how long do travelers last?

[Notmyname]

I'm curious how long people stay on the road. Me and @Hillbilly Castro met one old ass motherfucker in Texas claiming to be a Vietnam era bo. Don't know how true that is but he was trying to hitch out so he's on the move at least a bit. I feel like the ones that become old folks usually become homebums. The youngins retire into a house after a few years on the road.

I've met people that been out for 10 or so years too. But since I've only been at this for a year I don't have any friends that have given it up(that I know of). Since a year really ain't shit compared to a lot of peeps on here, I wanna ask y'all. How long you been at it, or how long did you travel before you stopped? If you wanna add something about your friends feel free, how long for them?

Another curious thing I've noticed, is that train core peeps are way more "hardcore" than most when it come to shit like drugs and booze. Yet most of the train core kids I've met claim somewhere around 5 to 10 years. And they sure fucking look it too. Do you think train riders stay at it longer than hitch hikers and rubber tramps? Kinda seems that way in my limited experience

I'm sure it's something like survival of the fittest, which is interesting to me seeing as how we are kinda like the wild version of humans in the modern age. Idk I'm kinda drunk so sorry if this is stupid. Just something I was thinking about since yesterday when my uncle asked me when I'm gonna stop traveling, if I could see myself doing this for 5 years... 10 years... I mean fuck in 5 years I'll already be 30. How long can a person live like this? How long can you live like this?

 

[Notmyname]

Also I've only seen traincore kids get crazy face tattoos as some weird commitment to the life. What's up with that lol

 

[VikingAdventurer]

I don't have a definitive answer for ya, but I can say that I started traveling at 27, and I'll be 31 in about a week.

Currently, I don't see myself settling down any time even remotely soon.

I've met folks in their 70's who still live the rubbertramp lifestyle, but I don't know when they started.

If I HAD to come up with some kinda answer, I'd say that travelers will always be travelers at heart. They may go through alternating phases of traveling and not traveling, but I believe that the "wanderlust gene" which I've read about is a real thing, and those who possess it will always have a traveler's soul.

 

[Notmyname]

I don't have a definitive answer for ya, but I can say that I started traveling at 27, and I'll be 31 in about a week.

Currently, I don't see myself settling down any time even remotely soon.

I've met folks in their 70's who still live the rubbertramp lifestyle, but I don't know when they started.

If I HAD to come up with some kinda answer, I'd say that travelers will always be travelers at heart. They may go through alternating phases of traveling and not traveling, but I believe that the "wanderlust gene" which I've read about is a real thing, and those who possess it will always have a traveler's soul.

Yeah kinda funny cause I didn't know it for certain until I was like 21, but I've wanted to do this for as long as I can remember. I wonder if this is where the traveler vs oogles thing comes in. Like oogles only do it cause it's cool, then stop after a couple years and live the rest of their lives like the rest of society. Idk. I reckon there's really no real answer. Just a bunch of philosophy. Hmm. Your point about transition is interesting too. Now that I think of it, Ive met a few rubbertamps who hopped and hitched for several years, then settled into a bus or RV and still move plenty.

 

[Odin]

Me and @Hillbilly Castro met one old ass motherfucker in Texas claiming to be a Vietnam era bo

I have met... a few handful of folks that fly signs... camp drink bum... n vandwell over the last year or two homebuming around myself.

I got one gambling idiot... who lies about being a vietnam vet sign flying . kinda pisses me off

I'm sure it's something like survival of the fittest, which is interesting to me seeing as how we are kinda like the wild version of humans in the modern age.

yup there is competition at the top and the bottom...

I've met folks in their 70's who still live the rubbertramp lifestyle, but I don't know when they started.

yuup I know folks retired and on ssid n bikefree...

 

[VikingAdventurer]

I got one gambling idiot... who lies about being a vietnam vet sign flying . kinda pisses me off

FUCK.
THAT.
GUY.

I'll punch him in his dick.

 

[Shwhiskey Gumimaci]

I know everyone takes breaks. Some longer than others, but anyone who says they've been on the road 15 years straight with no breaks is probably a liar. My current boyfriend has been traveling for 16 years, but just got done with a year break after he got hit by a train and was recovering. He also has taken a lot of breaks to get jobs and take care of things he's needed to take care of. I've only been doing this 2 years and I've taken short breaks to take care of things too. We all need a vacation from vacation sometimes.

