any of you love fulltime nomad life but only because of technology?

[ChileSauceCritic]

Basically much of the tech I see in builds on youtube I know either did not exist 15 years ago or was much more expensive.  as a camper I know how much of the common gear people view as basics was only affordable to upper middleclass weekend campers/hunters, Let be real most of the stuff to turn your van or RV into a home was not designed for that, it was made for outdoorsmen who wanted to bring their families along.   

 We live in a time where an average person with an amazon prime account and directions to the nearest home Depot can over time turn a van or camper trailer into a small efficiency apartment with a cheap plasma screen, slingTV account and a mobile hotspot you now have cable, smartphones have gotten cheap enough that homeless people have them all with GPS and a million other useful apps for traveling. 

 When I was taking roadtrips for weeks at a time in my 20's(early 90's) I was out of touch with everyone between payphones and listened to the radio and the same five tapes over and over as my only entertainment between destinations lol I also spent alot of time on the side of the road trying to figure out where I was on a map lol

 

[Katt]

Given that my husband works remotely in IT, I'd say that currently we are only hitting the road because we are able to due to technology. That said, I've been wanting to be a nomad since I was a kid and dreamed of building a bicycle trailer for my cat and hauling across the country by bike. I love nature and I have always loved camping and riding a bike everywhere. I'd have been in my glory if I had actually set out and done that. I wound up getting married and having kids instead.

 

[ChileSauceCritic]

Good example, I'm a telecommuter also and that's the only reason I can give this life serious thought as I have a regular income and vandwelling would free up about 70% of my income(which is bills for my house) the maintaining a vehicle and keeping gas in it would be roughly the same .

 

[bullfrog]

In the late 1960s I qualified for off base housing while in service in Arizona, it was winter and as rents doubled during winter there was no way I could afford an apartment especially in a college town like Tucson. So I bought a 9’x12’ canvas tent, a big wooden picnic table kit, coleman stove and lantern, a big round kerosene heater, cot and really good sleeping bag. I already had an ice chest and belonged to a gym. I had a friend that was a smoke jumper that got me a key to all the gates on forest lands and later volunteered to patrol a remote water fall area and pick up trash in order to have a permanent camp. Loaded up the Jeep and spent 6 months out there then moved into what was then the beginnings of Gilbert Ray campground (all dirt roads back then) out by where the desert museum is today for about 6 months. No technology required just a need for cheap housing and a willingness to do what needed to be done. A little longer commute but a great place to live at the time. I used a van as a metal tent later on again no technology. People have lived in the outdoors for centuries with out technology and still can with a few modifications to meet rules and regulations.

 

[rvwandering]

We've been fulltime nomads for 27 years. The first 13 were technology free. We did have a clunky cell phone a year or so before we got a mobile hotspot in 2004.

We loved fulltiming even without the technology but I have to say that the technology has made everything so much easier and much more fun.

We now have friends that share our mindset whom we never would have met without this forum and the RTRs.
We find campsites by going to websites that other nomads have created. We find our own campsites by studying Google satellite view.
We search online to find gas stations, grocery stores, laundromats - anything that previously was found by happenstance or by asking at visitor centers.
We find interesting places to go and things to see but searching online.
The list could go on and on. Technology has improved our lives immensely and we'd be lost without it. I'm sure we'd adapt if it disappeared and relearn the skills we had before but I'm not giving it without crying. ;-D

 

[jacqueg]

I lived out of the back of a Datsun pickup for 3 summers in the late 70s, doing ecological field work.

Loved it.

I had an ice chest, a tent and sleeping bag, and a Coleman stove and lantern that both ran on Coleman fuel. that was it for "technology".

 

[JDub]

Ditto - 20 years in the old military (been retired for 21 now) - but only if I had my M151 Jeep or HUMMV. If not, I had the sleeping bag (sometimes - depending on what mission essential stuff I had to jump in - I was a paratrooper), if not, it was just the mighty poncho liner even in 20 and 30 degree weather... I DON'T miss that...

