This can be the start of a real mess...

[Gary68]

i'm vaguely familiar with this utuber and have nothing good to say so per site rules i'll leave it there

 

[flying kurbmaster]

This will not change a thing in my mind or in my life. Someone got kicked out of Walmart for overstaying.

 

[gcal]

Many of those who lived on the generosity of strangers, friends, or famsociety is y in their younger days have become hardhearted as they age. Just look at all the giant RVs traversing the Southwest this winter, their prim gray-haired drivers never deigning to look at a hitchhiker as he unsuccessfully tries to thumb his way south in the hope of a temporary job. Hearteningly, though, many continue to pay forward past favors and share what little they have.

An awful lot of that hardheartedness is that we grey haired old codgers would not just be inviting those hitchhiking strangers into our cars. We would be inviting them into our homes, with all our worldly possessions. Given that our society is awash with guns, a lot of them probably armed. You will not find me stopping to pick them up any time soon, anymore than I would have invited armed strangers into my s&b home.

Also, while the hobo life has not changed much,  people with choices living in vans or campers looking for adventure used to be a rare and charming novelty, just like people looking for adventure aboard small boats. Now, they are everywhere and they have lost their charm. Now, in many ways, they are a nuisance. Too many of them, unprepared, looking for a handout, making messes they don't clean up, wanting to use assets they don't want to help pay for. We are not cute and cuddly anymore.

 

[mayble]

Also, while the hobo life has not changed much,  people with choices living in vans or campers looking for adventure used to be a rare and charming novelty, just like people looking for adventure aboard small boats. Now, they are everywhere and they have lost their charm. Now, in many ways, they are a nuisance. Too many of them, unprepared, looking for a handout, making messes they don't clean up, wanting to use assets they don't want to help pay for. We are not cute and cuddly anymore.

I'd really like to see the statistics on this.
Is it more prevalent than it used to be?  Or is it just red-car syndrome?  
Considering that vandwellers are off grid and often off the books, who can say how many there are and how that compares to previous generations?
I tend to believe this another "kids these days" kind of thing, and there's nothing new under the sun.

 

[GotSmart]

As a eternal student of the human condition, I am seeing a revolution of people who refuse to accept "Status Quo" and are searching for something.

My parents were able to work themselves into a few acres and a business.  Economic opportunities have changed.  Fewer people are owning greater amounts, and more people are shut out of the chance to get ahead.  

Not everyone young is like the subject of this thread.  Many are becoming modern traveling craftsman, and most are well aware of the societal demands of respect for property rights.  

I just see this as less than a pebble in a still lake.  More like a grain of sand on the beach. 

It happened, and while a symptom of society and it's problems, it is not a defining event.

 

[gcal]

I'd really like to see the statistics on this.
Is it more prevalent than it used to be?  Or is it just red-car syndrome?  
Considering that vandwellers are off grid and often off the books, who can say how many there are and how that compares to previous generations?
I tend to believe this another "kids these days" kind of thing, and there's nothing new under the sun.

I cannot say anything about the red car syndrome, but I can talk about personal experience. We owned a house in Florida on a main access to the beaches for about 20 years. At first, no problems with drifters. Then, the problems started and got worse until the neighborhood demanded action from the police. People snuck in and slept in back yards of anyone without a dog. They pulled vehicles actually into driveways at night, as well as parking in front of houses. The hooked into electric and used water faucets. They left piles of trash and pee bottles. They took anything that was left loose in people's yards. They poisoned at least one dog and broke into our outside bathroom. They did not leave until we got regular police patrols that chased them off, and it is thought that the dog was poisoned as revenge. 

One neighbor owned a bicycle shop. He knew one drifter from last two years before, when the guy had worked part time at the shop, and felt sorry for him. The neighbor had no job for him this year, but told him that he could park inside the gate at night and plug into the electric, and gave him the code to the back toilet. Fine for 6 weeks. Then, the neighbor gets a call from the cops. A fight had broken out and the shop window had been broken, setting off the alarm. There were beer cans and needles everywhere. Four other vans were parked there. The guy had been running his own little campground.

You and I may not do these things, but it only takes a few who do to make all of us unwelcome.

 

[Canine]

You will not find me stopping to pick them up any time soon, anymore than I would have invited armed strangers into my s&b home.

Not picking up hitchhikers is not a wrong decision. I respect that. Me, however, I don't mind taking a little risk now and then and will pick up those wayward souls. But I make the decision based in context. I will not pick up just anyone. Having picked up a couple dozen hitchhikers over the years, I've learned some clues as to their character before I maybe stop. The same can clues are somewhat transferable to RVers and others. That is beyond the scope of this thread, but associating willy-nilly with any traveler no matter their mode of transportation will eventually lead to problems. I can attest to that a few times. As long as you go into it knowing the risk and being educated, you will be a lot safer. No matter what it is a higher risk activity. Be careful!

 

[Wanderer]

Okay, folks on this forum pretty much know what they're doing, or are here to learn how to do things properly. However, there's a lot of OTHER folks in RVs and busses who not only don't seem to know what they're doing, their ignorance or full-on self centeredness is going to spoil the scene for the rest of us!

This gentleman is explaining how their group of RVers, who have been 'boondocking' at this Walmart for several weeks, maybe a month, are getting told to move on ASAP. This Walmart is probably going to go on the 'no RVs' list next.

I sleep often at a walmart (Heck, I work at a neighboring one!) and leave in the morning. I come in at 9-11:30 pm and leave 7:30-9 am 

I see people in those 22' (Or way bigger) RV's and they sit there for a week and then move on....

BTW this place has the tow signs and the company who tows...Walmart is VERY much against towing (Here on the west coast) and so that's "Paper
Tiger" stuff. BUT why agitate the tiger, it may just bite...