Trapped in San Jose, not enough money or fuel to leave the state!

[debit.servus]

Regularly I read articles, travel blogs, magazines, maps. Regularly I watch youtube videos, shows on TV and internet of people either:
a) exploring the US & CANADA while living in some kind of mobile dwelling.
b) taking long road trips and exploring the US & Canada
c) experiencing the things I desire to experience. 
There is no substitute for the real thing, I see all that media now as Travel Porn. I desire the real thing!!!

I am trapped in the SF Bay area. Not by prison bars or probation, but by not having the means to hit the road for thousands of miles. Not enough money or fuel to propel me and the van out of california and to unseen-to-me landscapes. Seeing my relatives in CANADA, railfanning the Powder River Basins 4-track mainline in Wyoming, and taking the road to Ultra Music Festival in Miami, FL is all out of reach. Those are just 3 experiences that are on the top of the list. 

I am not selective or picky. I am open to travelling on any path in the US & CANADA at least once. Any interstate, any national park, any big city, any truck stop at least once. These are simple things that nearly everybody desires but many don't attain.

Sure there are ways to travel for next-to-nothing, like being a backpacker. That is not for me, and I would rather stay the The Bay and plan my escape than to be dependent on other for transportation. Everybody who is established says to downsize my desires, acquire a small car or motorcycle or go backpacking. That is not why I got the van. I don't dream of pitching a tent every night and being stuck at a roadside gas station indefinitely because my last ride dumped me there. I can't live in a small car or on a motorcycle! Plus even if I wanted to own a small car or motocycle I can't afford it alongside the van. If the van had 16MPG I couldn't afford it, even 20, 25, 30 MPG I still can't afford the thousand+ mile experiences I dream and desire. I didn't get the van just to sleep at WALMARTs and take little weekend getaways to Santa Cruz, Napa Valley or Los Banos! I have lived in California all my life and I am used to the smells, sights, plants, vibe and spice of Silicon Valley.

I have a non-supressed escape plan (compared to overunity energy where one runs their rig on water, getting more energy out of the cracked water than what went into cracking it. I guess the reason humanity is still limited by underunity energy sources is because this is part of the grand Earth Game we all signed up for before we were born). I can't afford to wait any longer to crack (pun intended) water to be free from gas-o-line.

I am thinking, why should I settle for less when there is an alternative fuel that can be picked up for free in many regions or bought in every HOME DEPOT, LOWES, RONA, HOME HARDWARE in the lumber section (to get fueled up where there is no free wood, if calculated to be cheaper than gasoline)

That escape plan is a woodgasification system, which will be pulled behind the van on a trailer with as much wood carrying capacity as I can afford, up to 4000 pounds (max trailer towing rating for the B250 according to the Owners Manual). Taking steps in my escape plan, I joined the premier website DriveOnWood.com. They have a forum and info on woodgasification. They have a premiums subscription which comes with a physical book mailed to ones address & access to premium content and forum threads. With access to a set of proven plans for a woodgasification system to fuel cars, trucks, and vans. I created a thread on the free section and will copy over my premium build thread.

99% of people do not know what woodgasification is, even though it's the one underunity fuel that can fuel cars & trucks after there is no more petroleum. Don't diss something one does not fully understand.


I need to get running on wood As Soon As Possible! I have been applying for loans to buy the materials to build this woodgasification system. I can pay the loan back with the money not going into the gas tank, plus money working with the van & trailer (think uShip hauling). After it's built, I will have a system that turns cheap energy (both money & time) into fuel for beautiful experiences!

There is much more to say, I am rush-writing this post because sharing this is long overdue!

 

[gcal]

Is this a joke? Not trying to be a Smàrt Alec. I just can't tell.

 

[SoulRaven]

Wood gasification may sound promising to a few, but in reality it really doesn't work all that well. First finding free or cheap wood in the quantities required would be a huge problem in many areas. Storing enough wood for any amount of travel would also be problematic.

I have known several people who have tried this method both for vehicles and also for off grid generators. All of them but one has given up on the idea, concluding that purchasing fuel was cheaper in the long run.

