I want to be homeless too

Well, reading Daniele Boon's thread inspired me to post my own. FYI, I've read most the threads on this forum so far. ;)

Here's the lowdown on me.

I'm 19 years old living in Northeastern Ohio. I'm a highschool dropout. I have a few problems with society and I wish to remove myself from it. I've been interested since I can remember in cultures that lived off the land, living with nature rather than destroying it. I wish to emulate their lifestyles. I want to find a good patch of wilderness a few miles off from any cities and build some semi-permanent shelters, well-hidden and supply my needs for myself. This blog describes to a small degree what I'll be attempting, except I'll be even more in nature than he will. http://blackpacker.gnn.tv/

I'm very determined, low-maintenence and skilled. I can make fires in the rain without matches or lighters, I can sharpen knives on common stones, forage food, catch small game etc. As for more society-based skills, I'm an A+ certified computer technician with over half a decade of experience. I've got over 4 years of photoshop experience, years of award-winning journalistic experience in which I wrote, took photographs and did photoshopping. I'm big, strong and physically capable. Willing to do prettymuch any job out there.

I like to think my chances of survival high. I've been putting myself in mock survival scenarios for the past few weeks to practice specific skills just to warm up to the idea.

You might wonder about my motivations for such a thing. I mainly desire to live more in tune with nature. Also, I have a strong dislike for much of our Nation's policies and wish to essentially remove myself from their radars. I'd like to seclude myself, experience what I consider a more satisfying and true to the heart way of life and write extensively on a variety of subjects, hopefully getting some of these writings published some day.

I look at a lot of things posted here and I see a lot of differences between you people and myself. Here are some general observations I've made:


-Drugs. Most of you who've reported problems with them seem to use them for escapism. Myself, I stick to marijuana prettymuch exclusively and don't use it as an emotional crutch or for escapist purposes. I'm one of the few who I think actually uses their drug of choice responsibly. I'm very resistant to addiction, stay away from alcohol and harder substances etc.

-Home tension. I've run away from home for a few days time before for this but since those days (5 years ago or so) things have improved. My family says I can live with them as long as I want and I repay their kindness and support to a small degree by trying to help out around home. Things are the best they've ever been between me and my family, but I'm still not opposed to the idea of having no contact with them. I don't experience much emotional attatchment with anyone.

-CDs! Unlike Mr. Boone, not only can I make do without modern conveniences, I actually lust for that kind of lifestyle and prefer every ounce of it I experience. To me, despite all the problems that can occur, making a fire by hand is much more satisfying than turning on the heat in a home. Building your own shelter is satisfying in its own right, being out in the woods more than I'm in a building is something I love every moment I do it. I study primitive living not only because I'm interested in the methods used, but because I wish to (and already do, to an extent) employ them myself.

-Hope, determination etc. I saw some things like "I have no one, I need a reason for caring about life" and felt confused. I've always felt I was enough reason to care about life. My own desires, feelings and aspirations. Boy are they high too. I want to take on the world and I feel capable of it too. I'm more than willing to go through the process of having all my dreams crushed and pushing through with what willpower I have left. I look at life as a challenge and challenges are something I look forward to meeting. I have more hope, desire, passion, determination, self-sufficiency etc than any one man could ask for.

-Self sufficiency in general. I strike myself as far more interested in this concept than most people here. I don't want to be reliant on grocery stores, garbage cans and soup lines. Growing, hunting, fishing, foraging....I wish to supply my own food through what nature offers me and fall back on more modern means as a last resort. Water I'll be more leniant with, as there aren't an over-abundance of natural fresh streams these days. Still, I aim to be dependant on anything but myself as little as possible, which includes the gear I'll be packing. I'm putting together a list as I type this of various things I'll be carrying with me, but most of it will be there in hopes of not needing it.

Call me naive or idealistic if you want, I'm posting this mainly for constructive criticism. I'm not rushing into this or simply acting out my childhood fantasies in an unprepared manner. I've been reading from a variety of sources...survivalist forums, wilderness survival literature, homeless experiences, militairy stories etc. I take everything I read with a grain of salt until I apply it to real world situations, and keep my suspicion levels high every time I read a new "survival trick." I'm level-headed, not prone to panic or stress, intelligent, incredibly aware and observant (Which will be key to this I'd imagine), arrogant if you haven't noticed :) and full of willpower.

