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OK, so no drama, OK?
I am wanting to change my living situation; live alone in a small apartment away from town, and controlling people I'm with. This is not a big emergency.
So, I am thinking of living in my car for a couple months to save money. I have a big luggage carrier on top of my car and I don't have a lot, no furniture, just a laptop, a computer and my clothing, and a few other things. My bike would be on a carrier that goes into the trailer hitch.
My concern is safety, but I am not saying what I will do about that. Here in Oregon, I can slip into the wilderness and come to town every several days to bathe, buy food, and do laundry.
I just want some peace and quiet without the churchies trying to control what I think.
Has anyone tried to live out of their car, and how did that work out?
Gwen
Comments
I haven't but...
common sense would dictate it might be better to set yourself up with something like a camper, at the least, for comfort's sake. And they do sell camp showers, which I would strongly recommend considering picking up; you COULD come into town every few days to bathe, but if you did nobody would want to come near you.
Safety-wise, it shouldn't be any worse than camping, so just take the same precautions you would with that and you should be right as rain, depending on how much discomfort you're willing to put up with.
Melanie E.
tent ?
ok the north east has lots state and fed parks
don't know about there but here in Colorado there are still free camp sites.
so i say go for a summer long camping trip.
I have a tent.
The trouble is getting comfortable but I think hat is handled.
Summer
I do not know what the summer is like there but in Florida I did it for two days while moving and looking for a new place and it was horrible due to the heat. Plus the sweat gets in to the car seats and you have to get the inside steam cleaned afterwards. You can go to truck stops for a shower they charge usually 5 to 10 dollars for a shower. They are usually private showers since they get both male and female truckers.
Hugs,
Jenna From FL
Moderator/Editor
TopShelf BigCloset
It is a long road ahead but I will finally become who I should be.
living in your car
In 1976 I took a cross country drive and lived out of my car for 3 months. A 1972 Subaru GL Coup. Visiting National parks. I spent a month in the northwest: Washington, Oregon and Nothern California. I had a 2 man pup tent. It was a different time. I camped out around Eugene and Salem Oregon. Taking a "bath" in glacial snow melt was a non forgettable experience. There were free campsites in the national forests. Here in the northeast, we have many seasonal Transients who live in the various White Mountain National forest local campgrounds. The rangers seem to be clamping down on them. I see them when I go hiking. What you propose is possible. Good Luck. I want to do it again but will get a class b rv. I was limited with out a hard sided vehicle due to bears.
Hugs,
Trish Ann
~There is no reality, only perception~
The jump doesn't hurt but the landing might
A word of caution about the move back to civilization. If possible can you arrange this beforehand as those with reasonable property to rent are cautious about those of no fixed abode
Rhona McCloud
I've done it before...
I've done it before, and let me tell you, if you cant streach out to your full length in the backseat it's gonna make for a very uncomfortable nights sleep. Sleeping like that for months wears on you. Then there is the parking issue, you can't just park anywhere and think that it'll go unnoticed for any length of time.
One night while living in my car, just before going to sleep i decided to use the bathroom. The bathrooms were along the beach next to a few small shops. When i left the restrooms and began walking back to my car, coincidence had placed me walking behind two young ladies who had just gotten off from work at the shops. Having seen me around before they quickly jumped to the conclusion that i was stalking them and was about to make my move. You could almost feel the fear radiating off them... so i decided to change course. I quickned my pace and crossed the street so as to get ahead of them so that they could see i wasnt following them. This of course didnt work, now they thought i was trying to get ahead of them so i could snatch them inside the darkened parking lot. Instead of going in they called the cops, but i didnt know that... after all they were behind me now... So i get to my car and lay down for the night, when not 20 min latter cops shine their lights in on me and im told to leave my car. Next thing i know im down on the pavement hands behind my head with a gun shoved in my face! Several VERY angry cops treating me like some sort of criminal... just because i had to take a wiz at the wrong time!
Questioned for over 5 hours, i finally was released... my story only convinced 1 or 2 cops but the fact was they couldnt hold me because they had nothing on me. I was quite pissed at the treatment i got from the cops. After all my whole family are in law enforcment, i know you dont do a felony take down like that without very good reason. Nor had i ever been called a liar to that extreme before, the officer who was trying to find something on me had barely contained his rage, his face was red and he visably shook. I had *NO* doubts that had there not been a veritable army of police officers there just to detain me he would would have manufactured evidence and would have attempted to beat me to a pulp. (he would have had a hard time doing so at the time, I was in peak physical condition at the time having just gotten out of the Marines and a student of Krav Maga) but regardless of the confrontations outcome i would have been in jail even quicker had that happened.
