"Yeah, You're a Broke RV Boondocker. You've Said That Before, What's the Deal?"

It's not infrequent that I mention the rather dilapidated condition of our finances... It's not something I do carelessly without a thought... or without a reason.

One of the major reasons for my blogs/websites is to hopefully prod others to screw up their courage and step off on their own "Road" ~ Whatever their "Road" is, and Wherever "It" may lead.

Let's be honest and open here; There's also in there, the hope that sharing a few lessons and philosophies will hopefully come full circle and provide a few beans to keep my own supper table decently supplied. But... that can only happen if I've provided something useful and of reasonable value.

I suspect on occasion that a few folks have perceived my comments about being financially "Challenged"... to be just whining. Pure and simple I have to say; that little of that perception would be true. Sure life would be easier if I was a lil' more flush... but it would still just be life. I am human (hard to believe but true!) I do on occasion get tired and blow off some steam... but that's not the core of how I think... it's just venting...

... Then... I pick myself up... dust off my jeans... and go back at it!

My reason for making comments here and there along the way, regarding our lack of financial riches, is an effort at making a low key, if not subtle, statement to all the other dreamers like me out there; "Being broke isn't relevant. You can still GO."

... and Go you must! Don't believe those that say you can't.

Now Understand this; That Old cliche'; "Freedom Ain't Free" is as true a statement as there is. Some of us are gonna crash and burn. It's gonna turn into gut wrenching disaster. An axle is gonna break, motors explode, rigs burn up, broken hips... even cancer... there's an unlimited list of all the things that can and on occasion will go wrong; sometimes catastrophically.

Those are the clubs the world beats you with to keep you in line... and In Service to IT!

That's the part where the Courage and plain old Guts comes in. You have to grit your teeth and deliberately shove all that Noise out of your head... You have to lock your focus on The Prize.

The Prize of A Life!  A day where you take your first true full breath; watching a glorious sunrise as you look into the Future... of days that you finally get to call YOURS.

Freedom! It's a simple word that contains a joyous sound. I might be broke... but Glacier, the Montana mountains, the Arizona Desert, Lake Pend Orielle in Idaho, the Oregon Coast... Puget Sound, the High Country around Steamboat... Zion in the Utah Desert... and all the other places I wander... are still the places I LIVE!

Go back a couple years and look at my posts... We've been in all those places and lived in all those camps... draggin' this raggedy old rig around; on far fewer dollars than most of the drifters you see out there.

I still LIVE... broke or not. THAT, is my point. It don't take riches to be a wandering, drifting, gypsy. It takes Dreams, wishes and committing to the goal... knowing where your passions lay, and having the sand to grab on to 'em and Hold On through whatever storm might blow.

It takes choking down the fear the world plants in your soul and taking the full breath that Only Freedom allows... whether the world likes it or not.

It takes simply Refusing to Not Live...

Refusing to allow malfunctions, bad luck and poor judgement  :)  to get in the way of the pure Joy of Living!

Courage is not the absence of fear. It is a Choice. Courage is making the Choice that you will not allow fear to make the decisions in your life. In this case, that the joys and soul filling opportunities that lay waiting for you will not be lost to the liver quivering squalling of the world around you as it tries to keep you in the chains of a good little serf.

A thick wallet can smooth the road, no argument... but a thin wallet doesn't block the road. An anemic wallet does not make Gypsy living the impossible dream. Look where we've been in the last two and a half years. Look at all the breakdowns and malfunctions we've climbed over. We've been doing that living and traveling on less than 1800 bucks a month for all that time.

Some might not consider that to be poverty, but in 2012 with $4.20+ diesel, repair on top of repair...nothing in the bank... and all other expenses climbing, it's far from riches. Leaves little slack for repairs and such. Any we get hit with comes straight out of that monthly, earned as we go, income, which has declined a bit to boot. 

"Nothing in the Bank"... That bullies some folks, I understand that; on occasion it'll get me a lil' edgy. They just can't step off without knowing, as a guarantee, where next month's groceries are comin' from. I'd surely  like to be able to see next month In the bank... but... next month's Freedom... is my guiding hunger.

Plans are the next big thing that shuts people down.

They make a plan... they set some rules or parameters to live by... and then Life rises up and gets in the way. Their plan as laid out and the rules they outlined for themselves gets blown out of the water so they lock up the brakes and their lives come screeching to a halt;

They sit there waiting on the situation to return to their "Ideal".

They are dead in the water... and will likely remain so. It's seldom that the obstructions fall away on their own... often they never do.

My preferences and "rules" were indeed my "Ideal Plan"... the; "If I had my druthers, this is the way I'd do it" sort of a deal. That's all well and good. But, if I'd done that, locked my brakes when MY plans got blown to hell... I'd still be sittin' there in northern Colorado waitin' on the world those plans were made in to be resurrected... and the last two+ years would still be just a dream... rather than a shining memory.

When reality just won't allow me to be goin' down the road the way I planned... I go down the road the way I CAN. Sometimes, you have to just get up and go... if you're goin'.

You have two choices; either find a way to make do... or in this case... you'll do without the life you'll never LIVE.

You're boots are torn and worn out? Heels run over... and can't afford new? glue on a patch... glue on a chunk of rubber to build the heel up until you can afford another pair... pick up your feet and put 'em down... one after the other... and head on down the road.

I've been patchin' this Old truck and our old rig to keep it on the road... and I'll continue to do that... unless and until we trip over that pot at the end of the rainbow.

In the mean time... I'm living in the SAME glorious places as the guys with the $400 loafers. :)  Well... OK... they're in the $95 a night RV Resorts ;) ... while I'm generally out in the Far Country I lust after! :) but you know what I'm sayin' ... like I said the other day... the sun rises the same for every man... no matter what his pocket holds.

So... when you hear me comment that I bruised my butt when I fell on my wallet... 'cause it's so thin it provides no padding... know that this is where I'm coming from.

Poor in Gold... and Rich in Life
Brian