Two weeks in. 23 containers. $0 hardware. Built from e-waste in a 40ft fifth wheel.

Here's what's running and where it's headed.

WHAT'S LIVE:
Suricata + Zeek — dual IDS watching every packet
Wazuh — SIEM + forensics
CrowdSec — crowdsourced threat intel
AdGuard + Unbound — private DNS chain
Node-RED + MQTT — automation nervous system and sensor bus
Local LLMs on a salvaged GTX 1050 Ti
Custom AI memory system — persistent context across sessions
TTS engine — she talks back
Grafana + InfluxDB — dashboards and telemetry

WHAT'S COMING — THE RV BECOMES SENTIENT:
Every light, shade, lock, and climate system on the MQTT bus. ESPHome sensors on every surface — doors, windows, water tanks, chassis vibration, air quality. Zigbee mesh throughout. Frigate NVR with local AI object detection on cameras. Presence tracking via Bluetooth beacons — the AI knows which room you're in and adapts around you.

Power monitoring on every circuit. Weather station on the roof feeding solar predictions. Water quality sensors on the freshwater input. TPMS on every wheel. GPS geofencing so the rig starts warming up when the truck gets close.

All local. All self-hosted. All orchestrated by one AI brain that never sleeps.

BUT HERE'S THE PART THAT KEEPS ME UP AT NIGHT:

A weatherproof helipad and charging station on the roof. A coordinated drone fleet. Not one drone doing laps — multiple birds working together, redistributing tasks if one returns to charge.

Drone-to-drone mesh communication. They talk to each other. If comms drop, failsafe protocols bring them home.

Routine perimeter inspections of my own property on schedule. Spot checks triggered by IDS alerts. Aerial inspection when the network sees something unusual. Systematic grid mapping with thermal imaging. Site photogrammetry when parked somewhere new — build a local map before I even step outside.

Ground-deployed sensor packages — temp, air quality, gas detection. Instant remote monitoring posts without leaving the rig.

The IDS sees an anomaly. The AI evaluates. Drones launch under operator authority. Live feeds processed on-stack. Drones dock, charge, wait.

A 40ft fifth wheel with its own air force. Controlled by an AI that runs on a machine someone threw in the trash.

All on cellular. No fixed address. No cloud. Self-hosted everything on a machine someone threw away. Self-taught everything from scratch.

No reason. Just wanted to see if I could.

#homelab #selfhosted #infosec #drones #AI #IoT #automation #linux #RVlife

Sitting quietly by the Turon River, which is flowing — albeit slowly — for the first time in many years at Sofala, NSW.

Lots of parrots of various types, some ducks, and a lyre bird who likes to imitate kookaburras, curruwongs, whip birds, magpies, butcher birds, and others.

#Peace #Contentment #VanLife #RVLife #Sofala #NSW #Australia

Got the camper set up on my new lot this weekend. Can’t wait for the season to start! We got lucky on the lottery, and got an awesome waterfront spot!

200 Stab Wounds takes you into the bedroom on their tour RV!

#200stabwounds #digitaltourbus #businvaders #rvlife #tourlife

Really, I wanted enough energy to at least comfortably "keep up," and while it can feel sometimes like I'm not (since being out of work doesn't feel like I'm keeping up), the fact that I could make a new toilet within days of the old one breaking, and before it broke so much it was unusable, that's within the parameters.

#OffGrid #RVLife #MECFS

Well, I built a new toilet today.

It didn't fix the problem, but it's better.

What I really need to do is build a real toilet.

But that's going to take some doing.

#OffGrid #RVLife

Donate to Help Cat & family seek out new life, new civilizations, organized by Cat Bailey

Hi there! I'm Cat, a very nerdy single mom to two teens and some cat… Cat Bailey needs your support for Help Cat & family seek out new life, new civilizations

gofundme.com

I have a difficult time making healthy food for myself that I can stand to eat and that I don't get sick of. So last summer, I stumbled upon build your own salads as a way to get meat and fresh veggies in a variety of ways without using the stove. (Otherwise it gets too 100F in here.) It had the added effect of being delicious and cooling.

I only figured that out in August, so was disappointed when it got cold too soon.

That's when I discovered that build your own soup by adding meat and veggies to pre-made soups was the winter equivalent!

I feel set for life on food decisions.

#OffGrid #RVLife

(Living in a leaky old RV, food becomes a primary component of bodily temperature regulation.)

#OffGrid #RVLife

Teletrabajando en compañia #gatos #cats #rvlife