Living In His No Frills Minivan At 73 & Loving Life On His Terms

I have said it many times on this channel one of the best things about being involved in Van life is the people that you meet and today while just sitting in a park in my van I came across a gentleman who is just really interesting he has lived a life that most people could not live in 10 lifetimes so come on with me as we learn a little bit about Dawn and some of his life on the road in his home on Wheels his van which is one of 12 Vans he has lived in over the last several decades well hello dawn hello Carol how is it going ever better I'm back on the Dance Floor oh okay okay you know when we we talked for quite a while and you were sharing some of your philosophy about life and things but one of the fascinating things I found about you is the fact that you're a very very educated man you graduated with an undergraduate degree from Princeton and you also have a masters from University of Pennsylvania can you tell my viewers what your undergraduate and Masters are in undergraduate is a special program in European civilization the Masters was in energy the the title of my thesis was between three worlds oil nuclear solar and because of that Master Penn offered me a full scholarship for a PhD which I didn't even apply for but you changed your mind about that and started actually becoming a nomad and pursuing you were telling me pursuing I don't know how to call it I guess a higher calling would you say a book fell into my hands I read one page a book by Raj Niche called meditation the art of ecstasy and after reading one page I said I'm going to India to be initiated into sanyas which was his name for the initiate and it took me nine months to write my Master's thesis I got that done got the Masters and I went to India so you have lived in how many different countries six what six countries did you live in Don I went to high school in Spain for four years and I was in France in Paris at the sorbonne for one year I was in Greece for two years and then South America for nine years eight of those in Brazil and I moved twice once to Argentina and once to Brazil but it didn't work out I love living in my vehicle which I call my home on Wheels and you have been living in a home on Wheels you said this is your 12th van yes and you got your first van in what year 82. wow so you are real in expert on living in a van we were talking earlier and you were sharing some insights and we were comparing notes on how to successfully park because that's that's an ever increasing problem so could you share a few of your tips for how you find and secure parking where you're not harassed it's an issue I get up really early I get up three in the morning and now it's becoming two so I go to sleep early about seven and you know I'm gone by the time people to get up and go to work in early not going out and Milling around once you've parked yeah I never do I have so much to do and then leaving early and then parking near apartment buildings and there are a lot of cars and people don't question who's you know yeah now you also have traveled across country in your vehicle so any when you're in other areas not urban areas any tips on parking in those um places well the same thing you just look for a quiet area um and uh don't stand the same place more than I usually hit one night in a place in the next in another place do you ever say stay away two or three days and then come back or what or one night and that's it well usually just one night because some I have been woken up by residents oh really I learned yeah and the police several times in Marin County and finally one female police officer woke me up at three in the morning and told me where I could park it wouldn't be bothered by the police all right now the residents let's go back to the situation where you've been woken up our residence what what time of night and what would they do well just a few days ago here in Oceanside I had a really good place where I parked in at 9 9 30 I was sleeping and there was a somebody came by with a huge flashlight uh shined It Through the Windows because they don't have intense tinting and said you must leave now don't come back to this neighborhood and that was a resident resident that's the worst that's the worst experience I've had apart from the police wow and what's the last time when I moved from Marin County to Mount Shasta three days before I moved I was in a place I thought was safe I was woken up and got a 240 ticket 240 dollars yep oh my we're sleeping there well speaking of Shasta you are actually kind of a snowbird right now in a manner of speaking would you say what is a snowbird Snowbird is someone who leaves the snowy area in the winter and goes somewhere more Sunny during the winter and comes back exactly so you live in you're saying in the mountains in the in the forest of Mount Shasta all right and so it's snowing there now so you are following the weather waiting until it warms up and then you'll go back so how how long is it typically cold and snowy up there last year I had to wait till April 1st I think it's going to be longer now okay and but there's Mount Shasta and then below the city of Mount Shasta there's a huge Lake like Siskiyou and there are great camping spots there and I camped there until they open the highway up the mountain oh so they closed the highway down when the snow comes yeah it's been closed for months okay you mentioned a few minutes ago when we're talking that you love living in your van so is this what you think is going to be your permanent lifestyle or do you plan to at some point move back into Sticks and Bricks well things change so quickly um I love Latin culture and I