- A
- A
- A
Living in a Mini Van Life, with limited income, can lead to becoming the Walking Homeless, when our precious vehicles die.
Nomadland can take a toll.
Living in a Mini Van, a decade, with my King German Shepherd, is not always Fun or Easy as portrayed on Social Media, especially for the multitudes of old ladies, like me who are out here.
The Homes On Wheels Alliance (HOWA) estimates that out of 86,000 members, 1/3 are old women with little money.
Please watch the movie, Nomadland, or read the book. This movie helped seed the Homes On Wheels Alliance, an ethical, not for profit organization that SEE’s me.
Plus there is a wide spectrum of types of Nomads.
Part timers, full timers (MD & me), people who want to be out here, people are traveling about being tourists but staying in their vans in campgrounds, & those of us who have failed to climb back up the economic ladder.
The engine is dying in our beloved 26 year old Honda Odyssey Mini Van.
MD (My Dog) & I have lived full time, no motels, no friends couches, we don’t stay on private land, for a decade. Before our van, I was in a 1992 Chevy caprice hearse for 3 years.
We camp on public lands, moving every 7 to 10 days, obeying all rules, leaving no trace.
Please visit our Facebook Profile. We are verified, plus attempting to tell our decade long odyssey of living in a vehicle plus friends have given us loving, real life testimonies.
Our respect for public lands is infinite, a privilege which is sacred. Our camp site is minimal. This is not sticks & bricks living.
The immense irony is MD & I are safest in the remote wilderness vs towns or cities.
It’s was not an easy adjustment.
YET, we have maintained our independence, our sanity, our hope.
I am scared. I won’t last long walking without a vehicle for shelter.
Please contribute.
Options:
Replace engine plus we realize the transmission ought to be replaced at the same time & there r other systems like power steering, the windshield, drivers side sliding door that are broken.
Or, Carefully & deliberately find another van.
The primary consideration is that we don’t look homeless.
Homelessness is illegal on many levels. We have lived all these years with no insulation, sitting or standing up, plumbing, it’s a long list.
What I want & what I need are two vastly different universe.
Or, We r gifted a van. This is a serious long shot.
We are open to all suggestions.
No family (we do have three beloved cousins & a step sister we love enormously) no children, no husband or ex’s.
No hope of housing since I have been applying for housing in my county of residence since 2019.
I’ve always been independent, self supporting & after all these years in the wilderness, we do treasure our life , symphonies of silence, no people drama, along with our wild life neighbors. I am completely responsible for my own safety.
We don’t need to be saved yet we are asking for a hand up.
My retirement income is significantly less than $1,000 a month. Making payments is not an option.
Migrating, Spring & Fall, approximately 500 miles, a 2 month journey seeking temperate weather, always on public lands.
A decade of living outside 24/7. I’m healthy. A vehicle genuinely is our only housing option even before escalating rents & long, long waiting lists in public housing.
Too hot or too cold & we will perish. This migration is not about sight seeing or visiting friends, this is our life, living day in and day out, far from civilization, with no plumbing or a heater in winter, or in close proximity to groups of nomads.
Ironically, this is where we r safest, since I’m not street smart.
MD & I are blessed to have friends in “Nomadland” & friends who are housed who love us truly. This makes our life successful.
MD & I bushwhack, (walking off trails) a few miles daily. He has ALOT of energy !!!
Yes, Friends, I worked hard all my life as we all have. My mistake was investing in my own inventions from saving’s after a corporate career.
I’m not alcoholic, mentally ill or addicted to legal or illegal drugs.
We are economic refugees yet are fortunate on so many levels. Often homelessness is caused by not having a family, a support system.
MD & I are publicly begging. Publicly begging from friends, known & unknown. We have to then take the next step of asking our friends to ask their families & friends to help.
We have to have the courage to ask for help to secure our 26 year old van or another van to finish our lives in.
A vehicle is our home. I’ve experienced other options such as shelters & low income government housing & both have been terrifying. Dangerous on every level imaginable.
Our safest option is to continue looking like recreational campers living with bare essentials & respecting our opportunities to camp and not being a burden to anyone.
The van is still running, or was when we arrived 8 days ago, limping across Indian reservations to AZ, driving 50 mph with flashers activated.
I’ll post weekly updates.
Phone service is always hit or miss.
Again, symphonies of silence …. Plus daily physical chores & the gifts of downloading in libraries; movies, podcasts, music, newspapers.
No restaurants, no pay campgrounds, no friends we visit, our shelter is our mini van.
ALL gifts or suggestions are genuinely appreciated. A donated van, is a hearty tax deduction for a benevolent benefactor.
Dreams do come true !!
& I do admit I fantasize about winning Bob Wells Ambulance on the Homes On Wheels Alliance website. Now that is a mansion any old lady could finish her life in, contentedly, deep in the wilderness.
MD & I understand emphatically these are hard times economically for everyone.
Friendship & Hope are our greatest gifts in a long life.
Thank You !!!!
Organizer