I think I'm at a prime time in life to try something like this. I'm young enough that I can fuck around for a year or two and come back into the fold of society if for some reason I feel that's the life for me, but old enough that I know I can take care of myself but past that stage of naivity where I won't admit my own limits to myself. If things go as planned, I'll find myself a great patch of land, construct my own cabin and live a good life as a writer enjoying a life he's always dreamed of.

Just wanted to add that I think this post from Rose describes me very much.

Most people have a great urge to conform. They spend their whole lives worrying about what the neighbours think about them. Underneath, most of these people would love to get out in the wilderness and just live there quietly, without the mortgage and the car payments and the school fees that they have to keep on earning the money for.

They're trapped in all of that, and trying to have a better car and curtains than the people next door, and better clothes...the list of things they need is endless, and they can never afford them all. So they stare at anybody different.

Partly I think they do it because the sight of someone like you, alive and well and happy, is proof that they don't 'need' to live the stressful lives they do. Partly it's just plain envy of the life you're living. They will judge you to be 'odd' because if they didn't, they would have to see how odd their own lives have become, always struggling towards something more that they haven't got.

This is me. I'm someone that has that detatched mentality, that walks around my suburbia neighborhood and giggles at people trying to one-up eachother with their landscaping and SUV's. I'm very free in the life I live. I wake and sleep at my liesure, I'll show up to a church by myself that I've never been to with long hair, a beard, nice and stoned and a death metal shirt on just for some good discussion about religion. I'll go to a crowded shopping mall and start skating around inside the mall, weaving in between the herd of sheep as they stare at my defiance of social norms.

I don't know, going back to how I call myself arrogant, I think this will only further that. I look at myself and I see a very free-willed and interesting creature. I see someone who's prepared to shake off all the luxuries he's been offered for the life he desires. Someone who lived life by his own rules and always had. Heck, I got rules at my highschool changed to accomodate to my desires. What can I say, I enjoy being me.

I look at my friends working everyday of the week, wishing they had more time to spend on their passions. They have no money because they follow the consumerist lifestyle (I'm hungry, I'll go out to eat! I'm bored, I'll go out and see a movie or buy a videogame console or TV and be in debt hundreds of dollars! etc). I've consistently managed to have more money than most my friends who work in my pocket at any given time, simply because I manage it well. I manage my time well too. I don't want to be 25 and think, "Wow, I wish I would of tried becoming a pro skater," or "Man, I wish I wasn't stuck paying for this shitty apartment, I wish I was out hiking across mountains, experiencing the world!" I want to follow my dreams, turn them into a reality, not be an armchair commando playing videogames and watching movies to replicate the desires his heart has long since given up on. Fuck that. Fuck that indeed.

Welcome to the forum Raum.:) It sounds like you have put a lot of thought and research into how you would like to live your life, for the next little while anyway. Congratulations and good luck with your ambitions. No doubt you will face many obstacles but it sounds as though you have the strength and fore thought to overcome most over them. Reading your posts reminded me of this recent post from the homeless guy blogspot. It details that homelessness is about the separation from society and it's values etc.

http://thehomelessguy.blogspot.com/2006/05/thing-1-thing-2-homeless.html

Good luck and may the force be with you.:

Please drop in and let us know how you are doing if and when you get a chance.

I'm 19 years old living in Northeastern Ohio. I'm a highschool dropout. ... As for more society-based skills, I'm an A+ certified computer technician with over half a decade of experience.
...
Call me naive or idealistic if you want, I'm posting this mainly for constructive criticism. ... I'm level-headed, not prone to panic or stress, intelligent, incredibly aware and observant (Which will be key to this I'd imagine), arrogant if you haven't noticed :) and full of willpower.

I think I'm at a prime time in life to try something like this. I'm young enough that...Hi Raum, NEO myself here too.

First off, congrats on getting your A+ without a highschool diploma, that is certainly a very viable skill to have these days.

OK, I'll call you naive, idealistic, arrogant and full of willpower. No, I won't call you ignorant because you have to have a lot of experienced lessons to ignore to actually be ignorant. Congrats on the things you've already done and on wanting to go have more experiences that will probably build a lot of character for you, it sounds like you will really drink them in, mark them and make good use of them. That's one of the great keys I have always found: naive is OK, everyone is naive of something; however, ignorant is a human tragedy.

I am not sure why you called this thread [I want to be homeless too], because it really sounds more like you want to be houseless, forge your "home" on your own terms. In our conspicious-consumerist economy here in the US, that's actually quite commendable. Oh yeah, I totally agree with you on the landscaping and SUV thing. UGH!

