I've talked to you all about my divorce previously (15 years, wife decided she wanted to leave as soon as she graduated and got her degree after I supported her and worked multiple jobs).
She's officially moving out in two weeks. Then, my lease ends in just five weeks.
Landlord already told me they're going to be selling the home and also raising rent nearly 40% if I wanted to stay. Can't afford it. Have no where to go.
Going to transition to being a 'nomad', selling the remaining few things I own, and just bouncing from airbnb to airbnb along with camping. I figured this would be a good opportunity for me to get out, travel, visit national parks, kayak, camp, fish, see the US and get my mind off everything. It's not stable. But I can't find anything. Everywhere requires "3x income" or some ridiculous score that I don't have.
Anyway. Not sure why I'm posting this here. Guess I just wanted to share with you all since I never did give any updates from my previous posts about "what should I do?"
So, really, for me, the storm is here. And the "build back better" now makes so much sense in my personal life. Weird that now I now have to suddenly build my life back. I've completely lost my identity.
No clue where this road is going to take me. But it's either 'get busy living or get busy dying.'
Say a few prayers for me. God has been good to me recently and has gotten me into the 'acceptance' phase of all this.
Edit: By the way, if anyone wants to give me a follow over on X, I'll be documenting all of my journeys. Hoping to one day get some camera gear and a drone and film everything. Might make some personal podcasts and documenting my testimony. Maybe it'll help someone in the future. https://twitter.com/@thinktankfranks
Yep. A lot of the rest stops say no sleeping for more than 3 hours, though. (So no camping, unless you're a truck driver)
However, planet fitness offers a membership for $25/mo that's valid across the entire US. You get access to the showers, gym, massage chairs, etc. So that's pretty cool and convenient. (Not that I want to have to always shower in showers like this but ... is what it is)
Van life. You can work it out in a wagon too, just not as much room. Vans also blend in and have more privacy allowing you to stealth park in the city, make it look like a work van. Get magnetic sticker for the side for some fictious business. You can totally blend in. Walmarts and other businesses let you camp in their lots. Plenty of apps provide the detail. Vanlife can be a more affordable route due to housing savings.
pretty much what I'm doing. Can't afford to get a van but will be doing it in my SUV.
SUV can work as well. If you can get the rear windows tinted or do it yourself, that will make a big difference for privacy. Dont know the vehicle, but it your can put up a partition curtain behind the drivers seat to give you that "limo" effect, all the better. I am sure you've thought thru things. It will be a great venture, I would love to "rubber tramp" again. There are a few forums on plebbit as well as apps for parking camping. I am pushing the privacy bit more, if your stealth camping. If you're boondocking, do what you want.
I am also going to recommend something else that may or may not fit with you, when I was younger and I did run stealth camping, you can eat very well for free from the dumpsters. Stores dump all kinds of great food all the time. After your first couple of scores, you get over any issues. I ate really well and had a ton of shit to give to others.
Other suggestions, I use to work in the service industry. Most hotels (think big hotels) have an employee cafeteria where service staff and contractors can eat - cheap and good. If you're more scandalous, you can hit the free breakfast at most hotels (smaller ones) by walking in like you're legit and grabbing a plate. The same goes for the pool and gym, a lot of times you'll have to tail gate to get into the gyms, but sometimes you dont.
Wifi sounds like you have that covered, know that starbucks, mcdonalds and a lot of chains have free wifi. Learn about war driving and cantennas. If you stick to fueling at truck stops, you can get points towards showers. Some of the forums have folks that will share passes with you to get you a free shower too. Sorry your ex did you dirty. Living your best life and never looking back (that means dont contact her) will be your best. You'll grow from this and gain a ton of life experience. It sucks now, but you'll look back with good memories on how you dealt with it. If your west coast, slab city might be a great place to kick it for a bit.
Enjoy your adventure and keep us in the loop. Dashboard therapy from the ride will be your friend and the best thing for you.
Thank you. One major issue I'm having is if I remove the seats, the air bags will not deploy. I have a new ford explorer. So I have to work with a more limited area since the seats have to be down instead of removed. This is causing issues as I originally intended to take out the seats, build a platform, and store all of my things and clothes and stuff underneath the platform. Ran into this issue and now I can't do that. I was originally going to install a composting toilet in the back but, with limited space, I now can't do that. I tried to get things set up the other day with bed, power station, and some other things, and it's ridiculously tight. I think I might build a horizontal platform running from each side of the vehicle that's kind of 'lifted up' above the bed area. Then on that platform I could put my power station and free up some space for cabinets. Really difficult to try to plan all this by myself.
For wifi, I was either thinking starlink or this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YKB6VMN?psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_ct_B6NNV09AY1FGYVT1WCWQ
What do you think about that device? It'll of course only work in areas where there's cell reception.
Maybe both so that I have a backup? Starbucks is a good point, too.