Van Life

For years I've weighed the benefits of going mobile. Before I bought my house, I gave serious thought to going nomad, buying a used camper and taking to the open road.

Here is a list of why I did not and still would not:

• Cost. Used RVs and campers were almost as expensive as the modest home I live in now. Times were very different 10 years ago; the housing market was just starting to re-inflate thanks to the power of QE. I targeted a rural area with little going for it in my home search. Things just worked out. The owner needed to sell, etc. Men and women with useful skills can do a lot on their own, saving lots of money while following a time table that matches their situation. Costs today are worse because of the Trump/Biden inflation, the lockdowns, etc.
• Family. I had an elderly parent who needed help with things. My siblings and I were able to share the duties related to cleaning, cooking, errands, etc.
• Know-how decline. Around 1970, men stopped teaching their sons practical skills. Fixing things, basic carpentry and other life skills have to be acquired later in life by other means. It helps to have a lot of money saved and be unemployed. Then, you can fix up a van more reasonably while learning as you go. I spent decades learning stuff that can be hard and am looking at Replacement by the Sacred Other, either soon or in a couple of years. The U.S. is breaking down so fast it's hard to say. I am quite handy when I need to be and as a homeowner, I've built part of a deck, done plumbing and other things and enjoyed it. It's definitely not my forte and it takes me three times longer to get stuff done.
• Tools. This kind of goes with the previous, but unless you know someone (I don't) you will need tools to adjust your rig. Tools are fine if you work with them frequently, but a total waste of space and money if you don't. It's almost always cheaper and more efficient to pay someone else to do the work so long as they are experienced.
• Cost (again). People who take to the open roads run into entropy same as houses. The difference is that entropy on the road means homelessness. If your engine needs to be rebuilt, you will need a skilled mechanic and it will cost money. Lots of money even. Where will you live? One YouTuber talked about having to replace an engine for $17K at 75,000 miles. I had to replace my entire pickup truck at 76,000 because the local Ford dealer couldn't perform maintenance. Turns out after asking around that he was way understaffed and there was no light shining through the end of his tunnel. All of the dealers in the area were in a similar situation, the youth not being interested in fixing stuff, just sitting on Twitch all day and getting pennies from their fans. Having been vehicle-less for 5 weeks, I bought a new car. Regret it now. In general, used vehicles are expensive and winding up unemployed while in a van means homelessness. I was looking at 12 year old Hondas for $10K. Crazy.
• Grid down. Given the current geopolitical situation, it's easy to see a future where gas becomes limited or prohibitively expensive. The nomad life is built around the assumption of cheap, available fuel. The current plan is to retire the combustible engine by 2030 or 2035. Favored cars for van life include the Honda Element. It's been discontinued and there's nothing that has replaced it. Did you notice the FJ Cruiser by Toyota also disappeared from the market? The focus of car makers is on smaller, sportier SUVs, not vehicles capable of serving double duty as homes for transients. The push towards electric is going to mean smaller and smaller vehicles since EV technology is pathetic. Try to envision a future of EV nomads who freeze to death when their battery ices up in low temperatures. Imagine trying to find used parts for a Honda Element in a few more years.

There is a control grid being built as we speak and there's no interest or will to stop it. CBDCs, digital passports, climate zones, etc. are all ways to halt the movement of people in the name of saving the environment and preventing the spread of disease. Driving around in a camper out in the desert is probably not long for this world; the vagabonds who are out there now will eventually be rounded up into homeless camps, unless they have means or family to take them in.

Here's why I would pick van life if I lose my job this year: It's the only option and frankly, a better option. I used to have a lot more angst about my material well-being, but through practice and study of dhamma, I can see how transient all of this is anyway, not worth the mental suffering it brings. I'm clinging to a way of life that is just one among many. Much of what is happening in the West now is because people think that if they just keep their head down they will squeak by to some future they've planned out for themselves where there is comfort, security and... boredom. You know, like retirement.

Vagabonding is interesting because you can escape to scenic areas and enjoy them while the option is still there.

Homeownership is pretty dull for a single person. The housing market is built around single family homes when the single family is kind of a relic of the past. About half of adults are single now; the Millennials and Zoomers are too poor to have families and don't seem particularly interested in them anyway. NGOs are being handed generous amounts of money to replace the natives. This has led to a rentier economy where landlords reign supreme and their rents ensure that most of the young will never achieve ownership of property.

I admire a lot of the younger people who bailed on the empty promises of American life and went overseas to live and explore other cultures. Being a content creator is its own kind of hell, but lots of folks just do simple work remotely. Maybe they don't get paid big bucks, but they get more independence and exposure to life. Homeownership is life in a debt cage, waiting moment to moment for the next big expense to drop. It spins between the poles of boredom and anxiety.

This post sounds all black pilled and it's not intended as such. I'm sorely tempted somedays to pull the plug while I have a job and move out to the desert. If I was smart, I would do it since selling now would be much easier and I would have more savings to transition out of the normal capitalist economy which is on its last leg. Thousands have already been laid off in the IT sector and many more will follow in 2024.

Of course, people have been predicting the demise of capitalism for at least a century or more. There's a lot of ruin in a nation to quote one capitalist, but it strikes me that we've reached the end. There's a feeling that the West is offing itself and it's all been planned.

Still, there's no substitute for going simple on your terms when it suits you instead of waiting for it to be forced on you.