9 Years of Freedom on Social Security: A Nomadic Story of Healing and Resilience

it changed and saved my life I came out here in my van thinking I was going to die MH and I I lived with that for several years and then I start I started acting like okay I'm going to live bye everyone welcome back to my next video today we're going to meet a dear old friend yes uh Deborah Dickinson hi Deb hi sweetheart de good to see you again good to be here glad to see be with you again we haven't been on video together in a long time very long time yeah when back in the very beginning of when I was on YouTube yes and so when did we first meet uh 2015 my friend Glenn he wanted me to come camp with you cuz he was a little concerned about me and you later said it doesn't get much greener than I was at the time he said I want you to go camp with my friend Bob stay with him and as long as he'll let you and do what he tells you to do and learn and it was one of the biggest blessings of my life I loved and for me as well at Le equally as much for me thank you yeah and what had led you to the situation where you really kind of needed to leave in the van well my neurosurgeon at the time had told me and my trustee that I might see 2016 but I probably wouldn't know it and uh she let's go back a step before that why did you need a neurosurgeon oh uh I have yeah you'll have to kind of lead me through I um have a traumatic IC brain injury a TBI and um I got that um I was in the process of adopting my foster son who had Down syndrome and he had an episode and long story short I ended up in a coma and uh it just was the gift that kept on giving and 10 years later I had brain surgery and and then we got that announcement that day my then trustee Leslie took me to lunch and said sweet heart what is it you want to do Now's the Time to to figure that out and I said I I want to hit the road I guess it was 3 months later that's what I did right and you emailed me yeah and you were very gracious right I was in Texas and you were in Arizona I think I was Flagstaff yes yeah we met in Flagstaff Y and so you camped with me for 6 months a year it it was close to close to a year because we then of course um after a few months met up with Jamie and kindall and and suan and it pre RTR and then RTR and you got a good solid foundation under you oh Bob the the best I I've been blessed to be able to keep my skill of writing and I had a dream of writing books and I have been able to do that but I one of my first books I wrote was how being a nomad saved my life yeah thank you yeah and it it it uh you're you're I give you a lot of credit in there because that Foundation you gave me set me up to be here in 2023 starting on my ninth year full-time on the road um and I I I just I can't even hardly talk about it without crying it was um Beyond a blessing you you and what you taught me were literally life saving well of course so I've known you all this time since then and our paths keep Crossing and which is wonderful yeah and it's pretty amazing that that neurosurgeon gave you a year and you may not even at not even if you're still there here you may not even know what year it is yeah you are dramatically better than when I first met you yes dramatically better and it is because of being able to be out in nature I don't um I don't go to cities I I am able now to go do things that I didn't think I'd ever be able to I went to hear music and Dance For the First Time In 2019 and I'll wear a headset and everything to block out the noise and I can do social things and do things that I never thought I would be able to two or three years ago um timelines are hard for me but um my doctor put me on AOSP which is experimental for brain injuries and is normally prescribed for Alzheimer's and Dementia what this lifestyle had not done for me that just kind of pushed me up a little higher and that's when I was really able to really start writing books and I just started my 10th one I mean I amazing yeah well tell everyone about uh the books and how they can get hold of you probably the the best and easiest thing to do is Deborah dickinson. comom and uh my books are on Amazon and on uh paperback Kindle and audible I have a YouTube channel it hasn't grown much but um I I love what I do and I I love sharing what this life has done for me and if it can help one person then I'm going to keep on putting videos out there too yeah well tell everyone the YouTube channel it's my name Deborah Dickinson I didn't come up with anything clever it's just my name Deborah Dickinson yeah so go check that out folks soon as we're done here you go check that out I also want to say that you know I I did know you before you were the Bob Wells and has been a pleasure to watch you accomplish your dreams and your dream was always to help others and uh to put out there your vision of what people like me can live and do differently and I am just I I I would be a Miss if I didn't tell you how proud I am of you and happy for you and the people that you have helped along the way I'm I'm I was one of the first but I I'm just thrilled that the success you've had well thank you I very much appreciate that yeah yeah that's very kind of you you're now in a pretty nice RV I am but so why don't you give us a timeline of the rigs you've been in so I had had this dream of traveling when I retired uh before um the brain surgery and so I had the had the plan before all of that happened to retire and travel I thought that I would uh have a toy hauler I I used to motorcycle I had a Harley I love motorcycle riding of course those days are over and I just envisioned that's what I would do Coast to Coast border to border and so I had bought a a vintage Class B and was redoing her uh head to toe and uh she actually caught fire and then I was in a bumper pool and all of that was before I even hit the road and then when everything went with my brain so to speak I ended up buying uh that cargo van no insulation not not even a bed you built my first bed do you remember that I hadn't yeah in Sedona right on the edge of the of the Red Cliffs you built you built me my first bed I was on the floor on a on a in a sleeping bag I do remember yeah so I'm very very blessed by that and I was in that van for 5 years I about and got this in 2020 you had actually put this rig on your channel when Tiki owned it I've it's it's not even the same rig anymore but uh Tiki owned it and then she sold it to friends of mine but it kind of it didn't even make it back to their house they had to put a new transmission or have the transmission rebuilt and they just wanted to get rid of it because it was clear it needed one