Juli Johnson

I didn’t get far. I started wiring this Renogy Rover MPPT solar charge controller to the circuit breaker (so I can turn the electricity from the solar panels off), and the terminal screw wouldn’t tighten. It just started separating the unit apart. So… maybe I dropped it somewhere during the past two years I’ve been waiting to install it, or maybe it came to me broken 🤷‍♀️ I will never know. I’ll need to upgrade to a 60 amp version of this (this one is 40amp) when I add two more solar panels so I can have air conditioning (battery operated) anyway. I wasn’t able to upgrade this year. Originally I was going to have a 400 watt solar electric system, but Air Con needs more power. I was originally not going to have Air Con, but the heat of last summer made me rethink that idea… now I have an excuse to upgrade the solar charge controller this year. This is still a set back, not a happy accident. I’m growing tired of set backs. But, fortunately, next Saturday should be warmer than today is, and if my new solar charge controller arrives in time I will put the electrical all together next weekend & still get the heater started before it’s too freezing cold out. I might still be able to move in before Thanksgiving. Knock on wood & cross your fingers that nothing else goes wrong between now & then. I also have a cold, so at least I can spend half of today resting. Working non stop is exhausting.

Happy Freedom Day! 18 years now. It’s unbelievable how fast the years fly by! It’s amazing to see what I’ve done/not done with them. Lucky to be alive on my terms (almost there)… feel more free by the week as I get closer to finishing my house on wheels. Get to enjoy my friends performing is amazing! Spent this celebration with my mom (her birthday is tomorrow). I’m grateful for all the hard things I’ve been blessed to do & accomplish! Grateful for what I’ve built/what I’m building. Grateful for every day of life, of Freedom! To make my own choices and do what I enjoy! To live on my terms and the way I choose. Nothing better than that!

My beautiful NTI device!! Hopefully my jaw will stop hurting!

My brand new, not-yet-used NTI device!!! Omg I can’t express my excitement enough!!! I finally put a little over $600 together (which is no small feat when you’re building a house while working part time, I can assure you!) & scooped up this shiny diamond from the dentist after he made it fit in my mouth, right at the place where my 2 front teeth hit my 2 bottom front teeth!! It’s probably made out of unicorn horn, idk, but it’s worth every penny! About maybe close to a year ago my old NTI device, which I had gotten while in college about a decade ago from the same dentist, finally snapped in half. I’ve been having severe jaw pain most of the time since that, off & on, and also saw a PT for my jaw most of this last year, which helped a ton! I’ve always, since I remember being out of high school but idk how far back, have had the right side of my jaw pop in and out. It was just always popping. I had no idea why. I also have high functioning anxiety, cPTSD, & SAD. I don’t sleep well. So all night long my jaw holds the weight of the world as I clench it, & my teeth grind together. For the past about a year I’ve been using my lower teeth whitening tray to replace my broken NTI device. It was better than nothing. A functioning jaw is highly important for a singer and storyteller like myself. I’m so excited to finally have the real thing again!! I couldn’t sleep without it!! Do you have an NTI device too?!

You may be curious where I’m at with the bus… with about 6-7 more weeks of warm air (winter is coming). Here I am. Working on where to put my off-grid electric system components & how to Tetris-fit them all in, as well as manage that massive tangle of wires coming out of the wall. I also moved a couple outlets and I’m epoxy-glueing on some air vent covers. Yes, I have a long way to go. Yes, I’m worried I won’t get it done before it’s too cold to work on it. Grateful that the propane tank holder is in, and the roof deck is half way done, and the dash lights finally work (which is another miracle). If I can just get the electric & the heater to work I’ll be ok! Slow & steady wins the race, I’m told. 😊

Happy birthday Ewok & Hedwig! A day late. I love you both so much!! You make lovely companions! 🥰🎂.

https://youtu.be/596N4aPnjrs?si=5N3LS7l_LaVyPasu

Don't Arraign on His Parade! - A Randy Rainbow Song Parody Tickets to the RANDY RAINBOW FOR PRESIDENT TOUR are officially ON SALE NOW at RandyRainbow.com/tour! See you this fall, America!Parody of “Don’t Rain On My P...

Mom & me at APT!! Anton’s Shorts by Anton Chekhov!

I have a show at
The Nutty Bar on July 21, 7-9pm
Bandung Indonesian Restaurant
600 Williamson St. Madison, WI

Titled and licensed!! Check that new bling bling on my Baby Blue! That was an expensive sticker!! Now that I’m broke again, don’t get any ideas that I’m leaving the area any time soon! I do plan to go on vacation in my Freedom bus, now that I can drive down the street legally!!

My old bus 🚌 passed the inspection!! I can get it registered now as a motor home!! Look out world! Freedom Bus is coming! 🥰

The state highway patrol inspector is on his way over soon to inspect my schoolie conversion! I’m so thrilled to finally be this far! It’s been almost a 2 year journey to get here! In order to pass the inspection so I can go to the DMV and register this old bus as a motor home, the old bus must no longer look like a school bus. All the flashers and stop arm and roof light need to be deleted, and it can no longer be yellow. That’s all ✅! (I forgot to take exterior photos, so just trust me on that.) The bus also needs to have a few items, 4 at least, besides the bed & a spot to eat at, installed that are considered “life support systems.” Can you find the ones on the list that I have completed in my build? Do you think I’ll pass the inspection?

