I would’ve drive through the lower 48 and Alaska stopping anywhere that piques my interest.
Some folks want to see the world but there’s so much to see in the good old USA first.

He was a fag.

Whatever is different. I see no need for international travel. Why? Because every state (and sometimes county) is so different you could never exchange currency and see a hundred different cultures.

Showing up at a bar (a true bar, we don't have those in VA/MD/DC) and having the bartender buy you a drink in Michigan with the symbol of the over turned cup.

Eating a slinger in St Louis at a diner.

Fishing for shark and eating it in in Oceanside, CA.

Spending the night at a 19th century farmhouse in the mountains of West Virginia in the dark zone.

Lobster in Maine.

So much amazing stuff in America.

I’ve watched the videos and read about that guy. Really interesting man.

I almost sold everything I could and moved to Alaska. Sometimes I still wished I had. Most of the time, I'm grateful I didn't.

Wow.

If not for kids and wife, I could easily and happily live in the back of my Land Rover and wander, at least for a good long while.

Wife is aware that when I retire after kids are out of college, that I will be doing just that for a month or two each year.

I have 9 years left until that point.

There is (maybe was?) a guy on ADVRider who was a skilled carpenter but did not work regularly.

He bought a little house in Nebraska for like $15k, utilities and tax were almost nothing.

Had a little 350cc enduro that he rode all over North/South America, doing work when he needed money. Turned 65, got Social Security, and it covers his expenses.

Haven't checked up on him in a while.

A man searching for meaning to life. Not finding it in his pond, so looking for a different pond, perhaps where he fits in or where there is meaning to him.

Samurai would do Mushin Shugyo if I recall the name. They needed to test their mettle, so would go on an adventure seeking other warriors or other schools and challenge others in combat.  Partially to test their skills, and to stroke their egos. And to learn new skills. Possibly to stave off boredom if I were to guess; if you're a hammer, you're going to look for a nail, even if you don't realize you're hammer yet.

The Mexican version is machismo where you go out and act tough.

The cousin isn't a samurai so he cant challenge other fighters.  He's a modern aged man, so his self-challenge is to survive on his own wits, untethered from whatever gerbil wheel that previously imprisoned him.

Often men get restless.  We are wired to face death and laugh, to slaughter wild beasts and drag their carcasses back to the tribe, to spear lions for sport, and to best other men in single hand to hand combat.  That doesn't work in modern human social behavior.  Young boys show signs of this as they are quick to fight and want to wrestle or play cowboys and Indians.  This is role playing and training for their future roles as warriors.

This doesn't fit our modern society though.  Instead of lions and loin clothes, men wear choking ties and wrestle inanimate and obsequious negotiation tables. Oh how  he yearns for taming a wild beast or feeling the warmth of the red blood as it oozes from the ribcage as he plunges his knife into the side of the beast. Almost dinner time.  Restless at work? Bored? Stressed out and dont know why? Because we weren't wired that way.  We are living out the role of another beast, a mindless drone, not that of a man!

I firmly believe, while not a conclusive causal factor, that much of the crime committed these days is done as an outlet from the repressed man-nature inside trying to burst out.  Looking for adventure, looking for blood, looking for the adrenaline dump that our bodies are naturally designed to provide at the moment of fight or flight, when the wild beast is bearing down on us.  Because we have repressed this man, and taken away all the hunting, and defending of the tribe, it's no wonder that man is so restless and crime so rampant.

I'd say you're cousin is fine.  While perhaps internally wrestling with finding his own "Truths",  he is at least on his search.  Instead of worry, I'd see how to support.

That video was great!

I knew a guy who did...

Walked away from a 15 year marriage, walked away from his corner office job as IT Director/Programmer for a major corp with hundreds of employees...and then we found him living in a rent house in Texas working in a user support call center. I guess he just snapped. He died shortly after that of a massive heart attack.

McCandless is probably not the model to follow.  He was a troubled young man and most likely was mildly mentally ill.  I'm not saying this because of his wanderlust, which is common.  I'm saying this based on the book and movie, and interviews of people who knew him.  He made a lot of poor decisions in the time frame covered by the book.  It did not end well.

My best friend met a girl online.  Walked away from a high paying Navy contracting job and a wife and two daughters and moved to Portland, OR.  Oh yeah, and a $3,000 debt he owed me. LOL

Can't say I blame him, though.  His wife was a royal cunt, I mean a real bitter, emasculating shrew.  She was always trying to fix me up with her friends because she "hated seeing a stallion without a saddle on it's back."

I regret not saddle bummin' with a couple of my buddies when we were young.

I stayed at my miserable welding because it was the responsible thing to do.

My two buddies took their saddles and some clothes and cowboyed for a couple of big ranches in South Texas.  I wanted to go so bad and still regret it to this day.

Zatoichi. He was blind the whole time.

That video was great!

I've met quite a few.

I drove an 18 wheeler back a couple decades ago. And I learned something, give me a hot meal, a shower, and a good nights sleep and I'm happy enough.

I can imagine some guy, no real debts, but no close friends or family ties and obligations, and he's working some job he doesn't really hate, but doesn't really like. So he gets out of bed, goes and does his job, comes home, microwaves himself some chicken strips, watches some crap he doesn't care about on TV, goes to sleep, and gets up to do it all again. Maybe you try to hang out with old high school friends or people from work, but they all have families. So maybe you hang out in a bar for a bit but you don't really like drinking, or drunks. I live like that except that I do have family obligations and people depending on me to maintain a house. And the truth is those obligations are what makes doing that same thing over and over again tolerable. Without that, what the hell are you really living for?