I myself am a homeless disabled veteran. I'm working on getting my VA disability claim processed. I need to forge my own home. Being physically disabled unfortunately will mean immersing myself in the hustle and bustle that I would love to get away from because the only health care I can afford is my free care through the VA -- big cities only, but I find a lot of solace from my physical disabilities in my art and music so that doesn't exactly fit the rat race anyway. I am hoping that eventually I can maybe find my niche there well enough to become self-sufficient again, maybe not need my disability pay anymore, but I know have a long way to go till then.

cheers, and here's hoping you can really make it work well for yourself! Yup, you're arrogant, but you need to be at least a bit arrogant for the ambitions you have, so don't let the turkeys get you down :)

i guess i have to have 35 charicters to say cool topic, i cant just say cool topic :)

I for one do not see setting about an adventure as wanting to be homeless. The earmarks are not the same, although I commend you for wanting to do with your life what you are capable of, others are not as fortunate. This is what sets you apart from me and others who are ill prepared to make coon skin caps once the meat has been eaten.
Give yourself a mental illness that cannot be coped with, and or a drug habit, or an abused childhood or an unforeseen catastrophe which will include children who in probability will not eat today, etc and then your talkin..., otherwise , enjoy your journey. Lucy werewolf

Funny, I work part time (casual whatever) and when people ask me what i do (I pack fish bait) people screw up there noses! Isn't it strange what we value. I did a uni degree in science, so people think I should have a job in that! They can't understand that I enjoy only working on average 20 hours a week in a job that is to them weird! I love my job - I really get along well with the people there! But other people don't get that - to them we must always be chasing money! They don't ask if I'm happy - they just assume that I'm not!
It's amazing the things you can do with yourself when you don't work a 40 hour week! I really enjoy chilling out, but I also enjoy the time I have that I can spend with others, helping them out in some way!
Somehow I think I am much happier than people who stress out about work and worry about what other people think!
I actually have time to follow my dreams!

I've been reading people's post I want to be homeless, and would like to give my thoughts about them.

I was homeless about the age of one of the posters. I can understand his views on getting away from society. I myself, would like to get out of this society with the cable networks, television, everything that is comming at you at once.

My experiences with homeless, had its good and bad points. When I started it was kind of rough because at first, I had no plans of being homeless, and I was in a major city. I worked never took services, denied I was even homeless,
just found a place to sleep for the night and washed and showered in laundary mats at about 6AM before, anyone was up to do there laundry.

I went to Arizonia, camped out on the edge of town, and worked at a fast food place. Then, I did what i wanted on my off time. I wasn't os bad being homeless, never had to worry about anything.

The Hell, of homeless came, when I went to another town, hoping to get services, and started hanging out with other homeless people. I have nothing against them, Many were nice people. But, getting caught up in there patterns, and going to get help but only to get made to feel like total crap, and losing my confidence, to even function as a person.

My advice for anyone wanting to be homeless, there is freedom in it. It can be a good experience, or a living hell.

1. Don't think of getting any services. Don't let anyone know your homeless.
Don't go around the homeless crowd period.

2. Have some type of income or part time job, to take care of yourself.
Always have a plan, for what your going to do next. Leave nothing up for chance.


3.Atleast, keep some extra cash stored away. In a Bank. A few hundred atleast that you can access if your in a jam.

4. Don't Hitchhike, a mistake I made after hearing how great its it by other
people. Always, have money for a bus, or a car and gas.

5. Always, know what the day labors are like, and never use them as a place of employment only at a last, restort for survival. They treat you like shit, and break your confidence down. They are FING ASSHOLES. There might be ones, that you can pick up a fast job, when your in a jam.

6. Stay to yourself, and don't get involved in the homeless mix, of shelters, services, other people who experiencing negative in there lifes.

Life off the land, secure your area. never let anyone know Where or even that you are camping there. Hide your things with branches and wood to hide them.

It can be great to be homeless. Its just a hell when you are Flat broke, Your in need, are uable to survive on your own.

Know your options, Have a back up plan, Stay away from the services or the homeless crowd. Stay out of the city. Know there is not a guarantee for survival.


I'm not trying to put down homeless people. It that when I was homeless, things were great, Untill, I started going in the area, of town where the city want to pack the homeless. I got put down just because I wanted to use services. I started to get influenced by other people experiencing homelessness, got bogged down in their problems, and my life went to a Living Hell.

It was great being homeless, and not taking anything from anyone. Living off the land, working till I wanted too. And having fun, and getting away from the robot society.

