Street Smart Advice for Beginner City Vehicle Dwellers

[willprowse]

Hey guys, will prowse here. I posted a video last night that could seriously help a lot of beginner vehicle dwellers who are stuck in big cities. It goes over the basic rules that every vehicle dweller should know:

[video=youtube]

The response on youtube has been fantastic, and a lot of people love the advice that I gave, but I would like feedback from the members here.

Keep in mind that I have been living on the streets for eight years in only cities. I do not boondock or "camp", so my advice may not be applicable to some of you.

I do think that for beginners, or people forced to live in a vehicle (such as college students or people with disabilities) who are confined to cities, this video goes over the basics pretty nicely. But let me know what you think

 

[Canine]

I really liked that video. Was pretty helpful and easy to understand. Would be nice if you could write something instead of just a video because many of us don't have lots of bandwidth.

Keep in mind that some people are going to get bent out of shape about some of what you said. Be ready for that. Despite it being true and not antagonistic at all, some people will have a problem with it. Still, a lot of people would benefit from it. Especially naive people like me.

 

[RVTravel]

Good video Will.

 

[Cammalu]

Pretty good Will. I usually can’t watch a video for a full minute but you kept me there to the end. Good job.

 

[John61CT]

Would be nice if you could write something instead of just a video because many of us don't have lots of bandwidth.

+1 x a million.

I can't stand watching a video for x minutes when the content can be communicated by scanning a bullet list.

Please link to a summary blog post if you make one.

Tx

 

[eDJ_]

Reminds me of so much of what "Loompanics" book store used to offer.  

They are out of business now, but you can see "some" of what they used to
offer here:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8244.Loompanics_Unlimited

Here is a copy of their 2003 catalog (about the time that they went out of business)

https://archive.org/details/Loompanics_Catalog_2003


Loompanics often employed people with knowledge and experience to write books for them on
subjects that they wanted to develop.   This video would have made a book for the collection.

I think what is being said here is quite accurate.  Even if your rig is a bit rough you can make it look
better with some cans of spray paint.  I've seen people put a cheap paint job on a car with cans of spray
paint and masking tape.  But it's better than being a blob of rust and primer. 

Keepin it clean is everything.   Often the LEO's only see you at a glance and if you appear to be clean that may just get you by.  After all they are "scanning" for what strikes them as out of the ordinary.  And they are on the move doing a lot of scanning for what fits their profile of "trouble". 

I agree that shunning new "friend" when on the street may be the best practice.  You're only giving strangers
a chance to size you up and scheme what they can take you for.    So often they are just looking for a "chink" in our armor.   

If you attend meetup's with those into the RV life and interact with those on message boards,  you may arrange meetups.  But even this could have risk.  

I've heard people say for years, "rolling stones gather no moss".   I guess developing friends and cohesive bonds with others may be more difficult when you aren't "landed" (which means you own property,  pay taxes, and are accorded Police protection from......"rolling stones".  

Good Video !

 

[Annie W]

Your video, well done, served as yet another reminder how obviously the world is increasingly f'd up.

The sad part is after I have shared freely nutritious foods, water, & shelter for years with homeless people
now
unless buying gas, or food, or visiting family+friends... Never be in a city.

 

[safarivan]

thats pretty good willprowse,

I like to put it like this "those who do not know their rights, have none" thats the gist of it but its a bit more complicated.

more like those who do not know their rights AND how to enforce them, have none.

life IS a Law study, we are all students of Law, whether we realize this or not.

Law of necessity is one of the highest laws and Natural Law ( Laws of nature) is the highest Law.

its good to memorize the basic maxims of Law and the maxims of Equity. look into these if nothing else.

and what does a 'taxpayer' look like? "what is real?" ~Morpheous

 

[C-Cat]

I really liked that video. Was pretty helpful and easy to understand. Would be nice if you could write something instead of just a video because many of us don't have lots of bandwidth.

There's actually a neat trick for that with Youtube. First off, you can set the video quality down to the lowest level, which works perfect for educational videos with lot's of talking and will use way less bandwidth than watching in HD or auto. Second and even more important, there is now an automatic transcript function build into Youtube, which can be accessed by clicking on the 3 dots next to the up/down vote and share options! Run the video in the lowest resolution, press stop, then open the transcript and copy the text... bingo, all the info without using the bandwidth!

