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Asheville is a mess

October 3rd, 2024 at 05:41 am

I am sure everyone has heard of the devastation hurricane Helene has caused.  One such place is Asheville, NC, which I have been to several time before.  I saw the videos in horror of the eateries and businesses that I fondly remember visiting when I was there.  The level of damage is just insane.

I was affected by the hurricane as well, though nowhere near anything like that.  I think I lost power for like about 90 minutes, and that's it.

While I don't consider myself a prepper, I do like some of the philosophies and ideas they come up with.  I just dial it down to a much smaller scale, based on whatever realistic problems that I believe I may face.  For example, the longest power outage I have suffered living where I am is 3 days.  As such, I tend to have a week's worth of stockpile on hand at any given time.  If I expect trouble in advance, like with hurricane Helene, I may double that.

Preppers have a saying regarding stockpiles, "Food, Water, Power, Fuel, and Ammo".  Food, isn't too difficult, as it mostly consists of bulk buys of canned goods for me.

Water, however, is trickier.  They are relatively heavy and bulky, and are also a higher priority than food.  However, I find that typically a gallon worth of drinking water a day is enough for me to get by.   So, for just little old me, it's still not an insurmountable task.

Power isn't difficult either, once I got myself a quality power bank that can easily charge my cellphone for up to a week and more.

Ammo is controversial as it depends on each individual's personal philosophy on such things, as well as whether it is even legal to own firearms to begin with, based on where you live.  Suffice to say though, I stockpiled more than enough for my needs many years ago.  In other words, the cost is $0 as I don't plan on buying any more anytime soon.

I personally don't worry about alternate currencies like gold coins or gold bars because, realistically, whatever businesses remain functioning will still accept cash and even credit cards if their reader is still working.  If all else fails, literally the rest of the supplies can be used as barter.  In fact, they're actually more useful in barter than gold, since you can't eat, drink, shoot, or charge your phone with gold.

If I am being completely honest, I was slightly disappointed that my area wasn't hit harder by the hurricane, especially after all the extra preparation I made for it.  Of course, I still much prefer this than what happened to Asheville.

Also, I have to balance all this with being financially responsible.  It is extremely easy to go overboard, and I know people online who do just that.  I myself try to keep my costs at a minimum.

Finally, my view on um prepping is to remain flexible and open to suggestions.  It is likely to evolve some more as time goes by, especially if I find more affordable options out there.  For example, I know there are bulk dried foods and MREs that I have yet to try.  Experimenting with them does open myself up to additional upfront costs, so I haven't gotten around to any of that just yet.

Vacation photos anyone?

September 28th, 2024 at 07:58 pm

I was not born in America, but have lived here for nearly all of my life.  I have always figured I would travel back to my native country some day, you know, just to visit my birth place, and see if I should even expat there some day due to the much lower cost of living.

Unsurprisingly, between work, marriage, divorce, kids, and the overall cost of traveling internationally, I just never really gotten around to it.

However, because I currently can't legally drive, and am between jobs, it kind of opened up a rare window of opportunity to actually travel.  This is the first time I was able to do so in 30 years, and chances are good, it would also be my last.

Needless to say, I took lots of photos.  Shocking even myself, more than 5000 of them if you can believe that!  But you know, it's better to take too many than too little I think, and don't worry, I'm not going to post all of them haha.  That would be so insane.

Bonus question: Is it my imagination, or is the SA blogs really slow?  If so, has it been like this for a while, or is this something new?  And what's causing it?


 

Mandatory Staycation

September 22nd, 2024 at 04:35 am

I’ve been debating if I even want to share this.  It’s kind of annoying and kind of embarrassing.  However, with ample spare time right now, I guess it has put me more in the mood to gripe about my life.  It’s also kind of a long story, but I will do my best to try to keep it short.

This tragic tale of misadventure started all the way back in early 2020, when I got into a car accident.  At the time, I was working out, taking a quick nap, then working out some more at a martial arts school, then quick shower and meal, then rushing into work.

Now, I am not a fitness buff.  My cave brain just somehow thought I could replicate the same type of workout schedule that I followed when I was in my 20’s.  It also did not help that my work was short-staffed, and as an essential employee who often had to stay over, especially after Covid shutdown, I was often times staying over for 12 hours or more.  What all this added up to was a very tired guy who dozed off quite a bit as he drove home.

Now, like any other smooth-brained men out there, I was also no stranger to driving home tired.  So, it did not occur to me that this was a problem at the time.  All I had to do was to get home in one piece, take a quick shower, and I can head right to bed.  At least, I thought that until one day, I accidentally dozed off one too many times and ended up slamming into a neighbor’s parked car.

The good news is nobody was hurt except for bumping my head I guess.  In fact, I was the only one there at the accident.  While the vehicle wasn’t totaled either, the insurance company decided to write it off completely, because I was driving a Prius at the time.  It turns out that hybrid engines are actually quite expensive to repair and require specialists.  And with the looming Covid shutdown, they decided the easiest thing to do was just write both vehicles off.  Ok.

