California

In 2005, I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. I had heard a lot of horror stories about the price of properties in the region, so I sold Tumbleweed and built myself an even smaller house to take with me. I figured I had better have something I could parallel park, in case I had to live on the street for a while.

Tumbleweed’s desk (left) and gas heater (above)

I called my next home XS-House (as in, “extra small”). It measured about 7’ x 10’. Like Tumbleweed, it was on wheels, it had a steep metal roof, classic proportions and a pine interior punctuated by a metal heat­er on its central axis. A bathroom, kitchen, and sleeping loft featured essentially the same utilities as my previous residence. Unlike Tumbleweed, there was a four-foot long, stainless steel desk and a couch, and the exterior walls were clad in corrugated steel.

All things considered, my move westward went smoothly. Gale-force winds broadsi­ded my tiny home all the way from Omaha to central Nevada, but both the house and the U-Haul came through unscathed.

I parked in front of the Sebastopol Whole Foods for three days. The U-Haul was al­most due when a woman approached to ask if I would consider parking on her land to serve as a sort of groundskeeper. I would live just yards from a creek at the edge of a clearing in the redwoods. I would pay noth­ing and do nothing other than reside on the property. I was lodging amongst the red­woods by nightfall.

With my fear of having to live on the streets allayed, I built a new house and sold the XS before I had even settled in. I call my most recent domicile, "Tumbleweed 2.” At 8’ x 12’ with a steep, metal roof over cedar walls, it looks just like the first Tumbleweed on the outside. I reconfigured the inside to ac­commodate a couple of additional puffy chairs and a five-foot long, stainless steel desk. I have been living in this house for nearly three years, and I have no intention of moving out any time soon (see pages 24 and 130 — 137 for photos).