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Posted: 1/10/2019 9:53:54 AM EDT
[#1]
On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life There were plants and birds and rocks and things There was sand and hills and rings The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz And the sky with no clouds The heat was hot and the ground was dry But the air was full of sound I've been through the desert on a horse with no name It felt good to be out of the rain In the desert you can remember your name 'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain La, la After two days in the desert sun My skin began to turn red After three days in the desert fun I was looking at a river bed And the story it told of a river that flowed Made me sad to think it was dead You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name It felt good to be out of the rain In the desert you can remember your name 'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain La, la After nine days I let the horse run free 'Cause the desert had turned to sea There were plants and birds and rocks and things there was sand and hills and rings The ocean is a desert with it's life underground And a perfect disguise above Under the cities lies a heart made of ground But the humans will give no love You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name It felt good to be out of the rain In the desert you can remember your name 'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain La, la |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 9:55:45 AM EDT
[#2]
I lived that way for the first 15 years after I got out of the army.
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Posted: 1/10/2019 9:59:47 AM EDT
[#3]
I have enough money to be able to do it at a moment's notice. The only thing stopping me are a wife and kids that I love more than life itself.
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:00:31 AM EDT
[#4]
There’s a subculture or van dwelling that basically do the same thing. They have thousands of YouTube ideas of themselves.
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:03:03 AM EDT
[#5]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Did you ever ask him why he sold his house? |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:04:14 AM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Maybe he figured out the American Dream is a trap? |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:05:56 AM EDT
[#7]
Mental and/or drug problems.
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:09:48 AM EDT
[#8]
I did this most of my adult life. It's the thrill of adventure and risk. I was able to fit everything I owned, guns too, in my car. I'm settled down at the moment house hunting. However the thought of stuck for a bit paying a mortgage, and not being out in the wind is lingering. I'm a helicopter pilot by profession and not a dirty van living hippie
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:11:13 AM EDT
[#9]
I'm looking at taking a year off and just bumming around on a motorcycle. Today that looks mighty appealing.
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:12:08 AM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted: If I didn't have kids I would probably sell my shit and say "Screw this rat race" myself.  I think about it a lot. And the funny part is the last 10 years I have gotten myself from paycheck to paycheck to a pretty comfortable spot financially for once. I think about it a lot too. The "what could have been", not leaving my wife and kids. The rat race / commute / spending gets old. Was actually pricing out mountain land in Montana this week with 20+ acres where I could hunt elk, deer, and bear on my own land. The acreages cost less than a new truck. Build a $50k 2-room cabin on it, and live a simple life. My income is/has been high enough since I graduated college 10 years ago that if I had lived cheaply and stayed single, I could be retired on land in Montana by now probably, living comfortably off nothing but dividends for the rest of my life. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:13:18 AM EDT
[#11]
When you wake up one day and that beautiful little wife of yours has let herself physically go and is now fat, no longer cares about sex, and has become a nagging passive aggressive bitch; your once adorable kids that ran into your arms and called you daddy as toddlers are now little cell phone and video game addicted jerks that hate you and make your life miserable; and your career that once held so much promise has become a mundane go-nowhere thankless job that only saddles on stress and takes more and more from you but returns less and less you realize your life has become a prison. When this is your life it's no wonder so many men daydream of just grabbing their dog, hunting rifle, and truck and disappearing to Alaska or wherever remote to start over and live a simple life.
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:13:55 AM EDT
[#12]
Thought about moving back to Aus and just go walkabout.
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:25:00 AM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Yeah, yeah. There are a lot of people around this city that "gave it all up, and walked away". They are called Homeless Bums. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:34:56 AM EDT
[#14]
I think people realize over time that modern life is simply unsatisfying on the deepest levels.
I feel it everyday. The urge to live a simple life in the woods and spend my time and energy supporting me and my family directly with my own hands calls to me daily. I have a friend who has the urge to just sell it all and buy a sailboat. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:42:44 AM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
thats my retirement plan, sell the house buy a small RV and just wonder |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:42:59 AM EDT
[#16]
As has been alluded to up-thread, Christopher McCandless isn't a great example. Those versed in the outdoors and respectful of the challenge of that way of life understood that McCandless essentially committed suicide, such was his lack of preparation. Idealism and naivete born of comfy urban upbringing can be a dangerous combination; it is the same thinking that propels a young person to dangerous corners of the world in the belief that the environment and people will yield to their inherent superiority. You have to be a little bit full of yourself to think you can pull it off just by turning up.
I have a lot of respect to those that are skilled enough and brave enough to do it, but you need solid reasons. I've been in plenty of places myself, and if you run somewhere you'll find that you still take your problems with you; the environment won't change shit. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:45:49 AM EDT
[#17]
A friend of mine tried multiple career paths and tried to open his own business only to realize he was better off selling all his shit, buying a sailboat and moving to St Croix. He sailed out of southern California with his wife and dogs, made to Colombia, shipwrecked, and had to fly home.
Flew back down to St Croix, found a boat, and started a charter service that serves dinner to tourists and whatnot. I think he's pretty happy. Visiting my wife's family in Europe, I think our biggest problem as Americans is our lack of vacation. All my in laws get something to the tune of 7-8 weeks after a few years at the company and a minimum of 5 to start. It allows you to really enjoy life in something more than bite sized chunks. We spend our entire 2 weeks every year going to see her family and have nothing left to explore the US, it's a bit depressing to think it would take 20+ years at a company to even see 4-5 weeks. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:46:27 AM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Cajones means crates. You’re thinking of conejos. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Give him credit for cajones. A man can get a good ways on rabbits, but he’ll need some fat in his diet at some point. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:47:05 AM EDT
[#19]
Yu tu Phuney
Quote HistoryQuoted:
There was a Kung Fu master a bunch of years back who wandered from town to town. He did it to right wrongs. I don’t think he actually dropped out of sight though, because around the holidays he would still write Wongs. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:47:18 AM EDT
[#20]
some people can't even leave New York or California
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:47:52 AM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Chris McCandless wasn't wrong and he was just a college student. If you haven't read Into the Wild, do it now. Or at least watch the movie. Shame it ended the way it did for him. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:48:53 AM EDT
[#22]
I'm working on this now.
Married with a kid. Own a house where I don't want to live. Thinking about selling it and running |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:49:14 AM EDT
[#23]
If I didn't have any kids I would've done it too. Society sucks as a whole and I would've went west and turned into a hermit living in the mountains
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:49:39 AM EDT
[#24]
Buddy growing up did it. After graduating HS he just packed a bag and headed south, and south, and south. Lived in Central America in a tent for a while, then South America. Got on a boat and headed to Australia. Started working on a crew on a boat. Now he's a skilled crewmember that people hire to charter yachts.
Came from the most structured, straight-arrow family you could imagine. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:50:05 AM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I came damn close to pulling a Jeremiah Johnson once... |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:50:45 AM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Chris McCandless wasn't wrong and he was just a college student. If you haven't read Into the Wild, do it now. Or at least watch the movie. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:58:17 AM EDT
[#27]
Friends of mine sold everything they owned and moved to Thailand or Indonesia, or someplace like that. They taught English to kids while they explored the area. After that, the went to New Zealand for a while, then to Hawaii and are now settled down in North Carolina somewhere near Nashville. They are Hippyish type people and just wanted to wander around a bit.
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Posted: 1/10/2019 10:59:42 AM EDT
[#28]
I think it's not about running away from what is but more exploring what isn't.
"Grass is greener on the other side" Is often used incorrectly to describe ignorant decision making. Though often misguided, It's nothing more than natural human curiosity. Whether the people that dappear to find greener grass in detachment from modern society are enlighted or damaged is where I hit a wall. In theory, isolation or ignoring the rules of the game of existence, goes against the evolutionary molded mind. So wtf does that say about those who seem perfectly content when they do so? I know through my own personal exploration the further I can Isolate myself from the modern world the more at peace I feel. Does that mean that's where I need to be? Or, does it mean I've failed at finding my place in the modern world and thus need to work harder at fixing that? That I'm not miserable in my current life yet still find benefit in isolation further confounds my thinking. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:00:19 AM EDT
[#29]
Hundreds of thousands of men did that during The Depression.
My grandfather just up and left my Grandmother/Mom "looking for work" and never returned. 
About a year before he passed (Grandma had already passed) he contacts my Mom, the bastard had landed in CA and was living in Manhattan Beach. He had another family by then. Fucking POS never even filed for divorce from Grandma. 
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:04:24 AM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
A friend of mine tried multiple career paths and tried to open his own business only to realize he was better off selling all his shit, buying a sailboat and moving to St Croix. He sailed out of southern California with his wife and dogs, made to Colombia, shipwrecked, and had to fly home. Flew back down to St Croix, found a boat, and started a charter service that serves dinner to tourists and whatnot. I think he's pretty happy. Visiting my wife's family in Europe, I think our biggest problem as Americans is our lack of vacation. All my in laws get something to the tune of 7-8 weeks after a few years at the company and a minimum of 5 to start. It allows you to really enjoy life in something more than bite sized chunks. We spend our entire 2 weeks every year going to see her family and have nothing left to explore the US, it's a bit depressing to think it would take 20+ years at a company to even see 4-5 weeks. My wife and I were just lamenting that our one "big" vacation we take every year is really just flying back to California to visit my parents. That trip alone cost us easily over $4k just in airfare, hotel, and meals for a family of four for week, not to mention I'm having to burn 5+ days of PTO for the trip. Other little weekend vacations are often spent visiting her parents. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:06:46 AM EDT
[#31]
Quoted:
My cousin did. Wasn’t married and no kids. He quit his steady construction job, sold his house and left with little savings. Drove to New Jersey and then followed the coast down to Florida, living in his car. A year later he had turned up in Alaska working doing logging work. Last we heard he was in Montana but no one is sure where he is now. How does someone seemingly stable choose to become a homeless wanderer, and why? All who wander are not lost. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:08:00 AM EDT
[#32]
I did it twice.
The first time I was in my twenties, fresh out of the Army, living in a tiny town with my wife and daughter and her family (who all hated me). I was working my ass off trying to support them and just getting nowhere. I hated everything about my life except my family. So I sold everything I could, bought an old truck, and the three of us headed off into the sunset. We spent about 9 months traveling around Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah. Living out of the truck and a tent I bought. We went town to town, painting signs for the businesses and metal detecting. And in truth, given as how we had no bills, I was making as much doing that as I did when I was working. It was fun and exciting and stressful and all the rest. Sadly, because we started with nothing, and because I had a kid, it wasn't sustainable forever, but it was fun while it lasted. We all always wanted to do it again. So we did, about ten years ago. I am not going to go into what I do, but now (so far) I make plenty of money and I have my freedom. Life is good! |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:11:11 AM EDT
[#33]
Uncle did. Bought a boat and sailed away for 10 years. Toured SE Asia a bit then wound up living off the coast of New Zealand. That was 40 years ago, he stayed in NZ and has made a pretty awesome life for himself.
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:15:09 AM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryQuoted: So I was a homeless bum for about 15 years. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:22:00 AM EDT
[#35]
its just trading one set of problems and stresses for another in another place
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:22:10 AM EDT
[#36]
As sang by Chris LeDoux . . .
While I was out a ridin' The grave yard shift, midnight 'til dawn The moon was bright as a readin' light For a letter from an old friend back home And he asked me Why do you ride for your money and why do you rope for short pay You ain't a'gettin' nowhere And you're loosin' your share Boy, you must have gone crazy out there He said last night he run'd in to Jenny She's married and has a good life And boy you sure missed the track When you never come back She's the perfect professional's wife And she asked him Why does he ride for his money And tell me why does he rope for short pay He ain't a'gettin' nowhere And he's loosin' his share Well he must've gone crazy out there Ah but they've never seen the Northern Lights They ain't never seen a hawk on the wing They've never spent spring on the Great Divide And they've never heard ole' camp cookie sing Well I read up the last of my letter And tore off the stamp for black Jim And when Billy rode up to relieve me He just looked at my letter and grinned He said you know I wonder Why do they ride for their money Tell me why do they ride for short pay They ain't a'gettin' nowhere And they're loosin' their share Son, they all must be crazy out there They ain't never seen the Northern Lights They ain't never seen a hawk on the wing They've never spent spring on the Great Divide And they've never heard ole' camp cookie sing Songwriters: Michael E Burton Quote HistoryQuoted:
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....... |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:25:08 AM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
its just trading one set of problems and stresses for another in another place |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:25:45 AM EDT
[#38]
I knew of this Vietnam vet who was a wanderer. He just wanted to be left alone, he would often hitch hike from town to town.
He ran into a problem with a small town sheriff that picked him and drove him to the town limits to get rid of him. I could tell you the rest of the story but it's pretty long. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:26:43 AM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Rabbits? A man can get a good ways on rabbits, but he’ll need some fat in his diet at some point. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Give him credit for cajones. A man can get a good ways on rabbits, but he’ll need some fat in his diet at some point. 
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:30:50 AM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I think it's not about running away from what is but more exploring what isn't. "Grass is greener on the other side" Is often used incorrectly to describe ignorant decision making. Though often misguided, It's nothing more than natural human curiosity. Whether the people that dappear to find greener grass in detachment from modern society are enlighted or damaged is where I hit a wall. In theory isolation, or ignoring the rules of the game of existence, goes against the evolutionary molded mind. So wtf does that say about those who seem perfectly content when they do so? I know through my own personal exploration the further I can Isolate myself from the modern world the more at peace I feel. Does that mean that's where I need to be? Or, does it mean I've failed at finding my place in the modern world and thus need to work harder at fixing that? That I'm not miserable in my current life yet still find benefit in isolation further confounds my thinking. No phone, no texts, etc, and most will go crazy without human interaction. Or they're sick to begin with. Most people will get away for the weekend and think it's the bees knees, buy after a few months you'll be scratching yourself all over, while yelling and conversing with your "friends". |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:32:29 AM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I think...you might not get it...or I don't. That cushion you seek--you're going on a vacation, and nothing else. I sort of thought this thread was about guys not working for a cushion. Just saying fuck it. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:35:02 AM EDT
[#42]
This is my plan when the boy gets to college. I lucked out with a real estate deal in the crash and will sell the place for yuppie prices and gtfo to mountain west. The real world may push me to inland maine but somewhere remote and expansive.
The “get both” logic works, i work a job that isnt brutal money is ok, traded more for chance to see my kid grow up. Still go on scout trips and am planning out west family trips (location scouting) this year. Glad you are living the dream. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:35:58 AM EDT
[#43]
Is his name Jack Reacher?
I have thought of this many times. If I wasn't married with kids. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:37:17 AM EDT
[#44]
Our poor people have it better than kings once did, yet everyone is still so unhappy. The human condition is an odd one.
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:37:52 AM EDT
[#45]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
's just another word for nothing left to lose. - Janice Joplin Paladin |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:40:49 AM EDT
[#46]
My biological father did. After a couple of failed marriages, he hit the road to work construction. Drifting, drinking, staying in hotels. No permanent address. Died just a few years older than I am now, in a cheap hotel, of pneumonia.
Never got the impression that he was happy or felt free, from the few time I spoke with him. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:42:34 AM EDT
[#47]
An acquaintance of mine said that when he was younger, he and his roommate decided to take a trip for two months any where in the world.
They put a map on the wall, closed their eyes and threw a dart which landed in the Middle of the ocean. Closed their eyes and threw the dart again: the U.s. Virgin Islands. They packed a backpack, bought a one way flight and went there. They found a room to lease out and had the time of their lives. They ended up getting part time jobs and stayed two years. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:45:56 AM EDT
[#48]
Yeah, I've known a couple, actually.
One gal (yes a woman) who went up on a hilltop in LA, came back down, sold everything she had (successful nurse) and decided to wander the west coast. In a covered wagon. Horse drawn. Yes, really. (it had car wheels and tires on it, but still) She'd go between Sandpoint Id. and someplace in the bay area. Basically she mooched off of people but she was interesting and educational to be around. A guy I worked with, an East Indian dude, simply jumped a plane back to India. Abandoned his wife and three kids, never came back. Last I heard he'd wound up in Canada. Another guy I worked with had been an attorney. Fucking hated it. The minute he finished his student loans he fucking quit and when I met him we were working the sales floor in a Sam's club in Yuba City, Ca. I think a lot of times (not always) guys who abandon their lives, wives and families are suffering from Peter Pan Syndrome. I'm talking about the guy who goes out for a gallon of milk and never comes back, you know? I'm not talking about the young guy, no family, just going walkabout, that's a different story. There are always two ways to deal with your problems: face them or run away. If you're unhappy with your life, there are ways to change it without running away and joining the circus. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:46:59 AM EDT
[#49]
I don’t know, I think a lot of us kind of do this in our youth.
The military provides for that nomadic lifestyle but with a safety net and of course you go where they tell you. I’m not sure if it attracts the type or makes them though. My plan if I had stayed in until retirement would have been to buy and have paid for a decent sized sailboat by retirement time. Then live aboard the boat sailing from place to place and collecting my retirement check. I chose to get out though, got married, had 2 boys. I’ve told my wife when it comes time for me to retire I do not intend to stay in PA and she says she will come visit but to be honest I don’t really care if she doesn’t. My job sucks and the system I work in just keeps getting worse with no end in sight. If it weren’t for my boys, student debt that got me to this career and walking away from the income I would be gone. Probably not a month goes by I don’t think how awesome it would be to fake my own death and get away but my boys keep me here. I want to get away, live a simpler and happier life but yet here I am, trapped doing the same old shit every day waiting... For what I’m not exactly sure. |
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Posted: 1/10/2019 11:48:51 AM EDT
[#50]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Our poor people have it better than kings once did, yet everyone is still so unhappy. The human condition is an odd one. |
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