Although I am not one of them, there are people who enjoy reading political science or 'theory of government' books. It would be interesting to see what a person of that type would go through if exiled from their reading lamp to the right place in the real world.
Let them take a campground hosting job for awhile. Quite aware that my suzerainty is much better than the average gig, or rather, that its clientele is much above average, I am still affected by the experience. It gives me a chance to see how people behave when they act as they really want to act.
Experience with real people in the real world persuades one to see the great deity of democracy as having 'feet of clay.' How could we be brainwashed with the notion that it represents some kind of perfect theory? Readers are encouraged to talk me out of spiraling down into a preference for mildly repressive authoritarian regimes.
Let them take a campground hosting job for awhile. Quite aware that my suzerainty is much better than the average gig, or rather, that its clientele is much above average, I am still affected by the experience. It gives me a chance to see how people behave when they act as they really want to act.
- Many people immediately turn to generating noise, destruction, or filth.
- Unmindfulness of the consequences of their own behavior on their neighbors, who have an equal right to enjoy their public land.
- Using a construction site generator to power a microwave oven to make a cup of tea or coffee. Are they really unable to understand that they can heat a pan of water on the propane stove in 3 minutes?
- Do they need high power appliances in their RV, including a 54" diagonal television set?
- The redneckization and ghetto-ization of American popular culture. You see that every time a codpiece pickup truck comes into camp, with thumpah-thumpah "music" pounding the ground around it. More than anything else it is the music that makes me feel completely unpatriotic toward what used to be "my" country.
- And speaking of codpieces, why does almost every one of these suburbanites and city slickers have a four-wheel-drive machine, while I -- a guy who could actually benefit from one -- do not have one?
- Why am I the only mountain biker who uses the flatter trails -- which are actually appropriate for a self-powered, wheeled machine? Put differently, why don't people hike on rough rocky trails, and pedal on smoother flatter trails?
- How citified and feminized our culture has become. The more someone thinks they are a 'nature lover,' the bigger of a fraud they probably are.
Experience with real people in the real world persuades one to see the great deity of democracy as having 'feet of clay.' How could we be brainwashed with the notion that it represents some kind of perfect theory? Readers are encouraged to talk me out of spiraling down into a preference for mildly repressive authoritarian regimes.
Comments
I agree with all your points. All I can think to do is to play devil's advocate: isn't it amazing at what a good job the RV industry has done to sell rat-race-suburbia on the idea of RVing?
If you think of the industry/advertisers/dealers as a form of wildlife, they swoop down and vanquish their prey with more skill than an osprey or a mountain lion.
1) The Mothership was probably sporting Montana licence plates and the toad some other state - perhaps California. The 'owner' cleverly bought the Mothership in MT using a shell LLC and avoided a lot of sales tax - until the resident state claims the tax plus penalties and interest.
2) The Mothership was bought with a very small downpayment that requires a monthly payment that far exceeds any reasonable value that might be derived from its use.
--Unlike many RV-related sites, yours is more philosophy/less RV nuts and bolts. Fine. I can find nuts and bolts in plenty of other places. (You do caution your readers as much.)
--Not many RV blogs link to Fred Reed and Unz. LOL ("I think I'm gonna like this guy......") PCR makes some good points, but I think he wanders off into Tin Foil Hat Land too often.
--I've gone back to the beginning of the year, and I think this is only the second or third time I've had to run to the dictionary. (suzerainty) =)
Thanks for the insights. Good and bad. You can be a bit of a crank, but then again, so can I. Essentially I'm (very) late 50s, good shape. Currently in Orange County, CA. No debts or obligations, some dough. A confluence of influences led me to seriously consider RVing about 3 weeks ago, I guess. Like Jake and Elwood when they see the light. =).
