Community

[KatieinKansas]

<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:&quot;Comic Sans MS&quot;">I’m home today because of the foot of snow that’s covering the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>It’s nice to have this day to think and consider what I want to do with my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>…To look out the window and take in the beauty of the snow covering everything…. To sit with my feet up and enjoy a cup of coffee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>I think about how if I were living in a van/vehicle, I’d have everyday to enjoy the outdoors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>I’d have everyday to relax, and breathe in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Peace.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:&quot;Comic Sans MS&quot;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 19.2px; ">More thoughts…</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:&quot;Comic Sans MS&quot;">I woke up this morning to the sound of a snowblower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>My neighbor of 20 years was clearing the walk leading up to my small porch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He continued to clear my driveway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>I’ve lived in a neighborhood in a smaller city where there’s a sense of community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>There are gifts of the heart that are exchanged back and forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>…Gifts of peanut brittle at Christmas, food for a sick neighbor, today’s gift of snow shoveling, rejoicing with each other because of the birth of a baby, and leaning on each other in times of heartache.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:&quot;Comic Sans MS&quot;">…Though I am a quiet person, and keep to myself most of the time, I truly appreciate these acts of love that are exchanged with one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>They warm my heart, and open my eyes to the Good that exists among one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>It causes me to wonder how I’d experience these feelings with others if I were living in a van.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The acts of giving that I just mentioned, cause me to feel not so alone in this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>If one is alone in a van, how do you experience these tangible acts of kindness?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:&quot;Comic Sans MS&quot;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 19.2px; ">I can sense the gifts of support and giving amongst one another in this group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>…For those of you that are living in a van/vehicle, do you feel contentment, in regards to community?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Does an online community provide the need for communication?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;</span>Are there other ways that you experience giving and receiving?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:&quot;Comic Sans MS&quot;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 19.2px; ">My heart is yearning to travel and experience more of nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>I have spent summer travels alone, since my daughter has married and moved onto a new life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>I’ve enjoyed the solitude of my “alone” experiences of nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Though I relish my solitude and quiet, I also wish that I could share life’s ooohs and aahhhs with someone/others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>…That sense of connection with others.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:&quot;Comic Sans MS&quot;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Wingdings;mso-ascii-font-family:&quot;Comic Sans MS&quot;;mso-hansi-font-family: &quot;Comic Sans MS&quot;;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings"><span style="mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings">J</span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:&quot;Comic Sans MS&quot;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>For today, though, I’ll be content with today’s sunshine and snow-covered ground.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:&quot;Comic Sans MS&quot;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 19.2px; ">Katie (in snow-covered Kansas)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(I'm not quite sure that I've posted this new topic correctly, but we'll find out.)</span></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->

 

[twokniveskatie]

<font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">katie, what a great post. i'm glad i saw it before i signed off. i know what you speak of, that sense of community you have where you have been established long enough for relationships to form.</font><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">i also have experienced some of the more astounding and touching kinds of community through my internet connections. my time is limited right now but i will come back and share some of those experiences. there are quite a few on my blog, and i won't re-write them here, but will share them with you.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">i had been through cancer treatment, and had yet another surgery to go through. one of our vandweller people (had never met her) was in N Dakota, heading for the east coast. she came and took care of me for a couple weeks. she is one of my most awesome friends now. that was my introduction to the heart of this community. it hasn't stopped yet.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">when the rondyvan broke down in the middle of rush hour traffic on an overpass in flagstaff az, within minutes a friend in kentucky had the word out to the vandweller community. another vandweller from AZ was on standby to come pick us up if necessary. i met a bunch of heroes in flagstaff, and the result was the same kind of support that i would have found in my little hometown.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><a href="http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com/2009/03/flagstop-in-flagstaff.html" target="_blank">http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com/2009/03/flagstop-in-flagstaff.html</a></font></div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com/2009/03/flagstaff-flagstop-part-ii_31.html" target="_blank">http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com/2009/03/flagstaff-flagstop-part-ii_31.html</a></div><div><br></div><div>and here, a story of how i was able to return the gift to a stranger, finding community just off an interstate when i least expected it....</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com/2009/01/on-road-again.html" target="_blank">http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com/2009/01/on-road-again.html</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>

 

[KatieinKansas]

<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thank you so much, Katie! &nbsp;I still have tears in my eyes. &nbsp;...Hard to see the screen. &nbsp;You just touched my heart, and I'm grateful.</span></font><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Your words are soft as silk, not as sharp as two knives. &nbsp;</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Big hug,</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Katie</span></font></div>

 

[twokniveskatie]

oh, katie, thank-you, you are so sweet. but i have to tell you that sometimes my words come out crossways, and sharp. &nbsp;it is the thing i like least about myself. i hate to hurt anyone or anything. but i laugh much more than i am cross, and like hugs better than most anything in the world, so i'm not all bad!

