Planning my departure/escape

[Mo585]

Hey yall. I'm MO and am currently living in my mother's basement outside of Rochester NY. Will turn 30 this year and have been a raging crackhead/IV addict since I was 19. I'm so sick of it but have never put any of the work in, for the traditional recovery methods to work. The only stints of longterm sobriety I've experienced are when I've been in prison or incarcerated or on the road

I'm semi sober now but am just finding trouble trying to be content in a normal sedentary rat race lifestyle when I'm so used to living life on the edge.

Im gearing up currently. I have a kelty trekker 65 and 3 season gear including tent and bag.

My question is, where should I go to begin my nomadic lifestyle? Hopefully somewhere warm with decent spange and like minded people to link up with. I'm out on the first of march

 

[Mo585]

Also looking for any tips on gear. I have a good idea of what to bring but any specific brand recommendations for three season set up would be appreciated

 

[Mo585]

Wow this place is dead, tis a shame

 

[minnowmin]

Hey. I been off the traveling circuit for a while. Like almost 10 years. Back in the day when I started, I fluctuated from too much gear to gearless and fearless (not by choice, haaa). My go to is a simple sleeping bag I still have, a tarp, a medium pack. I never used a tent, I hate carrying too much stuff. So any recommendations on gear coming from me should be taken with a grain of salt. 😅 For me minimal, simple and basic worked just fine. My favorite pack was a Swiss army pack that was completely waterproof, it wasn't very big so it didn't hold much but it definitely saved my ass a few times. (Like getting rained out on a train, just soaked the whole time and by the time I landed in Euclid Ohio and found some shelter out of the rain, I had dry clothes to change into and I honestly think that saved me from catching pneumonia.) I use to find those packs at army surplus or antique stores for like $20, nowadays they'll set ya back $100+, fucking lame.

As far as places to start out, idk. Back in the day the happening spots were Nola, Frisco/Oakland, Portland, basically any major city you'll find peeps.

I feel like even though I I traveled for like 10+ years I have no good advice to give anyone. You just go and see where the journey takes you. The only real advice I got is this; Don't be a dick, don't screw over or steal from people who help you, be generous when you can because it does come full circle, trust your fucking gut, intuition is a powerful thing when you tap in and listen. Don't rely solely on spange. Use skills you have, offer help, hop on temp work when the opportunity arises. I did a lot of seasonal work (primarily commercial fishing/processing) to keep me afloat because I hated spanging, I fucking sucked at it. Lol but don't get me wrong, in a pinch ya gotta do whatcha gotta do. Walmarts never let me down when it came to spanging. Lol I also got really good at dumpster diving and bartering things I found. Like homie needs new boots and I need a pouch of tobacco or something? Let's make a trade. That sort of thing.

I feel like I sort of rambled. Hope this helped. Lol! 😅😅😅🥴