Following the Migration Inspired by Bob Wells: How He Inspired Me
Why has a 68-year-old man who looks like a very fit Santa Claus changed the lives of tens of thousands of people, including me?
In many cases, they have flocked to a place called Quartzsite, Arizona. In other cases, they roam North America gathered in virtual spaces, like Facebook groups.
If you saw the Oscar-winning Nomadland, that's it! The movie left out that some travelers are in rigs topping $200,000 dollars. Not everyone is "out there" because they have to be. They want to be.
From around the world, vehicles of all shapes and sizes head toward Bob's tricked out former ambulance, his latest home since moving into a vehicle in Alaska in 1995. He did so because he opted to be homeless so he could pay child support while he worked at a grocery store. The first night in his vehicle he cried himself to sleep.
Now, most of his followers come to the conversation with a life perspective that the current social structure simply doesn't work for them.
I am one of them.
People are leaving their "bricks and sticks" to find another way. Vans, trailers, ambulances, cube vans, moving trucks, tiny cars and family SUVs are all being used as homes. Anything with wheels works. In some cases the vehicles don't work anymore but they are free homes now in the middle of the desert.
Let me be really clear. I don't know Bob Wells. We're just connected on LinkedIn. However, thanks to social media, I do know his favourite kind of camping toilet and I've toured his home on his site cheaprvliving.com and watched countless videos. And, well, he did have that appearance in a major "motion picture"... (I love that term, a reflection of a time where people went to theatres to see "pictures in motion" with sound).
Bob has inspired thousands of people to head to a US desert, or more accurately BLM land (Bureau of Land Management) which you can live on for free. (long term areas - LTAs - is about $180 for 6 months in rent)
Bob's flock members have left homes and taken to "the road" to live in vehicles. Some simply can't afford their homes anymore. Others are choosing to leave a rat race. I am in column B.
As a life long part-time traveler, I first learned about Bob Wells in Fall 2021 when I purchased an adorable little T@B camper trailer which was going to become (after a couple years on the road) a winter cottage on Vancouver Island.
It was not a set up to actually LIVE in full time. Or was it?
I never got to find out.
On its first trip, 65 seconds in, I almost died in a head on collision when somebody ran a stop sign. I had a LOT of time to think about my life, and next steps, as I had doctors in my life for 3 years. I had 28 injuries, including brain trauma.
In recovery, my business suffered (I was the CEO of my own marketing company). I started to realize I was obsessed with speeding up recovery so I could get "back to it". Back to what exactly? The answer was .... "to making money".
Ya, I thought I would die in that ditch hanging sideways in my seatbelt. And now all I wanted to do was manage the pain so I could get back to paying for the stuff in my life. My life, afterall, was expensive and as a business owner I WAS my only safety net.
My life of privilege had swollen to include a condo attached to the football stadium, TD Place, in Ottawa. My new SUV rested in comfort in a heated underground parking, filled with expensive camping gear. I had a garbage shoot (I can hear VanLifers gasping right now) outside the door of my 15th storey place overlooking the stunning UNESCO World Heritage Rideau Canal.
Seatbelts save lives, but when you're a crash test dummy in a high speed head-on collision they sure do redecorate your skeleton.
Here's what I realized during extremely physically painful periods:
I had a second chance to do better, and the definition of better had changed dramatically
I realized the seed planted with that tiny camper grew to an understanding that I was always meant to be "outside" (link to post on summer camp) and travelling
I had created an expensive life so was the cause of my own financial stress
This human migration is part of a much, much bigger problem
So, what is the bigger problem?
I can only speak for me. However, I think it's the failure of capitalism to make humans happy. Shocking, right? Stuff might not make us happy. And in my case it ADDED to anxiety. It's like after a long sleep, the humans now permanently travelling have twitched to life. Time after time you will find the voices of road life speak to the pursuit of happiness...and having found it.
Yet, the home dwellers view us as odd...because we don't want stuff. We'd rather see or experience stuff. In an affordable housing crisis in my country, Canada, I think we should be embracing alternatives. Instead "stealth" is a word that has become necessary in the community. It is the ability for your rig to blend in on a street so people don't call Bylaw on you. Sleeping in a vehicle is considered shady.
Why?
Only people can look into themselves for the answer. And municipalities should also navel gaze because many communities make it really difficult to live there, on wheels. Lots of wheelers go to work every day if that's the concern. But I suspect it's the stigma of poverty and struggle.They just can't afford a "real" home.
Others simply don't want bricks for any number of reasons. Being off the grid and/or reducing consumerism is a major drive force for many. Some head "out" for reasons of mental health and need space. Still another group has political reasons for freedom. For most people it's a mix of a lot of things
And just so you know, Bob's favourite kind of toilet is a 5 gallon bucket and disposable bags.
