There seems to be a lot of posts from folks who are not really on the road, or in the life. I'm not trying to make a judgement here, just thinking that a distinction should be made. Have you been here, done that, or just pontificating. Please be honest!
On the road or not?
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SirJoey
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Well, as for me, I've never lived "on the road", so to speak, but I HAVE lived in a regular-sized van, twice in fact, although both times where comparatively short, once for 3 months, & the other for 2 months. Other than my van, I was basically homeless both times, but I wasn't travelling. I was still employed, & rotated parking between various friends' driveways.
Then, just a few years ago, I lived first in a Class C, then a TT for 2 full years, but again, not on the road. I was parked on my Dad's property the whole time.
Now, I'm full-timing it once again, in a TT, but this time around, I have my own property, 3 acres in the boonies, for which I'm thankful, although I hate living alone out here in the middle of nowhere.
So now I'm a full-timer with a home base for a couple months now, in the process of setting up my little TT as a (more or less) permanently-parked dwelling (think tiny mobile-home), who also happens to own a converted cargo trailer for camping & road trips! <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">
Then, just a few years ago, I lived first in a Class C, then a TT for 2 full years, but again, not on the road. I was parked on my Dad's property the whole time.
Now, I'm full-timing it once again, in a TT, but this time around, I have my own property, 3 acres in the boonies, for which I'm thankful, although I hate living alone out here in the middle of nowhere.
So now I'm a full-timer with a home base for a couple months now, in the process of setting up my little TT as a (more or less) permanently-parked dwelling (think tiny mobile-home), who also happens to own a converted cargo trailer for camping & road trips! <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">
josephusminimus
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<br /><br />Seems to me posts here from folks who aren't living in vans, RVs, in tents, in busses, under bridges, in converted trailers or pickup campers provide the great percentage of what's posted. A lot of the posts offer up helpful ideas, morsels of shared knowledge. Some of it's been helpful various ways to me in my own life, my own RV which I live in.<br /><br />After all, what, precisely, is 'in the life'? My impression is the people who come to this forum are generally a lot more affluent than those who qualify as being 'in the life'. They concern themselves with gadgetry, better ways to keep themselves warm in an enclosed environment, aesthetics of vehicle design, appearance. The ones posting and actually living in RVs, vans, busses, trailers and trucks don't show much sign of wondering where the next meal is coming from.<br /><br />People who are actually 'in the life', probably aren't online much, mightn't own computers, and probably wouldn't have much to add to the discussions because the skills they use to live aren't going to be much interest to someone living in a $100K motor home or a glittering van, worrying about the issues discussed here.owl said:
cyndi
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<br /><br /><em>Your use of the word pontificating certainly implies judgement.</em><br /><h3 class="r g0" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="padding-bottom: 14px; padding-right: 15px;"><em style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal;">pontificating</em></span><span class="f" style="color: #666666; font-size: smaller; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.7em; padding-bottom: 7px;">present participle of<em style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal;"> pon·tif·i·cate </em>(Verb)</span></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 42em; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 15px;"><table class="ts" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody><tr><td style="padding: 5px 0px; color: #666666;" valign="top" width="80px">Ve</td><td style="padding: 5px 0px;" valign="top"><table class="ts" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody><tr><td style="padding: 0px;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 19px; border: 0px;"><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1.2; list-style: decimal;">(in the Roman Catholic Church) Officiate as bishop, esp. at Mass.</li><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 1.2; list-style: decimal;">Express one's opinions in a way considered annoyingly pompous and dogmatic</li></ol><br /><br /><em>This is a public forum and the owner's intention are clear. it's a place for people living the life and those dreaming and/or hoping to make the change.</em><br /><br />"...<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px;">So if </span><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px;">you are new to the life and have questions, or you have been doing it for </span><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px;">years and just want to share a life you love, it's good to have a place to </span><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px;">gather in cyber space. That is my hope for this forum. A place for newbies </span><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 26px;">and old-timers to gather, learn and share..."</span></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div>owl said:
josephusminimus
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cyndi: owl only offered 'Pontificating' and 'in the life' as the two possible modes of discourse in the context of the forum. <br /><br />owl's evidently living in something on wheels in Q, which clearly places him/her as 'in the life' and his/her posts as a voice to be reckoned with, as opposed to those who aren't 'in the life' and are therefore pontificating.<br /><br />He/she merely asked that a distinction be made so's to non-judgementally clarify what's pontification and what contains the rock-solid foundation of having slept in a vehicle sometime and travelled somewhere.
