AN INVITATION TO YOU.
WE THE MOBILE MILLION living lives of abundant simplicity-- know how to liberate millions from needless drudgery, ease stress, increase happiness, simplify life, open up a million new jobs, improve health, diminish fears and consumption, stimulate wonder, activate creativity, connect with supportive friends.
Marshal your wits / resources and take to the open road! JOIN US!
We are already out here---a million strong---waiting to welcome you.
We live marvelous lives at an amazingly small cost-----you can too---we will guide you.
We have disconnected from the electrical grid---but not from the electronic. We are powered by the sun
We are learning new forms of friendship----to connect without confining---to inspire without interfering.
We claim the continent in our travels--"enjoying the land but owning it not"----"letting the night overtake us everywhere at home". (Thoreau)
Millions of you already have enough money and do not know it---you are working out of habit/false fears/conventionality / greed / materialism / ignorance. You can (currently) strike out on your journey for $500 a month or less. "Time is the currency of life" (Laurie Theodora) and you may be wasting it.
Early and long freedom is the appropriate fruit / gift of the industrial revolution. Pluck--eat--it is delicious.
You want to go on a hero's journey. (perhaps everyone does---: " HERO OF A THOUSAND FACES" by Joseph Campbell) You yearn for simplicity, mobility, adventure, connection, self discovery / self expression.
You cannot know your own wonder until you wander.
You will likely reinvent / revise-- your religion / metaphysics / philosophy--- in your travels.
In your travels you will come to know yourself ----seeing yourself reflected in all that you meet.
"All you ever wanted to do was contribute" (Erhard)----and you will find valuable clues in your travels about what you wish to give.
You will learn to easily / gracefully ----connect and disconnect.
You will grow --amazingly---as you absorb traits that you admire in others.
You will face "demons" and "dragons" ---endure dark nights of the soul---be lonely at times----and somehow----triumph---learning something valuable.
And Then--when you feel the urge--- you will return and share with those you left behind what you have learned.
And the cycle will be complete.
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27 comments:
I like it all except the part about returning. :)
I don't want the "millions" out boondocking with me!! I'm trying to get away from the majority of them.
The majority of the idiots don't know what to do with their trash and feces as is......
Be careful what you wish for.
Hi Randy,
I've been reading your blog for a little while now, and as a student whose career of choice can pay very little (cartooning), I appreciate the low-cost life you mobile folks seem to enjoy, and the day-to-day variety that comes with it. Even at 20, I've worked enough 9-to-5 rote jobs to know it's not for me!
One thing I keep thinking of: you use much less resources than an average stationary household (water, electricity, heating fuel, etc.) but what about food? It seems to me that one key of living sustainably is the ability to produce at least some of one's own food, or at least have the storage space to stock up when things are on sale. Do you know of any Kodgers with 'mobile gardens,' or anything along that line? Seems like it would really cinch the deal if you could do it without too much weight!
Hey Randy,
Here's another great article for you on idleness.
http://www.newstatesman.com/business/business/2012/07/what-some-people-call-idleness-often-best-investment
I've been reading your blog and your ex's for a while. I've wanted to live exactly like that since long before I could afford it. Now at 52 I'm living in Asia with a lovely lady and mobile living in USA is off the table.
Whenever we have a fight, I start looking at vans on ebay. Someday I might get there. My biggest question is about security and I've never seen much on the blogs about it. What about all your stuff when you park and go hiking for a day? Even a stealth trailer or van will be of interest to some criminals even if just for vandalism.
$500./month or less??! Our health insurance cost is twice that each month. Do you go without?
We can live an entire lifetime without knowing who we really are. The night sky, nature's beauty and solitude can truly give us an honest reflection of who we really are.
I'm getting ready to take my journey. I'm very lucky. I have my music and my heart to guide me. Of course, Spirit is my loyal navigator. Life is too short. Time to take the journey. I am the Wayfaring Stranger. I going back to meet my Maker. I'm going back, to find my home.
"One thing I keep thinking of: you use much less resources than an average stationary household (water, electricity, heating fuel, etc.) but what about food? It seems to me that one key of living sustainably is the ability to produce at least some of one's own food, or at least have the storage space to stock up when things are on sale. Do you know of any Kodgers with 'mobile gardens,' or anything along that line? Seems like it would really cinch the deal if you could do it without too much weight!" -- Adam
That is the showstopper from my point of view. I've always grown a garden and lived off it. I don't think I'd want to uproot myself and therefore my ability to garden at the same time.
