First Road Trip, on Father's Day

Last Sunday Big D had a fun day with the rental bobcat, leveling and widening and spreading additional gravel on the driveway and parking area at the studio where the tiny house will be. Two Julian Bechtold urns are in the foreground; K and J in the background are overlooking the garden.

A few days ago I found the right stain/sealer for the western red cedar siding boards.  The sheen that I wanted is there, but doesn't show in the picture.  Now for the rest of the 82 lengths!  Each board will be stained on all six sides, for the best weatherproofing.  The exterior will need to be re-stained every few years depending on the exposure the house gets, perhaps even every year. It is small, but it's quite tall, so I'll need a ladder.

Okay, this is it!  The first road trip.  Here we are at the farm this morning at 9:30.  B, a very capable farmer's son and neighbor of Kyle's, has the house hitched to his powerful pickup truck, lights and brakes hooked up, license plate on. Ready to go.  I am pretty sure his truck is as long or longer than my house!  Shelby and I are represented in the reflection on B's door; Kyle and M are off-screen luring Junior away (from my car, the path of the truck, and a side trip to Maggie the cat, who made a short appearance in the arms of N, Kyle's mother).  C and P, my good women friends are also off-screen getting their photography gear together to lead the caravan and help record the adventure.  I only wish my father were here; he would have gotten a kick out of the procession, and so would a lot of the old Machamux Painting Party gang.

And they're off!  Kyle is riding with B, in the tree-branch-and-electric-wire-reconnaissance-seat, a position he really didn't want, since he would be the first to witness any damage to his deftly engineered and constructed work-in-progress.  But unfortunately for him, he is the most careful, alert and cautious candidate for the job, and he graciously took it on.

I am rearguard for this trip, and I follow behind this cute house, with the cute taillights, snapping pictures and shooting video while driving very slowly.  As we move down the farm driveway in the gorgeous morning, it looks as if we are in the garden of Eden, or a Rousseau painting, the foliage is so lush.  A beautiful early summer day bursts forth around us, shining and sparkling and chirping and whispering.  My tiny house is leaving behind happy dogs, busy chickens and waving friends, as it cutely toddles along the way.

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The house fits in the lane perfectly, and from here, does not look like another 3 - 6" in width or height would require an oversize permit for every outing.  Whew!  Thanks Tumbleweed, for designing it so!   As for the SUV in the left lane, I imagine the occupants are doing a bit of rubbernecking as they pass. 

Here we are on the dead-end residential street that is our biggest test.  Low phone lines, bushy trees hanging over the road, and folks' cars parked along one side of the road.  It goes beautifully.

B pulled forward past the right-hand driveway, and then dextrously backed into the spot we had picked out and marked. A couple of backs and fills and it's all set!  It is 10:08am. Only one slight scrape on the roof by a branch as the house was pushed into the driveway, and no apparent damage from it.  Kyle will check from a ladder tomorrow.

A nice fender reflection shot by C of the small group of onlookers, including a dog-walking neighbor who was drawn in by the sight of a house coming down the street.  She and the dog Zuzu came in to marvel.

Photographers confer, watched by the sentinel urns and the tiny house.

Two humans for scale, seated on the trailer tongue, backs against the bow wall, relaxing in the shade. And looking back from my car as I head back to my (huge) apartment, I see the following vision, and am happy.