When you live off the grid, there are some obvious inconveniences that you expect. Normal things like no electricity, no running water, etc. Those are “inconveniences” that people who move off-grid are expecting, and not only that, but oftentimes, welcoming. We find those lifestyle changes challenging and interesting, and they keep us on our toes. But there were a couple of things that we weren’t expecting.

King of the mountain.

My driver’s license was set to expire, and the small town we live in does not have a DMV. So we made a day of it and drove over an hour to the town that has the DMV, so I could take care of my license. I brought all the things I thought I would need, and of course, it’s never the right things. But not only that, it turned out it was way harder than I thought it was going to be to get my license renewed.

They need 2 proofs of physical address. Under normal circumstances, that’s not that hard to come up with. However, when you live off the grid and don’t get mail at your house, it’s surprisingly difficult. Utility bills? Don’t have those. Deed for the land? Not in my name, in R’s name. Pay stub? Has PO Box on it. Same with car insurance and bank statements (because, ya know, they needed to MAIL stuff to me). So after explaining all this to the lady at the DMV with no personality, she basically told me I couldn’t renew my license then. I asked at that point if I can just renew my license with the same address it already has, and… no. So…?

Does this prove it?

I spent the next week obtaining proofs of address, and both my employer and my bank pulled together for me to get them. My second DMV trip was no problem, easy peasy. But what if you can’t prove where you live? You’re just not allowed to drive anymore? Homeless people or people who live in an RV or something like that just can’t get licenses? Seems weird to me. When we got another cord of firewood delivered to our cabin last week, we joked that that’s our utility bill! Think they would take that receipt?

It’s one inconvenience that, while annoying, is something easily dealt with so we can live the lifestyle we want to live. Next time I’ll renew online.

Heating bill.