59 Year Old Widow Finds New Normal As A Nomad

people see the 40 feet of truck and trailer they don't see me as the human the person who puts money into this community um they think that we're the scum of the earth and it's not the case i have met so many families and so many single people who can't just afford the rents now um and this is their way of life and it's a struggle and i rather them see me as a human than see me as somebody who's just on the side of the road that's not the case [Music] welcome welcome to another episode of glorious life on wheels out and about i'm going to be talking with cats a nomad you recently met on one of my other videos when i shared what's going on with the parking situation regarding nomads and the city council in oceanside california well today we're going to learn a bit more of cat's backstory and some things she's experienced have you ever had life's events just sucker punch you right in the gut and you didn't know what to do about it well that happened to cats but she's coming back and she's coming back strong and i think you're going to be encouraged by her story and her resilience and determination to stay the course in spite of everything that has happened so come on let's go talk to katz and find out what's going on with her [Music] well hello cats and thank you so much for welcoming me and my globies into your beautiful home well thank you welcome to nash so this is the brand name is nash of this trailer okay and how big is it he's 27 feet and he's 207 square feet oh okay well it really has all the comforts of home even a bathtub which we're going to look at in a little while but i wanted to get go a little more into your story you are really pretty new at driving um a trailer and a truck hitch are you correct yes i was not driving this truck prior to danny passing um he always drove his truck okay so let's go into a little detail you were with your partner for 40 years yes since i was 18 years old wow and you have two sons they're in their 30s and your business you actually prior to the virus hitting you had a thriving um pet sitting business plus you had a pet grooming and you were telling me that you also bred golden retrievers correct you also told me shared with me that you were named the outstanding pet sitter of the whole city of vista by the city of this vista rather in 2019 yes i was so you know the idea that nomads are bombs or people just living off the system that that's just so far from the truth yes um including danny's businesses we had four businesses running prior to his death so you were telling me kat that it had always been a desire of you and your partner danny to live in oregon is that correct yeah um that's why we bought this trailer we were our initial plans were we were going to turn right at the freeway and head towards oregon he realized he was just too sick when we got here so you've shared he had a number of illnesses and had been quite sick for a number of years but the last thing that really took over was parkinson's correct he'd been sick since 2010 um very much and uh the last couple months of the parkinson's he was falling all over the place now you and danny were together 40 years but you were never actually married you told me you actually were there because you wanted to be you didn't have to be exactly but all my other friends weren't i always had him and we chose not to be married okay but there was a family there were unfortunately consequences to that in that you now are not eligible to receive his social security yeah in california there's no common law so i can't get his social security i couldn't get his body i couldn't get anything i can close the businesses down it really amazed me what rights i didn't have yeah it anyone out there who's in that situation you might want to look into it and find out because it not only did you lose your partner 40 years you now had a trailer and a truck a truck you'd never driven you'd never you said you'd never pulled the trailer before no i not this truck and he never let anybody drive it and i've had a few issues so i want to get a sticker that says god why is this woman driving my truck didn't you tell me you actually got stuck on the railroad tracks i got stuck on the rail tracks at mcdonald's uh the tire fell off uh the trailer got locked in we had to shut the train down we're in the middle of traffic on a freeway um off-ramp it was a nightmare um very expensive repair and then it broke down again a couple weeks later with the same issue where the tire fell off it turned out that the lug nut was ovaled but you told me that you're not planning on getting rid of it because it's your home now right and it's a it's you have it beautifully decorated and it was the place that you spent your last few months with danny yes that is true um danny's still here he's in a drawer oh my goodness just so globies and everyone knows after the last comment about danny we took a break for a moment and we're we're back but so how i met you was i give away food from my cooking show in an area where you were parked and things were happening regarding parking so i was talking to some people down here and i happened to meet you and we got to talking about the parking situation it's just it's a nightmare yeah it's a i understood did the 72 hours move for 24 that was easy for me but with my back injury having them pick up and move every night is really hard because i can't keep things stable i don't know where i'm going to be and a lot of people just don't know what to do we're hoping to get that changed with the city council and that's something i will keep globies informed on but people might ask well why don't you just go live with your sons or why don't you but you shared with me that first of all neither one of them live in a place that would accommodate your trailer and you also had some other words about yeah i don't a mom should be the one that takes care of the kids i don't want to be that poor mom