…to support yourself. In your opinion, and in today’s security-conscious environment, is this still possible and would you do it?
Thanks
Q
Were I single, hell yes!
I’d actually sell my little hatchback and buy a van I could sleep in, and some camping gear. Go doing seasonal and farm work. Maybe a bit of bartending. I’d hit the long, dusty roads of the outback, maybe end up in Darwin.
If I really wanted to do it in style, I’d take my time, and do what one bloke did:
Get an old VW Kombi van and pull out the engine and transmission. Remove the front doors, pillars and windshield, so that the front of the van where the driver sits is open air with an overhanging roof like an 1890s railroad car. Then hitch up a camel to it, and away you go.
“Where you off to mate?”
“Dunno, mate. Broome [on Australia’s west coast], one of these years, maybe. I’m just travelling.”
You having a reflective moment, Quasi. mate? I often entertain these thought myself. 
TLD: Yeah I get that way now and then! 
Somehow though, I get the idea you would have an easier time (if you were single) doing this than me, since your continent is a little more “spread” out than mine.
But yeah, sometimes I just wanna say “Effit, I’m outta here and have me some adventures!” 
Q
In all seriousness, it would be easier here on some levels, but not on others. Just like the States, and movies with psycho loners preying on East Coast tourists in Arizona, outback Australia has some security issues for those travelling alone. Also general safety issues in the form of food, water, and communication. It’s probably a daydream for us both - but still a nice one.
I also imagine that unless you had money to pay for auto insurance, depending on what state you’re in you could get in trouble with the law.
It’s one of those things I’d like to do and, were I single, I may even be up for some kind of Merry Pranksters-style journey. And I don’t think it’s impossible.
But…
You’re going to have a hell of a time getting a job without a permanent address, especially nowadays when everyone wants references, three forms of ID, and drug tests. Also, you won’t have a stable work history and employers will think you’re up to something, like taking money/stuff or just getting fired. That’ll have repurcussions well into the future, since they’ll want to know why you were picking oranges in California one month and catching fish in Alaska the next.
It’ll be just about impossible to get car insurance for No Fixed Abode and no insurance’ll get you ticketed or put in jail. You’ll definitely be viewed with suspicion when you get pulled over and say “Oh, I’m just wandering the country.” You may even spend a few nights in jail while they try to figure out what you’re up to.
I also wouldn’t do it without a significant cash reserve, cause you WILL break down in some remote area, have to get Jethro to tow your car, and have to pay some shady mechanic to fix it.
Sadly, I think the best time for this may have been the 60s.
I think you could keep a permanent mailing address, especially for insurance and Dept. of Motor vehicle matters, and travel the country, working around. It would help to have some savings, though. And maybe you could line up odd jobs through the Internet at truck stops, etc. I know someone who travels a lot and keeps a permanent address at a relative’s house. But I doubt if he travels for more than a month or so.
Just pay your auto liability insurance in advance. Keep the proof handy, never let your gas tank get less than half full and keep lots of canned goods.
If you’re truly capable of doing lots of things, it’s not hard to do. Did it for years myself. Living basically in my truck, tent, cabins etc. building fence, cutting firewood, broke horses for awhile, built a few log cabins, lots of minor home repair, roofing, electrical, plumbing, (hell all of it) etc.
Stay on off the main highways and stick to locals, small towns and the like. Keep yourself presentable and polite. In the mornings early…when you get low on cash go to a local cafe. The one where all the old timers meet for coffee in the AM. Pay attention, drink your coffee quietly and you’ll probably hear someone mention some work or need help. If not, speak up, tell them what’s up, be honest and let them know you’ll work hard/cheap for cash.
and have a good time
I’ve found most folks are really nice if you greet them that way.
I have never been unable to get work this way. Of course I’m an old married man now w/ kids but I did this for …damn, nearly ten years or so . Granted, I’m not a wealthy man but I did have me some times when I was younger. I told myself then, I didn’t want to be an old man wishing he’d done …something.
I think of this sometimes. But then I remember Harry Chapin’s words:
“Sometimes I get this crazy dream that I just take off in my car.