thing after another one thing after another and I was very blessed they sold this to me for only $3,000 that's nice yeah but I will tell you since then I've put in about 20,000 so everybody thinks oh I'm going to get this beater and I'm going to live in it happily ever after and that's true but you just need to know it it doesn't stop there you you you know she this old girl has needed a lot of work but but what a blessing she has been and I've been blessed to be able to get that done and and for me um living on Social Security it you know I I don't have a choice it's not I I made mistakes as my brain injury progressed and my diagnosis progressed I made the mistake of trying to hold on to all my worldly Goods I cashed in my retirement to save my house I you know I just made One Financial mistake after another and so by the time that I hit the road I I had pretty much lost everything I don't have a choice but I have a rig that I've got about 25,000 in if something major does go wrong like the engine or something then I'm I'm just off the road I'll have her towed somewhere and that's the end of the line for me and so that's the other reality it's like it you know are you going to keep sinking money into it and if you don't have a choice if you are financially strapped like me to where you're living month to month and you have to keep putting money into it to keep her rolling what happens when you can't what's your backup plan and I I've I've had to give that a hard look and and I don't want to talk about it I don't want to think about it I'm saying it's not going to happen because every time something has happened on her I've been blessed even if it's Earth Angels stepping up to help me I had somebody that loaned me uh some money to get uh something major done on her and let me pay them back a hundred a month I mean I am I am blessed beyond belief and not everybody might have that opportunity So when you buy a beater think about those things because it can it can your life if it breaks down can change overnight that's true but you are on very low income do you mind if we talk about your income anything that can help anybody I'm an open book for that okay yeah and how much were you making back then if I remember correctly it was just under 900 that's what I remember yeah yeah I was just under 900 and uh that bed that you built me me cost a hundred and that was a strap it was you were like oh we can do it for less than 100 and I was like okay but we did yeah and uh and so so that's Social Security it is disability but it's my social security that I paid into I I I I don't know why people have such a hard time with somebody being on disability and it's it I will never understand that where the compassion where the empathy where where the heart is around that uh but for anybody that wants to jump on that bandwagon hey I worked since I was 14 years old and paid into Social Security since I was 16 this month it just went up to 1500 so yeah W of course the cost of everything has gone way up since then yes yes but I think it's important for people to know that that they're like oh but you sell books and you have YouTube and you you know blah blah blah blah blah well I'm not cheap RV living you know I uh my channel uh hasn't grown um I don't know why but check me out I make anywhere some months you know you have to make $100 or you don't even get a check so there's some months I don't even get a check from from YouTube and then some months I'll make as much as 200 and I make anywhere from around $50 a month off off my books but then I have to turn around and buy books to sell and so that 50 a month that I that I get usually goes right back into the book sales so I pretty much am out here living off of my Social Security month to month right so it can be done it can be done you have to really budget yes you have to really budget but you do it we do it and you're happy I am so happy and so happy and blessed ever since the day I left Texas to head for you good I'm glad to be a small part in your story thank you Bob I hope it helps people I mean that's why I keep putting myself out there you know this this isn't to put in the video but you know I had death threats in 2017 and 2018 um after I was featured on your channel because people just couldn't accept that I look like I do and have a traumatic brain injury and it was um it was brutal I I hid for a long time I didn't even get to go to the 2018 RTO cuz I so scared um there's actually two FBI Files active FBI Files because they were they were pretty bad I keep putting myself out there though in case it helps somebody um because it it is important I mean it it it it changed and saved my life and it can do that for other people I've known a lot of people over the years and I'm sure you have as well uh that have gotten a diagnosis of a year two three years to live they come out here to die and they end up living far longer than the prognosis yes I'm I'm I'm a case in point my life out here has had several reiterations not just to go from a van to the RV but I came out here in my van thinking I was going to die M and I I lived with that for several years and then it's like I haven't died yet maybe I'm not going to and then I start I started acting like okay I'm going to live and then I'm like well maybe I can write my books after all so I start writing writing books and then it's like I got one written two written three written and like I said I just started my 10th one and now I am just living with abandon I don't even you know it's it's been a progress and I'm just I'm I'm thrilled about it well Deborah thank you so much for sharing your story with us I really really appreciate it I appreciate you so folks next we're going to go in and take a look around inside her RV so come back for that video and thank you so much for joining us and I hope you've been inspired I'm sure you have been and if you got anything out of this video Like Us on YouTube subscribe to the channel hit that thumbs up button and we'll talk to you later bye now

Channel: CheapRVliving

Views: 97,814

Keywords: car, van, RV, Full-time, nomad, camper, camp, boondock, travel, caravan, tiny, house, RTR, Bob Wells, Nomadland, CheapRVLiving, Cheap RV Living, vanlife, van life, how to live in a van, van dwelling, van tour, van conversion, living in a van, camper van, van build, diy van build, sprinter van, van living, #vanlife, van dweller, campervan, vandwelling, diy camper van, RV Life, Living in an RV, Class B, Class C, Truck Living, Living in a car, boondocking, Living in a RV

Id: A8KkxHrxWwY

Length: 14min 47sec (887 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 04 2024