September 2025 Update and Van Build Expenses

In September, we began a series of back-to-back house sits that will last until April 1, 2026.

As with most things we do, we fell into this string of sits before we even had a plan. The first sit came and found us. And everything else followed.

Greg and I had been discussing where to build out our van, Periplo. I mentioned that I thought we could do it all at house sits, citing the farm sit we did in Snow Camp, NC, in January of last year as a good location. There was plenty of room to spread out and no neighbors to disturb. Then, out of the blue, the homeowners from the farm reached out. They were going away for 2 1/2 weeks. Perfect!

We had a slightly different lineup of animals at the farm sit this time. There were 3 donkeys. The two donkeys that we sat before, Theo and Stella, had a baby! Alfie was still young, and many things were still new to him. He liked eating apples, but he wasn’t sure what to do with carrots. He stayed close to his mama and didn’t let us pet him. His father stayed in an adjoining pasture separated from the rest of the small family  – no doubt to keep the family small.

Alfie and his mother Stella.

Theo and mama goose. Mama goose liked to eat the donkey food and come to Theo’s stall for a handful at meal time.

The geese, Theo, Stella, and Alfie.

Greg tries to feed Alfie a carrot. He would take it but always ended up dropping it.

Luckily we didn’t have to feed or entertain the deer that stopped by the farm.

There were 5 chickens, down from 18 last time we sat. Unfortunately, the flock had been decimated by predator animals. On our last sit, the chickens had free range, but now they were confined to an area surrounded by a fence. Sadly, this didn’t stop a predator from getting in while we were there. I was walking by the chicken area one day when I found a dead chicken. Another chicken was missing. We were down to 3 chickens by the end of the sit.

The four geese (three males and one female) we sat before had multiplied to 6. We never asked which one(s) was/were the father(s).

Four of the five chickens we started with.

A gaggle of geese.

The cows had a different lineup up too. I’m not sure how many were repeats from last time, but I do know there were 4 brand new ones. The cows had multiplied too. These new young cows were very curious and watched me every day as I took my morning walk up and down the lane leading from the road to the house.

One of the curious juvenile cows.

Cows.

Back at the house, we had a few new domesticated animals. Belli, a little curly-haired dog with a mischievous and aloof disposition, was the only repeat. The super sweetie, Zalie (a dog), was new. She loved to take walks with me up and down the lane. There were two new cats. Cozie, the indoor cat, was shy at first but loved to play, look out her window, and do a little catnip now and then. Patrick, the outdoor cat, was another sweetie. He came around a couple of times a day for food and attention.

Patrick.

Cozie watches in the background as Zalie rolls on the floor.

Belli.

Cozie at her perch by the window in the guest room.

Zalie and Belli. What could they want?

The best part of this sit for me was my morning walk. The sunrise was almost always spectacular.

It was a lot to take care of so many animals. I felt like I couldn’t give any one animal all the attention they needed. Cozie the cat usually stayed in the guest room, which was on the far end of this fairly large house. Belli wasn’t allowed out of the kitchen. Patrick wasn’t allowed inside. Zalie was allowed everywhere but knew how to move the baby gate and often inadvertently let Belli out. We then had to search the house and retrieve her before she got into any mischief (pooped or got into something). The donkeys required attention, too. We tried to get out and give them treats whenever time allowed.

From Snow Camp, we went to a hotel for one night and then on to our next house sit in Hillsborough, North Carolina.

There, we were taking care of one dog, Rakwa, for 3 weeks. Rakwa is older but still enjoys his two 45-minute slow walks each day.

Rakwa on his favorite couch.

Greg taking Rakwa for a walk.

The house we were staying at was an old farmhouse. It reminded me why I would much rather stay in modern houses. But it was just a short walk from everything—downtown Hillsborough and a river walk that led to the first original NASCAR track, Historic Occoneechee Speedway.

Part of my morning walk included walking around the track at the Historic Occoneechee Speedway.

Historic Occoneechee Speedway.

Historic Occoneechee Speedway.

Historic Occoneechee Speedway.

Historic Occoneechee Speedway.

Historic Occoneechee Speedway.

While we were in Hillsborough, besides enjoying the area and working on Periplo, Greg got his cataracts removed. Yay! He can see better now. I felt like we were upgrading Greg at the same time we were upgrading the van.

Speaking of Periplo, it’s time to update our cost so far.

