For Travel’s Sake
How to Pick a Boondocking Site in Bad Weather and Stay Out of Trouble
IT HAD BEEN SPRINKLING ON AND OFF as I drove, and the forecast called for more serious rain during the night. The previous night’s rain had been light, but that was 200 miles away on the other side of a mountain range. There was no guessing whether tonight’s rain...
Feel Free
Bob Rebooted: Are We Homeless or Prisonless?
MANY CONVENTIONAL PEOPLE think of us nomads as "homeless" in the very negative sense of the word. In fact, to them, it is virtually a curse word and you can almost see the saying it with a sneer and look of contempt on their face. Technically, of course, they are 100%...
Test: Is Insulating a Cargo Van Worth It?
WHEN I DECIDED to ditch ordinary life and live in a van I read all the what-to-do and how-to-do-it articles and watched all the videos. Most of them said to insulate. It seemed like the prudent thing to do. One summer day decades ago I had ridden in an old car that...
Weekend Photo 40
The sea withdrew — November 2018 — Ecola State Park, Oregon
California Bans the Sale of Single-Use Propane Bottles
LIKE MANY NOMADS, I started vandwelling with a 20-pound propane tank to fuel my stove and heater. A few years later I realized I didn’t use all that much propane — about a half tank a year. I had also gotten rid of my heater and just used the stove (and mild winter...
The Wisdom of Charlie Brown
Automotive Weirdness Awaiting the Right Nomads
WE’VE ALL SEEN RIDICULOUSLY LONG LIMOUSINES. They’re at nearly every prom and wedding. But have you noticed that these carriages for make-believe royalty have only four doors: two of them in the front and two of them a block away at the far rear of the vehicle? That’s...
Away
Sunday Short: Cache and Carry
I KNOW MODERN NOMADS who carry large quantities of supplies with them. Enough to last months. Boxes, bins and bags of it, with a little space for themselves tucked in between. Or they haul a trailer of provisions. They are of the pack train school of thought.I can’t...
Weekend Photo 39
Hike in the creek — 24 May 2017 — Grandstaff Canyon Trail, Moab