that are near larger cities can always pose a variety of challenges so when we looked for places which were a reasonable distances from Seattle, we landed on Fay Bainbridge Island Park. And let me tell you, it was just adorable! And the camp host was an absolute gem.

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Bainbridge Island is a cute quaint little island that sits right off the mainland. You can actually see downtown Seattle from the island. In order to get to the city, you have to take a ferry from Bainbridge Island to Seattle.

We took the ferry over on a Wednesday afternoon to meet a friend of ours that was in Seattle on business. We met up at a local brewery and then moved on to have pizza at the Starbucks Reserve. It’s great seeing old friends from back home!

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Let me tell you a little about our first ferry experience. When we had made plans to head into Seattle, we looked at the ferry schedule and made a point to arrive the ferry station in time to catch a ferry over to Seattle. Well, as the ferry is pulling away from the dock (or the port?) we noticed that it took a right, instead of heading straight, which was the way to Seattle. We both then realized, at that moment, we didn’t actually confirm if we were boarding the correct ferry. Nope. Instead, we just followed the droves of people who were in line and boarded the ferry nearest to us. Which is always smart. Just follow the crowds, right? Anyway, after realizing we had no idea which ferry we were on, I got up the nerve to ask a couple next to us if this ship was headed to Seattle. And fortunately, they let me know it was. I embarrass us on a regular basis so this moment was no different.

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Our first ferry ride we just walked on without a vehicle or bicycle but the next two times we took the ferry over we brought the truck. It was exciting and a tight squeeze! Our mirrors are larger than they look.

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Thursday evening we’d made plans to eat dinner at a dear friend, Leta and John’s, house in Seattle. They had graciously invited us over for dinner and there really isn’t anything better than a home cooked meal that reminds you of just that, home. There was even a delicious homemade coconut pie their neighbor had brought over. I was in heaven.

The following Saturday we headed back over to Leta and John’s home for their annual Bastille Day celebration. On our way over, we stopped by Pike’s Place Market to pickup some of their infamous flowers and grab some fresh lavender. The place was a madhouse! When we arrived at the party we were introduced to another couple who quickly showed interest in our current lifestyle. And those poor, unsuspecting people had to listen to us RAMBLE on for hours while we cornered them. Clearly, we do not get much human interaction.

We really enjoyed visiting with friends while in Seattle and are very grateful for their hospitality.

July 20, 2016