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I think owl has asked a fair question. It may not have been the best choice of words but the way I read it he asked with a good spirit with good intent. While everyone is welcome, and we should never do anything to discourage the new people or the dreamers, I think we all win if we have some idea of our qualifications. If a newbie asks a question, I think it is helpful for them to know that the person answering has really done it or is just theorizing. <br /><br />For example, very often when a question comes up about dealing with cold I will begin my response by saying that "I lived in a box van in Anchorage, AK for 6 years and ...." I'm not just showing off (well, maybe a little) but I want people to know I've earned my stripes and I speak with some authority. <br /><br />While every voice is truly, honestly welcome here, the voices of the elders should carry more weight, they have in every traditional tribe and rightfully so. Online, we can't see gray hair or know who has experience, so nothing wrong with wanting to know and asking. <br /><br />However, one reason they should carry more weight is that the lessons of time should also teach humility and compassion. If they haven't, that greatly diminishes the authority of the voice. Bob
Since Bob started his website and eventually added the forum to help people who were thinking about entering this life it makes sense that a lot of the people posting are not on the road. Many people seem to just be curious. They sign up , never post or just post a few times and disappear but some of them successfully follow through. Hopefully us old timers can help them along by sharing whatever knowledge we have gained by living in vehicles.<br /><br />
StarEcho
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Hmmmm, I know some "elders" who if they told me it was daylight I'd seriously go outside to check. Being an "elder" means a person has lived longer (or done something longer). Period. It confers no wisdom or special insight in and of itself. One might think it SHOULD, but one can't assume it DOES. <br /><br />"I've been doing this for a million years and this is the best way to do it" Every profession has those who have this attitude and you can't get anything done in an organization like that. If you're new you know nothing, so everything stays the same because the "elders" know it all. You may want to re-think the whole "I've been living in a van so I know more than you" attitude. <br /><br />I do know that when I read the OP, I was really turned off. It just sounds like a jr high school attempt to develop a "pecking order". I was HOPING that this elitist attitude wasn't the website owner's but now I'm very much afraid that it is. <br /><br />Sounds like this is the kind of community that values your opinion only if you've "been in the lifestyle" and others are welcome to read the valuable words of the elders, but don't bother trying to contribute because you aren't "in the life". Or if you do, please let us know so we know to discount your words.<br /><br />Pah...I have no use for that nonsense. Please tell me this forum and community is not like that!
StarEcho, Perhaps my choice of words could have been better judging by the way some took them. And if I may say so it was not my intention to upset anyone. What I was getting at is, if I'm new to something and looking for information I want it from folks who are doing it and have experienced what I'm asking for. There is a huge difference in doing something and reading about it and offering advice on that basis. At no time did I or Bob say that certain people need not apply. No pecking order is looked for. Some of the best hands on this board clarify their experience when offering advice. Most of us clearly appreciate that! At least my OP got you out and on. Please allow me to welcome you and encourage you to lend your voice.
StarEcho - I've never seen that attitude here. In fact most people will admit that there is no right way to live in a vehicle. What's right for one is completely wrong for another so read all words if wisdom with that it mind..
josephusminimus
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<br /><br />Starecho: We're all individuals here. There's no 'community personality', aside from some facets not worth the mentioning.<br /><br />You make some good points regarding we older folks, might well be valid in more instances than anyone would care to admit. As one of the 'elders' I'd encourage you not to believe I'd also encourage you to just read and adopt the posts you think you might find useful in your life and read and ignore those you find incompatible with your own needs.<br /><br />It ain't as though you have a lot invested in being right, nor in anyone else being right, no matter what the age.StarEcho said:
I'm sorry if I offend, what is age (elders) what does that mean? Too old to be relevant? Too old to have knowledge? Where does knowledge come from? Anyone can choose to be offended by whatever!<br />If I may be so bold, try to bring something to the table that we may all taste and go away satisfied. If you want to be angry---this probably isn't your place. I know that a lot of folks come here because it is a good place to be. Well I will shut up ----for now.