Otherwise, while moderately affordable hydrocarbons are available, it seems to be a sustainable lifestyle -- but not for everyone.
You can't wait for plants to grow or cultivate them unless you stay nearby for the growing season.
There are advantages to being stationary and it is just as possible to be free of the 9 to 5 and live sustainably doing that as it is when one gads about.
To each his own and the full enjoyment thereof.
As a follow up to the question about growing food.....I have met RVers who grow Basil, tomatoes, etc. in pots and set them out upon arrival.
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I leave you this quote as it seemed to go along with your theme of mission.
"Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you're alive, it isn't."
- Richard Bach -
Anonymous
we aren't farmers
we are nomads
hunter gatherers but not farmers we came before that fork in history
You've discussed most life topics (money, your tiny mobile homes, where to park/live and when to be there), very candidly.
Some other issues that must come up with some frequency are, relationships (both friends and lovers), conflicts (how do you resolve conflicts?), exchanging lovers, (usually tough, but it happens in society at large, why not amongst your group?) and jealousy.
This sort of proseltysing for your chosen lifestyle rubs me a bit wrong. Your lifestyle would not be possible without all those stationary people out there ready, willing and able to provide you your supplies. It also would not be possible if everyone chose to live this way - much too crowded and who would be there to provide the supplies?
It is wonderful you enjoy living this way. It is wonderful you can do so happily and with little money. It is wonderful you have found kindred spirits to share the life (tho I see Boonie didn't last for long). It is wonderful you share your stories and how you manage to do it. But other people have other choices and are just as happy. They are not wrong for their choices so long as they are not harming anyone, anymore than you are wrong for your choices just because they are not the average choice.
I guess you just cannot take away the seminary once indoctrinated ...
Yes Randy, Could you perhaps discuss:
"Some other issues that must come up with some frequency are, relationships (both friends and lovers), conflicts (how do you resolve conflicts?), exchanging lovers, (usually tough, but it happens in society at large, why not amongst your group?) and jealousy."?
Maybe on a future blog entry?
Tesaje: Your comment was inadvertantly sent to spam--glad I rescued it. You seriously misunderstand my "Gospel". I am "preaching" that people are culturally captured in an unhappy--value distorted lifestyle---working too long--spending too much for stuff that doesn't satisfy. Freedom ---wonderful freedom can be attained by millions of people with savings and ingeneuity and frugality and simplicity. I really believe that only 50% of us need work at a time----careers could be only about 10 years long--(mine was less than that). I wonder how long you will work at your new job before getting itchy feet. Face it---freedom is addictive. And most Americans are living "lives of quiet desperation."
Vtchris: Thanks for the question and the stimulus to address those more personal issues.
Yes--lovers occasionally defect--feelings--get hurt etc---but not nearly as often as in the conventional world---I'm guessing it's because we all have our separate/mobile houses to retreat to. We solve tribal squabbles with an interesting PEACEMAKER system which guarantees resolution. (will explain sometimes--it's lengthy but will give you a hint: Non-judgemental shuttle diplomacy)
Will also give you a hint as to the major issues any functioning "tribe" must deal with:
POWER
PROPERTY
PERFORMANCE--tasks
PEACEMAKING
PRIVACY
PURPOSE
Having lived 17 years communally I will tell you the two most important things I learned:
1.Love grows on a foundation of justice----but not vice versa.
2. Of the 2 major approaches to problem solving: MORAL and TECHNICAL-----Technical (configuring situations) vs moral--(trying to configure people)
Technical wins--hands down. Will explain sometimes.
"we aren't farmers
we are nomads
hunter gatherers but not farmers we came before that fork in history" --Roy
The "hunter-gatherers" you are referring to hunted and gathered from what nature, independent of human civilization, provided for them.
Neo-hunter-gatherers rarely if ever hunt and gather directly from nature's bounty but from the civilization made possible by stationary folk who produce that for which they "hunt-gather".
The analogy doesn't really hold.
This is a great quote!
>>"Time is the currency of life" (Laurie Theodora) and you may be wasting it.<<
It's so true and so hard to 'really' see.
The realities of it all, if there were millions out doing this Randy, life would change enough that it really wouldn't work well, somebody has to fix the roads or no one travels, someone has to grow the food or no one eats. Hunting-gathering-nomads works & works well for a few in a 'good' area. Too many after the resources, an early winter of a late summer can spell disaster.
We have too many people for this to be a viable alternative for most, to quote something I heard somewhere, "only the truly poor or truly well off can live like that". Still true.
