First time out, not much of a plan yet

[RemiMoon]

Hi. I go by Remi. I'm about to leave for my first adventure, with my kitty. It's been a dream all my life. I had vagabonds in my life who have told me so many stories. Even trainhoppers. That's something I don't think I'll ever be brave enough to do.

I have some questions for the people here.
Are there many young vagabonds out there?
How safe is camping in small towns?

I'm planning to camp behind a Walmart for awhile. There's 3 pizza places (including a little Caesars) a donut shop, a library, and a Starbucks all within 2miles. It seems like a good spot for me to find food. I have around 400$ which I will be saving for cat food and water, as well as the tent.

If I do have any food I need to cook at any point, would it be safe to make a Dakota pit at night time?

I want to stay put for a few months to ease myself into the life and learn the ropes.

Any advice y'all can give me ?

 

[Coyote Red]

Go with the flow and have fun !

 

[numberonenumberreader]

Don’t buy water if you don’t have to. Buy ONE gallon of water or a thicker plastic drink like the teas or orange juice with nice handles and refill those. If you wanna get fancy get one of them small handheld water cooler things to keep water and ice(and a 24oz or two) cold. IF you get one of them coolers they also double as a seat while being the same size and weight of a water jug.

Refill the container at any place with water. Ask for a cup for water at fast food places and just fill the cup up and pour it in your container, repeat til done. This way is best to avoid people freaking out about your dirty ass jug at the soda machine, the cup isn’t really necessary it just helps calm the rage of SOME people.

Spigots outside of buildings are good sources of free water too BUT it ain’t that filtered gold you can get most places p easily.

I just roll with a 32oz nalgene, ez to fill anywhere but since you got an animal wanderin with a gallon or half gallon would probably be the smartest

 

[happy hobo]

Besides food pantries (which sometimes have sack lunches or grab and go bags with stuff that don't need cooking for people on foot) you can often get clean unopened packages of good fruit and food in the dumpsters behind Whole Foods, Sprouts, etc. usually best on Sunday or Tuesday evenings.

 

[MxEx]

wal marts may have crazy home bum camps. Tents or a tent can be nice at time but I find them difficult to keep up with. Most folks just carry a tarp and some form of sleeping pad but that's kinda just if you are on the move and have shelter at one of your next destiniations. I could see the tent halping keep some skeeters, the sun, and some other critters at Bay. Generally it is almost safer to sleep during the day and more spots are available. Kinda scary at night with people fucking with you or just other crazies being about, then kinda scary being way out in the woods with other animals; So yea small town can ease that feeling but sometimes a small town isn't always friendly to vagabonding but some are.

 

[RemiMoon]

Besides food pantries (which sometimes have sack lunches or grab and go bags with stuff that don't need cooking for people on foot) you can often get clean unopened packages of good fruit and food in the dumpsters behind Whole Foods, Sprouts, etc. usually best on Sunday or Tuesday evenings.

Thank you I'll see if there's any near me. Do you know if doller tree throws stuff out? I think my area is more fast food and small stores.

 

[RemiMoon]

Don’t buy water if you don’t have to. Buy ONE gallon of water or a thicker plastic drink like the teas or orange juice with nice handles and refill those. If you wanna get fancy get one of them small handheld water cooler things to keep water and ice(and a 24oz or two) cold. IF you get one of them coolers they also double as a seat while being the same size and weight of a water jug.

Refill the container at any place with water. Ask for a cup for water at fast food places and just fill the cup up and pour it in your container, repeat til done. This way is best to avoid people freaking out about your dirty ass jug at the soda machine, the cup isn’t really necessary it just helps calm the rage of SOME people.

Spigots outside of buildings are good sources of free water too BUT it ain’t that filtered gold you can get most places p easily.

I just roll with a 32oz nalgene, ez to fill anywhere but since you got an animal wanderin with a gallon or half gallon would probably be the s

Thank you I'll see if there's any near me. Do you know if doller tree throws stuf

Don’t buy water if you don’t have to. Buy ONE gallon of water or a thicker plastic drink like the teas or orange juice with nice handles and refill those. If you wanna get fancy get one of them small handheld water cooler things to keep water and ice(and a 24oz or two) cold. IF you get one of them coolers they also double as a seat while being the same size and weight of a water jug.

Refill the container at any place with water. Ask for a cup for water at fast food places and just fill the cup up and pour it in your container, repeat til done. This way is best to avoid people freaking out about your dirty ass jug at the soda machine, the cup isn’t really necessary it just helps calm the rage of SOME people.

Spigots outside of buildings are good sources of free water too BUT it ain’t that filtered gold you can get most places p easily.

I just roll with a 32oz nalgene, ez to fill anywhere but since you got an animal wanderin with a gallon or half gallon would probably be the smartest

Thank you! That cuts down my costs a lot I was planning to buy a 1.22$ gallon jug everyday . I'm gonna get two 1/2 gallons and that should be good.

 

[croc]

First of all, welcome

Second of all, yep almost all travelers are young. U don't meet many over 30 who are homeless n traveling, we tend to settle down or die before that.

Behind walmarts would usually be the least safe places to sleep. I think it's fair to say that the more homeless ppl in an area, the less safe u are. Sadly the closer to resources, the higher chance of other ppl camping there. If there's other bums, find a spot that's inconvenient to get to and doesn't have bum trash laying around n you'll likely be the most safe there. I am usually really mindful of where I sleep and have never woken up to my shit stolen. Be incredibly selective with who u share personal info (ie money) with in a home bum setting. There's plenty of great people who live outside but prob just as many if not more who will use u bc they're in survival mode, not trynna have fun in the woods w their cat.