VanLifeCrisis
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This kinda bugs me. Its like some kind of twisted attempt at elitism. What about people who part time (me)? What about homesteaders who live offgrid? Are they too incapable of grasping the enormous intricacies of this complex lifestyle of vandwelling? What about those who have been homeless without a vehicle before(me)? Do they make the cut, or do they need to encase themselves in a steel box first? I guess a certain time period must be specified. Is there a five point scale, or some sort of aptitude test for living in a van? <br /><br />What if a guy is a carpenter or electrical engineer or both. I would think his opinion would carry more weight than mine about a variety of subjects even if i lived in a van for a few years.<br /><br />This site bob has made makes it sound like just about anyone can vandwell, yet you propose that living that simple life for a certain amount of time makes you some sort of enlightened expert? It took me five minutes of reading to realize i needed good insulation in the van. Not cause bob said so. My brother in law (carpenter) told me the same thing and he never even heard of vandwelling as a 'lifestyle', yet alone lived it. If i tell someone else, hey you need insulation because of [insert multiple reasons] is my advice any less valuable than bob posting the same thing on his website?
Where~the~wind~blows
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Now Now, lets not all get our feathers ruffled.... I think the truth is some are 24/7 nomads, this does not mean they travel everyday, but travel to areas as the seasons predicts. Others are grounded due to jobs/work, if your lucky like myself I don't have to find safe parking every night, some do. Some part time, having a home base to lean on, often the home base's are tiny sticks and bricks or homesteads, and some are here to learn, to decide which way to go, often because they have found themselves in a situation that lends them to less financial/material circumstance. NONE of these are wrong. You will figure out what methods works for you. <br /><br />There are some who don't dwell in a vehicle at all, some hike, some ride, some float, and I am sure some fly! <br /><br />The point is you have chosen or are choosing a minimalist lifestyle, You have decided to reduce your imprint requirements, financial, or material, And through this we all learn by sharing our stories, idea's, and lessons.....<br /><br /><br />
josephusminimus
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<br /><br />It all depends on why you post at the site. I've no idea whether there's a composite, community reason, which dictates a need for self-validation by being believed. I only know why I, personally read here and post here.<br /><br />I read here for ideas and knowledge I might find useful. I don't care whether they come from people 'in the life', from pleasant posters, or from insufferable ones. It's the ideas I'm after, finding what I can use for my personal benefit.<br /><br />As for why I post, seems to me I do it just for the hell of it. Keeps my fingers accustomed to a keyboard. I couldn't care less whether my posts are believed, taken seriously, or disbelieved.<br /><br />But I'm not looking for advice and I do my best not to give any. I just try to give back ideas, experiences, observations I've picked up over the decades someone else might find useful. If nobody finds it helpful it's nothing lost on my part.DazarGaidin said:
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<br /><br />Hi StarEcho and DazarGaidin , I am very sorry if owl and I have offended you, and I can assure that it is my intent that this forum must never be like what you describe above. I try to pick my words carefully to avoid offending people, and apparently this time I failed, for that I am sorry. Let me clarify what I meant to say. I said this in my post (emphasis added):<br /><br />
<br /><br />Every voice is <strong>TRULY</strong> welcome here, and I think we have accomplished that. I am unaware of their being any problem with people feeling like that don't deserve to speak. If there is a problem with it, I would love to hear about it and I will do whatever is required to change that. <br /><br />I'm sorry if you disagree with me, but I do feel the voice of the elders should carry more weight. BUT, only if that voice is full of earned wisdom and <strong>HUMILITY AND COMPASSION</strong>. If it is not full of them, then it should be discounted. In the long run, the forum is self-regulating, people full of pride and arrogance will eventually drop out and it doesn't matter how long they have been living mobile or what they know. Arrogance is always ugly!<br /><br />I am not wise enough to know how to run my life, so I choose wise people to pattern myself after. The one group I admire more than any other is the Lakota Sioux. My limited understanding of what their authentic life might have been appeals to me tremendously and it includes a very open, very limited form of government that is governed predominately by the elders. But every voice is welcomed and equal. That is how I see this forum.<br /><br />A second group I admire and pattern my life after is followers of Taoism and Zen. And again, listening to wise elders is the main form of government. But, again, only if the voice has proven itself worthy of following. <br /><br /><strong>BOTTOM LINE:</strong> Vandwelling is an attitude and can't be defined by vehicle, length of time, amount of income, number of possessions or anything else. If you say you are a vandweller, or just want to know more about it, <strong>all are welcome here and you are welcome to post without judgement. </strong> Bob
