chewybrian 

OK, so I met this guy on the bus yesterday, and it got me thinking...

Who besides you do you know or know of that gets around without a car? What is interesting about their lifestyle, personality, or accomplishments? It could be a friend, someone you met, or a celebrity.

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So, the guy on the bus was going from Cincinnati (I am from Cincinnati, too, which got us to talking--Who Dey!?!) to Key West by a combination of pedestrian locomotion and short trips on city buses. That day was probably a good one for him, because Brevard County is so long and skinny. He was going from Mims to Malabar, maybe 55 miles or so, for a buck and a half with multiple transfers, and then walking to the next bus connection (maybe Vero?).

He had only a very small backpack, one change of clothes, a very thin sleeping bag, and one of those aluminum foil looking sheets to keep warm and dry--and a paper map, very hipster. He was sleeping wherever he could get away with it, and traveling for about 5 bucks a day. He said the dollar stores will get you through, with a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter most days.

He had money; he did not look homeless or smell like he had not bathed. He was bright and did not appear intoxicated, mentally ill, etc. He was simply looking for freedom and adventure and finding it. I was impressed and a little jealous about his lifestyle, though I don't know if I would try it or not. Still, it was quite interesting hearing about his journey for a few minutes.

Walter S

To feel like I'm following a healthy life it has to include a well balanced diet. Living on bread and peanut butter would have to be rare. Food is where I come to the biggest obstacle fully adopting the live-cheaply ideas I hear.

Walter S

Car free celebrities is an interesting idea. Are there any?

chewybrian 

I believe David Byrne from the Talking Heads is, or was LCF, and rides his bike for transportation often.

Phlorida

If I remember correctly you are in the Eau Gallie area, are you car free? The Space Coast seems like a difficult place to pull that off. No?

I-Like-To-Bike

You might find interesting reading the non-fiction book Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer about an LCFer, Christopher McCandless, who was very committed to living "the simple life."

chewybrian 

You mean me being car-free here? Well, yes, but...

I lived on the Indian River and commuted up and down Indian River Drive, about 15 miles each way, for 5 years.



^What a great ride.

Then, I took all the money I had saved and bought a condo in Viera about a mile from work.

Up north, it was a long way to just about anything, but I was training to be a 'randonneur', so I embraced it. Still, it was a tough task, as I was going 200 miles a week every week (not including events!).

Down here, I can ride around the neighborhood in my golf cart,



or cruise the wide sidewalks on the Long Haul Trucker, or just walk to Publix or whatever.



It's much easier now. The bus system here stinks, but I don't use it much.

I will have to check that out. I have found the simple life easier than expected, as you have to work pretty hard to pay for all those 'conveniences'.

edit--I see from reading the synopsis that you had the sarcasm set at 'ludicrous speed' again. No matter, as it still looks like a very interesting story.

Machka 

Same response as I wrote here ...

https://www.bikeforums.net/living-car...l#post16499929

"Four Women ... four strong, adventurous, intelligent, beautiful, well-travelled, and interesting women.

I met all four through cycling forums, and have met, and cycled with, three of the four in person.

All four have posted on Bike Forums at one time or another, although not in this sub-forum.

2 are American (east coast), 1 is Canadian (Alberta), and 1 is French (Paris).

They are all car-free and have been for some time ... but they don't talk about it. They just are car free.

What they talk about is their latest randonneuring event ... their multi-month tours around Europe and elsewhere ... that they've signed up to do some racing this year.

And they talk about their lives ... music, cats, house renovations, books, jobs, travel ...

They are all inspirational for many reasons ... but one of the many inspirational things is how they all live full, interesting, exciting, and varied lives while being car free."

I-Like-To-Bike

No more "ludicrous" than your admiration/fascination for the simple lifestyle of the interesting fellow you described in the OP.

kickstart

A person often dreams of a life of adventure from their armchair,.

A person living a life of adventure often dreams of an armchair.

eofelis 

We have a friend here in town. A guy in his 50s. Doesn't own a car or drive, doesn't want to. In the past 5 years he has run a successful hiking and biking group and he has gone on over 400 local hiking and biking events with the group. If the event is close to town he will ride his bike to the trailhead. If it is further away he arranges to catch a ride with one of the other hikers. He met his girlfriend through the hiking group and now I think he mostly rides with her. He has had some trouble lately with pain in one of his legs but I think he is getting it looked at soon.

He has also been unemployed for the past 4 years or so. I finally asked him how he is getting by. He told me when he was working he saved a lot of money and now lives very frugal. He has a cheap apartment that he has been living in for 15 years. He seems to be getting by ok.