Being homeless helps you think for yourself because you don't have os much BS, throw at you everyday, Your basically by yourself everyday.

And If you want to go out and mix with society, just buy a nice pair of cloths,
or, better buy a nice pair of cloth the best quality, and go out have blast,

And return it to the store for a full refund.

I've been in doors for years now. I rather be homeless living off the land, but I would not even want to exist depending on services, and living in the hell holes which they want to contain the homeless in.

MY ADVICE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I have a some advice to someone wanting to be homeless.

I was a high school drop out too, while I was homeless.

My advice would be.

1. Check out national park season jobs, you can work in a national park.
they give you housing, then when the season is over you can collect unemployment and take the rest of the year off untill or if you decide to go back the next year.

2. If you a high school drop out, I would advise you to get a GED.
You can easily study for it and its not a hard test, when you are
camping out somewhere or at a library, they have book there.

This is because a GED, will allow you to enroll in distence education class,
and that will give you access to finanical aid money, which you can use
to fund your living. And if you want to go to college later, it will be
much easier if you took some coarses alreay. I found that I learn alot
more when I can study at my own pace verse a class room enviroment.

3. Look into trade certifications, which don't require any vocational school or
school period. I took the Pharmacy Technician exam. And it required no
school, and it gives you a job if you want to work for a while or get back
into society.


You can have some productive years being homeless, You might even get more done because you have less distraction. You just need to use you mind.

MY ADVICE IS BE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING THAT MAY COME YOUR WAY.
AND STAY AWAY FROM THINGS THAT COULD CAUSE YOU PROBLEMS.

Last word, Raum.

I don't advice you to be homeless, and finding a camping spot on the edge of town is no solution. someone is going to notice you in time and you will have to move. or, the camp fire you build will get noticed, and the authorities will be called out. What are you or how are you going to catch your food?

I think you need more of a plan than what you presented on this forum. I don't understand how what you are saying can be a permenant way of life.
And how are you going to go hiking mountains, without money to make the trip. Its totally not worth it.

But, making a land for yourself and building a cabin, would be something else.

Because the shit you see or experience on the streets even if its just one or two incidents, is very painful. While you may have some good times, the bad experiences are what will have the major impact on you.

I would not be doing you a favor, to say Homeless would be a great way of life. Its not, its a living hell.

Please wait don't just move out and become homeless, try saving your money and building a cabin to live, Then, you can do what you want.

Your camping site, could be raided if you stay there long enough, You could be arrested or invaded by thugs and criminial.

So, please have a better plan.

ive beeen off the streets for a few months, my ole lady accepts me for what i am, thus the rest of her family accepts me. Im luckey the winds of fortune have turned my way. the wind s of fortune wdould be a good thing to keep in mind. where do the winds take you. Do you take them when they blow. do they take you. life3 is good. i got diagnosed paranoid schizo. ride them winds. you may be good folks. if your not fuck you.................................Be nice in this life3 it will get a long way. if you an asshole fuck you

sorry if i came off hard ass, if your cup is empty, may it be full agian. thats the best blessing i can offer. All the best gyro.

good luck on your adventure!
i believe you can do it, i think socity can be a bad place sometimes, and it would be nice to hav a little freedom from all that...but just remember somtimes what seems really bad when your younger can improve with time.
hey let me know how it all goes. keep warm.watch out for big cats on the moores....take care.


nature provides us with everything we need you just got to know where to look, sounds like you do, you will be fine.

I was surprised to see that some people actually wanted to be homeless.

I've been homeless and let me tell you, it's not a free and easy going, laid back experience at all. I had to fight to survive at times. Some of our own people will act like your friend and then beat you up and take everything you have.

I fully understand your desire to be free from the current societal norms of people working overtime so they can afford to buy Hummers and million dollar houses. I, myself, live very frugally and try to get by working as little as I possibly can. The key is that I do not use any form of credit at all, which is the biggest form of modern slavery out there. I do not own anything of any significant value, so I am not attached to anything, and therefore I can come and come at will, moving all over the country whenever I feel like it. But I make sure I have enough money to rent a room, so I don't have to ever go back to living on the streets.