That same year, DMV caught wind of it, and decided that I needed to submit a full medical report to make sure I wasn’t on drugs or was intoxicated.  They must have read the report stating that both vehicles were totaled, so it must have been severe.  Hence the likely over-reaction.  No problem though.  Except for caffeine, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do anything interesting as far as I know.  For heaven sake, I drove a Prius.

Unfortunately, while the medical check-up came up empty on those fronts, it did also reveal that I went from pre-diabetic to full-blown type 2 diabetic.  While this was news to me, DMV decided that that must be the cause of the car accident, and from then on, it turned into an entire rigamarole where I had to constantly submit medical reports to make sure I was still somehow fit to drive.

A quick tangent if you will.  Apparently diabetes come in two forms, hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic.  The former is the one that would cause one to faint behind the wheel, with the blood sugar being too low.  However, I am and have always been the latter. It’s still not a good thing, but the point here is, sheer male stupidity aside, my form of diabetes would not cause me to faint behind the wheel.

Fast forward some more to 2023, it all went well for a while, and I even had my diabetes under control.  Unfortunately, when both of my medication and medical check-ups lapsed when I changed insurance and doctors, that’s when my real nightmare with doctors and the DMV started to really flare up.  I had to find a new doctor that would take my new insurance, which would then take months to set up an appointment.  My diabetes also went out of control during this time.  So, this new doctor told me to set up appointments with four other new doctors for a full medical checkup, and each of them required separate appoints that also took months to setup.  It was insane!

Through this ordeal, my driver's license had finally lapsed, and I was no longer able to legally drive.  However, I did finally find a doctor that understood the difference between hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic, and that it would not cause me to faint while driving.  In fact, he was the one who voluntarily told me that, without me asking about it, and gladly signed me off to be able to drive again.

Alas, the DMV remains unconvinced.  They sent back a reply stating they want that doctor and I to participate in some kind of “hearing” whatever that means, to prove my fitness to drive.  After filling out said hearing request, the DMV has been silent for nearly a month now, with no hint whatsoever as to when or even IF they will ever get back to me, and if so, in what ways.

Until then, I am mostly stuck at home.  While I am a bit of a homebody to begin with, the walls can still feel like it will close in on me sometimes, in what feels like another round of personal Covid lockdown. Now that the weather is starting to cool, I will try to go out and jog or something, but other than that, it’s just an uncomfortable feeling being stuck at home the whole time.

So that's where I am right now, and why I suddenly have so much time on my hands.  However, I would like to end this on a more upbeat note, and it would be the fact that, because I have been SOMEWHAT financially responsible, I do kind of have enough passive income to float on by without having to actively work due to my current inability to drive.

I’ve often fantasized about retiring early.  I just never thought I would be forced into trying it out right now through this mandatory staycation.

Gender Unquality

September 19th, 2024 at 08:48 am

Stumbled across this tweet.  The scary part is I don't think this is uncommon.  In fact, I think the vast majority of Americans are in the same boat.

When I thought about what her options are, I immediately thought, "She needs to find a rich, gullible man."  which as a guy, I hate having thought that.  Most men don't have that kind of luxury and have to work for our own money.  To be fair, I imagine most women would prefer having their own money as well.

In desperate times though, and with limited options, what do you think?  Should she try to find and marry a rich, gullible guy?

A lot of scams out there

September 9th, 2024 at 10:26 am

My dad ran into a scam on his computer, where it showed an ad that said his computer has been infected by malware, and to immediately contact Windows tech support to get it removed.  The ad was even blaring a loud alarm audio, and included a phone number to call for said "tech support".

My parents are not exactly computer-savvy, so they immediately called me to come take a look at it, and I told them that it was a scam, and showed them how to restore the computer.

The scary part is, my dad actually called the phone number.  Luckily, he was confused and hung up before he handed over any bank or credit card information, and instead opted for me to arrive and fix it for him.

In April earlier this year, there was a massive data breach with some criminal background data base company, and nearly 3 BILLION records, including social security numbers were leaked over the darknet.  If you are American, chances are good you might have already been compromised.

Quick and dirty solution: Keep a hawk eye on your credit history.  Ask the credit scoring companies to "freeze" your account to prevent anyone, including yourself, from opening any new loans or credit cards.  Lock or freeze any credit cards that you don't use.

But yeah, please be careful out there.  My dad dodged a bullet.

BJ's. Not what you think... or is it?

September 8th, 2024 at 02:22 am

Ok, I just want to gripe real quick about the membership wholesale warehouse retail box store place thingie that is BJ's.

Whenever I go there, which isn't frequent, but when I do, it always shows at the check-out that my membership expires on the end of September.

However, the linked membership card / credit card shows that the annual renewal fee is at the beginning of September.

Wait, let me make sure I have this straight: The membership renewal portion is due on the end of September.   The annual fee portion for the credit card is due on the beginning of September.  I think.

The whole thing is just confusing enough that I even had to re-type some of the sentences above.  And that's what I find annoying here.  I just don't go to BJ's enough to have to worry about all this.  I'm going to cancel soon, even though it costed me $55 in renewal fee... but is that for the credit card, the warehouse membership, or both???

