Thursday, July 12, 2018 — Chewelah, WA
Three more weeks. That’s how my friend Linda and I count down the rest of the month. Three more weeks to payday. Two weeks. Five days. One.
We always seem to run out of money before we run out of month. But we always manage to make it through (although I sometimes have to resort to borrowing which I hate because then I have to pay it back, guaranteeing another tight month.)
This month, however, when I checked my bank balance on payday to make sure July’s payment went through, I got an unpleasant surprise. Less than half of it did go through. The rest? Up in smoke, apparently.
After several hours on hold with Social Security, I found out they had deducted for an “overpayment” I didn’t recall. Turns out it was a snafu from many years ago, and I was basically out of luck.
Ah, but I am IN luck, because I am staying with friends who don’t mind feeding me for another month until the next check comes. I have enough to cover the bills (no need to borrow, yay!) just not enough to travel.
So the trip is on hold for a few more weeks. I’ll get to Canada eventually.
Which is fine; I love spending time with this family. (And Chuck, the dad, is a great cook. Go, me!)
So, don’t worry about me
I’m not telling you this to make you feel sorry for me and I am definitely not asking for help. What I am doing is squeezing all I can out of what’s left — or as the old Depression song puts it: I “squeeze and squeeze until the eagle grins.”
The eagle has certainly been grinning on what I call my “last chance” trip.
That’s life on Social Security, but at least I know I’m getting a check every month — let’s not talk about the way things are going in Congress to change that.
Many Americans don’t have even that much security
A shocking number are scraping by in their vans, campers, and even cars, on savings or part-time jobs, wondering how they’ll pay for the next car repair, worrying about how they’re going to eat — or in some cases, feed their kids.
There is growing evidence that something terribly wrong with our economy — homeless encampments in every city and, I’ve seen in my travels, in national forests and other public land.
Middle- and upper middle-class neighborhoods and malls are still somehow maintaining the illusion of stability, but our country is falling apart.
I really don’t want to rant about Trump (except on Facebook). Plenty of others are doing it for me, and I’m glad they are. I’m just not a political writer.
But I need to acknowledge the real world around me as I travel. It’s not all happiness and light. How to do that?
Well, the answer is right there: acknowledge the real world around me as I travel.
I’ve seen the encampments that get larger every time I travel through a familiar place. More and more people are living in vehicles and RVs.
RTR (aka Rubber Tramp Rendezvous) itself, which started with a dozen or so vandwelling attendees just a few years ago, has exploded to several thousand and is expected to reach ten thousand this winter.
I’m doing this by choice. I have never regretted that decision in the nearly five years I’ve been full-timing in a van.
What I’m worried about are the increasing numbers of involuntary nomads, and the larger implications of that.
I’m going to be writing more about the real world I see. Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
LaVonne . . .
I agree with your commentary. I have been saying similar to this for quite some time now. I do not enter into political debates because I’m apolitical. I despise the two-party system. I vote only to retain my bitching rights – and frankly – it doesn’t matter if it’s the Demopublicans or the Republicrats, as Robert Ringer coined them in his early best selling books, they are all out of the same pod and none of them are to be trusted nor do they have our best interest in mind. As a matter of fact, no government has their “subjects” best interest in mind.
As I continue to tell people, I don’t vote for anyone. I vote AGAINST the lesser of the two lessers. The problem you describe is not something that has just revealed itself. It’s been growing and festering for at least 100 years or more. “We” were fortunate enough to have grown up during a certain “age of innocence” as the nation was recovering from, yet, another war. War is good for a country – it encourages and instills patriotism – and believing that the government is looking out for us. What they are really looking out for is the military/industrial complex that keeps this (or any) country running.
I wonder if we’ll ever actually reach a point in the future (after we’ve left this planet – possibly for a better place) when the world will in some way resemble the futuristic movies like Mad Max or the Hunger Games? Certainly, many of the prognostications of people like George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradberry, Gene Roddenberry and Ayn Rand to mention a few, seem to be coming to pass – maybe not on the exact timelines and precisely as described, but close enough for government work (I think I meant that as a sarcastic pun).
Frankly, I have to think that our idyllic lifestyle may become severely blemished by the continued growth of people embracing it, not by choice, to enjoy the nomadic life of a trekker enjoying the opportunity to explore the country(countries), but out of pure survival necessities (which may lead us more in that Mad Max direction). I think Bob needs to seriously consider changing the name of the RTR to the “Burning Van Festival.” It’s taking on a life of its own, just as Burning Man did in NV. I never had the opportunity to attend an RTR in the earlier years, though it was my intention. The one year I was on my way there and my van blew its engine in CA. I think it was just after I met up with you and the others in the LTVA area in Q. The other years, I was somewhere else in the country – too far to easily and economically get there. I did get to the ill-fated summer RTR in Flagstaff a few years back, had to leave for prior commitments in CA just before the ranger came and shut it down. Bummer. But, if it’s going to approach the 10,000 mark this coming year or the next, I fear it’s already surpassed the level of any interest I would have in attending. I didn’t choose to go on the road to become part of a congested mobile city. I’ll look forward to crossing paths with Bob and you and others on a one on one or a few at a time basis when I can enjoy sharing your company.
I get a daily Ted Talk feed and yesterday this one (link below) came in. I don’t watch them all, don’t have time, but the topic of this one is of extreme interest to me. It goes along with what you said in your commentary in this post. There, but for the Grace of God go I (we). Fortunately, for me, I’m somewhat about the average individual she talks about – but not so far that I couldn’t find myself in deep doo-doo if I’m not careful. Take a look, if you’re of a mind to. https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_white_an_honest_look_at_the_personal_finance_crisis?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_content=button__2018-07-14&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare
Live free & be happy – EH
LaVonne, this is a very real piece on the new reality of life as I know it. The almost four years I’ve been on the road full time, not by choice. I went out while I could still get my rig set up knowing it would not be long before I would be of a very frugal means. It’s harder every month it seems.
Ed Helvey, I was at the summer rtr til I was kicked out as well. A good time was had by all. Well, at least by me.
I have had some uncomfortable moments during my first month of living in my RV. Uncomfortable in seeing that many in the world now see me as homeless and may despise me or — perhaps worse — pity me. I am also made uncomfortable by the truly homeless people that I see. Living under trees ringing city dumps. Or sleeping under the trees in parks. I now look at them in a different way and with new respect. I will follow your thoughts on these observations of our fellows on the road with interest. I love your thoughtful observations, LaVonne.