just started 16ft step van

[RowanFae]

Ok so I did a little putt on the Harley yesterday and today 3 states(PA,OH,WV) 700+ miles. But now that  I know what I'm looking at I found 8 people living in vans/ cars and 1 super cool schoolie.!!!  And to be completely honest it scared the sh!t out of me.
 4 were smelly dreadlock hippy, I do not even know. Around nelson ledges ohio. 1 was pretty normal, fell on hard times and what I expected. In Columbus OH area. 3 were deliverance toothless dirty scary no wonder LEO look for van dwellers and run them out of town! In 1 near Mercer PA and 2 near Erie PA. All in all I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be going to  any "meet ups" in the north East. LOL But the west coast seams like a whole different ball game. Still has me wandering if I should just buy a traditional rv and stick to KOA style parks.

You mentioned things along this line in a thread you started that was locked.

There is a reason why 'stealth' is used so often when Van dwelling and RV full-timing is mentioned and probably why you keep seeing the people you disparage and not all those hundreds and thousands of people living their lives under the radar.

I'm going to end my post here, because I'm very tempted to risk breaking the ToU for this forum.

 

[RowanFae]

I’ll bet you missed many vandwellers on your trip but just saw the ones that looked conspicuous.  The ones you missed were clean and looked like everybody else.

Very nicely, and succinctly stated.  I was trying to point out the same thing, just not as nicely as you managed to do.

 

[tx2sturgis]

With a biker background you should have learned from the biker world that appearances can be deceptive.

Respected local doctors can look like leathered and tatted biker trash.... and rich, sucessful business owners can look like bad-ass 'one percenters'. 

Large, muscular, barrel-chested biker dudes with long hair and scruffy beards and huge biceps can actually be computer programmers....and skinny little biker posers might have a black-belt in karate or be carrying a 9mm pistol... 

The local biker club with loud bikes and lots of attitude might be the same guys who bring toys to less fortunate kids on Christmas morning. 

All I'm saying is: Don't be so eager to judge a book by it's cover.

 

[losthighwaydrifter]

tx2sturgis
I agree completely I'm not saying any of my observations are just observations. I stopped and  talked to everyone I described. and most of them at length. and I'm a big guy with a .45 a .380 and a padlock on a rag in my pocket at ALL times! lol

 And as for my mastery of the English language crowed.  Feel free to swing by Da'burgh check up on me.
I will attend the RTR because I desperately want to see the "Nomatic" world is NOT what I been seeing.
And I am very situationally aware way more than most growing up in a 1% world and 6 years in mostly hostile countrys carring a rifle. If you never received/returned fire  you would never understand. I see more than most and a few of the people I have spoke to were surprised I could see they were living in there car/van.

P.S. do some reading on Edison or Einstein look at the hand written notes and correspondence. Not very well writing. And they both were basement trolls and not very smart.

but im sure this too will be censored by the powers that be.

 

[losthighwaydrifter]

My faith is saved!!!!! I saw a Toyota dolphin in a Walmart parking lot today towing a small trailer stopped talked to the couple for 2 hours def. very broke and GREAT people a complete opposite from what I have encountered thus far in my nomadic life journey.

 

[losthighwaydrifter]

ok scrapping all plans thus far I BOUGHT A SCHOOL BUS!!!!!!! its a shorty 2o pass. but big diesel should pull a trailer fine. I was ne

 

[wcurtin1962]

I insured it as a commercial vehicle. I have a property management business to deal with my rental properties.  I am a little worried about the police and registration log books weight station stuff!? you make all good points! thanks I didn't think about titling as a motor home

Make sure you have "Not for hire" on both sides of the vehicle. If the Weight station/port of entry wants RVs to stop they will have signs stating that. Trucking atlases show where weight stations are, most should be easy to bypass by taking two line roads around them in a step van.

 

[RoadtripsAndCampfires]

I call it like I see it! like I've said before, I have a good friend that is homeless literally living under a bridge in a tent and one that's a world famous rock star. both of them are good guys But at vastly different ends of the financial spectrum. But I must say the people I've meet so far living the "nomadic" life style I'de say 20 or so in the Pa,OH,WV,VA,NY,KY.MD trips I been on. Are whole different group of basically Free loaders living off society's loop holes and government assistance mostly looking for a hand out. With the  poor me attitude but I'm not doing anything to make things better. With the exception of 1 lady living in here 1999 Toyota Camry in Columbus OH. I have a friend who is a producer and does a lot of reality stuff I'm going to see if he will spend a week of two and we will travel around interviewing and filming the people I have been  finding. so all of you can see what I am seeing.

I personally know someone who was recently down on luck and living in tent and car and getting assistance.  They are now in a nice apartment and have a high job position in a well respected company in a great town and paying their own way.  What a difference a year makes.  This person just needed a little time and a little help.  
Depression can creep in very easily for folks trying to get back to being able to make it.  Rents are high and job pay doesn't match that.  Maybe when motorcycle person interviews they can bring a gallon of water and a few items to pay for the YouTube video interview they'll likely make funds off of.

I was thinking about going into small towns when we start our 2 year adventure.  I wonder what those places with names we pass along the highway are like.  

It can be scary encountering strangers wherever, even in the library or mall, one never knows who will set things off but I don't think about that when I go to those places.  I would walking down many downtown streets where homeless gather and that's the way of the world.  Instinct that the percentage of a problem is more likely at place "x" than "y".  Even the thought of going into a strange town brings movie scene scenerios to mind.