A lot to learn, of course. Currently leaning to a Class B or a simple smaller trailer like yours (or Becky's over on InterstellarOrchard.com ) Your bit on "Maximalist/Optimalist" vs "Minimalist" was especially insightful. ("Yeah.......yeah.......THAT'S what I am!"). Of course maybe it helped I had a few Econ courses in college, where one is exposed to the concept of marginal returns.
Anyways, thanks for listening. (You say you tire of reading after a while, and I don't wanna wear out my welcome.) =)
Travel philosophy rather than nuts and bolts? The obsession with the latter is so extreme that it needs to be explained. That must wait for another day.
Obsession? I'd go with "detail-oriented". Sells better. LOL. But seriously, rather than simply browsing your posts in reverse chrono order like a simpleton, I took advantage of the labels (LowerCostTowVehicle) and tripled my knowledge of the subject in half an hour. And you seem (relatively) humble: "....I am not an automotive engineer, a good auto mechanic, or a "car nut"...." Perhaps, but you seem to fake it pretty well. LOL
Two more quick hits. Bicycling. Having explored several dozen blogs and other sites by now, I was surprised at the lack of attention to the subject. (You've alluded to that.) Hard to believe. It would seem that boondocking/RVing and MTB would go together like bread an butter. Thousands of miles of empty trails. Biking expands your reach from camp 3-5 times further than just hiking (I also fully agree with the precept "ride the flat and rolling, hike the steep".)
Maps. I've been a map-nerd since a child. We'd stop at gas stations on family vacations and I'd bolt out of the car and scour the office to see if they had any to add to my collection, which grew to several shoeboxes by the time I was 12 or so (which pretty much coincided with stations ending the free map practice). That said, I can't believe any half-serious boondocker would rely solely on Garmin or whatever other devices are out there. I'd absolutely supplement with a DeLorme Road and Rec. atlas or similar, for a paltry 15 or 20 bucks per state. Don't leave home without it, folks! =)
-Jim.
(Thinking of starting my own blog. Need to up my online presence. Given where I'm standing right now, my working title is "Should I Stay or Should I Go". (I was never that into punk....but I liked The Clash.
Mountain biking doesn't seem too popular with the RV crowd. Perhaps it is the awkwardness of storing the bikes without seeing them walk off. Perhaps it is the image of MTB as an "extreme sport", that is, jumping over slot canyons in a single bound; and race, race, race...
There is another reason that I can hardly bring up without turning it into a post: many boondockers are not outdoorsmen at all. They just like the price.
" I'd absolutely supplement with a DeLorme Road and Rec. atlas or similar, for a paltry 15 or 20 bucks per state. Don't leave home without it, folks! =)"
I believed in paper maps also for the better part of my life. During two around the USA trips I gathered up over half of all the state maps. But living full time in a RV does not lend itself to having much of a paper library. I have become a huge fan of Google Maps and that is all I use now. This is for roads. Now if I were boondocking and or doing hikes I would be interested in paper once again.
"Maps. I've been a map-nerd since a child." If that is so you might enjoy the maps that I have put together on my web site http://edwardfrey.com . My RVing maps are found by clicking on Camp Maps in the top border. I also have maps included within the postings for all my bicycle tours and car trips which can be found by going to Site Map (a differen kind of map). The rest of my web site may be of interest to you or then again maybe none of it will be but I invite you to take a look.
Seriously....there's a gold mine of valuable info there. Much appreciate it. Camp maps alone are a splendid resource.
PS....Just for giggles.....Read somewhere that RV/boondocking is most popular in the West (which stands to reason.....much less of the land is privately owned. Plus it's easier to "follow climate" by adjusting elevation. Add in the fact that it's lightly populated. A quick back of the napkin calculation reveals that (geography nerd alert) if you take what is commonly known as the 11 Western states, and net out the heavily populated coastal areas west of Cascades and Sierras, you are left with well over 1 million square miles upon which to roam. And I hadn't thought about it until reading your "Baja", but - Mexico probably offers some great wintering options as well.