 

[blars]

Personally, I find more community online than I do in the close physical world.&nbsp; While I do have friends, none of them live less than 10 miles away and there are a million or so strangers or passing aquantinces that live closer.&nbsp; I tend not to see any one of them more than once a month or so.<br><br>So for me, living on the road won't be as much of a break of community as it is for many people.<br><br>

 

[butterfly]

twoknives, I know&nbsp;what it's to&nbsp;say something that comes out all wrong.&nbsp; &nbsp;I once said to a fellow&nbsp;"So how much do you have to pay to have your grass cut?...just for future reference for when we get to be&nbsp;old and decrepit."&nbsp; I don't have a malicious bone in my body but That sure didn't come out right.&nbsp;<IMG border=0 align=absMiddle src="https://vanlivingforum.com/images/boards/smilies/redface.gif"> <br><br>I agree w/ blars.&nbsp; I feel like this forum&nbsp;is the friendliest of places and love checking in to see what's going on w/ everyone.&nbsp; <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>I've found that&nbsp;real people&nbsp;friends (not that you all aren't REAL people!!&nbsp;maybe I should say Local friends)&nbsp; don't always&nbsp;like to listen.&nbsp; They just wait for a pause in what I'm saying so they can grab the conversation ball and run w/ it.&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;Or worse simply begin talking at the same time I'm talking.&nbsp;I refer to that as stomping all over my words.<br>&nbsp;Or worse yet ask me a question "so how was your two weeks w/ the grandkids?" and allow me exactly 3 sentences before interupting w/ a funny story about their grandkid.<br><br>I used to play Scrabble w/ once a week w/ such a person.&nbsp; I couldn't find the guts to tell her that I needed equal speaking time so cut back to monthly Scrabble games instead...about all I can tolerate being around her.<br><br>katieinks I'm pretty comfortable w/ my own company but have also wondered if I hit the road in a van, would I feel isolated from humanity.&nbsp; 2kniveskatie has shown that the human caring connection is definatly on the road as well as down the block.<br>

 

[twokniveskatie]

<font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">the best part, butterfly, is that i gave only a few meager examples out of <i>many</i>. you gave me a good idea, though. i am going to go back through my blog and tag all the entries that show community on the road, and all the ways it happens. that may be useful to some! thanks!</font>

 

[twokniveskatie]

blars, i have to agree, since when i am at home on the farm, i am much more isolated if for no other reason than being so rural....i tend to be more social on the road!

 

[wheelsoffreedom1776]

Since moving into my van camper I have met a lot of new people, mainly curious people who wanted to know just how I do it and why I do it. While boondocking at work many of my coworkers took interest in the lifestyle, and heading out back to mike's place was common at break time.&nbsp;

 

[akrvbob]

I've always been a loner by nature, and tended to build walls between myself and others. But circumstances in my life made be change my ways and tear down those walls. A big part of that was vandwelling. It made me so happy and it felt so right. I've become a friendly, outgoing person. And a funny thing happened, when I was friendly, I found friends. I'll give an example. I was at a drawing for a permit for a backcountry hike and I won. When we all gathered to get our permits I spoke up and said, would anyone like to hike in together? A couple guys did and so we hiked together. One of them became a very good friend. We spent the next two weeks hiking in Zion NP. We live very different lives but every year we try to get together in November. It makes me smile just writing about him. Here at the RTR, I met many people who will become those exact same kind of friends. Last year I met many people who were here again at the RTR and we are already planning the next time we will meet. <br><br>Paradoxically, living the loner life has led me to more deep friendships in a few years than I ever had in my whole life before. I think the same will be true for you! Bob<br><br>

 

[polecat77]

Nice to see that there are people that do this year around. It always comes back to being a good neighbor weather living on the road or in an apartment. A friendly wave a nod or sitting in a chair with a cup of coffee. We are all the same. I remember a saying I once read count you age by friends not years. May your troubles be few and pleasures many...