 

[user 15857]

The transcript is a really handy thing! This video was presented by 'Will Paralysis'!! Auto-correct strikes again.

 

[DLTooley]

Now that you have a place do you ever find yourself getting back out? You should try a van camp vacation some time!

 

[C-Cat]

The transcript is a really handy thing!  This video was presented by 'Will Paralysis'!!  Auto-correct strikes again.

LOL, yeah, though technically this isn't due to Auto-correct, but actually machine voice recognition... not perfect yet, but nevertheless astonishing how accurate it already is now...

 

[DesertRose]

I saw a recent video where Will said he is now living in a sticks and bricks. I liked all his videos until that one. Seemed pretty cocky. Maybe he was just stoked or something. I do have two occasionally cocky millenials (offspring) so it's all good. He may just have been celebrating the moment.

 

[willprowse]

Great feed back guys! I appreciate it.

Great points safarivan

And yeah I was in a house for 2 months due to health problems and it was the best thing for me. I have been living on the streets for 8 years and my ankle was killing me. Finally was able to get some rest and proper medical care. And I urge everyone reading this to give up van and rv life if it is medically necessary. One example is being in a van all day everyday during winter. You can go crazy and its not healthy. Just my opinion, but I have had some rough winters. Van and rv living is great to save money until it affects your health in a bad way. Not fun.

 

[Wanderer]

On some parts Rule #3 and parking in Walmart parking lots I disagree with.

Dumpster diving? That can get you into a lot of trouble. What was he speaking about not stepping onto private property, but then speaks about dumpster diving? I mean either stay consistent or quit suggesting illegal acts.

"I'm never standing by my van rocking out to my music in the ghetto"....Ummm I'd NOT be parking "In the ghetto" in the first place!

Like to repair his vehicles in industrial parks (Trespassing??) on the weekends (Cops patrol 24/7) And what if you can't wait??

Some good stuff I guess, but a lot of contradictions here.

 

[tripper]

Hey Will, I've seen your videos and they are great!!! I actually refer people to watch your videos.  I lived on the streets of San Diego in a class A for many years.  Keep your videos coming, they are a valuable resource!

 

[willprowse]

On some parts Rule #3 and parking in Walmart parking lots I disagree with.

Dumpster diving? That can get you into a lot of trouble. What was he speaking about not stepping onto private property, but then speaks about dumpster diving? I mean either stay consistent or quit suggesting illegal acts.

"I'm never standing by my van rocking out to my music in the ghetto"....Ummm I'd NOT be parking "In the ghetto" in the first place!

Like to repair his vehicles in industrial parks (Trespassing??) on the weekends (Cops patrol 24/7)  And what if you can't wait??

Some good stuff I guess, but a lot of contradictions here.

You can legally dumpster dive. There is public trash cans. 

What was contradictory? And what did you specifically disagree about with Walmart parking lots? I stated that the crazy folks hang out there and cops/secuirty guards frequent those parking lots. What did you disagree with?

And that is absolutely false. Industrial parks are public property. You never ever go into the actual business parking lots. You stay in the street. I thought it was pretty straight forward and clear. Cops patrol 24/7 but I didn't suggest doing anything illegal. Maybe you should watch the video again.

Did you watch the entire video?

 

[willprowse]

Now that you have a place do you ever find yourself getting back out?  You should try a van camp vacation some time!

I only rented a place for sixty days to heal up an ankle injury

 

[willprowse]

Hey Will, I've seen your videos and they are great!!!

Thanks!!

 

[Wanderer]

You can legally dumpster dive. There is public trash cans.  

What was contradictory? And what did you specifically disagree about with Walmart parking lots? I stated that the crazy folks hang out there and cops/secuirty guards frequent those parking lots. What did you disagree with?

And that is absolutely false. Industrial parks are public property. You never ever go into the actual business parking lots. You stay in the street. I thought it was pretty straight forward and clear. Cops patrol 24/7 but I didn't suggest doing anything illegal. Maybe you should watch the video again.

Did you watch the entire video?

Most dumpsters are on private property. They are usually located behind the business, or in apartment complexes. Obviously CA law is different then WA laws.

Walmarts will permit you to park there if you ask. I know of one that has security and patrols the lot. If you have a nice camper they'll let you stay. they chase off the not so nice ones.

You never said you didn't go onto the property at industrial parks, you said you parked there, you made no distinction.

I watched most if it. Not a lot of info that couldn't have been presented in simple text.