Almost everyone gets down in the dumps now and then, tired of whatever rat race they are in, and contemplates changing their way of life. Some get more drastic and just drop out completely, either by choice or through misfortune. There are some that are truly homeless that I dont have any experience with. But I do have some interesting experiences with people who just decided to drop out of more complicated lives and live a more simplifed existance. If you are interested in these types of stories, I will share some of them with you as we go along.
There are diffenent degrees of dropping out. Some reach the social security retirement stage and take frequent vacations. Thats not exactly dropping out but is maybe a modified version of it. Some enter the RV life and travel frequently or continuously. The way we drop out is determined mostly by our financial circumstances. Some can do it in style while others with no fianancial resources, have to do it on a shoestring. Most of the people I have known fall somewhere between these two extremes. I thought I would share some of my own experiences and those of others I have known with you.
As for me, I was a plutocrat amongst drop outs. Medically Retired from a major chemical company at the age of 50 because of an industrial accident. I could have still been an effective worker but because of goofy union and company rules if I couldnt still function in my normal job as an industrial electrician, I was forced into retirement. Plus I have an Air Force retirement. I just simply started my own small business,s untill I added social security retirement at the age of 63 and then retired with three sources of income. Im one of the fortunate. A member of the aristocracy of drop outs. The stories I wont to share with you is about people that are less fortunate or more adventurous than I. Having always had a source of income since I was l8 years old, it is hard for me to imagine the courage or despair it would take for some of the people I have known who just dropped out and built a life on the margins of our society. Here are a couple of their stories.
Prescott, AZ, was a mecca for drop outs. Local organations like the Salvation Army provided a couple of good meals a day. A small local college provided a place where they could take a bath. There didnt seem to be any objection to them lounging around the courthouse square, playing guitars, small drums, and Indian flutes. A couple of bridges over Granite Creek provided some shelter from the elements for some of them. Others simply camped out in the forest around the outskirts of town. Weather was mild for 7 to 8 months a year. During the Winter, most of them departed for warmer climes.
Out of curiosity, I often strolled around the courthouse square and started up conversations with the more savory looking individuals. One such guy I will call Bill. Bill was in his 30's, tall, muscular, cleanly and well dressed, a nice looking guy toting a large backpack and bedroll. Over a period of a few days I learned his story. Bill was an Electronics Technician by trade and at one time had been well employed by Northrups Aircraft in Los Angeles. His wife was a legal secretary working for a lawyer. They were making good money and living the good life, which normally means living beyond their means and fighting to keep up with all the bills. His wife and the lawyer had an affair that led to a divorce and then marriage of his wife to the lawyer. Bill was upset over the affair and had threated to fisticuff the lawyer. Bill's "belligerant attitude" didnt look too good when the lawyer got through with him in court proceedings and he lost custody of his two children and was tagged with both alimony and very high child support. His wifes re-marriage ended the alimony but the lawyer kept hauling him into court to increase child support and haggle over property settlements. Bill won an agreement where all his and his wifes property was sold out completely and most of the proceeds put in trust for the childrens college educations. This didnt set too well with the lawyer and ex-wife and they continuously kept trying to raise child support payments and turned Bills children against him. Bill was devastated when it became apparent that his two boys were indeed turning against him. Bill decided that as long as he was employed at a good salary, they would keep nibbling away at him and he would find it difficult to re-build a new life for himself or enjoy his childre. He sold the only thing he still owned, a 3 year old pickup, bought himself a sturdy backpack, hiking boots, tough clothing, and bus ticket to Arizona. There, he hit the road and entered the life of a vagabond. Bill wasn't your usual homeless person but Im sure if the social engineers counted the hangers-on around the courthouse, he would statistically be called one. When Bill needed money, he would hire on temporarily at some electronics store as a repairman and replenish his meager need for money. These were cash only wages only that dont show up on social security or employment rolls.....just another part of the underground economy. Bill said he did not think he would ever enter back into what he called the "rat race" of life. Maybe in a modified way but always with the back door open so he could hit the road again if he decided to.