But you can travel on 10,000 miles and still stay where you are.”
(However, my current fantasy is to take a year off and live in a primitive community in the woods. But I’d never be able to talk Robert into it.)
Personally, I would never do it. (Well I can’t now since I’m married with a mortgage and a cat, but I wouldn’t have done it when I was single).
I just really really hate to not have enough money for needs I can reasonably anticipate. A few times in college I got really broke and had to tighten my belt for a couple of weeks, and I wasn’t sure if I could make rent and still eat, (we’ve probably all been there) and to me it was just about the worst thing in the world. Of course, I’m a bit of a worrier.
Sometimes I wish I’d had some adventures when I was younger, but I think now I’ve finally realized that I’m just not built that way.
Yea, that’s my main obstacle. I may complain, but I like knowing there’s a roof over my head and a fridge full of food if I need it.
First off this is a great thread for several reasons, but I think the one that means the most to the OP would be my own reflective personal reason - this is, I’ve done this.
Anecdotal story with some good facts you’ll need should you so choose to do this legally.
I graduated highschool in 1988, I was not really ready for college but I knew that if I didn’t attend I may end up getting stuck in the town I was raised in. So I appealed to the college I ended up going to, to be let in one year from when I was accepted. Basically I got deferred to the following autumn season.
I knew I had waaay too much adventure in me to be able to consentrate on school, and I had just finished 12 years of listening to people try and mold my mind, I needed some adventure, some wide open spaces.
So I took out a map of the United States one month before I left, I closed my eyes and plopped my finger down on the paper. Eureka, California. Hmm. I had never been west of the Mississippi before so I was psyched. I called Eureka, got a po box in town and had my mail forwarded there. It wasn’t much I was 18…
So I set off with my best friend we sold most of what we had in our rooms at home, and jumped in my nicely restored brown 68 Baracuda. We had a few changes of clothes, some weed, and 2000 in cash between us.
We went across the United States on 80 jumping up to Montana to see my friends family, and continued on. Running out of money somewhere outside Anaconda, Montana.
So we hooked up with a construction crew paying by the day and worked for a week outside Anaconda picking up shingles and doing some light construction. It was great. I was pretty psyched with Anaconda because I had just finished reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and they stopped in Anaconda. Don’t forget this was 1988. We were still pretty free spirited and still wearing checkered, velcro-fly shorts…it was a good time to be driving around and having some fun.
We finally got to Eureka and I went to pick up my mail and found out that there was more than one post office in Eureka…And I had not had the piece of mind to ask which one I was having everything mailed to. So we went around town trying to find the right one, when we finally did they were pretty bent because it had been a long time since I called and there was quite a bit of stuff. The only thing I really remember was being happy that my dad had sent us 500 bucks and some friends sent us some weed in a peanut butter jar…
So back on the road. We drove to the Red wood national forest and hooked up with some campers. We ended up staying there till September. Yeah it was that fun.
So we decided to go North to British Colombia…I had heard the coast up there was amazing. Well it was…but it was starting to get cold, and the leaves were changing quite quickly. So we decided to see what we could rustle up in the southwest…because thats where you go when it get’s cold right?
We landed in tijuana
This was the only bad experience we had. I got extremely sick and had to go to the hospital, upon arriving at the clinic we were told to bo back to the US side for help…so in San Ysidro I think we found a clinic. I had food poisening and was laid up for three days. Luckily I survivied and the adventure continued north of the Border.
We found work in Arizona, we worked on this HUGE cotton plantation outside Gila Bend…by this time we were getting tired of driving constantly and eating when we could. Plus the odd jobs we picked up to sustain ourselves were starting to get scarce. Needless to say we stayed in arizona for four months. And in February we started our trip east.
Landing in Lubbock Texas. We stayed there with a Highschool friend who moved out there…it was very fun and we had the time of our lives. I have the whole trip chronicled at my home but to the OP I’ll say this.