Got a friend who is going through hard times

September 7th, 2024 at 09:31 am

I haven't been around due to personal life reasons... well, if I am being completely honest, it's mostly because I am lazy haha.  However, SavingAdvice has always been my online financial home if you will, and now that my personal life has changed some more, I seem to have a bit more free time to "come home" more often so to speak.  I hope everyone who is still here is doing well.

Also, I'd like to pick the community's mind with a question: I have a friend who is going through divorce right now, and his ex-wife is fighting him every step of the way.  To defend himself, he has already paid more than $20k USD in legal fees, using bank and personal loans.  Not only that, but he owes them an additional $5k more, and he doesn't know where to raise that money from!  Is this how much divorce lawyers cost these days?  It's utterly insane!

In a desperate move, he has hit up anyone he knows, including me, explaining his predicament and wondering if there is anyone who can help him financially.  He is a good man, but like most people I know around me, financial savvy is not one of their personal strengths....

Now, in real life, nobody knows that I am a millionaire.  Actually, I'm not even sure if my parents know.  If I am being completely honest, I am scared to tell anyone.  I've struggled for so long, saving and investing, just to make it to this point.  Also, it's like a Pandora's box, you know?  Once it's open, you can't close that thing again.  Besides, it's not like being barely a millionaire counts for all that much these days.

Still, technically, I COULD help my friend here, BUT I also have a hard and fast rule, which is that I never donate or gift money to anyone who solicits me.  To be clear, I DO donate to charity, but ONLY anonymously, and ONLY to people who is not soliciting me.  Last time was earlier this year, where I donated to someone who has advanced stage pancreatic cancer, but she still has young kids to raise.  They don't know who I am, and they never will.

Plus, $5k would still be a massive dent to my emergency fund, AND there is no telling how much more his lawyers would charge up if they think my friend can somehow raise even more money.

My question though, is should I give him any money at all, and if so, how much?  Am I being a jerk here for not helping him more?  I've helped pay for little things here and there, but nothing really substantial so far.  What do you think?

Crock-a-thon

September 10th, 2022 at 11:01 am

In a move that surprises even myself, I am on... day 4 (?) of basically eating out of my crockpot.  It all started out when I had a craving for some crockpot soup.  Some days, I just crave some good slow cooked mushrooms (when on sale), onions, and savoy cabbage in french onion soup.  I don't know why I love Savoy cabbage but not the regular, cheaper kind of cabbage, but it's so worth the extra cost to me.

Anyway, I had leftovers for the next day, so I got some chicken thighs and heated that up some more.  Then day 3 and then day 4, got more mushrooms, onions, and savoy cabbage along the way.  Wow, I don't think I've ever just eaten basically the same soup for this long.  I just kept buying some ingredients I feel like dropping in and heating it up along with the leftovers.

I have to say, I also feel a bit smug.  You see, I managed to burn my soup from last week that I cooked in a regular pot.  Who knew that you can burn soup if you leave the heat on max?  Oh, you did?  Uh, news to me.  Had to use a metal scrubber just to get the burnt, crusted stains out.

Luckily, a crockpot is so idiot proof even this idiot can use it without burning the place down.

Oh yeah, and I am also saving money this way as well.  My food cost has gotten so ridiculous over this inflation, I need to get it down more.

Restoration is bittersweet

April 28th, 2018 at 06:06 pm

I finally got around to restoring my car, so I can take it in for this year's state inspection without getting weird looks from anyone. Naturally, I can't help but feel a bit saddened that this camper project didn't take off.

Still, perhaps it was for the best. Living like that full time would have been rough, and deep down, I knew that. I did become a bit more car savvy along the way, so I guess it was at least a good learning experience if nothing else.

Also, a lot of the gear and tools are still there, and having them has made me very well-prepared in case of any road side emergencies.

Still though, I can not help but ruminate on what possibilities are lost, what pitfalls I may have avoided, and what will happen next in my life. It's weird. Time marches on, but you just never know what happens next.

Complimentary email

March 11th, 2018 at 02:55 pm

I just got this nice email.



Also, my first entry using strictly just my phone. Kind of a pain, but cool that it works.

Some other things never change either

March 2nd, 2018 at 10:44 pm

So I decided to take a picture of my dinner because I figure you guys might get a chuckle out of it.



The crazy part about all this was that I KNEW to check the meat for absorbent pads. I even TOLD myself, "Self, be sure to check the bottom of the meat for absorbent pads." I guess I must have been really tired for not one but TWO pads to slip by me entirely.

The bad part was that one of the pads actually ripped open, and I had to make sure I scoop out as much of that gunk out as possible. Bleh.

Some bad things never change

December 29th, 2017 at 09:02 am

This isn't exactly financially-related, but now that YouTube has basic chatting, I just saw a conversation where a guy is pretending to be gay, and therefore he can be "trusted", try to solicit texts of sexual acts (or sexts for short) from this underage girl on there. I've already reported him, and left her a message to warn her of these kinds of danger out there.

Ah, well, since I am here, there is something free I could mention. YouTube also stream different types of music style on there for free. You'll have to google it, but

Text is here is one such example and Link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ccaHpy5Ewo
here is one such example. When I am on the computer, I will often times open a tab of music to run in the background. Why not use an actual music service? I don't know. I kind of jump back and forth really. Either way, it's free so feel free to give that a try.