We are living in the golden age and it's possible for wanders like yourself (me too) to live a life of leisure while the rest of society keeps our world running. Sounds like the 'grasshopper & the ant' fable doesn't it?
One commenter talked about the need to support the medical industry, this is America you are either wealthy, lucky or you die if you get sick enough. 40,000 Americans die every year because they can't afford care, a fact of life in modern America. I worked with people who spent the 1st 25% of their pay on medical insurance to the company we worked for. 25%.
All that, the good, the bad, the indifferent takes a back seat to the phrase "life is too short".
It's interesting to follow your blog (and others). Most people won't follow your lead, however ... And to overtly encourage them to do so is unbelievable.
Cities have been over run to the suburbs; forests have been over run by weekend campers; the glacial lakes of the north have been over run by McMansions; and the "west" has been over run by 'Manifest Destiny'. Now, you want every shmo with his large stereo and his Toad running back and forth to Burger King twice a day?
People (the herd) don't have a track record of being gentle on their environment ... Why not just report on your adventures and let your readers come to their own conclusions? Think: "there's nothing worse than a reformed alcoholic or a born again Christian". Not sure if you're either, but that thread of reality definitely permeates your 'mission'.
If I ever join your ranks, the last thing I'd do is write a blog. Or, want to be written about on someone else's blog.
Rob: "we have too many people for this to be a viable alternative for most"
Well yes!---but it is a viable alternative for many millions more.
The VANDWELLERS are pioneering the way. (I think of them a modern day Thoreau's---adventuring on life now---using frugality, ingeneuity, mobility, simplicity as he did to win their freedom.
Re older Americans: do you doubt that millions already have a sustainable income stream. They could join us now if they could catch the vision.
And TTS: Re: your pessimism: I challenge you to go to Quartzsite, Az during Jan or Feb and witness the 100,000 campers enjoying freedom on the desert---AND NOT TRASHING IT ANYWHERE.
I also challenge the pessimistic to view the tv show HOW ITS MADE. Watch the machines turning out jillions of widgets.---There is enough!!! The industrial revolution has set me free---why not you.
I close with a quote from Esfandiary---"just as the cave man could not imagine the wonders of now----you cannot imagine how wonderful the future will be"
Randy,
I've been following your blog for a few months and love it. This post was spot on!
I see your post as an invitation to an abundant life, free from the most pervasive and destructive addiction of our time--the compulsion to attain, accumulate, consume and discard MORE.
We all recognize the variety of human experience. We can't all be "mobile kodgers" at the same time, but we can all learn from each other and find meaning in life apart from unlimited consumption and destruction of our world.
Thanks for helping lead the way. I'm well on my way to joining you and the Mobile Million!
Steve
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ANONYMOUS: "What about all your stuff when you park and go hiking for a day? Even a stealth trailer or van will be of interest to some criminals even if just for vandalism."
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I used to worry about such things until I learned there are some things we just have no control over. Anyone can be "hit" and the best locks in the world won't prevent it. Actually, Randy has shared some good ideas in the past about leaving notes which indicate you're a short distance away (sighting in your rifle IIRC -- genius!) and you'll be back in just a few minutes.
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When I lived out in the boonies one blissful summer in Oregon, I left the following sign on my camper door:
"This may not look like much to you but, right now, it's pretty much all I have in this world. If you're inclined to steal or mess with other people's stuff, you'll go to HELL! If I catch you, we'll go TOGETHER!"
I've no way of knowing if anyone ever read the sign but I never had a single indication that anyone ever messed with any of my stuff. And this was in summer, along a very popular canoeing river = lots of exposure. After about three days of anxious moments, I realized I had just as much right to be there as anyone else and my presence there wasn't hurting a gol' darn' thing.
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Dam Randy .. Jealous here! But someday I'll be there!
Some historical perspective on Randy's utopianism can come from reading this brief article in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_%28to_be%29_Regained .
The article doesn't invalidate anything Randy is saying; nor does it prove something by analogy or innuendo. But I think Randy and his readers would be fascinated and amused by the article.
http://www.treehugger.com/culture/trailer-park-kim-holleman.html
Rob said:
One commenter talked about the need to support the medical industry, this is America you are either wealthy, lucky or you die if you get sick enough. 40,000 Americans die every year because they can't afford care, a fact of life in modern America.
There are about 2,500,000 deaths in the US every year so that must mean that 2,460,000 of them died even though they could afford health care. That is another fact of life in modern America.
There is already a place on earth that's perfect, no one needs to work and all your time is free to relax and enjoy your life.
It's called Cuba.
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