Hello everyone!

[Mechelle]

Hailing from NM,
glad to meet ya!

Me?  some how I ended up a world traveler and living off the grid for 3 years.
Really have enjoyed the nomad/cheaprv videos.

Thinking about a van in the next few months.
Really have the camping bug right now.  

Should I ???   

pic is queenie and Maya (shepherd/andmaybealittle-wolf), Maya is a real rescue, has the scaring and alterations of a fight 'bait dog' horrible condition when I got her,  the queen is finally sleeping with her! no longer afraid the 'big bad wolf'  is going to eat her, and Maya is loving life these days... Maya loves the camp life!

 

[travelaround]

Hello Mechelle, welcome to the forum! I would like to hear more about being a "world traveler and living off the grid" ... what transportation? ... were your dogs with you on this journey?

 

[Mechelle]

Hi Lady Travelaround, thanks for the welcome!

I studied buddhism with a group that were skilled at manifesting denaro and
held teachings all over the world. Every time some teaching came up.., the money arrived spontaneously.
I've ended up traveling across the US, and to Europe, Africa, India, and Asia.

Lived off the grid and one of the house shares was with probably one of the original
old timers. I really miss off the grid. Big city is great for shopping, but
man country and wilderness are best for living imo!

Dogs have only camped for three weeks. The Queen is a city girl! For Maya it was rerhab.

Not sure what your asking about as to 'transportation'?


Me

 

[travelaround]

What a great way to see the world and serve at the same time!

By transportation, I was imagining something like bicycle or walking . . . I'm kind of hung up on those two methods that some people use to see the world.

Examples:

Miles from Nowhere - a book by Barbara Savage who was a pioneer in the art of international bicycle travel. I have her book on my TBR list.

And for walking, also on my TBR list, is Grandma Gatewood's Walk - a biography of a woman credited with saving the Appalachian Trail - in fact, that book is on my nightstand ready to be my bedtime book, as soon as I finish The Nightingale . . .

I see the world through a lens of literature - you will see. My main YouTube name is Book Lady.

Anyhow, I love travel memoirs. Have you considered writing one?

 

[Mechelle]

Such a lovely view point. Oh the Appalachian mountains are so beautiful. Hillbillies best kept secret, reminds me of the secret
heartland of Texas.

My most favorite mode of transportation in the world is the Bike-Rickshaw. Absolutely love it.
So peaceful, calm, beautiful and immediate. For me solo bicycling has been a bit dangerous.

I also grew to love all the side open, no window auto rickshaws in India i.e. modified golf carts
crammed full with extra passengers, @10 cents from home to the mall or restaurant.
A certain shift in the view of the world, more intimate, less removed, not an observer,
but integrated.


and I loved loved loved the overnight trains there, dirt cheap just like massage, no bunk curtains thou,
(except no love for the toilets dumping on the track, but then again they too think we are crazy for polluting all the water
with our toilet hmm? toilet is a problem)
second class was decent and always a wonderful kind person to help you along the journey

I'm thinking about turning it all into a fantasy/magic/fiction,

India was pretty epic thou...it would be a lovely memoir...
population, poverty, filth, unrefined greed, evil beggar gangster dons,
unschooled, filthy, hungry masses
then,
behind a wall, exquisite beauty, wealth, entourages of kings, with thriving communities
kingdoms and palaces on top of the highest mountains in the world
that were inaccessible to all except the most adept for ages,
wealth born of generosity and not conquest

ahhh travel
what about boats or are you a land lover?

 

[travelaround]

I've spent time on boats as my grandmother loved them... but I do prefer land. Airplanes I could do without the rest of my life. I was in one last year, and there was so much turbulence the pilot sounded frightened, telling the servers to sit down and buckle up.

So, my travel intentions will be for exploring the USA, and when I get done with that (if I ever do) I might go back to Canada, or to Mexico, where I've never been.

I was thinking just this morning that I could start writing a chapter on downsizing right now, as that's the part of vandwelling I'm in. I need to empty out a two bedroom apartment that I've been in several years. Strange how quickly possessions pile up when you're living in one place.

 

[Mechelle]

Planes are getting rough, in the news all the time, one of the last ones I was in a hawk hit the engine.  

Mexico was great 30 years ago.  But if you read any of the stories about the increased Drug Cartel activity...  lets just say some people in the southwest  avoid it now.  

Downsizing, sounds like a title for a book or a movie script.  ha ha I went from a suitcase to a 4 bedroom, 4 bath, 3 living room, dining and craft room urban palace, retreat and now I'm thinking suitcase, station wagon, van, off the grid.  Cities are looking rough.