The Devil is in the details

Okay, if you've been reading this blog regularly, you know that I am considering buying some land out in West Texas.  I'm trying to vet this as well as I can, but not having done anything like this before, I'm a bit worried about making a big mistake.

I am aware of the problems.  At least some of them.  At the moment, the Dunning-Kruger factor comes to mind.  I really don't know what the hell I'm doing.

A tentative plan is to buy the property soon and visit it on a vacation this summer.  You mean you are thinking of buying the property without even looking at it first?  Yes.  There is a way to back out of the deal if it doesn't meet my satisfaction.  That's what the visitation is for--- to determine if I can do this or not.

This place is in near desert conditions.  There have been NO improvements.  It's a bit hard to tell at the moment if I could even last out there a single day, much less live out there permanently.  So, in order to test it, I could go camping out there as a part of a vacation.

It's been a long time since I did any camping.  As a matter of fact, the last time was when I was a kid when our Dad took us out camping a few times.  So, I'm pretty much a greenhorn at this.

We had tents.  So, I'm thinking--- maybe I could go get a tent?  You know what I'd like to do?  I'd like to make something that would fit over the top of my van.  Then, I could sleep in the van during the hot period and stay up at night.  People might think that's crazy, but it isn't very good to be out in the heat, especially in the desert.  The tent could cover the van, I'm hoping, and I could sleep on the floor of the van.

Sleeping in the van?  Yeah, one of the drivers did it on long trips instead of getting a motel room.  Lots cheaper that way.  He said he slept on an air mattress you can see used in a swimming pool.  Yeah, I'm very  familiar with those.

A few objectives for the visit?  At the moment, I'd like to run some tests on the dirt and see if it can be used for adobe bricks.  If so, I could make a structure out of the materials on the site.  Woo-hoo!  If not, that means importing stuff in, which would be a pain in the neck and expensive besides.  Secondly, I'd like to see the land itself, of course.  I'd like to see what grows on it, what the flora and fauna is.  Maybe you can hunt for something on it.  Set up a deer blind or something.  Shoot something once in awhile and it could last for weeks.  I'd also want to see if there's any way to collect and store water, as opposed to trucking that in as well.  I'd rather not dig a well.

 All of this may be pretty rough and extreme, but with some luck, I ought to be able to handle it.  If not, I'll come back home early with my tail between my legs.