Its fun for a while, but it get’s old. I arrived back on the east coast and entered college that summer. I had essentially gotten myself onto the right path to becoming a man. Now almost 34 I look back at the adventures I had and the adventures that followed i.e. grad school in AZ, PhD, Wife, Move back to CT…Teaching at dream school etc…etc… When I look back I notice that it was that year in 88/89’ that I became a man, and it was those times I had that solidified the rest of my life…
I am growing old with tact, I still love to have fun, I still love adventure and let me tell you I’ve got some damn good stories!!
This is good reference of what to do and what not to do…I’ve read it several times and realized each time how lucky I have been.
Cheers, Phlosphr.
In a previous life, had I been assured of the fact that jobs were easy to find and they always included a bar overlooking the ocean or cleaning the pool of some neglected, beautiful nymphomaniac then sure, I could have seen life on the road for awhile.
But the thought, nay the probability that instead all I’d find would be the sink of a dirty diner or taking orders at the local Cluckburger kept my job and prospects of a more traditional nature.
coughmidlifecrisiscough
Sorry, quasi, I just remember your “I’m getting old” thread from a few days ago
On the Road, by Jack Kerouac.
a lot of good stuff happens in the book, a lot of bad stuff happens in the book. but it’s all adventure of the road kind and
it sums up a lot of what people have talked about in this thread.
I too, have the urge to just go out on the road sometimes. but for me, I would like to have a horse, a suit of armor, a sword and I would spend my time rescuing maidens in distress or just looking for trouble.
I think I’ll almost a millennia too late. 
It is possible to “drop out and hit the road” as described in the OP, but you do have to accept that most of your jobs will be of this type. I’ve never done it, but my brother-in-law has spent the better part of his adult (?) life living as a ski bum. He can walk into just about any resort town in the country and have a job in a couple of hours.
They key is that he was willing to do anything: sell tickets, take tickets, wash dishes, mop floors, mow lawns, shovel snow, whatever. It helps if you have some skill that is valuable – he grew into a pretty decent bartender and short-order cook, and those skills are always in demand.
But when you hit your mid-forties, the life palls a bit. He married two years ago, and now has steady work, although I’m not sure you’d call it a career.
If it’s a mid-life crisis, Bruce_Daddy, I have lost the track of the number of them preceding this one!
One of the things that would prohibit me making such a decision is the fact that although I am in general good health, I do need meds for my hypertension and gout, and these would be damned expensive if I had to pay for them totally out of my own pocket. Not to mention having to carry my own health insurance as I do not yet qualify for Medicare.
Another factor is that I would pretty much have to do unskilled labor, such as washing dishes or sweeping/cleaning stores and the like. Let’s face it, there’s not much call for respiratory therapists out on the road, is there?
I thought too, I would miss talking to y’all, but then I remembered most libraries have internet access now, so that wouldn’t be an issue.
Also, I would have to find a way to take Susie the Cat, because I sure wouldn’t want to leave her behind.
And finally, I would have to get used to not having some of the “luxuries” I enjoy now, such as having my own bathroom, air conditioning, a big bed, plenty of closet space and all my cd’s, DVD’s and my three guitars.
SIGH
::Wha’??? Huh??? Why are y’all shaking me? Was I asleep??? Lemme tell y’all about this dream I was havin’!::
Q
You know, I don’t know if it’s what you’re looking for, but you could always buy an RV–which would let you keep some of your luxuries–and do some weekend and vacation style stuff and, once you retire, you could sell most of your stuff and just roam.
Great thread, by the way.
I wanted to include this in the last post, but I wonder if it’s possible to “register” yourself as an itinerant worker, and be able to travel from state to state and just show “your papers” if you are challenged, or is that too “Big-Brother” a notion?
Q
Phlosphr
quote:
**I graduated highschool in 1988, I was not really ready for college but I knew that if I didn’t attend I may end up getting stuck in the town I was raised in. **
I graduated in 1980…told myself I’d take a year off. Finally went back to school right before my 30th birthday. Hell of a party…lived from coast to coast and from damn near Canada down into central Mexico. Always meant to get up to Alaska, guess that’ll give me another reason to go off one o’ these days. Climbed lots of mountains and rode lots of rivers, met lots of women…don’t regret a thing.
It’s not for everyone.