Interestingly, before we even purchased our parcel of land, we had already purchased our first piece of equipment. I blame this at least in part on our dear friends who were visiting us from Scotland, Ruaraidh & Marion. While they were here, Ruaraidh (pronounced like “roary”,with a Scottish lilt), was interested in seeing some of the outdoor sport stores.
This led us by some all terrain vehicles (ATVs). Ruaraidh astutely pointed out that I could not possibly do without one of them! We were in Orlando. I happened to have a drawbar and hitchball in my vehicle. We got a great deal. I became the proud owner of a blue Polaris 550 4×4 ATV. Fortunately my wife tolerates this sort of shenanigans.
Well, first the ATV; then the land. Next, where to store the thing! Initially I was loading it on and off a trailer, dragging it back and forth from home. This clearly was not a long-term solution. Besides, where would I put other “stuff”? I credit the next acquisition to my good friend Chuck.
20 ft Conex with man door & vents
He enlightened us as to the benefits of obtaining a used shipping container also known as a “Conex box”. We arranged to have one delivered that was freshly painted a neutral brown and had a steel man door on the side. 
Two vents, 8x8x20 ft dimensions, some shelving, and we now had a secure and weatherproof structure. We were set…or so we thought.
As we soon discovered, land management involves a lot more than just good thought, good intention, and manual labor. It involves equipment. I spent a great deal of time researching ATV attachments that could be used for firebreak/trail maintenance and perhaps some food plotting. Once again an expert set me straight. When we had the county wildlife officer/game warden tour the property he made the strong suggestion that if we were serious about this, we needed a tractor! Not just a tractor, but a tractor with implements!
Since this is not my job and is just for recreation, these would be grown up TOYS! My poor wife. To my pleasant surprise, she was not only supportive but actually excited about using the toys as well. The financial pain of this investment lessened when I sold another toy (my flats skiff fishing boat). But…….
I think you see where this is going. We now had another vehicle to store. A single 20 ft container could not hold both vehicles and other stuff. We should have started with a different kind of building that was bigger. How were we to know that we would love this land management adventure so much when we started? So, we bought another Conex, placed it parallel to the first one, and covered the middle area with a steel carport.
A pavilion; a covered picnic area! How civilized. Unfortunately, we weren’t through yet with our lack of forward thinking. It became obvious that the containers got very hot in the summer. They needed a roof….a lean-to roof off the carport. Alas, the carport was too short so it was deconstructed and reconstructed taller.
Pavilion with lean-to
Our pavilion is now complete. Oh, lets add a fire-ring Christmas present and some benches. Let the marshmallow roasting begin!
Fire ring
I’ll save the discussion about our third vehicle for another time…..will it ever end?
One thing just leads to another a bit like household decorating!! but in a bigger scale. You do have room for another container?! Love the pictures accompanying the blog and all taken in the sunshine
How true! At least most of the outside decor is done by nature!