Oh, and here's a bonus of sorts.
Text is I just discovered this guy who I think is just incredible and Link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5H7kQQqURQ
I just discovered this guy who I think is just incredible.

Year end net worths

December 21st, 2017 at 11:39 pm

Hmm, so 2017 has not been a good year for me financially. Things have barely been kept afloat, and honestly, I have no one but myself to blame. And... I really don't have much beyond that to say about that other than that I hope 2018 will get better....

In related news, I just got done helping my mom with some of her taxes. I don't know what their net worth is, but I am beginning to think they don't either. I was looking through some of their assets, and then I started adding them up, and then said to my mom, "Uh, did you know you have probably $1.5 million in assets here?" And her response was like, "Oh, really?" Ok then. That and who knows whatever else they have squirreled away, but you definitely couldn't tell that if you looked at them. Wearing used clothes bought from Goodwill, and eating only leftovers half the time. I guess she doesn't think of it in those terms, but just want to be financially secure and happy. Classic sleeper millionaires.

Hong Kong's Coffin Homes

December 14th, 2017 at 01:53 am

Text is Ran across an interesting picture set a little while back and Link is https://imgur.com/gallery/Tqhhv
Ran across an interesting picture set a little while back.

When I saw that, I felt incredibly fortunate about where and how I am living right now. It's really been an incredible blessing.

However... is it wrong that another part of me is thinking, "HMMM... I wonder if I can build something like that?" Hahahaha.

I mean don't get me wrong. I don't want to live in tiny run-down boxes, but it's clear that I don't have problems with small living spaces. In fact, to me, they're more like cozy and efficient.... Plus, small spaces don't have to look run down. Look at this nice airplane seat.



There's something appealing to me about the idea of being able to DIY my own dwelling.

I know. I am crazy. Crazy like a fox!

Camper failure

November 12th, 2017 at 01:20 pm

After all the work and the money spent, I hate to admit this, but my idea for living in my car has failed.

I am simply enjoying too much the convenience of having a private toilet and shower I can use anytime I want. Going mobile, this aspect has been just too difficult for me to try to accommodate, especially with how cold the weather has gotten lately.

But again, the vehicle still works perfectly fine as any other commuter car, and it still works supremely well as a short term, temporary camper whenever I am on the road. Way better option than paying for any roach motels, thanks. In fact, it is so super convenient that way, I've decided to just leave everything as is.

But as a permanent living arrangement... sadly that will not work for me. Sad because if it could work, that would have saved me so much money, it wouldn't even be funny.

This also has other implications, because it also made me realize that tiny houses would not work for me either... or rather, it would if I could get plumbing done for water and sewer like a conventional stick house. Unfortunately, when you do that, it no longer qualifies as a "camper" and is then subject to city building codes, which would make them illegal dwellings.

Long story short, I need to stay put for now, living in the house I am currently in, and try to figure out what my next move should be, if any.

To be honest, I am not sure what to do next, or at least what I want to do next. I suppose I will wait and see how things pan out, but for right now, I am going to go into sort of a financial hibernation mode, and bleed as little money as possible.

I am thinking about going to Virginia

August 15th, 2017 at 01:37 am

I know I haven't been on for a little while, but I have a question for you guys.

In light of the protests and even riots going on in Charlottsville, Virginia, I am seriously considering joining the protesters (against the white supremacists).

For what it's worth, this can be done very cheaply as I live fairly close to that location, so the drive, especially in my camper car, would be very low cost.

Anyways, please feel free to let me know what you think of it.

First revision

June 20th, 2017 at 05:18 am

My house-car is a work in progress, so it was inevitable that revisions or improvements would eventually come along.

First, I noticed that as much as I like the aesthetic touch of the flowers, they keep dropping these plastic pellets and petals, especially when I roll down the window and air blasts on them. This has lead to a lot more effort in brushing my bed than necessary. Also, the metal clips that holds them on the roof has scratched my head at least twice. Sadly, they must come down. The Christmas lights too then, since I realized that I barely use them.

A second revision I am making is that I am taking out my water tank, because as it turns out, that's way more water than I actually need. Yes, I did start out with some kind of long term survival in mind, but in practice, I am overflowing with clothes that need to be there and no place to put them, and a large water jug that is way overkill while taking up a precious large amount of space. Put these two together, and I am basically going to replace the water jug with my clothes instead.

Final revision is how I cover the back of my window, which is basically a couple of these neat pants hangars, strapped upside down. I know that sounds weird, but they work remarkably well, and can be done from the inside (or outside) and bonus is that it helps to hang a semi-wet towel, which is what I have holding up and blocking the screen. Bonus is that it conceals even better than the original screen.

My house-car is coming along quite nicely. It actually works well for what I am getting, but yeah, not going to lie, I do dream of having more space, but then, the air conditioning would not work well if that was the case.

Finally, it's been a week and I am still coughing. This is insane. However, it has steadily improved with each passing day so I am hopeful that I'll be back to "normal" in another couple of days or so.

Coughing by the Sea

June 13th, 2017 at 11:29 am

I had a fun time with the guys. We proved very adept at staying boring and low-key indeed haha, but we did eat some really nice seafood. Wow. So this is what being spendy tastes like.