As far as living in the wilderness-- it can be very dangerous, too. Some of the worst and most scary people I've ever met lived out in the woods. Because they felt anonymous out there, they felt like they could get away with anything, including murder. You had better be able to use that knife very well to protect yourself out there. Good luck to you.

well, months unhomeless, i'm considering partial homeless. To make money to pay a house payment. Go figure, got to make money. If one participates in economy it places them in another catagory of homeless. People look at one
different than the rest. I have schizophrenia, there have been times I could not participate, I have relyed upon services, to get me through the accompanying depresssion after episodes. Its a messy business, but its life. Get through it the best one can.

Hey Gyro, it's been a while. Good to see you - amazing that you're saving for house payments, but like you say, it's life. Life is always changing. Just so long as you never forget to smell those flowers. http://www.vpsingles.com/pics/rainbow.gif

Hi,
First of all I think you brought up some very good points. We do live in a society that thrives on excess and it seems like it's getting worse everyday. When people stand in line to pay hundreds of dollars or more for a video game and we can't even make sure our neighbors have food for the day...it repulses me to no end! I feel the same way about just going away and leaving all the crap behind. I also see a passion in you that could be tapped into for something good. You said you have been researching the internet and studying about how to be homeless (but in your case) Houseless. As I read your post I was thinking how great it could be if you would reassess your passion and actually change some of the beaurocratic B/S that put us where we are today. You said you changed some rules at school, keep it up! How about your survival skills? How about applying them and adapting them to help people who don't have another choice but homelessness. Survival in the mountains or survival in the city...it's tough in both places and it sounds like you have a lot to teach. I don't believe you actually want to be homeless (disconnected from society) because you said you go to malls and other places just to make other people see you and zig zag in between them on skates...That sounds like you want people to see you for you, and that's not a bad thing. My advice to you is get in their face, disconnect from the bad shit you can't change in society not all the people...get back on the internet and out in public and fight to change what you can! Find something you are passionate about and go for it! Pick up the book "Under the Overpass" by Mike Yankoski. This guy lived homeless for five months in major U.S. cities just for the experience. It showed me a lot about how we treat people. Oh yeah, to some of us, it doesn't matter what you look like in church. I would much rather sit by someone who stinks and had tattered clothes and who was there for the right reason than a hypocrite in a three piece suit. Keep us posted.

Hey Rose,
I have the house payment for March, April I'm concerned about. I'm 12,000 in debt for my schizo diagnosis, waiting for my bank account to be froze and my non-existant wages to be garnished. Worried about being black balled for pissing off one of the most powerful men in this county, who was my boss, and is my friends son in law. I have had thoughts he was plotting to kill me, powerful thoughts. I thought she was putting drugs or poison in my food. Today his wife is dropping off his daughter, my friends daughter and grand daughter, to stay the night. I'm still pissed from the last time she stayed the night. She had a friend stay with her. The next day her friend left without telling me shere she was going. Luckily her mom picked her up, without telling me she was picking her up. My friend was at work. I was pissed. But I saved it for my friend. Her grand daughter apologised, the apology," I'm sorry I didn't include you...." Talk about minimalization.....Life is messy. Homeless is almost more desirable than this. Your right, I need to go out and work in the yard.

Hang in there - you've done so much to keep your head above water these past few months, if you can handle what you already have, you can do anything.

It's bad that you have to pay all that money for your diagnosis though - at least our government over here is supportive enough to give us a doctor for a minimal payment if we've got a serious illness. If you think they're going to freeze your bank account, get in before them and get those house payments out of there, pay them early. You work too hard for them to let them be taken away.

Keep on keeping on like you've always done - as long as you keep those flowers in your head you'll be pushing some of the bad thoughts out. http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/images/graphics_grabbag/butterfly.gif

I was thinking back, and truthfully speaking I did'nt decide to become homeless. It happened to me, I just learned to accept it and went from there. Its like struggling against a ripcurrent. If you swim against it you'll be taken to sea. Accept it and swim paralell to shore you might make it back. What I hear people on this thread that oppose me saying is SWIM!!!!!! and don't panic. Well, one caught in such a sitution is doing just that. Just its easier to say from the beach. Pre-homeless or not. I'm reading up on the tao by pooh, or something like that.... Good reading.

Oh, something on personal responsiblity. Its too complicated for any one that makes this aurgument. The aurgument is a facade. Einstein believed, or rather, understood, determinism, but took his own personal response to the situation. I think the quote goes, " I can see the influences that make a murderer, but I still son't think I would have tea with that individual." Kahlil Gibraal said that those that help others in distressful situations, it is through their hands that God smiles on the creation, like yonder myrtle lets out its fragrance, or rosemary, or the flowers. If one is skunk cabige, why not just take some personal reponsibility and own up to it. Not speaking to you, Rose, rather others less enlightened.