went to Puerto Rico to see if that would be a place for me because I could still receive Social Security there but that's when I realized I like the freedom the mobility of living in a vehicle my home on Wheels so this is probably what you're going to do for the rest well the foreseeable future well I don't think about the future because things are changing so quickly there's huge changes coming that are going to change everything okay um so I'm just waiting for the appropriate time all right there is nothing in here that is permanent or is bolted down and even your bed I'm looking here you're telling me that this pad here that you're sitting on that's your bed right it's a yoga mat with the key okay and then you just have a uh sleeping bag that you use really good sleeping bag it'll go down to 10 degrees okay and then that's it now as far as using the bathroom what you use do you have a toilet in here no so when libraries or gas stations or places now you told me that sometimes in an emergency you'll use your trash can for number two one time that happened one time in all these years and then as far as an emergency if you have to take a leak you have a little adjust all the time oh okay okay so you have no fancy schmancy toilet and then as far as Refrigeration do you have a refrigerator no I've got a cooler I don't even have an air conditioning or a heater okay basically how about solar system or power generator or something like that what do you use for power my Master's at school with solar energy and I have these solar charger collectors okay Power everything so that's it just these small power Banks right right now I'm powering my iPhone and that's it meant no refrigerator no power station no toilet but you're completely happy and satisfied and content with this lifestyle yes and what I'm learning my spiritual process and how old are you Don 73. and do you mind me asking how you finance or support yourself Social Security and that's your only source of income yes I was an astrologer since 1982 that was and I was a window washer for a long time in Marin County but basically now it's all Social Security I live on 1200 a month and a lot of that is for gas because I travel so much so would you say gas is your biggest expense yes so people who are looking at this lifestyle living on Social Security do you how do you moderate your gas expenses it by the amount of travel you do staying in one site for longer or when you're in Shasta you kind of just stay there for the whole winter I mean I'm sorry the whole summer well yes I stay a week at a time in the forest that come down resupply and go back up or I go to the lake and stay there for a week at a time but you're not traveling all around the country burning gas not anymore the last things I wanted to ask and share with my viewers is how do you keep clean and how do you take showers whether up in Shasta or whether on the road here in Oceanside or wherever you're spending the winters good question when I first moved to Shasta I would I would bathe in the lake sometimes pretty cold it sounds like well not in the summer in the summer it could be 100 degrees in the city in the lake but then I moved into a trailer on Shasta and he had a shower there and he still lets me use that shower if I go at three in the morning when no one else is going to use it because I get up early I go to the two or three so you're not living in the trailer now just to clarify things but but he lets you go back and use the shower there yeah if you go back now I need to confirm that again with him but we're we're good friends and then now that you're in Oceanside or other places well Oceanside is a very special place called brother benno and it feeds people and has showers and then you were telling me Marin County had public showers yeah all right so basically for showers and keeping clean whatever place you land in for the winter you basically use whatever shower facilities free ones are available and the library here in Oceanside has a whole page on getting showers oh okay well thank you very much before we leave you have written a book and it has an addition to it could you show us what the name of your book is well the first edition was called what is Ascension why do I care okay that was published by Amazon okay and I worked three and a half years on this and the 19th Edition is called flying on empty toward Ascension because my life has actually a the ultimate life of all humans when they find out is to reach Ascension Enlightenment and that is explained in your philosophy on life is explained in your book many things are explained yeah you don't have any travel companions right now although you said you love cats and would love to have one but do you want to show us what you told me where your travel companions you're going to get a kick out of this Globes pine trees from Mount Shasta oh my goodness and a moon cactus so those are your traveling Companions Plus your you say Nature's Bounty that you carry with you everywhere oh my goodness well John thank you so much and maybe we'll catch up with you one of these days in Mount Shasta namaste which means the God in Me salutes the goddess in you well thank you and we will see you down the road

Channel: Glorious Life On Wheels

Views: 296,022

Keywords: van life, rv living, living in a van, boondocking, nomads, senior, seniors, minimalism, tiny houses, tiny home, California, DIY, tiny house, CheapRVliving, Glorious life on wheels, off grid, off grid living, pioneer, camping, rv, camper, YouTube, black female YouTubers, black YouTubers, homeless, homelessness, invisible people

Id: yqxeFhRi8zw

Length: 13min 13sec (793 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 29 2023