My aunt and uncle lived off-grid in a cabin they had built on a gold-mining claim in No CA., and my sister and I used to spend summers with them on occasion (they loved kids but had none of their own). When we stayed there we tended to stay in the trailer they had stayed in when they built the cabin. They moved there in '49 I believe, so it was probably a min 40’s trailer.
There were absolutely no toilet facilities. We used the outhouse.
Airstreams are also seriously expensive, compared to other trailers of similar size. Like $48,000 for something that just barely touches $10k from Pacific Coach or many other companies.
I do admit the Airstreams are really really nice though, everything inside is fully custom so it makes the most of the space. If something was awkward to reach in a layout they add an extra hinge, or change parts so things are a few inches bigger/smaller so things can actually be used. Contrasted to basically everyone else that buys everything off the shelf and puts it in a shell. (Hrm, I think I’m “accusing” Airstream of being Apple, and everyone else is the PC makers, or maybe Android market now…)
Still if I were living in it a 40’ fiver with 4 slides (or a full side slide) gives more living space then the Airstream for far less money…but if I had to actually tow it somewhere the Airstream is nicer foot-for-foot.
(also: frequently it is the occupants that make a place trash or not, last park I was on kicked an Airstream off because the owners were asshats)
I have so many feelings about this. I grew up in a mobile home. It was a double wide and was new when my parents purchased it and they also bought the 1/4 acre lot. It was a nice neighborhood of newer mobile homes all on lots of that size. I definitely felt we lived better than the trailer park down the street which consisted of mostly old singles on lots barely bigger than the trailer (basically what you picture when you think trailer park). I also felt less than the kids who grew up in “real” houses. My family had little money, but my parents were smart with what they had. We were poor, but I’m sure most poor people would have viewed our standard of living as very good. Our house was nice and so was our neighborhood (even if it was full of mobile homes). Although we lived paycheck to paycheck we always had what we needed, if not what we wanted.
As an adult, it sort of angers me. Why do we view mobile homes as less than? A house is a house. It really bothers me that a tiny house is cool, but a mobile home is still “ew.” I don’t know. There is a real housing crisis going on across the country. Nothing is affordable for far too many hardworking people. I wish we could drop the stigmas and just start creating nice communities with whatever works.
Nowadays I live in a modest townhouse and it’s all I need or want. Sometimes I feel the keeping up with the jone’s itch, but I just try to remind myself to keep things in perspective. This modest townhouse lets me stay home with my little kiddo. It lets me be walking distance to a whole host of amenities. I’m thinking a cheaper home is such a smarter choice, even if it’s not the cool one.
