Drifter

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Anyone one ever daydream about saying screw you to the modern way of life and becoming a drifter? Roaming through out North America riding the freight trains, working jobs just long enough to save money for food and cloths and then moving on, having a scruffy dog as a companion, and occasionally meeting a fellow drifter and getting drunk.

Danged nearly that. I have considered hitting the oad with a solar electric adult trike!

How funny... I had thought today of starting the same thread. Except that my daydream is living in the foresty foothills like a wolf girl.

Roaming through North America is one of my dreams.

If some things don't work out, I'm seriously considering leaving for some wilderness so I can be on my own with nobody around except wild animals.

Was a constant daydream I had in the past and sometimes now. I just call it being "homeless". But since I would not be totally insane or a drug/alcohol addicted I would hopefully live better than the typical homeless person.

Just yesturday I was thinking if I was homeless I would pick cans up to earn the small amount of money needed to buy flour ($1.14 for 5 pounds) and then work it with water on a card board box flaten on the ground. Into pasta dough then shape it and allow it to
dry in the sun and store and cook on a campfire on the edge of town somewhere.

Yeah. I used to assume that I'd end up this
way, pretty often. I can't seem to hold a
job anyhow, so it seemed inevitable. The
big problem for me, and why I never CHOSE
this lifestyle, is that I was terribly attached to
my material possessions, and to the space that
I needed in order to enjoy them. Now that I've
been away from those that were important to
me, it seems like a more viable option, especially
since work would probably preclude me from
enjoying them fully.

oh, wow, been there, done that, got the tee shirt and went on the tour with the band!

I have been a drifter most of my life. My folks finally institutionalized me when I was 17 and I couldn't stomach it there, so I virtually ESCAPED to roam North America. This was back when hitchhiking was a national pastime, so it was easier to move around. I had a rule, I could carry no more than I could carry running, so I had my knapsack, my bedroll and my fanny pack. I would put this all very neatly in a small pile and stand in front of the pile, like I was just going a mile or two, maybe to the grocery store ( being female* helped a lot, I can not stress this enough!) and catch rides going a couple thousand miles, or so. I remember not getting a ride for hours going one way, so I just walked to the other side of the road and caught a ride going the other way. When I got tired, I just asked them to let me out, and I slept down in the woods or weeds or ditch along the side of the road until I woke in the AM and climbed back up and continued hitch hiking.

I got used to being in truck stops, and learned to drink coffee with LOTS of sugar and cream in it - I never got to the point as others and made 'tomato soup' from hot water and ketchup, though, even though they had crackers on the table. I ate a lot of those crackers, though!
spare changing was easier then, too, because you didn't need a lot of change to say, get a slice of pizza in New York City, or pick up some spam or corned beef in a can so you could open it with your p38 out along the road. Some truckers* were downright fatherly, some wern't at all.

I knew some folks that rode the rails, but that was too rough of a life in the hobo camps*. I have made a couple of cardboard shanties, though. Living in city parks takes a lot of sneaking around and I found my neatness helped me to be able to scram quickly when the cops came. I was too paranoid to be a good shoplifter though, and was usually a look out for others. I did remember shoving a ham down my pants and thought I was going to DIE from frostbite of the belly before I could get it out of there. (hint, as cold as you don't think it is, the colder is actually is when you put it onto your core.)

some times I found people that had a house to stay with, and I would get a shower. You really don't want to go with out too many showers, or cleansing yourself in some way, because t he fungus and mildew can grow in your clothes and bedding and then no matter how many people pick you up on the road, after they get a whiff of what you got with you, they make excuses and you are looking for another ride pretty quickly.

I remember one time I got $5.00 for washing the out side of this lady's windows with a hose. I was in HEAVEN because, at that time, you could buy a bottle of RID (for head and body lice) AND wash and fluff dry at the Laundromat AND ( most importantly) get a quart of Green Death ( Rainer Ale) to keep you company in the bathroom of the laundry where you did your delousing in the sink. You may laugh, but that was one of the high points of my drifting life, as I prepared to gussy myself up and see what guys* were gonna buy me a drink that night!

I wanted to share with you the anthem of those on the road, an old song by Cat Stevens that really captures the joy of being 'Miles from Nowhere".

Miles from nowhere
I guess Ill take my time
Oh yeah, to reach there

Look up at the mountain
I have to climb
Oh yeah, to reach there.