 

[Hillbilly Castro]

I know everyone takes breaks. Some longer than others, but anyone who says they've been on the road 15 years straight with no breaks is probably a liar..

Definitely true. Longest I ever heard of without a break was this girl Sparky who claimed two and a half years with no breaks and I believed it because she really knew her shit and was quite comfortable with her simple setup. She was also a crackhead lol.

As far as how long a traveler can last, these guys seem to travel from birth til death, and their culture has been at it for at least 15,000 years:

These are Tuareg desert nomads in Africa.
In fact, most of humanity has been nomadic. We've been human at least 200,000 years, and recognizably within the pale of what's called "human"-ish for probably nearly 2 million. Most of these people have not been sedentary. They didn't live in cities. They weren't tied down to jobs, monogamous nuclear family units, and they weren't fenced in by borders or governments. They also usually walked and broke camp for much longer than most of us break camp - I believe much of the Tuareg and Fulani break camp for periods of time that we might consider a "break" in traveling, so the idea of a break is kind of fluid. When you've been on the road for 30 years, a four month break is small enough to not be much of a break IMO.

I think this history is in our blood. Civilization breaks us of it. Heavy drinking and drug use, familial pressure, pressure from the cops, financial pressure, and the fact that it is basically illegal to raise your kids on the road in the US are all things that push us off the road that were not present in pre-civilized life. How long we last is a function of how well we are able to cope with these things and even overcome them. I believe that international travelers have the longest shelf-life for this reason, because they are able to go to lands where it is not as hard to travel as it is in the US, where it is even possible to raise a child or two on the move. I think there is a small set of folks who manage this. The other self-life destroying thing for a traveler is addiction. If you're an alcoholic or a junkie, you'll turn into a homebum at some point, or else get sober and integrate into sedentary society.

The other thing the nomads of old had/have is a means of survival that they could take with them. The Fulani have cows, as do the Tuareg I think. Some nomads were hunter-gatherers. Most refuse to integrate into the money economy except by gunpoint / swordpoint. If we want to keep moving we'll have to find a way to manage this, or at least sustain ourselves via money without begging or using government money. And, the last thing they have is a community. They do not move alone. I think humans are not built for that kind of solitude. I can stay on the road much, much longer when I have a solid crew with me.

My two cents anyway. @creature has been on the road a while, I wonder what he thinks.

 

[Tude]

We have one member on here @Kal who has been out >20 yrs. left home at 17 and never went back. He really didn't have a place I guess as he kinda lived with different family members as his parents were not alive.

 

[Hillbilly Castro]

He really didn't have a place I guess as he kinda lived with different family members as his parents were not alive.

This is an interesting aside. It's tragic for someone to have to deal with that kind of pain, quite often anyway, but that does seem to be a common thread among long-term travelers in this society. Many of us are bastards and orphans and folks from dysfunctional or totally fucked up families. I never met my dad (he's a carnie and a traveler) and my mom was on drugs til I was ten. I don't feel like I could be coaxed by family pressures to get off the road. The ones I see who get off the road the soonest seem to be the ones who have a functional family life, whether it is in their parents or in a family they create via marriage and children. Especially when their parents / wife / husband / kids pressure them into settling down.

 

[Notmyname]

This is an interesting aside. It's tragic for someone to have to deal with that kind of pain, quite often anyway, but that does seem to be a common thread among long-term travelers in this society. Many of us are bastards and orphans and folks from dysfunctional or totally fucked up families. I never met my dad (he's a carnie and a traveler) and my mom was on drugs til I was ten. I don't feel like I could be coaxed by family pressures to get off the road. The ones I see who get off the road the soonest seem to be the ones who have a functional family life, whether it is in their parents or in a family they create via marriage and children. Especially when their parents / wife / husband / kids pressure them into settling down.