Good news! The tail light was not wired in incorrectly! It was tested incorrectly. 😱🙃🥴 We tested it again the next day. It turned out all good, no redo’s needed (which is good bc my wires on the fixture were pretty short!)!! I’ve been learning a lot about patience and letting go lately. And when to walk away and take a needed break. How to deal with frustration and anger without screaming (bad for the vocal folds). There have been many good lessons, and this was another one. I’m just so thrilled I didn’t have to redo the wiring!!

These two. I’m building the bus for them, really. And for my music. And so I can cook for myself & get better sleep. If it weren’t for these two though I’d probably not need a bus. I’d just grab my guitar & some clothes & be gone by now. All I really wanna do is make music I can sing to & see the world before it falls apart. Today was very frustrating. I was fixing my tail lights in the rain, I still had to connect the wires. My dad helped. I had just two wires that looked identical but one was for the tail light and the other was for the break light, same light bulb). And I connected them to the wrong wires. Now I have to redo it. And I still have to wire in the other one. And it was not easy to wire them. And my finish line is June 3 so I can take it on a trip I’m going on. So I can bring these two. I’m so extremely frustrated. And exhausted. Exhausted mostly bc I’ve had to put my music on the back burner for these past two years. And I’m sick from doing that. But I have to until this bus is finished. I’m so exhausted of doing it wrong and then having to fix it. I’m exhausted. I’m frustrated. I’m not quitting. I’m not giving up. It feels completely like I’ve been running a marathon for the past two years with no breaks and the finish line keeps moving back on me. I think, if I didn’t have these two, I don’t think I’d survive this.

With warm weather comes bud work! Finally starting to make progress on fixing the tail light. The black casing for the light bulb had been so rusted out it couldn’t hold the bulb socket. I fixed it with epoxy, riveted in a new socket, and now I just need to take out the rubber painted wood hole filler, screw it in, & connect the wire! So close to inspection so I can transfer the title from school bus to motor home!

Please support my friends who are raising money for trans healthcare on TikTok! Make a secure donation by texting “stardust” to 44321. Please support the trans community. Thank you!

My parents (whom I currently live with) have had Covid since middle of last week. To keep from getting it from them, I’ve quarantined myself & my cats in our bed room & the connected storage room that has an outside entrance. I haven’t had access to the bathroom or kitchen for the past 10 days. First thing I did when it was over was go buy vegetables! It was too hard to have a salad with no fridge, and I missed that more than I missed having a shower. And I still haven’t gotten Covid!

Ewok. Likes to be a taco shel on sofa chairs. She’s my cuddle bug. I was gone a lot yesterday so she slept on me most of the night. She puts a lot. I love her like a best friend 🥰

Thanks for everything 2022! You were hard on me, but taught me to be tough. I turned an old bus into a home in 2022. (Videos to come soon!) Thanks for all the challenges, the long days, the rough patches, and the lessons on self trust, self love, & self care. I’d like to think that after all that I’m ready for what’s next & I’m excited to show up even more in 2023!

Epic Sister trip to the Warhol Museum!! Thanks Sis & family for a fabulous vacation!!

Old good friends & a great show set to one of my favorite albums by a favorite artist makes an amazing evening 🥰 so grateful!

The best is when your friends come around & cheer you on! It’s been a very tough year, bu I think if I’ve made it this far, I can make it the rest of the way. Freedom is weird. You do what you want to when you want to. You have privilege to change your mind or do something crazy (like move into a bus). Freedom is the most amazing thing. Without freedom how can you become who you are? How can you do what you were born to do? How can you give back to others or become an expert in anything? Without freedom to make your own choices for your own life, well, what’s the point then of even being alive? Without your own autonomy over your own body and mind you can’t be what you are meant to be or do what you feel you should do. You can’t. This is why women should dress the way they want to, cover their hair if they want to, give birth when they want to, or not give birth at all. This is why you should be whatever gender you feel is you. You should be free to sing as loudly and unapologetically as you want to! No one can take your freedom away. And when people say they have power over you, to dictate to you what you must look like and how you must think and spend your time, then you rise up! You stand up to those people and shout, “NO You Do Not Own Me! I have one master and it’s not you!” And you don’t back down until they stop trying to force you to submit to their power over you. No one can have your freedom. It is given to you by the Master of the Universe, your right of being alive.You choose your own path and you tell your own self what to do and how to do it.

Freedom is the name of my bus.
Happy Freedom Say, everyone! I have a happy sugar coma, and the party is over. ❤️ you. Do not give away your freedom. It is your power.

Early morning work on the bus vibes! Looks like nothing behind the bus, the mist is so thick! Ima get a lot done today!