Take your valuables with u EVERY time u leave ur camp.

If u want to travel, I don't rly recommend being a home bum for months first bc it will prob only take up to a couple weeks to get the hang of living outside but see what works for u.

As for the dumpster questions, yes dollar store chains all throw shit out n I say check any and all dumpsters if u have the time. And if ur home bumming u will have practically nothing but time.

A huge tip I can give is if u need a tangible item to just fly a sign for that item or ask verbally for it and save ur money for the things u don't have time to ask for or it's too specific etc. "Need sock/bandaids/food" u get the picture. On a similar note, I think having a hustle of some sort like busking or telling jokes or making some kind of craft is really useful while trying to make money outside. Some places just flying a sign won't get u much n ppl wanna see u "trying". Some places it's the opposite tho, you'll get a feel.

I recommend a camp stove over a fire for cooking for more consistency in heat and not having to worry about rain/wet fire materials.

This site is a wealth of info and helped me prep for travel for a few months while I saved up for gear n shit. Use the search bar n u can find almost anything u could want to know. Good luck!

 

[wheeldog]

Second of all, yep almost all travelers are young. U don't meet many over 30 who are homeless n traveling, we tend to settle down or die before that.

I'm 60. I wonder what chance I have lol

 

[mylon]

if you have any other options, do not bring your cat with you. most cats are not at all suited to this kind of life, and you're brand new to this and don't know what you're doing.

 

[RemiMoon]

First of all, welcome

Second of all, yep almost all travelers are young. U don't meet many over 30 who are homeless n traveling, we tend to settle down or die before that.

Behind walmarts would usually be the least safe places to sleep. I think it's fair to say that the more homeless ppl in an area, the less safe u are. Sadly the closer to resources, the higher chance of other ppl camping there. If there's other bums, find a spot that's inconvenient to get to and doesn't have bum trash laying around n you'll likely be the most safe there. I am usually really mindful of where I sleep and have never woken up to my shit stolen. Be incredibly selective with who u share personal info (ie money) with in a home bum setting. There's plenty of great people who live outside but prob just as many if not more who will use u bc they're in survival mode, not trynna have fun in the woods w their cat.

Take your valuables with u EVERY time u leave ur camp.

If u want to travel, I don't rly recommend being a home bum for months first bc it will prob only take up to a couple weeks to get the hang of living outside but see what works for u.

As for the dumpster questions, yes dollar store chains all throw shit out n I say check any and all dumpsters if u have the time. And if ur home bumming u will have practically nothing but time.

A huge tip I can give is if u need a tangible item to just fly a sign for that item or ask verbally for it and save ur money for the things u don't have time to ask for or it's too specific etc. "Need sock/bandaids/food" u get the picture. On a similar note, I think having a hustle of some sort like busking or telling jokes or making some kind of craft is really useful while trying to make money outside. Some places just flying a sign won't get u much n ppl wanna see u "trying". Some places it's the opposite tho, you'll get a feel.

I recommend a camp stove over a fire for cooking for more consistency in heat and not having to worry about rain/wet fire materials.

This site is a wealth of info and helped me prep for travel for a few months while I saved up for gear n shit. Use the search bar n u can find almost anything u could want to know. Good luck!

Thank you for such a detailed response this helps a lot.

I hope I get to meet some cool people on my travels!

I'll make sure to check out the area before I set camp. I'm hoping I'll have more luck on it being empty because it's a more rural area. If not there's a bunch of wooded areas around I'll probably have luck with.

Learned the money one quick... I stayed with my closest friend to get my mind straightened out before I left for good and they stole a bunch of money from me and started meth. Just shows don't trust ppl 🤷

I make jewelry so I will be able to sell that when I need too. I'm trying to stay out of the radar of cops for a bit. My ID isn't coming in for another month and it would be a hassle to be stopped. (Another reason I'm staying for a bit.) But I will definitely play it by how I feel and maybe set off sooner then later.

Thanks again for the help and support

 

[Coywolf]

Hi. I go by Remi. I'm about to leave for my first adventure, with my kitty. It's been a dream all my life. I had vagabonds in my life who have told me so many stories. Even trainhoppers. That's something I don't think I'll ever be brave enough to do.

I have some questions for the people here.
Are there many young vagabonds out there?
How safe is camping in small towns?

I'm planning to camp behind a Walmart for awhile. There's 3 pizza places (including a little Caesars) a donut shop, a library, and a Starbucks all within 2miles. It seems like a good spot for me to find food. I have around 400$ which I will be saving for cat food and water, as well as the tent.

If I do have any food I need to cook at any point, would it be safe to make a Dakota pit at night time?

I want to stay put for a few months to ease myself into the life and learn the ropes.

Any advice y'all can give me ?

Welcome to StP, make sure you read through the rules of the site, and explore the different forums to answer some of the questions you may have.

I can almost guarantee most everything you would need to know about traveling has been answered somewhere on this site.

Remember to use the 'search' feature before you post a new thread, because chances are, there is already a thread about it

 

[Coywolf]

Second of all, yep almost all travelers are young. U don't meet many over 30 who are homeless n traveling, we tend to settle down or die before that.

::cries in 35 year old sadness::