California Dreaming

[SLB_SA]

Mozadox- I agree with you! Well said

I agree.

A friend called me ... 70 minutes ago ... and said she saw a RV (class C?) for sale, stopped and was walking around it.  I told her to call the number on the RV sign and see what they wanted for it.  (My friend is on disability and on the verge of losing her home; she scrapes together (sometimes with my help) the money needed to pay her monthly mortgage bill.)  How much should a "beat up" RV sell for?

 

[QinReno]

I have a GMC van I bought a year ago, which I am happy with because I don't live "in" it, I live "out" of it. Most van people say something similar. It is very much an outdoor living style. With a smallish Class-C (24' or so) or a travel trailer 20' long, you can live in it. IOW, not be outdoors all the time. When I've been in places with a lot of regular RVs, those people spend most of their time indoors. 

I suspect your friend coming from a lifetime of S&B will want something she can "live" in. Unfortunately, when I was looking at Class-Cs a year ago, rigs that were already 20-years old were selling in the $20,000 and up range. I didn't want something so old, as I figured there are likely to be maintenance problems of all sort with the RV stuff, especially plumbing, even if the engine has low-mileage in it. 

Your friend does not sound like someone who can deal with possible continuing maintenance problems, especially if she has some sort of disability, so I think she should be prepared to spend more money and buy something newer. You might check some of the videos,
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=buying+an+older+rv

 

[SLB_SA]

One poster here writes that I raise OT issues. Whatever. But, in the spirit of being OT, let me ask a question. What artist (singer) represents (the lives, struggles, joys, accomplishments, dispairs of) vandwellers?

I read this article https://bittersoutherner.com/he-saw-our-darkness-johnny-cash-15th-death-anniversary about Johnny Cash. It states, for example,
"In his 1997 memoir, Cash wrote that they were “some of the work I’m most proud of today,” that “they brought out voices that weren’t commonly heard at the time — voices that were ignored or even suppressed. … I was trying to get at the reality behind some of our country’s history.” It was a history peopled by coal miners, convicts, and cowboys, railroad workers, lumberjacks, and sharecroppers, Indians, hoboes, and, outlaws. And their stories were of struggle, strife, and defeat."
I am more of a Bob Dylan fan but Johnny Cash had a strong voice and message; I could imagine Cash singing Dylan's "Time Out of Mind" and Dylan singing many Cash songs. (Cash had a better voice; Dylan was and is an amazing song writer.)

Economic necessity will cause vandwelling to grow larger every year. Authors representing vandwellers already exist: Bob Wells, Jessica Bruder, Randy Vining, Foster Huntington (??), etc. [e.g. "Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century" by Jessica Bruder (editions forthcoming in Chinese, French, Japanese + German)] Philosophers? Bob. Do singers exist? This is just a silly, OT question.

 

[LivGolden]

:huh:

 

[QinReno]

I would bet that most people here are looking more for a change of lifestyle, ala more freedom, rather than identifying with coal miners and convicts. In addition, they are far too diverse for any sort of "representative" artist. Everyone has their own favorite song styles.

"... stories were of struggle, strife, and defeat". Foo on that, we're not all in Folsom prison.

 

[SLB_SA]

I have a GMC van I bought a year ago, which I am happy with because I don't live "in" it, I live "out" of it. Most van people say something similar. It is very much an outdoor living style. With a smallish Class-C (24' or so) or a travel trailer 20' long, you can live in it. IOW, not be outdoors all the time. When I've been in places with a lot of regular RVs, those people spend most of their time indoors. 

I suspect your friend coming from a lifetime of S&B will want something she can "live" in. Unfortunately, when I was looking at Class-Cs a year ago, rigs that were already 20-years old were selling in the $20,000 and up range. I didn't want something so old, as I figured there are likely to be maintenance problems of all sort with the RV stuff, especially plumbing, even if the engine has low-mileage in it. 

Your friend does not sound like someone who can deal with possible continuing maintenance problems, especially if she has some sort of disability, so I think she should be prepared to spend more money and buy something newer. You might check some of the videos,
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=buying+an+older+rv

Thanks for your comments.

 

[SLB_SA]

I would bet that most people here are looking more for a change of lifestyle, ala more freedom, rather than identifying with coal miners and convicts. In addition, they are far too diverse for any sort of "representative" artist. Everyone has their own favorite song styles.

"... stories were of struggle, strife, and defeat". Foo on that, we're not all in Folsom prison.

Bob talks about the wonderful side of vandwelling.  On the other hand, many people suffered economic difficulties on their way to becoming full time vandwellers.  (Actually, since people live in cars, vans, trucks with campers, RVs, fifth wheels, boats, etc., the term "vandwellers" seems limiting.)  I was not trying to compare vandwellers with "coal miners and convicts" but "song" is a powerful medium for expressing the range of emotions experienced by members of a group.

Have you ever listened to Dylan singing "Like a Rolling Stone"   and found that it struck a chord, not because it suggests that you are "homeless" but because it is a powerful emotional song which expresses the desolation most people feel at one time or another?  Decades before I heard of boondocking or vandwelling or Bob Wells, I loved Dylan's songs.  People on this forum have struggled with basic economic survival, as have people interviewed by Bob. 

If anyone took offense at my previous comments, I apologize. I would love the freedom vandwellers enjoy but my top priority in life right now is my children, grandchildren and friends, not myself.

 

[SLB_SA]

PS I was a "vandweller" on a boat on San Francisco Bay, docked in Redwood City, in 1991.

 

[SLB_SA]

OP brought this up, and it's somewhat OT for this forum. He might looking for places to invest, . He's already written off Tesla. Elon is a genius on a par with Richard Branson, but he's also kinda nuts.

Tesla says Justice Department requested documents on CEO Musk's take-private tweet
Tesla's stock dropped by as much as 7.1 percent after it was reported that the company was under criminal investigation.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/18/tes...e-us-criminal-probe-over-musk-statements.html

I don't know if I have "written off Tesla" but lots of other people apparently have.     A stockholders meeting in the Big House might be something new.

 

[SLB_SA]

I hope Tesla does well.  My son has a Prius and a Chevy box/panel truck and loves solar; I gave him my old Ford Festiva and he wants to convert it entirely to a solar powered EV.  I am also a fan of solar and EV but Musk needs to grow up.  (Musk seems to hate traders shorting Tesla and I agree with him on that point.)

 

[rvwandering]

Please keep politics out of your posts. I've deleted a few posts because of it. Thanks!

 

[Moxadox]

Please keep politics out of your posts. I've deleted a few posts because of it. Thanks!

I'm grateful.

The Dire Wolfess