While it is nice to be young and have big dreams, too many people get too caught up in those dreams and waste a huge portion of their life chasing them only to wind up with failure, when they could have taken a tried and true path to their destination and have been successful.

Your goal is to travel. The best way to achieve that goal is with money. The best way to make money is with a job. That is the quickest, easiest, and cheapest way to obtain that goal.

Once you have tons of money saved up, then is the time to explore those dreams, not before. You need to learn to fulfill your needs and desires using more conventional means FIRST. You need to learn how to get temp jobs in many different cities, or some means of sustainable support. You must learn to rely solely on yourself to make enough money to support the life you want, not welfare, food stamps, social insecurity, or any other private or government program.

For the most part everything in life is going to require either your time or your money. Money will get you farther than your time in most cases, so the first logical step is to get job to take care of your immediate needs and desires, and to spend any of your spare time learning how to make money.

Knowledge and skills are practically worthless unless you have a way of turning them into cold hard cash. Cash is KING, and without it, you're just spinning your wheels and getting nowhere. There is no free lunch, there is no free energy, nothing in a decent life is truly free, except maybe the air we breathe, everything else requires either your time or your money.

You already know the cheapest way to live short of being totally homeless. That knowledge along with temp jobs, can allow you to save money very quickly to allow you to follow your dreams. A system for your success already exists, take advantage of it.

 

[wagoneer]

Go for it man, it's very very important to follow your brain that follows your heart. When you succeed (not if) think of all the people that tried to hold you back.

 

[Matlock]

Ya might have skipped over the better escape plan.

 

[GotSmart]

I think he is wanting to do this~~~

 

[ZoNiE]

Ya might have skipped over the better escape plan.

Umm... I think that would be hay gasification...

 

[ahh_me2]

A few years ago I caught an episode of Mountain Men, where Eustace had set up a wood gasification system to run his truck.
It was quite interesting to watch, and I suppose if it's for local use on your own acreage or something it would be worth looking into.
But I can't see it being all that practical or efficient for travelling all over the country, but who knows, someone is bound to try and they might even succeed!

 

[B and C]

I saw that too and thought it was interesting.  It seemed that he didn't go very far before the 55 gal. "tank" needed refilling.  It didn't seem doable for anything other than in your own little area where you had plenty of wood to burn.

 

[Patrick46]

DS...

you seem to be under the impression that you can't take off for the horizon UNLESS you have ALL the money you'll need to cover all the expenses that may/will occur on a major road trip.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

There are still lots of options on how to go big-tyme touring, in your van, with very little money!

You could, a.) work at a job for a few weeks, and move on as your money and heart dictate
b.) find a craft that allows you to make money as you travel
c.) ever heard of U-Ship?? You could actually hire out your van and haul stuff around the region, the state, or even the country...for MONEY!!!! $$$

There are ways we can achieve our dreams...but be careful, as it often takes hard work and sacrifice. Be prepared to do both, and you'll find your way.

Goo Luck!!

 

[buckwilk]

D, you subject your post Trapped, I think the trap is of your own making. You're living in one of the most expensive areas in the country, relocating almost anywhere would extend any resources you have. Everyone has heard this " every journey starts with a single step." doesn't mean it's not true. Most failures to launch are because of self sabotage. Finding excuses to postpone dreams may be the easiest thing you will ever do. I hope you find the courage to make the changes needed to make your escape.

 

[akrvbob]

Once you have tons of money saved up, then is the time to explore those dreams, not before.  

While this may be true for some people, it is a total mistake to make it universal and claim  it's true for everybody.

Very, very bad advice.

Very few people should follow this advice. It stands in total opposition to everything this website and forum stands for. 

It's hard for me to understand why anybody who believes this would be a member here. 

Bob

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

It's hard for me to understand why anybody who believes this would be a member here. 

While I don't run around preaching that to others here, that's certainly the path I followed.

As to why I'm a member here, let's just say that I feel a lot more comfortable with the people here than I do with the ones I see over on the mainstream RV forums, with their obsessions with their grandchildren and their golf games - not necessarily in that order.

Regards
John

 

[highdesertranger]

Debit didn't you go to burning man this year, that had to cost some coin. how did you afford that? seems to me like I think Patrick said you could drive a little ways get a job save some money and move on. I also agree with who ever said get out of the bay area. as soon as you cross the CA border gas prices drop dramatically. you should have noticed this when you went to burning man. highdesertranger

 

[akrvbob]

Are you working now? Are you living in your van?

If you have a job you could move into your van and and pay yourself the rent that all goes into savings. Do that for a year and you could have up to $10,000. Could you travel on that? I think the majority of the members here travel with much less cash than that.

And remember, you don't have to see everything right NOW! You can travel slow and easy, boondocking most of the time and the cash you build up will go a long, long ways. I know of many members here who have incomes of $600 per month or even much less who live and travel very well on it.

Someone I know very well makes $700 a month on social security. She started with $4000 cash in the bank and three years later still has $4000 in the bank. She's managed to make a little money along the way and that paid for gas to travel slowly, bought her new tires, a brake job, and misc service on the van.

You can always make more money, you can NOT make more time. The clock is ticking on your life, can you hear it?

“Death tugs at my ear and says, 'Live. I am coming.”
 Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Bob

 

[SoulRaven]

To me, life on wheels is much more similar to sticks and bricks than people realize. If you are just getting by where you are and not getting ahead, you'll never have the money to do anything other than survive. We have taken off and relocated 2 or 3 times, quit jobs and had very little savings but we had planned to go to a place with affordable housing and maybe not the greatest jobs but jobs that would pay the bills when we got there. It is a matter of planning. What you get in the "standard" RV forums and I have been in them for years is that first, you have to earn the lifestyle by working until you are near dead having saved every penny that you could and denied yourself travel when younger so that you can now "comfortably" enjoy the lifestyle and, most cannot imagine doing it on less than $3,000 a month and most just could not imagine anyone wanting to live on less than that.

To me, if you really want something and are willing to put the work into the planning and are reasonable about what you can accomplish, there is a way to get it done. One has to remember that some enjoy the "dreaming" and that is all the further that they take it.

Lots of different types of people, lots of different types of situations and lots of choices. Planning is the key to making a dream come true.

 

[GotSmart]

$3,000 a month?  

Now that would be living on some good eats!.  Pizza and Beer every night!

The more I made, the less I had.

 

[highdesertranger]

10-4 Got Smart, "The more I made, the less I had." I hear you there. highdesertranger

 

[SoulRaven]

Off Grid 24/7 Wrote: "Once you have tons of money saved up, then is the time to explore those dreams, not before." 


While this may be true for some people, it is a total mistake to make it universal and claim  it's true for everybody.

Very, very bad advice.

Very few people should follow this advice. It stands in total opposition to everything this website and forum stands for. 

It's hard for me to understand why anybody who believes this would be a member here. 

Bob

Bob, you took what I was trying to convey out of context... Perhaps I didn't word it as well as I could have...

The dream I was referring to was that of wood gasification, not traveling...

I was trying to convey that by using more conventional methods, and learning how to make money while traveling, that the OP could achieve his goal of traveling much easier and cheaper, and without the potential pitfalls of wood gasification.

One needs to take care of their necessities first, and then branch out from there.  Once our necessities are met, then we can approach our bucket list, but our bucket lists should be prioritized. 

If wood gasification is on the top of ones bucket list, then go for it, but if traveling is on the top of your bucket list, then the wood gasification can be a distraction and keep you from attaining your goal of travel.

It is all too common for people to take on too many projects at the same time, and then fail to complete any of them.  If we can prioritize our problems or our goals, and tackle them in order of importance one at a time, the chances of our success are greatly improved.

If you give a man a fish, he can eat for the day.  If you teach a man to fish, he can eat for a lifetime.  If you teach a man how to market his fish, he can live happily ever after.

I try to be the guy that will teach you to fish, AND teach you how to market them.


A dream without a plan remains only a dream, a dream with a plan can become a reality.

 

[mockturtle]

Seems like we often hear from people who can't afford to leave California.  Frankly, I don't see how they can afford to stay.  :huh: