Solo Female Truck Camper Life- My Tiny Home on Wheels

Hi, I'm Sydney. This summer I'm traveling across the continent filming tours for this channel and behind me is the rig that allows me to do that. Let's go check it out. In the main area of the camper we have the kitchen which has a two burner propane stove, a small sink, a 12 volt fridge, and a surprising amount of storage. I was a little bit worried when I first stepped in here that I wouldn't really be able to keep a lot of food in here and I would have to dedicate a lot of these cabinets to my equipment and clothes, but actually there's a very adequate amount of storage in here. On the left side here we have a pretty large 12 volt fridge. It allows me to store about two weeks worth of fresh food. In this lower cabinet I have my composting toilet and there's actually quite a bit of extra room in there as well. I keep the shower accessories and some of Percy, my dog's stuff in there. The composting toilet is for emergencies only. I really don't use it. I most often am in cities and just go to a public place that has an open public restroom or if I am in the backcountry I just take a shovel and dig a cat hole outside. But the composting toilet is nice to have and that storage space is more than adequate to keep a composting toilet in. I don't like how high this countertop is. It makes it kind of useless. I can't use it to prep food or to work. It's just really an odd height and given how much I'm driving around and how intensely I'm driving I can't really just keep things up here when I'm driving. So I would have liked to have this be the same height as the other countertop and then you could have both work and prep stations and you might lose a little bit of storage but honestly I think it would be worth it for the functionality of this counter space. On the right side we have the two burner stove and the sink. I love that they both fold flat with the nice glass coverings which gives me a lot more counter space when I'm not using one or the other. I am a proponent of large sinks in tiny houses. In all of my previous rigs we have always prioritized a large sink over counter space but this is a pretty small sink and it's fine for what we need. I'm traveling for work so I'm keeping things pretty simple. I have one small pot, one pan, one plate, one fork, one knife, one spoon and I'm cooking pretty simple stuff and this sink allows me to do my dishes, do all of my personal hygiene tasks in there and it's more than adequate. I also really like the height of this countertop because I'm working in this rig most often. The height of this is actually really ideal for a standing desk which is a really nice thing when you're working from home and you have a small space. This is just housing the water pump. This cabinet down here is just the fuse panel and underneath here is the bulk of the electrical system. Mostly the 315 amp hour lithium battery. Also on this side we have our vent for the heater. This is the RedArc power system. This is really nice. It allows me to see how much power I have, what the charging status is, how much water I have as well and I can control all the lights from this panel. It also connects to an app on my phone so I can control it from the truck or from outside. This is a really handy hub for all of the power. This here is the climate control, the heater for in here as well as the hot water heater. We have a 12 volt panel. It has a regular car plug as well as some USB plugs and we have a household outlet. That household outlet can only be used when the camper is plugged into shore power but that's just the way this particular setup is. It does not have an inverter. If it did have an inverter you would be able to use that. There's also a smoke detector right above here and a carbon monoxide alarm down below. I also love the fact that there are four windows in the cloth part of the pop-up and they have options for the screen. You can also close them with a clear film and then they have two layers of waterproofing and insulation. It's really nice to have that airflow coming in throughout the entire camper as well as with this max air fan here when that is pulling out with the two windows open. It provides great ventilation for cooking. Overall this kitchen space is perfect for me. It's great for just one person on the road. I love having the ability to cook myself rather than relying on eating out. It saves me a ton of money while I'm working on the road and allows me to eat what I want. The back half of the camper is dedicated to this seating area and the queen size bed. I have opted to remove this side of the cushioned seat to house my power station. Because this rig does not have an inverter and I'm rarely hooked up to shore power I needed the ability to keep my computer and camera equipment charged as well as run my Starlink which requires AC power. I have a 3000 watt inverter power station with about 90 amp hours of battery that is occupying that side of this bench and because I'm only one person I really only need one seat. Underneath both of these benches there's a ton of storage. This area beneath me also is a shower drain. We have a white curtain that hooks around the ceiling and tucks into this shower drain here in the center and there is a port right beside me for the shower hose water hookup. I've only used this once. It's kind of a hassle to set up. I will opt for the outdoor shower every time that I can and if I can't I generally go to Planet Fitness and it's just a really nice option to have both the indoor and the outdoor shower because there's plenty of instances in which you can't or don't feel comfortable showering outside. I love this table and the fact that it can swivel around to either side. I can push it away or bring it close to me when I'm working over here and the table adjusts so I can set it to a perfect height to work with. This is also obviously of course where I eat my meals so I spend a lot of time in this space. Another great thing about this space is that this table can slide into the supports right here. The cushions that I'm sitting on can slide out and then this lower space can become a bed which is great for stealth camping. Then I can come in here and sleep on this lower level rather than having to pop the top. Behind me is the queen size bed. If you're a fan of firm mattresses like me it's super comfy. Maybe one of the comfiest mattresses I've ever slept on. Underneath it is where I keep all of my clothes. I of course do not use this option but this portion of the bed actually slides all the way out and there are four additional cushions that can be inserted into that space to convert the bed from a queen to a king. That's really great for traveling with a partner or with little kids. You can fit four people up in that bed if you need to. In the bed space there's a surprising amount of headroom. I can sit up against the sturdy wall in the very front of the camper and read a book and not feel like I'm too tight up there. But for the most part I just use that space for sleeping. I love that there's the option to have the windows fully open just the screen or a transparent covering so that you can still see outside but you're not letting cold or hot air in. And then of course the waterproofing and the blackout layer is really nice to have. There are two windows down here as well. They slide open so you can have some more airflow down here. I also love the fact that there's two vent fans. I can have one pulling out and the other pulling in which really just circulates the air. So even if it's quite hot outside it can be very comfortable in here with all the ventilation. This camper has been absolutely perfect for me. Traveling full-time this summer filming tours I'm able to work and keep all of my equipment well organized, charged, and clean. This camper has obviously been really well constructed and really thoughtfully designed. None of the cabinets fly open when I'm driving despite the crazy backcountry roads that we've been on and it's been really functional and perfect for me. I've been living on the road with my partner Albert for the better part of the last five years. We've lived in a variety of different rigs. We lived in a low-roof red Sprinter van, a 36-foot Skoolie, and most recently the 18-foot cargo trailer that we converted that you may have seen earlier this year on the channel. Right now Albert is pursuing his own dreams of becoming a commercial airline pilot and that involves him being a little more stationary than we've been over the last five years. So he is living in our other tiny home on wheels full-time in an RV park in Florida while he goes to school. I am a videographer for this channel and doing that job involves a lot of travel and because he's living full-time in our cargo trailer I can't very well use that as my mode of transportation. However, we already had the F-250 to pull the cargo trailer so I decided to set up a satellite rig with the popped-up camper to allow me to travel for extended periods of time filming tours. 4Wheel Campers was generous enough to partner with Tiny Home Tours to allow me to use this rig for six months filming tours across the continent this summer. This camper is extremely well built and thoughtfully designed and it's fully stocked with everything that I needed to be able to live and work comfortably and also pursue all my other interests while living on the road full-time for the summer. I am in the midst of training for my first Ironman. I am taking on this challenge in honor of my father who passed away a little over a year ago after a 15-year battle with cancer. He was a huge inspiration to me. He was always strong and positive and when he was first diagnosed rather than spiraling into depression like I might have or many of us might have he embraced the aspects of his health that he could control and those were fitness and nutrition and throughout that process he fell in love with triathlon. He had a bunch of friends who did participate in Ironmans and he was always super inspired by them and while he was never well enough to attempt an Ironman himself he embodied the spirit of what it means to be an Ironman in everything other than actually completing the physical feat. So I wanted to embrace that challenge on his behalf and carry his memory across that finish line. So this summer I'm spending a lot of my time when I'm not working training for that. This rig allows me to keep all of the stuff that I would otherwise have with me at home with me on the road so I haven't had to sacrifice much when it comes to my lifestyle between living in my larger cargo trailer tiny home versus this pop-top camper which has been really nice to be able to still pursue my personal goals while traveling full-time for work. This is the Hawk model slide-in pop-top truck camper from Four Wheel Campers. It's in a six and a half foot bed on a 2022 F-250. I really like the pop-up style it gives me good fuel efficiency when driving but when it's popped up I have about six foot seven worth of headroom inside and plenty of living space. I was a little bit worried the first time that I tried to pop it up it was kind of difficult but after a couple weeks of living in it I've gotten the hang of it and it's super easy and I timed it the other day and it takes me exactly three minutes to set up or break down the entire rig and that's popping the top up setting my star link up outside turning on the propane opening up the drains it's super manageable. On the driver side of the rig we have our lower sliding window here this is an instant propane hot water heater and the port for the freshwater tank above it it's a 20 gallon water tank it lasts me about four days just doing dishes one or two if I have to take a shower the drain for the sink in the kitchen this is the vent for the climate control heater a 30 amp power port for shore power and a port for the outdoor shower. Additionally there are some really great nice bright led lights underneath and on the side which is really nice for illuminating the space if you ever need to be outside at night. On the passenger side of the camper we have another sliding window an exterior vented storage locker I just keep my freshwater hose in here we also have a vented propane locker I keep two 10 pound propane tanks in there again we have some really nice bright lights out here which is super handy and above me is a nice awning that provides some covered outdoor space. At the back of the camper we don't really have much we have the drain for the interior shower we have some footholds to climb up onto the roof if you need to check the solar panels for whatever reason and we have some super bright led flood lights that are on a little bit of a pivot so you can direct the light. I also have my swinging bike rack for my road bike and I like that there's a handle here it can be kind of handy for getting in and out of the camper. Living tiny and especially living on the road has given me a really massive sense of appreciation for just keeping things simple. When you travel full time in less than 50 square feet and you realize that you still have everything that you really need you realize all of the things that you don't need and all of the things that are just adding stress to your life. While my partner and I probably won't always live in such a nomadic tiny rig we will always appreciate and embrace the lessons that we've learned from living so tiny and we will definitely take them into our next chapter of our lives and we'll probably always opt for a smaller footprint home than something larger and beyond what we actually need because at the end of the day I would rather collect experiences than look around at the end of my life and just have a large house that's a museum of stuff. Thanks for checking out my camper if you'd like to find out more about four-wheel campers you can check out their website that's linked in the description and if you'd like to follow me on my ironman journey you can follow me on instagram at sid underscore carolina.