However, I woke up by 4am on Friday, with my throat burning and coughing non-stop. One of the guys is a smoker, and I think whatever he was smoking really set off what seems like an acute case of Bronchitis that I am still suffering as I type this. I woke up again at 4am last night from the coughing and the non-stop phlegm. Yay.

The condition plagued my entire weekend. It was so bad that I actually spend most of the nights in my own car, and slept better in there than in the hotel room. The upside is that it is slowly but surely improving.

Here are some funny stuff I snapped while I was there:







There it goes again! Why are these thumbnails sideways and upside down? Are you guys seeing this too? At least clicking them seems to show in the proper orientation.

Finally, here's a poor attempt from me trying to capture

Text is some dolphins that were near the shores and Link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFS_eT0ZEqk
some dolphins that were near the shores.

Anyways, just got back home last night and Dr. internet says I need to take it easy so I will do that for now.

Touching the ocean

June 8th, 2017 at 05:13 pm

Yesterday, I arrived at my intended destination... about 2 days early. So, having some time, I figure I might as well check off one thing that's been on my bucket list, which is to touch the ocean.

Yeah, it sounds like a simple one, but I have never actually gone out into the edge of land before, and looked out into the infinite Atlantic... and just touch it.

However, achieving this turned out to be easier said than done. Mostly, it had to do with the atrocious lack of parking (without paying some crazy fee). Finally, I saw a place that I might be able to get away with it for free-ish.

Text is Anyways, here it is, in video even! and Link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvKq9ClUk4Y
Anyways, here it is, in video even!

I have to say, the beach is far bigger than I imagined. Also, I accidentally got my shoes drenched by the ocean. Luckily, as you guys know, I am used to wet shoes by now, and I was already prepared with a second pair to wear.

No lifeline weekend

June 5th, 2017 at 01:42 pm

A buddy of mine from way back is getting married, and we are all meeting up this weekend for his "bachelor party". It's in quotes because basically we're all a bunch of low key, boring guys. We are not going to bars, strip clubs, or even casinos (which there will be some nearby). We are just going to hang out, catch up, and maybe eat some nice dinner somewhere.

The only catch if you can call it that is that it's very far away for me. Roughly an 8 hour drive. That also means that I can't cheat by coming home for any reason... which I confess I have been doing. Well, sometimes, I forget my vitamins, or forget my can opener, or just want to use the bathroom in peace. No, this weekend, I will truly have to live "out there"....

Uh, ok even then, they have booked a hotel room, and wow is that place expensive. Seriously, it's double what I would have paid, but it is right in front of the ocean. However, I am not the one getting married here, so I'm just going to bite the bullet on this one.

Having been preparing and practicing to live in my car all this time, I must say I feel supremely prepared for this weekend road trip. It feels great to have something you do be useful in a situation like this. In fact, it's overkill.

I'm also going to take my time getting there and explore my surrounding. Why drive for 8 hours straight when you don't have to, right? There are plenty of rest areas along the way, and hopefully, they're even nicer than the ones I've seen so far.

Practice

May 28th, 2017 at 09:26 pm

Wow, the parks sure are busy. Memorials Day weekend and all that I guess. I'm typing here at the park that's fairly packed



Edit: Wow, how did this picture end up upside down? It's hilarious though so I'm just going to leave it.

Just wanted to chime in that I am still here and still working on transitioning to my new lifestyle. I am at a point where things are starting to become routine. The novelty has worn off, and now it's just a matter of learning as I go with what I should be doing each step of the way.

I guess something like this need practice too.

The mind of a dweller

May 23rd, 2017 at 07:17 am

Hey gang. Hope you'll pardon me if I haven't updated recently. Thing is, I caught some kind of bug or something, and have been coughing quite a bit lately. All I know is that the car's air conditioner makes the cough worse, so I've been spend the last couple of nights sleeping at home.

I am still living mostly out of my car though, if nothing else because I am getting used to it.
Everything I need or mostly want is packed into the car already. It is super convenient to basically have everything with me wherever I go, and know where to find it.

I am still experimenting with various sites around town to see how well it works for me throughout the day and night. For example, for some reason I have never visited the biggest park in the city before, so I decided to make that a priority. Here's a quick picture I snapped of it.



I tell you, it was somehow prettier in person than what the picture is showing. There is a very calming quality about being surrounded by all these trees and green leaves....

Unfortunately, I am also getting a greater exposure to the weather and insects, and that's not always pleasant. With my cough and a large bug bite on my neck that still hasn't fully healed, it's tempting to just keep living in a house.

However, this exposure is to be expected. I am still determined to make this lifestyle transition, or at least give it my very best shot. Why? Well, if nothing else, I guess you could say that I can be a rather stubborn person when I want to be.

There's a fine line between determination and stubbornness though, and I think where that line lies depends on how one answers the question, "Does the benefit of continuing this path still out-weigh the cost?" For now, it still does.

Taking this line of thought a step further, I have often wondered exactly how other vandwellers do it. How do they cope when they struggling?

Naturally, I suspect many of them love traveling to begin with. However, many that do it only out of wanderlust don't always do it full time. They travel as much as they can, but ultimately, these are seasonal part-timers.