While going out to pan for gold in Lynx Creek one day, I noticed a large tent set up on the banks of the creek. It was one of those affairs where one large tent is attached to a smaller tent. Lots of living room and comfortable looking. A large canopy in front of the larger tent covered a folding picknic table, chairs, and cooking equipment. It was really a well set up campsite. Also at the campsite was an older Oldsmobile, one of the large older cars with the big V8 engines. There was also a large sturdily constructed utility trailer with 6 ft high sides and metal canvas bows across the top so it could be completely enclosed. National Forest rules are that you can set up camp there for a two week period after which the Rangers can ask you to leave. But that is only after the Ranger first sees you camped there which might be weeks after you first move in. And as long as you run a neat campsite and are doing no damage, the rangers may decide to just not bother you.
Living at that site was a couple in their ealy 30's, call them Bill and Mary
and two children approximately 8 and 7. I made friends with them and Bill taught me a lot about how to eyeball a creek and see the best spots to find some flour gold and small flakes. While I might make a dollar or two a day panning Lynx Creek, Bill would average around 5. Now and then he would hit a hot spot and do better and said sometimes he did much better at creeks where he was allowed to dredge and sluice(Only manual panning was allowed at Lynx Creek). But Bill made most of his money cleaning up around service stations and Garages. Those types of places were always accumulating a lot of old greasy auto parts, tail pipes, etc. Bill would contract(another one of those underground economy off the books type of employment) to clean up those type of places and haul all that stuff off. He would divide all that metal into categorys, iron, aluminum, copper, etc and sell it at scrap prices to a local dealer. He said he always did a great clean up job for those places and if he ever hit the same town more than once could always find work. The big Oldsmobile and utility trailer were heavy enough to handle that type work plus haul all their camping equipment from place to place as they traveled the country. Bill said they "followed the Ducks" north in the springtime and South in the fall so as to stay out of cold weather.
Mary was homeschooling their children and they had daily lessons on that picknic table under that canopy in a beautiful forest beside a trickling clear water creek in an area with little rainfall and contuous beautiful weather. Before the weather turned bad they would take off like the birds for a better climate. Mary and Bill were another Southern Calfornia couple who had been gainfully employed but decided to drop out of the rat race for a simplier life. At their age, Im sure I would not have had the guts to do that. One thing for sure, I have never been married to a woman who would have said, "yeah, lets pack it up and move out." In their case, they had both always enjoyed camping out and spent all their off work hours camping out and one day Bill had said, "Boy wouldn't it be nice to just stay here in the mountains and not have to rush back to work Monday morning?" And Mary had said, "Yes, lets do it!". Nice people. I enjoyed their company very much.
There are diffenent degrees of dropping out. Some reach the social security retirement stage and take frequent vacations. Thats not exactly dropping out but is maybe a modified version of it. Some enter the RV life and travel frequently or continuously. The way we drop out is determined mostly by our financial circumstances. Some can do it in style while others with no fianancial resources, have to do it on a shoestring. Most of the people I have known fall somewhere between these two extremes. I thought I would share some of my own experiences and those of others I have known with you.
As for me, I was a plutocrat amongst drop outs. Medically Retired from a major chemical company at the age of 50 because of an industrial accident. I could have still been an effective worker but because of goofy union and company rules if I couldnt still function in my normal job as an industrial electrician, I was forced into retirement. Plus I have an Air Force retirement. I just simply started my own small business,s untill I added social security retirement at the age of 63 and then retired with three sources of income. Im one of the fortunate. A member of the aristocracy of drop outs. The stories I wont to share with you is about people that are less fortunate or more adventurous than I. Having always had a source of income since I was l8 years old, it is hard for me to imagine the courage or despair it would take for some of the people I have known who just dropped out and built a life on the margins of our society. Here are a couple of their stories.
Prescott, AZ, was a mecca for drop outs. Local organations like the Salvation Army provided a couple of good meals a day. A small local college provided a place where they could take a bath. There didnt seem to be any objection to them lounging around the courthouse square, playing guitars, small drums, and Indian flutes. A couple of bridges over Granite Creek provided some shelter from the elements for some of them. Others simply camped out in the forest around the outskirts of town. Weather was mild for 7 to 8 months a year. During the Winter, most of them departed for warmer climes.