Cheers

 

[SingleMamaRubberTrampin25]

Well as far as technology goes I have my phone that I use to work and play youtube for my son, and a $15 inverter for my car charger. That's about it really. We got a bed, an ice chest, clothing, car seat, hygiene and food. That's all we really need for now in the minivans. When I get a box van I am definitely considering a jackery with solar charging because I am so very sick of wasting gas to turn my car on all the time for fear of killing the battery. No going too crazy though. I want the bed, and cabinets, but mostly want floor space so my son can move freely.

 

[RoamerRV428]

technology is such a plus, not a doubt about that!

nope, we got the camping wandering spirit in our very souls We had a tent, backpacks, and usual little bit of gear for survival and fun when out and about in our olden days. We would choose outside and camping over anything all the time and we are no different but now we got some upgrades as we age and I have to say, I love my upgrades on the road LOL

 

[crofter]

The dwellers who are not gadget freaks are not on this forum. Having a desire to connect with others on the internet is not part of everyone's life after all, and people posting on the internet are not more important than those who choose to spend their time doing other things.
-crofter

 

[ChileSauceCritic]

Oh they're on the forum, they may not post as much but they are here.  and I imagine many who have every piece of camping tech that can fit in their van would still live the life if all they had was a mattress and ice chest, the gadgets just make things easier. 

 And nobody is saying bare bones nomads are less important, I was just wondering if the explosion in numbers of van dwellers is more economic realities or the tech has reached a point where there is just enough comfort on the road today to make this a viable option for a number of people who would have been miserable as vandwellers 15-20 years ago.

 

[JasonMcD]

I think technology can be a great way to support the nomadic lifestyle for sure. I'm slowly building towards working 100% remotely so that i can continue to make a living while I am on the road. It would require me to stay within range of service, but i think that is a small price to pay in order to make a living and still do what i love.

 

[bullfrog]

Many people just can’t get used to living outside. Heating and cooling options are no where near what many already have in their sticks and bricks house.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

It depends on how you define technology.  
The biggest technology advancement was the rise of the internal combustion engine in transportation.  Before that the economy could not support many 'nomads'.

 

[ChileSauceCritic]

Actually Nomads were actually MORE common prior to to the automobile in the 1800's there were many people living in their wagons going from town to town trading goods or doing odd jobs. also you had(and still have) Gypsies and Irish travelers who had a completely mobile lives.



[img=500x400]https://www.culturenorthernireland.org/sites/default/files/content/History1.jpg[/img]


[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif] plus snake oil salesmen who lived in their wagons and they had to be able to leave town at a moments notice out of fear of being tarred and feathered.[/font]


[img=500x400]https://images.fineartamerica.com/i.../snake-oil-salesman-arthur-bohlmann.jpg[/img]

 

[JDub]

Cue Cher's "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves". Good song!

Cheers

 

[MotorVation]

I'm not full time but am on my second winter out here in the desert. I wouldn't do this without today's technology. A weekend camping trip with a girlfriend (which I do not currently have) maybe. A weekend. That's all I'm givin' up.

Tonight, I'm sitting in my van with my own power plant watching Pure Prairie League doing 'Amy' on YouTube, sipping hot coffee with my Wave 3 heater keeping me toasty. That's what does it for me. Gotta go now. Junior Brown's on

 

[maki2]

I bought my first computer in 1983. Of course back then it was a telephone line modem and a desktop computer. When traveling I would stop off at a library and logon to my email account using their computers. So I have been computers for communication while car camping since the early 90s. I used my laptop and a microsoft GPS device while on a 3 week long camping trip to France in 2008. It was easy for that trip as by then there was a lot of public wifi around. But even before that in the mid 1990's I took a laptop along on road trips and used it to log onto my email accounts and forums I belonged to.

Maybe I was just an early adapter? All I can say is it feels perfectly normal to me but I appreciate the convenience of cell phones and tablets with data plans versus trying to get passwords to log onto a public wifi. But there are times when I still use public wifi but not without having a VPN service loaded on my devices.

 

[RoamerRV428]

Cue Cher's "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves". Good song!

Cheers

darn I thought the exact same  :thumbsup:

 

[tx2sturgis]

Digital Nomads...it's a THING!

:thumbsup: