Ever known someone who just walked away?

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Posted: 1/9/2019 11:08:50 PM EDT

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?

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:09:58 PM EDT

[#1]

Freedom

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:10:30 PM EDT

[#2]

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?

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Each persons motive is different, my first thought though is it is a better option than getting fed up and eating your pistol I suppose.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:10:46 PM EDT

[#3]

Maybe he figured out the American Dream is a trap?

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:11:48 PM EDT

[#4]

I wasn't born at the time, but my uncle sold everything and drove off without any plans in his late twenties.

He eventually settled down around home and now has a little farm.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:12:03 PM EDT

[#5]

Give him credit for cajones.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:12:16 PM EDT

[#6]

Quote History

Quoted:
Freedom

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There is a point where people say fuck the mouse trap and leave

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:13:20 PM EDT

[#7]

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.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:13:35 PM EDT

[#8]

Quote History

Quoted:
Maybe he figured out the American Dream is a trap?

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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.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:14:14 PM EDT

[#9]

Did you ever ask him why he sold his house?

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:14:27 PM EDT

[#10]

Quote History

Quoted:
Maybe he figured out the American Dream is a trap?

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The IKEA Nesting Instinct

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYd2dHnJqyg

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:15:13 PM EDT

[#11]

My cousin was working for the power company for two years after high school.

Hated it and was tired of the small town.

Saved all of his money for the next year (lived with his dad) and went on a 6 mo trip to Europe.

Well... It turned into a 2 year trip around the world. He has seen places I could never dream of.

He would use up his money traveling to a new place and getting a hostel somewhere, then get a job and save up until he had enough to go to the next place.

He has a YouTube channel too where he documented his entire trip.

Just moved back a month or so ago.

He is already saving up for his next trip.

I've got to admit, it takes some serious balls to go out on your own with no backup plan. I'm proud of him.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:16:13 PM EDT

[#12]

Gee, why would anyone want to leave a life where you're stuck in a 9-to-5 routine pattern working for an asshole for the rest of your life?

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:17:41 PM EDT

[#13]

The same thought has crossed my mind. More than once

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:17:56 PM EDT

[#14]

OP, that is the daydream of damn near every man over 40.

I know I wish I had done something similar--at least for a little while.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:19:22 PM EDT

[#15]

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.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:19:37 PM EDT

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:
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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Yes. his name is Kwi-Chang-Kane.
He lives down the road from me now.
Sometimes he stops by for a glass of cool spring water.
Hoping I never run out.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:20:29 PM EDT

[#17]

Quote History

Quoted:
Freedom

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That's just another word for nothin' left to lose.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:20:47 PM EDT

[#18]

Quote History

Quoted:
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.

View Quote

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:22:02 PM EDT

[#19]

I came damn close to pulling a Jeremiah Johnson once...

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:22:03 PM EDT

[#20]

Quote History

Quoted:
Gee, why would anyone want to leave a life where you're stuck in a 9-to-5 routine pattern working for an asshole for the rest of your life?

https://i.imgur.com/VdW0b.gif

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Wait...? There's a 9-5 routine somewhere?? I couldn't have a 40 hour week if I took vacation. My standard hours are 8-5, which never happens.

I think about this shit all the time. The minute Wal-Mart moves to $15 an hour, I'm out. My mortgage is locked in bitches. I was seriously looking to see if I could make it on minimum wage. Hint, I couldn't.

If I could quit the hectics of all my current BS at work and go mindless drone for a few years, I would consider it a vacation. Eventually I would want more again, but damn it if I don't feel like checking into a rehab somewhere just to get away from shit.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:23:47 PM EDT

[#21]

I know of these things

ETA quit 80k/yr in the city @ 23yo to go be a ski bum, probably made 80k in the next 4 yrs combined

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:24:12 PM EDT

[#22]

Quote History

Quoted:
Freedom

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Fuckin A

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:24:23 PM EDT

[#23]

Quote History

Quoted:
Freedom

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's just another word for nothing left to lose. - Janice Joplin

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:24:24 PM EDT

[#24]

There's a story, and there's a woman in that story. LOL

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:24:38 PM EDT

[#25]

Quote History

Quoted:
OP, that is the daydream of damn near every man over 40.

I know I wish I had done something similar--at least for a little while.

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Well the age fits because he was about 43.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:25:41 PM EDT

[#26]

Quote History

Quoted:
Gee, why would anyone want to leave a life where you're stuck in a 9-to-5 routine pattern working for an asshole for the rest of your life?

https://i.imgur.com/VdW0b.gif

View Quote

That’s how I feel. The grind is killing me anymore. I’ve thought more and more of just selling everything and leaving. Given that I’m a hair away from telling my supervisor to get fucked that may end up happening.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:25:45 PM EDT

[#27]

Not all those who wander are lost.

My plan.....a truck and cab over camper or maybe a trailer and keep on driving.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:26:04 PM EDT

[#28]

Quote History

Quoted:
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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This.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:26:06 PM EDT

[#29]

There's thousands that do it every year heading out to La-La land to get a role in a hit TV show or movie ... and end up in porn movies and working restaurants instead.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:26:24 PM EDT

[#30]

Quote History

Quoted:
Give him credit for cajones.

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yeah, i mean everyone says they will, but he did.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:27:23 PM EDT

[#31]

thats my retirement plan, sell the house buy a small RV and just wonder

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:27:51 PM EDT

[#32]

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?

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FPNI. Sometimes I get so fed up with all the bull shit I just wanna say fuck it and do that very thing, I would if I could!

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:28:16 PM EDT

[#33]

Quote History

Quoted:
OP, that is the daydream of damn near every man over 40.

I know I wish I had done something similar--at least for a little while.

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I did it for two years in my mid-twenties.
There were certainly ups and downs.
And excitment, sometimes dangerous, and sometimes rewarding.
Every day your only as good as the way that you negotiate or think on your feet.
The women usually weren't real pretty but functional as hell..

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:28:43 PM EDT

[#34]

Quote History

Quoted:
yeah, i mean everyone says they will, but he did.

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Quoted:

Quoted:
Give him credit for cajones.

yeah, i mean everyone says they will, but he did.

You can "walk away" without living 1000 miles off the grid, eating poison berries.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:28:52 PM EDT

[#35]

Dick Proenneke in Alone in the Wilderness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:29:03 PM EDT

[#36]

Quote History

Quoted:
's just another word for nothing left to lose. - Janice Joplin

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Actually, it was written by Kris Kristofferson and sung by Roger Miller

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:29:13 PM EDT

[#37]

Yup, have 2 buddies that now live in vans. They’re the happiest sons of bitches I’ve ever seen. Both had high paying engineering jobs before walking away from everything.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:29:28 PM EDT

[#38]

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?

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I want to cant due to family.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:29:32 PM EDT

[#39]

Quote History

Quoted:
Not all those who wander are lost.

My plan.....a truck and cab over camper or maybe a trailer and keep on driving.

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Build your own from an old school bus. Or if you want to be a bit less obvious, you could use a cutaway van style box truck.

I am very close to building a van style travel truck. I do a lot of sleeping in vehicles when I travel all over the country for airshows and stuff. So, why not make something a bit more comfy?

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:29:33 PM EDT

[#40]

Quote History

Quoted:
Freedom

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As usual FPNI

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:29:45 PM EDT

[#41]

Quote History

Quoted:
Not all those who wander are lost.

My plan.....a truck and cab over camper or maybe a trailer and keep on driving.

View Quote

Where would you go first?

It always seems like people in the North head South, and those in the South head North. Anywhere but where they’re from.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:30:07 PM EDT

[#42]

Quote History

Quoted:
OP, that is the daydream of damn near every man over 40.

I know I wish I had done something similar--at least for a little while.

View Quote

The thing is, different isn’t always Better, most of the time it’s just Different. I’ve lived all over, every place has ‘rules’, whether it’s Detroit or San Franfreakshow-there are still rules and shit to swallow that you don’t like. I’ve been footloose, fancy free, and single for most of my whole life and didn’t settle down until my 40’s when I met a fantastic woman and lived with her for eight years. We got engaged and she threw it away for me not believing I’m god in the end, but I mean to tell you that having a stable life in a comfortable home with a partner beats being single and free to roam any day of the week.

I’m back to only having me to answer to with $70k worthy of equity in my house, and selling and walking away is the last thing on my mind right now.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:30:33 PM EDT

[#43]

Quote History

Quoted:
thats my retirement plan, sell the house buy a small RV and just wonder

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But are you going to wonder where you are going to wander to?

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:31:32 PM EDT

[#44]

Sort of my wifes cousin and her boyfriend just up and moved to Colorado to a cabin with no running water. He blows glass for a living. He also stands to get a substantial trust when he turns 35, like low 7 figures and I think he gets a stipend in the meantime

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:32:05 PM EDT

[#45]

Quote History

Quoted:
Build your own from an old school bus. Or if you want to be a bit less obvious, you could use a cutaway van style box truck.

I am very close to building a van style travel truck. I do a lot of sleeping in vehicles when I travel all over the country for airshows and stuff. So, why not make something a bit more comfy?

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Not all those who wander are lost.

My plan.....a truck and cab over camper or maybe a trailer and keep on driving.

Build your own from an old school bus. Or if you want to be a bit less obvious, you could use a cutaway van style box truck.

I am very close to building a van style travel truck. I do a lot of sleeping in vehicles when I travel all over the country for airshows and stuff. So, why not make something a bit more comfy?

I grew up with campers on trucks and have always liked them. You can drive it wherever and take it off and leave it at the campsite and drive the truck around.

Posted: 1/9/2019 11:32:37 PM EDT

[#46]

A guy I went to College with got a job working on movie sets in California. He did that for about ten years, then bought a sailboat, sold off everything he owned and since then has been sailing that boat all over the world. Last update I saw from him, he was somewhere in the caribbean, posting pictures of some lobsters he caught. Said he was going to go in to town and try to trade them for some beef.

Some days, I'm very jealous of him.