Some are perhaps like me; just pig headed enough to try to make it work and maybe they managed to surmount the teething process.

However, I think the majority of people that ultimately end up being a full-time lifers... I think they live this way because they have no choice. Like, for whatever reason, it's simply not a choice that is available to them, or at least it's not a choice in their minds.

If you look at a lot of their interviews and videos, you'll see that many didn't start out this lifestyle by choice. Some will come straight out and say that too. Life dealt them a harsh hand somehow, and they ended up in their car or van simply because they had nowhere else to go.

To be fair, many will tell you that they actually prefer this lifestyle, but even so, I can say with certainty that this is not an easy lifestyle to transition to. Doubly so if you are not doing this by choice.

The reason why I am pointing this out is because I've raised this question to them before. I've asked the full time community just why they continue to do this, and how do they cope. I asked that because I was intrigued by their mindset, and I also wanted to glean wisdom that may help me cope with my own transition as well.

Unfortunately, I find that while some were quite polite and answered thoughtfully, by and large, they were also very defensive about their lifestyle. It was as though I had stepped into something unpleasant that they would prefer that I do not question.

They didn't say this, but after some rumination, I suspect that they probably think I am a lucky fool haha. You know, because I am doing this by choice, and have a safety net to fall back on, I therefore could never fully understand the depth of hardship that they've had to endure. To be perfectly fair, they are probably right. I am, in many ways, a lucky man.

It's not that they don't include me. Quite the opposite in fact, but I think when you dig deep down, this is the mind of a true dweller. Not some hippy who is doing this seasonally or by choice (like me). Rather, it's growing community of scrappy, sometimes disenfranchised group of mostly decent people, living on the fringe, not always by choice, but trying their best to make their way through life.

Travel update #2

May 18th, 2017 at 05:17 am

Ok, I am finally back at my house, and am able to update the day's events. There isn't much to tell, but I'll try to recall what I can.

As promised, I gave the parks in Asheville another shot. During the day, it was quite pretty indeed. I saw people generally strolling about and having picnics. Unfortunately, many of their areas, especially their buildings, don't allow guns, so I decided to just turn around and head back out.

On my way back, I did get very sleepy at one point. I drove to yet another rest area, and just went ahead and set up shop to sleep there. So far, I really love how I can just roll right over into my bed and sleep. I guess I was more tired than I thought, having stayed up late night driving all over the mountains. By the time I got up, the sun was about to set. I did feel very refreshed though, for what it was worth.

When I got up, I also realized that my car has been exposed to direct sunlight, and my car's AC was just struggling for all it's worth to keep up. I do park in the shade, but in this case, enough time has passed where the shade moved away.

When I got back to town, I went straight to the gym, mostly because it was the closest destination, but also because it's bad enough to go nearly two days without showering, but I also didn't want to go nearly two days without working out. I did a quick one, then came home to shower. I didn't do it at the gym because there was a bunch of people there and I didn't want to hog the entire bathroom for myself.

So, here I am, a quick experiment and road trip complete, and what have I learned? Well first and foremost, I am proud to report that I really do think I can do this. It did not go as well as I had hoped, but I think sometimes, I get stricken with the Han Solo effect, where I would run headlong into something thinking of course it's going to work, but with the added instruction, "Never tell me the odds." Haha. But if you consider the fact that I spent nearly two days out without having to pay for a single motel room, and I didn't feel as though I was suffering or anything, I would say that is a success.

However, when it's all said and done, I don't think this will work for me. Again, for a road trip and a personal experiment that I've never tried before, I think it was worth the experience. Now that I've done it though, I've decided that it's going to get really old really fast if I had to do this regularly, and I don't care for the wear and tear on the car either.

So here I am, back a day earlier than planned, but the upside is that there is still one more idea I haven't fully tried, and I can do this with the extra day I now have. I'll report back later with more details.

Travel update

May 17th, 2017 at 05:28 pm

Ok, so let me see if I can remember from the beginning how things are going so far.

So I left yesterday morning I think. I remember seeing big gaps in not just my cellphone data reception, but even on occasion, my regular phone reception. Clearly, T-Mobile's coverage isn't as good outside my city. The reception situation only worsened as I approached the mountains, where I even have trouble picking up regular radio stations.

Let's see, I went to Boone first, because it had the coolest weather, and between that and Asheville, it was also the closest destination.

Ok, so before I got there, I stopped at a rest area, and I was so shocked at how nice it was. It wasn't just a rest area, it was also some kind of nature conservatory? For like Monarch butterflies? Anyways, I took a picture of one of its small trails here:



When I got to Boone, the first stop I made was to the fitness gym that I am a member of. Alas, my card didn't work for some reason, but I got there so late that the staff had already left. However, as I was trying my card, someone just left and opened the door, allowing me to step in and take a real quick look:



During the late night, I stumbled on the internet that there was a park that was actually open 24 hours. I was like wow I've never heard of that before. So I decided that, hey, it's 1am but I am not sleepy, and this thing is open 24 hours, and I am going to go check it out.

