Kim Harmsen crossed the country by RV when she was married, but now single she built herself a tiny home on wheels, hitched it to her truck and departed Minnesota to find a new home state (or states). It took her three years to build, but her tiny mobile home provides a security, particularly from extreme Midwestern weather, she never felt while traveling in an RV.

With three beds (two lofts and a ground floor daybed), a full kitchen (4-burner stove, oven and refrigerator/freezer) and bathroom with bathtub/shower, her towable home lacks just a dining table (she uses the storage stairs as table/chairs).

Starting with an Iron Eagle trailer (with a drop pan for tiny home builders), she built an insulated, all-wood, off-grid home for herself and her rescue dog Maisey. With appliances powered by her photovoltaics and ample food and water, she can live for weeks on BLM land (Bureau of Land Management oversees millions of acres of wilderness areas where camping is free and legal).

We bumped into her at a rest stop at the edge of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.