how many of you are out here by choice

[THE REAL SCAVENGER]

I am curious. Did you choose the life on the road or were you forced on the road? Feel free to delete this thread if this is a stupid thread

 

[ped]

its only stupid if you're about to make some abstract moral distinction between the two

$.02

 

[outlawloose]

I subscribe to a stupid abstract moral destinction between the two, so I'll keep my $0.02 to myself

 

[Notmyname]

I be where I be only cause I wanna be. What to do you cant tell me!

 

[spectacular]

I initially started living outside for the adventure but social and psychological issues (on my and others behalf) have kept me outside for last 3 years. It's my own understanding that most people would like to alternate between living outside and inside but due to the way property is divided and held in such high esteem (higher than that of human beings most of the time) many are forced to choose between full-time outside living or dedicating oneself to maintaining an indoor living quarters with very little in between.

 

[roguetrader]

i started out travelling by choice but am now so far off the map socially / politically / economically that even if I wanted to re-enter mainstream society it would be very difficult..... and goddammit I CANNOT STAND FUCKING STRAIGHT PEOPLE AND ALL THEIR FUCKING BULLSHIT !

 

[ped]

dude, having to work and pretend to remotely like them is going to give me stomach cancer. I mean the infinite banality and just pure fucking nonsense that consumes their soul. It might not be so bad if they weren't so goddamn arrogant about it.

 

[roguetrader]

@ped what line of work are you in buddy ? certain trades just seem to attract arseholes - like construction in the UK

 

[ped]

Whatever I can get. right now part time maintenance at a nursing home and part time security at a power plant.

Saving for spring

 

[Georgeez]

I became Homeless after leaving Foster Care. Been out in the bushes ever since, but I love it.

 

[Rob Nothing]

I remember walking up pine or pike or union or something away from the pier with my highschool love one day and a group of traveler/train kids passed us, headed the other direction. I could see that they were the real deal and not just dressed a certain way, and I wanted to stop them and talk to them but could not think of anything to say that would bridge the gap and show that I was family and they walked on and I stood looking on thinking "take me with you!!". I asked the girl I was with what she thought of them and of course she was of a different opinion, being brought up in the same house her entire life and never knowing what it's like to not have money. She thought nothing of them and didn't understand why anyone would want to live like that.

Frankly I've always gravitated toward the outdoors and the kinds of people that are more typically found on the way there. People of substance and moral character.

 

[OakTreeHopper]

my choice

Sent from my C6740 using the Squat the Planet mobile app!

 

[Bedheadred]

Choice, id rather live in a van and travel than be boring and normal living in a house

 

[Art101]

Started because I had to,now adays it more I want to.

 

[Gypsy Ray]

After years of working it's by choice that I travel and explore the coast. This is just my .02 cents but most people that are forced to travel and live this life normally wanted to but never had to guts to until they took the leap. Just my .02 cents

 

[Tford]

I am curious. Did you choose the life on the road or were you forced on the road? Feel free to delete this thread if this is a stupid thread

BY choice. i only squat 250k priced homes and up. learned the laws..

 

[EphemeralStick]

I started because I needed to get away from some bad situations and didn't know what else to do. I coulda easily gone off the road but now it just doesn't seem right. I feel at peace when I out doing crazy adventures and the like.

So I guess it's always been choice for me

 

[Grubblin]

There was a "choice", but I feel that the choice made me, I didn't make it. In many ways I've been traveling all of my adult life. I've only been living On The Road since about January and the only thing I regret is that I didn't do this sooner in life.

I don't hate normies, nor do I hate their fucking bullshit. Rather than hate them, I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for all the bullshit they have to worry about - rent, mortgage, electricity, cable, new car, etc. They think all of that bullshit matters and all that really matters is living your life to the fullest extent possible. They work to buy stuff, stuff that they know will make them happy if they can only work hard enough to get it, stuff that is useless to almost everyone but the people selling the stuff and the advertising agency lying to sell the stuff. They believe the lie of capitalism happiness in such a way that they will work hard enough to go to an early grave due to working their ass off to get their "happy". They have all these things that they want to do, all these places that they want to go, so they work to get there, to do that - and somewhere in the back of their minds they know that what they're working for will never happen but they do it anyway bc the lie is all they know. The lie is that if you just get a college degree, if you just work hard enough in the US, you can get ahead, that all that you've ever wanted will be yours. So they toil and they wait and they die, only realizing the lie for what it was near the end, when it's too late to do anything about it. I used to hate people, or I thought I did. I realized that I don't hate people but rather I hate the mass of humanity, society and government in general but I love individual people based solely on that person - their thoughts, their actions, their beliefs - you know, their dickhead factor.

They judge travelers harshly, but I think at least in part that has to do with jealousy. Jealous of the lack of responsibility, jealous of the freedom, jealous that travelers have the courage to be different and to not care who knows or what they think - I'm not speaking for those on here, only those I've met and for myself. Normals try extremely hard, all of their life to "fit in" - to the country club, the PTA, the Rotary - to any organization that they think will add value to their life. When they see someone who doesn't try to fit in anywhere then it makes their efforts to conform out to be the lie that they are, this makes them uncomfortable, enter the jealousy, enter the harsh judgement, enter the hate.

I'll never in my life wake up and look up at a million dollar roof over my head but most nights in my life when I wake up I look up at a million stars, I know which one I prefer.

All of this is just my opinion, based on personal experiences, for whatever it happens to worth to anyone reading this.

 

[marmar]

Idk what can force someone on the road, besides being a, or what they call it, figutive from justice? Lol. Running from jail, in other words. No one forced me on the road, although some things, and people did force me out of homes and into the streets. My choice was not to be a miserable home bum but a traveling and trying to be a happier one.

 

[Mankini]

Passion!!! The smell of the sweet sage and the ocean and mountain laurel on a hazy, warm Fall day on Mt Tamalpais: the golden hills surrounding and white fluffy cotton seeds floating in the twilight. Rain in the air and wild orange blossoms and rose fragrance in the alleyways of Portland, San Fran, and Santa Barbara. The smell of POWER.

Now, consider the alternative: living in a shoddy 20 year old house in Colorado Springs or San Antonio: waking up at 630 AM to go to a 8 hour job that pays you 5 dollars above minimum wage. Starbucks, or the hotel or restaurant or retail place you work at will NOT allow OT and they wont offer bennies so they keep you at 25-35 hours a week, guaranteeing you will NEVER make more than 1300/month.
Your car smells like raw gasoline and dog vomit. Traffic stresses you out and cops have put you within 6 points of your maximum, so you're always 1 ticket away from losing your license. Your rent is 25% of your monthly income, gas 20%, food and bills 20%, and your cheap Rent To Own TV and furniture take another 25%. Which means you have roughly 150 in discretionary income each month. THAT is what you are working for: 150 a month in discretionary income.

Your neighbors have shitty taste in music and play Sublime and Nickelback on the local classic rock station at top volume.

Maybe in 5, or 10, or 20 years, you will have found a decent career, a better house in a better neighborhood, and a newer car, and will make 40,000 per year.

Hhahahahhahah You choose.