Bad idea. The entire place, and the roads leading up to it were completely unlit, winding, and luckily that I was wide awake because, if I wasn't, I could have also easily had an accident or rolled off a hill or something out there. When I got there, I had zero cellphone reception, no lights except from my own car, and two sketchy looking cars parked mysteriously out there. The place looked more look a horror movie location than anything to me. Literally, here's a picture of said "park":



I decided to leave and try another rest area, because that last one was so nice. I went to another one on the way to Asheville, and it turned out to be almost as nice. You know, I feel like maybe I could get away with living in rest areas. Is that crazy of me to think that? Or am I already so way over the crazy line that this doesn't surprise you guys?

Anyways, I slept there, and by the time it was late morning, I rolled out again, making it into Asheville proper. The first stop here was, once again, a local gym that I am supposedly a member of. This time, a staff was present, and he explained to me that in order to be able to access gyms nationally, I have to wait for something like a full month before "reciprocity" kicks in. Ah.

However, as I type this at a local Starbucks in Asheville, I think all this effort is rather excessive and would get dull to do on a regular basis. Some may love this life on the road, but to me, it feels more like a giant commute of some kind. I will say that Boone was certainly much cooler, and I could probably make it work on that nice temperature alone.

When I get back though, I have another idea in mind that I think will hopefully work just as well. If successful, this will eliminate me having to travel anywhere at all.

I will be coming home sooner than expected, on the account that I haven't showered last night, and I won't be able to do so tonight either due to "recipropcity". So I might as well wrap it up and come home tonight. But before I do, I'm going to give those horror mountains one more try, except this time, during the day.

Adventure time!

May 16th, 2017 at 04:23 pm

The projected temperature for today, tomorrow, and Thursday is suppose to be 87, 93, and 90. Also, my schedule has finally cleared up enough that I can head out for a little road trip. I think I am also prepared enough at this point to give this a shot. So... I guess it's that time!

But where to? Well, I've spoken about Asheville before, but when I googled the coldest place in NC, the result consistently came up with Boone. The projected temperature for Asheville for the next three days is 86, 85, and 83. However, Boone is projected to be 78, 78, and 74. Even better! As an added bonus, Boone is also an hour shorter drive from where I am than Asheville.

Overall, I am not sure about putting literally hundreds of miles on the car, each way, just so I can get a little bit of heat relief. Quite the opposite, I would like to put as little miles on my car as possible.

However, when you are just roasting in heat and humidity, it's hard to describe how motivated one can become just to get away from the sticky, itchy, uncomfortably hot heat. Anyway, it's just a little road trip and personal experiment.

I've never been to Boone before, but as planned from before, there is a 24 hour gym there that I have membership access to, so I figure that's a place to start, and explore out from there.

Ok so let me finish my packing, and I'm heading out! The day has finally come! I'll share anything interesting I find with you guys. Oh, and if you guys think of any last minute advice or whatever, please let me know as soon as possible so I can go, "Oh, I wish I thought of that before I left!" Hahaha.

Shoes and stuff

May 10th, 2017 at 12:28 am

So I've been trying the idea that you guys recommended with the swimming or beach shoes in the shower. As far as shoes go, they are actually quite affordable. First, I just want to say it feels weird walking into a shower stall with your shoes on. I just want to say that. It's a very seriously weird feeling haha. Also, it feels very weird to let it get soaking wet on purpose.

However, I do like the part that it is very grippy since these showers don't have those seashell or starfish stickers on the bottom to prevent slipping... what?

Now, when they get wet, they get... completely wet, and they don't dry well overnight in the car. In fact, it introduces a lot of moisture that condenses on the windshield that makes it hard for me to drive in the mornings.

So, now I am having to put the shoes outside of the car, but under my front driver's side and that seems to work. You know, the more I do this mobile lifestyle, the weirder I realize my life is becoming. Just so many things I would have never imagined.. even just a year ago, that I would end up doing.

Anyways, I am pleased to report that the shoes are working out great. So, I want to thank you guys for this recommendation. In fact, I have ordered a second pair, so I can rotate the two. It takes roughly half a day for them to dry out, and I hate having to walk around wearing them while they are still cold and wet. This would be especially bad during winter time.

On another note, I haven't left town yet, although I was planning to soon. Things keep popping up so I am staying put for now... and to wait for my second pair of shoes. That and the temperature lately have been surprisingly cool anyways, so that's a welcome change.

Oh, and finally, I tried super, super hard last night to hypermile and see just how high I can get my MPG to. Here's what I ended up with:



I was so pleasantly surprised and pleased by the result. The only problem is that this is not something I can do realistically as I had to drive way, way below speed limit. But since I was driving around late last night, with mostly no traffic around, I could get away with that.

My life is weird. Why am I so weird?

I like petrichor

May 5th, 2017 at 01:08 pm

Ok, maybe I should write this in chronological order, so my thoughts are not scattered all over the place.

Yesterday was my baby step out into trying to stay in my car full time. Up until now, I've always made pit stops at home or my mom's house because I forgot to get something, wanted to use the bathroom at home, and what not. This time, I'm going to try to stay out almost a full 24 hour if I can help it.

I'll still be hanging around town for this one, and won't actually go out of town until next week.