i've always been independent and they um have their own lives one just got married may 1st and has a you know new wife and daughter um so i don't want to burden them well i think that's typical that parents want to maintain their independence they don't want to live with their kids if they can help it no and like and like you said they don't even have the place for you to put your trailer so that wouldn't work but we're going to be coming back and learning more about as this this is an evolving story but you know what for right now why don't we take a look around your your home okay all right so you have a pretty good size refrigerator in here now is that propane ac or how what is that it's a three-way um norcold um refrigerator oh okay and then you have a microwave and do you use that pretty often always always once i'm on generator power i have full access to all utilities so you have also you have a is your stove propane uh yes it is and how many burners uh three and a oven also yes we use that and then i notice you also have double sinks so that's quite handy now i'm looking around here and i'm seeing that you have storage down here is that for your food this is my food cabinet this is just munchies okay this is my snack cabinet okay so you have you have a good amount of storage and then okay and that's all food down there i've also noticed you have a lot of other electrical um things like the large tv so how do you power everything i use the two batteries that come on the trailer or i use the generator or i use this little baby that has electrical cell phone and an extra 12 volt and it plugs into my ceiling with a 12-volt adapter oh okay and so you were telling me you have a something in your bedroom and also another one in the kitchen yes okay all right well why don't we go look at the bedroom and see what the bedroom looks like so it looks like you have plenty of room here i noticed you have room space on either side of the bed what size is your bed my bed's a queen sized bed and with a little comfy okay now does it lift up or have storage underneath i have my 40 gallon water tank underneath here okay and then storage all the way around and then i notice also you have windows here that makes it so nice yes my emergency exits there i have this one here which i can see all the way down okay and then i have my window here and my vents so you've got three big size windows in here okay nice so and a queen size bed okay well let's go over and look at your bathroom area you know before we go into your bathroom i see you have a little companion here and who is this this is aj he's a red belly parrot oh okay he loves to dance and sing to kendrock so his favorite music is kid rock okay well i would love to see him dance and sing to kid rock but unfortunately i'll get a copyright strike so i can't but meanwhile moving along here you have um a dinette and you were telling me it used to be so that you could turn it into a bed but you we chose to use l brackets okay and make it a solid uh the dogs have their bed underneath okay and if they want to sleep they can sleep here at night okay but it made it easier instead of having to move things all the time okay i'm noticing in your bathroom here you have a really big cabinet that's kind of unusual to have that big a cabinet in this smaller size trailer what do you store in there in this one it's dog food and laundry dry goods cleaning supplies and underneath on the bottom is where my water heater is oh okay and then you have of course your toilet and your sink the one thing i really love about this bathroom which is a luxury in a trailer this size is if you is that you have a full-size toilet and you also have a skylight this is why we bought this trailers because of this bathroom wow it's awesome you have the skylight there and then you have another one i'm going back here overhead so you have two openings in this you have just loads of ventilation in here yes and i have the back window too okay well we're seeing and being introduced to the other members of your family this is faith and how old is faith faith is 11 and this is her granddaughter casey oh my goodness and casey's how old casey just turned 3 may 30th okay so i can see why you didn't want to give up your family and so what do you think what does the future hold for you do you think i don't know yet i still got to find my new normal and life is changing daily um i want my businesses back i don't know that and i um don't know where i'm going to be i don't know what city i'm going to be in just playing day by day right now my first um business is barry danning okay and so you're gonna be doing that out at sea uh we're gonna do it at sea and then there's certain places in hermosa beach where we grew up um okay all right so well we can hear the dogs behind they're lapping their water so in case anyone's wondering what that sound is but we're gonna keep keep in touch with you and you're learning your new normal you're learning how to and hopefully we'll when we come back you'll have driven on the freeway a few more times and we'll be hearing about you and your two girls here and we'll check back with you and again thank you so much for being so gracious no problem and the kindness of the people out here are awesome okay and it sounds like it sounds like you're determined to make a go of it i will yeah i just got to learn how to drive first okay all right guys we'll see you next time bye bye

Channel: Glorious Life On Wheels

Views: 100,490

Keywords: van tour, van life, nomad living, rv living, solo female rv life, senior rv life, glorious life on wheels, living on social security, nomad life, solo female nomads, how to find boondocking spots, rv budgets, budget living, budget travel, invisible people, poverty in america, homelessness in america, rent free living, how to not pay rent, urban camping, urban vanlife

Id: Gd_nhud6qmg

Length: 13min 48sec (828 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 20 2021