Cost of upgrade so far, 9/30/25: $11,409.86

We spent $2,574.68 on Periplo in September. Most of that was for our refrigerator ($1,685.60). We are not ready to install the fridge yet, but I was afraid that if we waited too long, the one I wanted (made by an Australian company, ARB) would either no longer be available in the US or have a gigantic price jump.

It is a portable cooler-type fridge like we had in Ballena Blanca. I prefer cooler-type fridges rather than upright fridges because I believe you can pack more stuff into them. The capacity of this new fridge is 73 quarts, 11 quarts less than our old Engel fridge we had in Ballena Blanca. This fridge has two compartments (25.4qt and 47.6qt) that can be set at different temperatures, allowing us to have a freezer. It was the only dual-zone cooler-type fridge I could find with one compartment significantly smaller than the other. We are excited to have a freezer, but we are going to have to come up with creative ways to utilize this space since we are losing so much compared to what we are used to have.

I love our new fridge!

The new fridge open. The compartment on the right will be the freezer.

We also went ahead and bought a Starlink Mini for our internet needs. It is pricey at $532.68, but having one will mean that we will have internet wherever we go. We have come such a long way since our sailing days, when we only had internet when we were close to civilization and could access open WiFi networks (No one had passwords on their internet back then) through our WiFi booster. Now, being in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean we have to be disconnected.

We also spent $16 on a gadget to convert our Starlink Mini to 12 volts and $50 for a month of service. We aren’t sure where or how we are going to mount our Starlink (it has to have a view of the sky), but it has been working well just sitting on our dashboard.

The remaining $290.40 was spent on general supplies, heater supplies, tools, subfloor material, and some swivels for our Murphy bed. We aren’t going to need the swivels for the bed for a while, but they are the exact size we need, and I was afraid that they would become unavailable.

And here are the projects completed/and started in September:

While we were in Snow Camp, Greg made more holes in Periplo.

He started with installing solar panels (400 watts) and a gland on the roof. The glands keep the wires from the panel and our Starlink secure as they enter the interior of the van.

Solar panels and the gland mounted on top of the van.

Close up of the gland.

Then he made a hole in the floor under the passenger seat of the van to install our Velit gas heater. He fed an air intake tube, exhaust hose, fuel line, and electric wires to the fuel pump through the hole and bolted down the heater.

Greg cuts a hole in the floor of the van under the passenger seat.

Another hole in Periplo.

A new tool to install rivet nuts.

Greg feeds the air intake tube, exhaust hose, fuel line, and electric wires into the hole.

The heater is mounted with the vent going through the back of the passenger seat.

How the heater looks from the back of the passenger seat.

The exhaust hose under the van.

The exhaust vents outside of the van under the passenger door.

The heater installation was only half done when we left Snow Camp. Greg finished the rest in Hillsborough. He lowered the fuel tank, removed the sending unit (a component inside a fuel tank that measures the fuel level), and drilled a hole in the top of the sending unit. He fed a metal tube into the sending unit. He attached the heater’s fuel line with an inline pump to the tube he added to the sending unit. He then put everything back together, secured all the hoses, and reinstalled the gas tank. Finally, we crossed our fingers that the van still worked. It did! As soon as we have our power station installed, we will see if the pump works too!

To lower the tank, Greg first placed stones under either end of it.

He then carefully lowered it by removing stones.

Disconnecting all the tubes and wires from the fuel tank.

The fuel tank with the sending unit removed.

After Greg drilled a hole in the sending unit, he placed a tube into it.

The fuel line runs from the tank through a filter and fuel pump. Also, a power line runs to the pump. The pump is secured by a rubber housing to reduce noise when it clicks on and off.

The last project of the month was cutting plywood for the subfloor. Greg utilized a picnic bench in the front yard of the Hillsborough house sit as a work table.

Greg in his makeshift workshop, cutting the subfloor.

Making sure the subfloor fits.

More on the subfloor in the October recap. Plus the start of the bench, golden retrievers, and the sweetest little black dog.

To see all of our van build expense reports, click here.

To see our travel expense reports, click here.

If you are interested in reading other expense reports from nomads who really know how to live cheaply while still having a good time, check out the blog from our friends Mark, Liesbet, and Maya at Roaming About. They are currently traveling in their truck camper in South America!

If you are interested in becoming a Trusted Housesitter or having a Trusted Housesitter take care of your pet, use our Trusted House Sitters discount code for 25% off!