So I was wardriving last night. It's like the last thing on my list, because this one was highly optional, and even if successful, seems rather extravagant.

Then I headed off to the gym to work out. According to Google, the gym is the least busiest between the hours of midnight to 3am. That's what I decided to try out their shower, mostly because there is actually only one large bathroom (with the shower) at my current facility in town. So, I didn't want to try to hog the bathroom and shower when there are lots of other people around that may need the bathroom. That and it seemed like a good idea to be able to shower before sleep.

Well, the shower experience was... very uncomfortable. Everything felt disorganized. It was kind of dark, I didn't know what I was doing. Did I even pack extra set of clothes? Where do I put the dirty ones?

In all, I didn't like it haha. However, I do think I will eventually get the hang of it. This, despite all the horror stories I've read and seen online about people finding all kind of nasty messes in gym bathrooms. Needless to say, I was reluctant to step barefoot in there... but I guess I need to get over all that.

Another thing worth noting is that I've read that it's not a good idea to workout right before sleep and I think I can agree with that. I would feel sleepy, go work out, and somehow, that sleepy feeling seemed to go away.

Also, after every workout, I always drink a protein shake, and that requires water to gulp down. Unfortunately, the result of that is that I would wake up the next morning with a very angry bladder. This would be OK if I was at home, but it's a serious issue out and about. So, I will need to resolve this scheduling conflict somehow as well.

Sleep last night was actually not as well as I had hoped. It was raining hard last night, and the sound from the rain was loud enough that it even woke me up with my earplugs in. However, I didn't mind it too much, and this morning smells real nice, so that's a plus.

Because I had to pee so bad, I decided to run into a nearby sandwich shop from where I was parked to use their bathroom. Then I felt morally obligated to buy something from them. That and they also had free WiFi, so I was like OK, but I know I can not and will not be doing this every morning. This is simply too expensive and is just not going to work.

Still though, for today's purposes, here's what I hope is an instagram-worthy pic of my morning escapade, thanks to sandwich WiFi.



Despite of it all, I do feel quite well right now. Hoping it will hold for the rest of the day.

Wardriving

May 5th, 2017 at 03:05 am

This post is being written from a WiFi access point found on the road. Hi mom!

Edit: I want to clarify that this is highly optional on my to-do list, and in fact, is rather extravagant.

While it is possible for me to access SA and blog through my phone, the screen is very small, and requires a separate bluetooth keyboard hook up. I also needed to find a way to hold up the phone while I type. In all, the setup is far from ideal.

Instead, I decided to drive around town and look for any possible WiFi hotspots to use with my little laptop. This turned out to be far more difficult than I expected, if nothing else because it would seem most businesses have either faulty hotspots, or they are somehow locked down. And of course, I don't intend to hack any of them.

Finally, I found one and well, here I am.

For what it's worth, my gym membership also includes WiFi access at their locations, which makes its monthly cost much easier to swallow.

Ok, I'm rambling, but I figure maybe you guys might want to see what I see, so here's a grainy night photo I took not long ago.

Leakage

May 4th, 2017 at 01:33 am

I've discovered a small puddle of water in the plastic bins near my water dispenser. No doubt, some water accidentally spilled at some point, so now I am having to take everything out and air it.

Luckily, the bins worked as intended-- as a fail safe in case of spills-- so my car batteries were unaffected.

While I was airing everything out, I thought you guys might be interested in a photo of what my current inventory looks like:



The items in the picture are wet wipes, garlic salt, a spray bottle of distilled vinegar, a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol, scissors, spatula, can opener, small cutting knife, car window netting, clothes pins, a couple of scrubbers, some plastic knives that I mostly use as stirrers, cooking oil, make-shift clothes line, some sporks, and my remote for the Christmas lights. Last but not least is the pack of ziploc bags that I am using for many of these items.

This isn't an exhaustive list of all the items I have in the car, but it's a good chunk of it.

I've got gas

May 3rd, 2017 at 04:08 pm

Just wanted to make a quick post about my MPG usage, now that I am regularly sleeping in the car.

Even at night, the temperature is hot enough that I have to leave AC on in order to sleep well. I am generally a very light sleeper, and so temperature is critical. In fact, I had major doubts about this working actually.

Thankfully, work it did, and for the most part, I am sleeping as well as in my regular house bed. Better actually, since there is a lot less distractions in there once I lie down so I basically just sleep like I am suppose to. In fact, it's working so well that I am not running my house AC very much at all, so I am hoping to see a reduced electric bill in the coming summer months.

However, my car gas bill will skyrocket for sure. Well, I have been experimenting with the temperature settings to see how little in usage I can get and still be comfortable, and for right now, I use roughly around $0.50 worth of gas every night.

With the car now fully loaded with most of the gear, I am no longer able to hyper-mile as high as 70 mpg on the road. However, I am still getting a very realistic 50+ mpg, which I think is just great.

Mixing that in with the car sitting idle and running AC all night, it reduces the overall MPG further down to roughly 38.5 MPG, which is what I saw right before before filling up gas again.

A total of 38.5 MPG... I can live with that. However, the higher I can push my MPG, the more money I can save overall, so I will continue my effort to find ways to get that figure up.


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