So, yea, I can see someone in that situation figuring that they have enough marketable skills to survive by doing odd jobs. So they just sell everything except the essentials and hit the road for a while.

Could do the cowboy way, pack up the horse and start riding.
Maybe I’ll go north today......maybe south tomorrow.....then east or west.......

I did a little bit of that in my 20s. Met some cool people, but at the end of the day it's hard to live that life and have nice things like night vision, land, and a family.

I highly recommend "Travels with Charley" by John Steinbeck.  It's a classic long-distance road trip book by a master storyteller.  TLDR; Steinbeck has a custom camper built for his pickup truck and he hits the road with his dog, Charley.  They are out to see America.  He has no set schedule and goes where the winds blows.  I really enjoyed that book.

There was an attorney who had a practice, doing okay.  One day he just disappeared and no one knew what happened.  One day someone found him working a blue collar job, mindless work.

He just got sick of the crap and walked.  He was an ethics example of how to lose your law license.  I viewed it as an example of not to hit burn out.

I've done it.  Nothing like the feeling of freedom at the start of an adventure like that.

Thinking about doing it again, maybe next year.  Have a lot of money saved up, but want a little more cushion.

Live free or die.

Isn’t this a Billy Joel song?

I've got waaaaay too much stuff. The camper on a big pickup would be my choice. Being a retired LEO and even covered by my creds- I can see getting rousted by some Barney in a small town and being charged with having an arsenal.

What a great post, enjoyed reading it.
Pretty sure he was heterosexual but, I assume you call many men fags that make you feel inadequate. Try and keep in mind that this thread isn't about you, it's about escaping the chains that shackle us living under the man's thumb and searching for freedom that most of us will never see in our lifetime.

I would love it but have a non working wife and little mouths to feed...

Damn!  Nice post

If he didn't ditch anyone who depended upon him then I don't see a problem. If he's not begging on street corners and just chooses to move around, good for him.

Maybe he'll get it out of his system while he's young so he won't have regrets later.

Yeah, yeah. There are a lot of people around this city that "gave it all up, and walked away". They are called Homeless Bums.

Not all those who wander are lost.

Came to post this.
Somewhere, there was a seriously evil woman, to make him do it.

"Fred says, as if he's surprised that most of them survived. Two or three of the fellas prit-near starved. One of them ate yotes to stay alive. A couple of 'em shot themselves.
It'd a hard life."
Someone talking about living off the grid in Alaskan wilderness.

Proenneke had a friend flying food and supplies in weekly. He was also what one might call a true frontiersman.

Go out into the Alaskan bush to "rough it" and 9 out of 10 times you won't make it back.
I'd give you bonus points if you grew up off the grid, and hunting and trapping like some of us did, but still, a lot of people romanticise it, when in fact it's hell a lot of times.

I did something similar to that in my early 20's. Took off in my K-5, lived out of it for awhile, working a bit and traveling. Had some good times and learned some valuable lessons.

People seem to romanticize the walkabout but having done it I can tell you that it's not exactly care-free. It sucks not having your own shower, your own bed, or less than $10 in your pocket. There is no escaping the realities of life and while I wouldn't change it I much prefer what I have now.

I seem to recall a similar old film where a guy forged an ax in the wild and then built his cabin with it,  or something along those lines

If the money thing didn't scare me I'd have done it long ago. I still constantly think about it.

I spent a couple of months driving around the country, often sleeping in the back of my car after my last deployment. It was about the best time of my life.

Life hack: get a gym membership that works in different locations.  40$ a month or less and you get a place for warm showers and a place to work out.

Buddy from HS  went to Warton  then Harvard Law, got a job in wall street and made a fortune.  Walked away, or sailed away, bought himself a 60' sailboat and took off.

Last I heard he created an LLC  and owns a marina in the Caribbean.  He's completely off grid, but friends report sightings all over the world.

Hit the road in my twenties and bought an island in northern Canada. Built a house, lived there for some years.
One summer I packed a canoe and paddled through the Yukon, into the Northwest Territories, and down to the Mackenzie Delta. Poled and lined the canoe up through the Richardson Mountains and paddled into Alaska.

Now I live on some nice land in the Bridger Teton in Wyoming. Built the house.
You can do this stuff if you have a mind to. Lots of work, but worth it.

If I was single I’d do it tomorrow! Sell everything I had but my truck, a few firearms, and hit the road.

He wasn’t wrong except for the whole starving to death thing.

Freedom is scary.

I am 51, been married 28 years and have 2 great kids.  But, if I was young and single and know what I know now, it sounds very appealing.

Friend of mine fo'd.

At one point he was in Ketchikan AK, another point Pittsburgh, best I can gather now is that he's in MT, but it's been probably 4 years or so since I've heard from him. He's cut off contact with pretty much everyone. At this point he probably has a bad drug habit, he was popping a lot of pain meds (opioids) before he fo'd.

I've been to all of the states in the southeast, most of the east coast, and the line from Florida to California (thanks to a PCS in the '80's where we drove to California to put the car on the ship to Hawai'i), so I'd hit the midwest and Pacific Northwest.  Would LOVE to have the time and money to travel around more of Alaska, taking the ferry up so I could keep my guns with me :-)

Not really. I’ve thought about doing it. If I had nothing keeping me here.

I would go to the northwest. I look good in plaid and suspenders.