Lord my body has been a good friend
But I wont need it when I reach the end

Miles from nowhere
Guess I'll take my time
Oh yeah, to reach there

I creep through the valleys
And I grope through the woods
cause I know when I find it my honey
Its gonna make me feel good

I love everything
So don't it make you feel sad
cause Ill drink to you, my baby
Ill think to that, Ill think to that.

Miles from nowhere
Not a soul in sight
Oh yeah, but its alright

I have my freedom
I can make my own rules
Oh yeah, the ones that I choose

Lord my body has been a good friend
But I wont need it when I reach the end

Miles from nowhere
Guess Ill take my time
Oh yeah, to reach there.

I've lived on Bureau of Land Management Lands, marginal lands in the river flood plains, building makeshift cabins or living in tents in various stages of decay. I have lived in tents down in the gullies of other people's land where they didn't mind if I didn't show myself around the main house area. I have been on the fringes of Green Peace and Earth First and other people that actually had houses and cars and jobs, but they were just playing at being homeless. . or a drifter, if you prefer. I even 'hitched' a ride to Hawaii and lived on the different islands for years and actually 'hitched' a ride back to the Seattle Area. I lived in a lot of 'cults*' and 'communes*' and slept in a lot of closets* and couches* and basements. Slept out on the beach and thought it was lovely during the day at night it was cold and there is NOTHING HARDER than sand to sleep on, I can attest to that!

I have no idea what hitchhiking would be like today, but I would think it might be difficult and they would whiz right on past, being a woman or not. There is a much deeper divide between rich and poor , dirt poor, destitute than there once was. I always said I wouldn't get a car until nobody would pick me up hitchhiking again and so, after I dealt with my alcoholism, I did get a car and years later a job and then years later I went to college and actually started holding down some jobs. . .

but a few months ago, my car was in the shop and I needed t o get to work and so I went down to the street and stuck out my thumb. . .got a ride with in minutes and the guy was so astonished an old lady was hitchhiking, he took me to the front door of my place of business.



good to know I still got it!


Merle

**all references to the really nasty parts of this (*rapes, *unlawful imprisonment, *beatings, *psychological terrorism) have been left out, cause I don't wanna bum out any one's daydream

two or three years ago i went to northern california mt shasta area and lived in the woods for a couple of months. i kept a journal but i cant find it, i gotta say it was a cool way of life the only thing that botherd me was not being able to listen to my cd player or take a bath. i think i showerd like every three weeks, oh man you dont even want to know. i stayed in a few rescue missions and thats when it hit me. "religion sucks" anyways what was so bad about it? well for starters there was no freaking privacy. wich means you had to shower with more people than you'd like. plus the rescue mission staff watching you undress and crap. yeah..

anyways if i ever retire from life im moving up to a small town called weed california.

All of the time.

Came close after my father passed away...had my stuff packed, my money saved and was ready to load up the truck and take off.

Met my husband (ex now)...truck needed a transmission...ended up staying. Should have fixed the truck and ran.

Will sit here and wonder "what if" probably for the rest of my life...or until my son gets older...you never know, still some things I want to see before I get old.

Merle...when you write that book (you really should)...put me down for a copy?

I've had thoughts of becoming a hermit (that's what I call them anywho) travelling all over the place in all.

YEAH!

...but I would also right wrongs and confront social injustice with my mad kung fu skills.

I imagine living on hoth/antarctica/northern homeland (Canada)

And being with my dogs, and few people.

I love the thought of doing that.....


But i have this ANNOYING attachment to my material things and can't bear the thought of not coming home to them every night....


How f****** tragic is that?

yeah now the thought of being homeless scares me, i cant be dirty like that ever again withought going insane.
i'll flip my lid son. it wont be pretty

I still drift. I did the hitchhike America thing when I was a teen. Then got hooked on horses and travelled with jobs with them. Then cowboyed (cowgirled, in my case) for 15 years. Got a degree and have been bouncing around with it for 10 years. I'm over 50. I don't feel like I have a home, or ties to anyplace. I feel very un-grounded. Heck, I feel lost! Married to a driftin' cowboy for 10 years. Dragged my three kids all over the west and mid-west. They hated it. I just don't know how, or where to stop. Moving again in four days. 1900+ miles.