The point is, living out of your car isnt an easy lifestyle and truth be told socially your outcasted simular to a homeless person. No one trusts you, everyone watches you like your about to steal something. Police hound you constantly because there's no such thing as being able to park for any length of time anywhere.
well,, almost anywhere... The last week before things picked up for me and i was able to live again, i had found out that i could park...and more importantly.. sleep overnight in my car.. at the interstate rest area.
The experiance tought me a few things though, especially my interactions with the homeless. The Homeless people of America... are the only ones in the 'land of the free' who are truly free. Free of taxes, free of having to wake at 7am to go to work and be someones slave... free from government taxes..free from bills and payments.. free of EXPECTATIONS.... just plain FREE, oddly enough, true freedom isn't really living life at all...
It isn't comfortable!
I've slept in my car while traveling and it isn't comfortable, even when I could fully stretch out in the back of an SUV. And it gets even more uncomfortable early in the morning when you hope there's a bathroom really close.
A tent, air mattress and sleeping bag are way better alternatives and not very expensive in state and national parks. Most campgrounds have sinks and showers too, unless you are in a very primitive site.
If you must stay in the car, I have heard that people have parked in Walmart parking lots because of the security cameras, but Walmart may have stopped that by now because of liability concerns.
You might also investigate Hostels as an inexpensive alternative too.
Whatever you do, be safe!
Suzij
Don't know about oregon but
In Georgia most WMA's(Wildlife Management Area's) have campsites all the ones I've seen around here in middle GA are primitive style but still it's a option buy a WMA stamp an say a fishing permit an bam there ya go. I do wish you the best of luck though.
If you must...
If you must, don't just go sleep in the car... have a plan. Get a Post Office box, something with a real address, like you get from Postal Annex, or Mailboxes Etc. Then get a small tent and go camping. Check out free campsites.
Better you should simply look into a renting a room or a studio apartment.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Gwendolyn!!!!
I know we're not really close, but we're all part of the BCTS family so as one of your distant cousins I say to you; what the hell are you thinking? You just don't do this sort of thing in this day an age! At least not unless you have absolutely NO other alternative! I'm not trying to be mean or anything, just trying lookout for one of my cousins is all. Please please please reconsider this move. I really don't think it's in your best interest to do what your proposing. I just thought you needed to hear this side as well. Loving Hugs Talia
I Had to think
How to communicate just what I am thinking and feeling. Can it be done yes with caveat's , Should you do it NO NO NO. I am the veteran of living in a school buss for 6 years and I looked at it as living a laboratory. I am very technologically skilled that was a not enough. If yo are lonely now it will become far worse if you do this. It is not like an extended camp out it is a sentence like a prisoner exiled to seeing everyone live a normal life around you while you starve.
You by necessity become paranoid of people to the point of becoming a phantom slinking from shadow to shadow. All of the things that are easy now become so much harder requiring so much more time than before. Even getting rid of a bag of fast food trash can get you spotted, and in contact with the law. Getting your potty dumped is a real problematic , and you will need one, We had a free RV dump near us, I also had a fantastic spring water well just around a corner.
I became very adapted in filling our needs, But it nearly got me shot dead several times once disposing of my chemical toilet content where I was suppose to. A trucker became irate screaming obscenities drawing his gun. I was off like a bunny but shook for hours. The times have changed immensely over the last 3 years since we got into public housing. My spouse did us a favor by leaving that put my girls and I at the top of the list. And it has gotten worse. People are on the edge and strike at any thing they can or are afraid of. You will be alone and an easy target for every nutcase and malcontent out there.
It may also not save you any money because feeding your self becomes extraordinarily expensive. I had two freezers and a refrigerator along with a well equipped galley. Everything must be purchased in very small quantities and you are very dependent on other peoples good will, which is in short supply. Most Wall marts now are forbidden by local law to allow people to stay in there lot for any real sleep time. Here in Washington State in the Seattle area even the Fremont authorities actually hunt for the homeless to drive them off or worse arrest them. There cars or vans are destroyed by crushing and in 24 hours you are dumped some place near a smelly bad place, badly beaten up. Then almost no medical people will help you because you have no ID NO money and they do not want hassle with the cops.
It may just pay you to look for another place away from the distractions. If it is truly the only way please contact me by the Pm function and I can and will help you to the best of my abilities. I do consider you a fantastic person and I do not want you to run into a real mess. Existence is no longer a right, since the Patriot act every ones life is in danger from trigger happy people looking for fun. We got out just in time the next month the locals and the state cops rounded up 130 people in our area and gave them special treatment. I knew many of them and I have only been contacted by one. The rest are MIA.
Been there done that just survived.
Huggles
Michele
With those with open eyes the world reads like a book