Funny you bring that up, cause the break I'm currently on was to help my brother with his house. Turns out he doesn't need my help after all. I still had to come for his wedding though. I can't stay here though. It's been over two months and the depression is holding me back from making money so I have to leave sooner rather than later. But now i have debts and a girlfriend haha what the fuck

 

[Rob Nothing]

fuck the desert. im no sand nigger, albiet i do wear a shirt on my head time to time.

unless you are a complete alcoholic, drug abuser, fanatic, attention whore, or couch surfer on a dick sucking marathon i think its few far between youll find somebody thats been anywhere beyond a couple months straight on the road. there are few countries big enough to be anyhow.. unless of course your god has condemned you to move camp every fortnight, which is a real thing that happens too.

longest ive been on the move, nonstop, so far, if walking the streets of portland and seattle without a penny to my name doesnt count, was about exactly a month and a half. funded by my previous job, 3 months, as a welder.

edit: pre-emptive strike, i know yer gonna rate this stupid like 20 x over, and i dont fucking care.

 

[Hillbilly Castro]

sand nigger

holy shit, why ?? not even on some PC shit, just why

other than that nasty tidbit, I will say there aren't many who are cut out for being on the road long-term. And a dicksucking marathon don't sound so bad...

Funny you bring that up, cause the break I'm currently on was to help my brother with his house. Turns out he doesn't need my help after all. I still had to come for his wedding though. I can't stay here though. It's been over two months and the depression is holding me back from making money so I have to leave sooner rather than later. But now i have debts and a girlfriend haha what the fuck

damn dude. you'll get out. better be at the jambo... and if me and creature roll up to minni you're getting in the car! lol

 

[Notmyname]

Stay the fuck off my post with this ignorant ass shit. Everything you said is fucking stupid. And you're stupid for saying it. Whether or not you actually believe it is irrelevant, since you sound like you've never come up with an original thought in your entire fucking life

fuck the desert. im no sand nigger, albiet i do wear a shirt on my head time to time.

unless you are a complete alcoholic, drug abuser, fanatic, attention whore, or couch surfer on a dick sucking marathon i think its few far between youll find somebody thats been anywhere beyond a couple months straight on the road. there are few countries big enough to be anyhow.. unless of course your god has condemned you to move camp every fortnight, which is a real thing that happens too.

longest ive been on the move, nonstop, so far, if walking the streets of portland and seattle without a penny to my name doesnt count, was about exactly a month and a half. funded by my previous job, 3 months, as a welder.

 

[Rob Nothing]

those be some strong words bra, you win!

at castro

because i believe in the freedom of speech, at least where there is no noise pollution or public smut involved. 5 years on the rough has turned me to realities i was not brought up to condone. things are what they are and yes, i am a politically uncorrect, somewhat racist bastard.

 

[Notmyname]

those be some strong words bra, you win!

at castro

because i believe in the freedom of speech, at least where there is no noise pollution or public smut involved. 5 years on the rough has turned me to realities i was not brought up to condone. things are what they are and yes, i am a politically uncorrect, somewhat racist bastard.

Feel free to take it somewhere else.

 

[Notmyname]

damn dude. you'll get out. better be at the jambo... and if me and creature roll up to minni you're getting in the car! lol

Haha or you get on the highline with me and we meet up with everyone else on the coast

 

[Hillbilly Castro]

those be some strong words bra, you win!

at castro

because i believe in the freedom of speech, at least where there is no noise pollution or public smut involved. 5 years on the rough has turned me to realities i was not brought up to condone. things are what they are and yes, i am a politically uncorrect, somewhat racist bastard.

Wow, interesting. I'm coming up on five years on the road pretty quick here and amazingly I haven't become a racist. Then again, I've been blessed with a strong will and a sound mind. Others appear to warp easily into half-cocked, bleary-eyed klansmen by default under any kind of pressure. The world beats them down, they play the victim, and then use their light skin as a teddybear to take away the pain. They're the sorts who cite freedom of speech as a defense of the most stupid statements imaginable. Unfortunately freedom doesn't do much for the dullard.

//end thread derail

 

[EphemeralStick]

@Rob Nothing Freedom of speech doesn't protect against being a shit head. Warning issued.

BACK ON TOPIC.

I started traveling when I was 20 and at 22 I took a break for 2 and half years. Now I'm 27 and still out the doing things but they way that I travel now has drastically changed.

I think it depends on the person and why they started traveling to begin with. For me it was initially an escape, but now it's because of the friendships I've made.

(OFF TOPIC; @Shwhiskey Gumimaci BOYFRIEND!? omg PM me the details)

 

[Rob Nothing]

funny how easily provoked.. i wasnt even trying. just speakin gods honest opinion w/o zeroing in on anybody. may need to toughen that hide a little more, massachutes.