 

[danelady]

I too have been a loner for most of my life...even when I was married. Probably why it didn't work. I am happy being quiet and doing things alone. Then every so often I need to blow off steam too. This doesn't mean I don't like people at all,I just appear and then I'm gone,off lookin' for somethin' new.<div><br></div><div>I think that's why I took to truckdriving like a duck takes to water. I can be left alone while I do my job. I'm not afraid of challenges and I like moving around. I know that this is supposed to be a job and its all about making money,but for me its been more of a trip back to self realization. Back to my true hearts desire...to be free and unencumbered. The kid's grown and gone and I rarely talk to him. But that's ok,I did my job as best I could and he is his own man now in charge of his own life. He probably won't agree with how I want to live...but I've never ever given a hoot about what other people think of me anyway.</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;Vandwelling sounds like nirvana to me and I like the sense of camaraderie I see on this site. I know what its like to struggle and I'm always happy to shoot the bull and share a cup o' joe,and lend an extra hand when two just aren't enough. I do have a little explorer sport &nbsp;parked in Phoenix and I just might have to take a ride to Quartzsite and have a closer look at some of these vans. I always figgered Q-town would be the place to look for some kind of camping vehicle come summertime,anyway.</div>

 

[Vern M]

<P><FONT size=4>You don't want to be too alone. My doctor actually wrote me a prescription that said "get a dog." He wanted to be sure I didn't get too alone with thoughts of old age and health. And, as usual, he was right.</FONT></P>

 

[twokniveskatie]

<b>hiya Vern. good doctor!</b>

 

[Tara]

Awwww. &nbsp;Community = I haven't even been here, but I'm in this thread. &nbsp;&lt;3.<div><br></div><div>There's totally community on the road. &nbsp;If you go to festivals and hang out in national forests and walmart parking lots you'll meet other travellers. &nbsp;I've been off the road for four (?) years now and I still have a mental map of where my friends are all the time.</div>

 

[karl]

It's been a year since this thread started, seems like a good time to bring it to the top again.<br>How's the snow in Kansas, Katie?<img src="https://vanlivingforum.com/images/boards/smilies/wink.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0">&nbsp; It's still a great post. <br><br>

 

[KatieinKansas]

<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hi karl and all.</span></font><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The snow has given us a reprieve this year, at least so far. &nbsp; I'm sure it'll show it's face pretty soon though. &nbsp;... Last May, I moved from the community that I'd been a part of for so many years, and am now renting a place in Wichita. &nbsp;That was a big step for me. &nbsp;It was hard to step from the known to the unknown. &nbsp;When I did move from my familiar community, however, I felt a wonderful sense of freedom and power. &nbsp;That move has given me a sense of confidence in following my heart. &nbsp;I have a "breaking loose" kind of feeling. &nbsp;I feel like a different person than I did a year ago, and it feels good. &nbsp;Though I love my old neighborhood (the people), moving away from it has freed me to discover new parts of me, that I wouldn't have, had I stayed. &nbsp;</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I have wanted to travel in my van, or just <b>be</b>&nbsp;in it somewhere, where I could look out, and not see another house...only nature. &nbsp;...But I thought, after teaching for 24 years, I should probably keep working for a few more years so that I could receive the full retirement benefits. &nbsp;Well, all that changed. &nbsp;...Or, I changed. &nbsp;I decided to take an early retirement. &nbsp;Wahoo! &nbsp;I haven't felt more excited! &nbsp;...June 1, I'll be free to discover new and different kinds of communities! &nbsp;...Working a few more years in order to receive higher monetary benefits in my future, could never compare with the abundance of joy, freedom, and adventure that I feel NOW! &nbsp;I would be selling a part of me, had I not decided to live the life that I want, now. &nbsp;</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;I'm leaving for the RTR in Quartzite in a week from today, and will be there for a week!! &nbsp;(...using up some of those accumulated "days off" before the end of the year) &nbsp;It'll be great to meet some of the wonderful people in this Cheaprvliving community. &nbsp;I'm finding that changes in community are good for my soul.</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Katie</span></font></div></div>

 

[Ryan24]

Another form of community with types like us, those who also gleefully hog the internet at mcdonalds, starbucks, hotel waiting rooms, and other sources of power. There forms this kind of unspoken bond around the outlets.&nbsp;

 

[Ryan24]

update on that: there were a bunch of people here at mcdonalds trying to get the saints game on the tv but the mcdonalds employees couldnt change the channel. I had the game streaming to my laptop and got the crowd to gather around and watch the last few minutes. Coolest moment on the road so far for me. I cant exactly say why, but for whatever reason I dont think that is something I would have done when I wasnt on the road.&nbsp;

 

[stude53]

<p style="margin: 0px;">Congratulations, Katie in Kansas</p><p style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0px;">On choosing early retirement and Freedom to do as you please. May you live long and prosper.</p><p style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Enjoy! Enjoy!</p><p style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Bob (aka stude53)_</p><p style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;</p>