Out of curiosity, I often strolled around the courthouse square and started up conversations with the more savory looking individuals. One such guy I will call Bill. Bill was in his 30's, tall, muscular, cleanly and well dressed, a nice looking guy toting a large backpack and bedroll. Over a period of a few days I learned his story. Bill was an Electronics Technician by trade and at one time had been well employed by Northrups Aircraft in Los Angeles. His wife was a legal secretary working for a lawyer. They were making good money and living the good life, which normally means living beyond their means and fighting to keep up with all the bills. His wife and the lawyer had an affair that led to a divorce and then marriage of his wife to the lawyer. Bill was upset over the affair and had threated to fisticuff the lawyer. Bill's "belligerant attitude" didnt look too good when the lawyer got through with him in court proceedings and he lost custody of his two children and was tagged with both alimony and very high child support. His wifes re-marriage ended the alimony but the lawyer kept hauling him into court to increase child support and haggle over property settlements. Bill won an agreement where all his and his wifes property was sold out completely and most of the proceeds put in trust for the childrens college educations. This didnt set too well with the lawyer and ex-wife and they continuously kept trying to raise child support payments and turned Bills children against him. Bill was devastated when it became apparent that his two boys were indeed turning against him. Bill decided that as long as he was employed at a good salary, they would keep nibbling away at him and he would find it difficult to re-build a new life for himself or enjoy his childre. He sold the only thing he still owned, a 3 year old pickup, bought himself a sturdy backpack, hiking boots, tough clothing, and bus ticket to Arizona. There, he hit the road and entered the life of a vagabond. Bill wasn't your usual homeless person but Im sure if the social engineers counted the hangers-on around the courthouse, he would statistically be called one. When Bill needed money, he would hire on temporarily at some electronics store as a repairman and replenish his meager need for money. These were cash only wages only that dont show up on social security or employment rolls.....just another part of the underground economy. Bill said he did not think he would ever enter back into what he called the "rat race" of life. Maybe in a modified way but always with the back door open so he could hit the road again if he decided to.
While going out to pan for gold in Lynx Creek one day, I noticed a large tent set up on the banks of the creek. It was one of those affairs where one large tent is attached to a smaller tent. Lots of living room and comfortable looking. A large canopy in front of the larger tent covered a folding picknic table, chairs, and cooking equipment. It was really a well set up campsite. Also at the campsite was an older Oldsmobile, one of the large older cars with the big V8 engines. There was also a large sturdily constructed utility trailer with 6 ft high sides and metal canvas bows across the top so it could be completely enclosed. National Forest rules are that you can set up camp there for a two week period after which the Rangers can ask you to leave. But that is only after the Ranger first sees you camped there which might be weeks after you first move in. And as long as you run a neat campsite and are doing no damage, the rangers may decide to just not bother you.
Living at that site was a couple in their ealy 30's, call them Bill and Mary
and two children approximately 8 and 7. I made friends with them and Bill taught me a lot about how to eyeball a creek and see the best spots to find some flour gold and small flakes. While I might make a dollar or two a day panning Lynx Creek, Bill would average around 5. Now and then he would hit a hot spot and do better and said sometimes he did much better at creeks where he was allowed to dredge and sluice(Only manual panning was allowed at Lynx Creek). But Bill made most of his money cleaning up around service stations and Garages. Those types of places were always accumulating a lot of old greasy auto parts, tail pipes, etc. Bill would contract(another one of those underground economy off the books type of employment) to clean up those type of places and haul all that stuff off. He would divide all that metal into categorys, iron, aluminum, copper, etc and sell it at scrap prices to a local dealer. He said he always did a great clean up job for those places and if he ever hit the same town more than once could always find work. The big Oldsmobile and utility trailer were heavy enough to handle that type work plus haul all their camping equipment from place to place as they traveled the country. Bill said they "followed the Ducks" north in the springtime and South in the fall so as to stay out of cold weather.Mary was homeschooling their children and they had daily lessons on that picknic table under that canopy in a beautiful forest beside a trickling clear water creek in an area with little rainfall and contuous beautiful weather. Before the weather turned bad they would take off like the birds for a better climate. Mary and Bill were another Southern Calfornia couple who had been gainfully employed but decided to drop out of the rat race for a simplier life. At their age, Im sure I would not have had the guts to do that. One thing for sure, I have never been married to a woman who would have said, "yeah, lets pack it up and move out." In their case, they had both always enjoyed camping out and spent all their off work hours camping out and one day Bill had said, "Boy wouldn't it be nice to just stay here in the mountains and not have to rush back to work Monday morning?" And Mary had said, "Yes, lets do it!". Nice people. I enjoyed their company very much.