By the way rose, I have a three bedroom house in the suburbs.:D

With oak floors. Central air and the whole bit....

Hello, I am the Blackpacker linked to in Raum’s original post in this thread. I sent him a PM a few months ago when I first ran upon his comments, and have not heard back. I finally came back to read the entire thread today and must comment that I was impressed by the insightful and wise conversation I saw. Seems rare on the internet these days.

First off, I would like to point out that I have never claimed nor believed that I was homeless. When I walked the length of korea or hitchhiked through the deep south I did it on weekend and had a room in the barracks. When I went on my crazy long walks, I did it with support. Friends to bring supplies, or pick me up at the end of them. I was at no time homeless. I have spent a LOT of time on even heel with homeless men and women of every age and persuasion. And the term homeless describes a condition that is thrust upon you against your will or desires. Many people handle it well and seem to thrive, most do not. No one should ever be homeless.

In March of last year, I became nomadic. For the first time in my life, I would not have a home besides a the 100 combined pounds of pack my fiancé and I carried on our backs. In the past, I have hitchhiked the deep south, walked the length of Korea and seen half of the continental 48. I have camped along rail road tracks, beneath bridges in big cities, on dirt embankments on the side of rice paddies. But until our walk last year, I always had a home to return to. The walk took us due north through cities, country side, forests, and mountains mostly along train tracks. We had made contact with a number of farms along the route and had work and shelter arranged from Mexico to Canada. Our goal was to find a place where we could live without compromise and raise a family.

“To live without compromise.” It’s a thought we have all had. A common dream after a bad day at work, stuck in traffic or after realizing what you have left after paying bills. For most of my life I have been a media and anti-consumerism activist. My time in the army exposed me to second and third world cultures and seeing the disparity of what I considered having it rough growing up and what these people seemed blessed to have opened my eyes to the true cost of American consumerism. I bought fair trade, locally grown, organic, sweatshop-free and I bought little. I developed a DIY attitude that taught me how to build everything from computers to houses. I originally worked full time like everyone else, but eventually paired it down to two days a week with five days of very productive (and frequently profitable) play as an activist. But I lived in constant compromise. I didn’t drive, but my food was trucked to me. I loved the wilderness, but I lived in the city. And no matter how many minds I changed, I still had to live in the consumerist cycle in order to survive. I decided it was time to stop telling people not to consume, and start showing them how.

I wrote the Guerrilla Camping series in response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Seeing the pictures of people stranded in a city and hearing that many of those stranded were stuck because they had no cars struck a nerve in me. I looked at the wall of maps I had collected and at the large backpack leaning next to my door packed with five days of food and knew that no matter the disaster, I would be fine for at least a week with a pack I was developing for a trip that could last up to three years. I wrote the series to detail skills needed to become nomadic, as well as the skills needed to thrive should you ever have to evacuate a city on foot.

Since writing the series, and doing the walk, I have met a great number of nomads. I have inspired one friend to move to Hawaii to volunteer on organic farms and another to move to Asia with a one way ticket and a work visa. I have been contacted by a burnt out businessman who has quit his job and is planning on exploring South America on bike to find a place where his life savings can afford a very early retirement and met a dreadlocked anarchist who has crossed the country a dozen times by freight, working as a formerly licensed electrician at squats and community centers. These people are not homeless. While they may not have four walls to return to, they have chosen their path and are succeeding at it. Trying, like all of us dream, to live without compromise.

How’d it work? We made it 300 miles. 160 miles in, we arrived at my current place of employment, two miles from the most secluded parcel of land in the area which happened to be owned by my present employers. Impressed by my skills in fixing everything from computers to houses, they offered my fiance and I the opportunity to rebuild a cabin on the land, and live there in return for keeping their ranch going. They are great people, who also once were of a mind to live without compromise and succeeded beyond most people’s imaginings. I am already writing a new series of articles detailing skills and methods for zero-impact homesteading. In short, I got exactly what I wanted but only after busting my foot at the 300 mile mark.

Raum, I hope you are ready for your journey, in fact, I hope you are well on your way. It is a hard road to walk, but the rewards are priceless and your goals are very achievable. But son, I hope you are NEVER homeless. Just remember to be habitually at home. And write down everything you see and do. Everyone wants to hear about it.

Thought about doing another coast to coast this summer. Might do something else.

Do your coast to coast....then come home...YOU ARE MISSED