We are considering leaving our apartment in Indiana when our lease is up in May. It's in a college town of over 100K. and very liberal. The plan is to store what we don't need immediately ( we have storage available until July of next year.). Go down south, pitch a camp and dig a privy then go forth to find work. We will be planting a garden and trying to get a small cabin weathered in before winter. I want to build a home as we earn the cash money to buy materials and do this without a mortgage.
Ambious and you are to be commended for making plans for your future.
Now..........
"our lease is up in May......Go down south, pitch a camp and dig a privy then go forth to find work. We will be planting a garden and trying to get a small cabin weathered in before winter."
....My suggestion at least for the above portion. Think through your time line very closely. Uncleared land and a garden sometime after May? That means you at best can look only for a limited fall crop. Secondly, I suspect you can get a small cabin partially weathered in depending upon it's size and your available cash. But working for the other man may limit that ability somewhat.
If you could basically go the end of the fall without having to work for the other man then use the winter to do that an gather a few dollars. Start in the early spring with your summer garden and finish weathering in your cabin, get a well dug and other necessities.
Good luck and the above is just my read so only take it as that, nothing more.
We have some land clear already, the rest is in hardwoods. We are going down early April for a wedding and are going to spend a week there tilling and planting a garden. I can get a small place built within a couple of weeks that will eventually be my wife's studio. I wouldn't want to go much longer than September without one of us working. My main task will be getting the shelter established.
I might have to change my time frame a little, but that is what this post was for. Thanks