B. Carfree

About seven years ago my wife and I began noticing a woman who we saw out riding often. She was sporting items/gear that has become popular among the newer randonneuring crowd (front bag, 650B wheels, slightly more upright than is typical). Eventually, we stopped just waving at each other and stopped to chat. We became friends immediately with this car-free woman. She's about our age and when she got to know us better she confided that she was interested in finding a life partner. We were very happy for her when she met her current partner. Now we see both of them out riding and they are a very happy couple. Unfortunately, they are looking to sell their house and move out of state due to the harassment they have faced on our bike paths. (We lose a lot of women cyclists due to our large aggressive homeless population.) They have started a business (their third business between them) sewing bags for bikes and other uses. They do nice work. They chose to select a new last name for themselves when they got married. I think that's a nice way to make a fresh start and commit to a new phase in life. I certainly like that better than the tradition of the female changing her name (which none of the females in my family have chosen to do in sixty years).

Roody

The book is interesting. But subsequent investigations have revealed that Krakauer got a lot of the facts wrong. Either read it as fiction, or be sure to do some more research after you have finished it.

wolfchild

It doesn't matter if the author of the book made some minor mistakes. The story itself is all true. The fact of the matter is that his desire to live a "simple life" is what ruined his mental state and eventually cost him his life.

chewybrian 

It is less ludicrous to have dreams than to spend all your time trying to kill the dreams of others.



People who are different, or who dare to try things others are afraid to try, or even think impossible, are interesting. That doesn't mean they always hold the moral high ground, or they can prove the correctness of their position with logic. It doesn't mean all their ideas have merit, or that they might not be making a huge mistake.

It just means they have a compelling story.

I-Like-To-Bike

If you say so. I suggest you hang around some homeless shelters or street corner ranters; you are likely to hear all sorts of interesting stories from interesting people and I suspect a goodly proportion of them are living the "simple" car free lifestyle that you so admire. You might even believe that they are living the dream.

Roody

Well, that's only your opinion. The facts don't bear this out. Chris McCandless died because he got sick, possibly from eating poisonous plants. Not because of his commie pinko beatnik lifestyle. Krakauer himself has retracted many of his conclusions. He's a really good writer, a careful researcher, but he didn't have all the facts yet when he wrote the book. For one thing, family members and friends weren't willing to talk to him until later. For another thing, the forensic evidence wasn't yet available from the site of his death.

Anyways, it's an interesting story and obviously very polarizing. I do suggest that people who read Into the Wild augment their reading with some of the more recent findings if they want a truer picture of what really happened. Otherwise, they can do like you and read it as a novel.

How Chris McCandless Died - The New Yorker

Chris McCandless Now I Walk Into The Wild - Ali Ingah

A recent PBS cocumentary about McCandless shares a lot of the more recently discovered evidence. You can watch it online:

https://www.pbs.org/program/return-to-the-wild/

Roody

Yes you're right, IMO. If one can look past one's stereotypes and prejudices, wisdom can be seen in many lives. And sometimes, the wisest people are also the most troubled. A lifetime spent working with people with severe mental illnesses has shown me this a thousand times.

wolfchild

It's a tragic incident which could of easily happened to anybody who loves nature and wilderness. It just goes to show that you can't mess around with nature.

Roody

Actually, Chris McCandless was a careful forager and he had a good guidebook. The plant that probably killed him wasn't widely known to be poisonous at that time. At least, that's what Krakauer now believes. At any rate, it does show that we humans don't know everything about the natural world.

chewybrian 

Yes, just because you know the right thing to do doesn't mean you will do it. My sister is a spectacular example of this. She can size up your situation and give you the right answer in a heartbeat. But, she never applies these simple solutions in her own life.

I think extremes are interesting. If I am meeting new people at a party, I am instantly drawn in by: "I walked the Appalachian Trail this summer", or something similar. I feel an instant connection, because it's something I would do, and most other people would not. It could be riding a century, or running a marathon, or that guy working his way across the country on 5 bucks a day. It made me think of this lady:

Peace Pilgrim Home

^Yes, she had some odd or unrealistic ideas, but there was also a lot of wisdom in what she said and did. Mostly, though, her level of dedication and fearless devotion to her principles just made her story worth reading. She dared to do many things others would not, and her actions made her interesting enough for many people to hear her message.

Roody

Harry is carfree and pretty interesting. I have worked with him off and on for almost 30 years. He has left to work several different jobs, but always returned to the hospital where I work. Harry has seven children ranging in age from 7 years old to almost 40. Harry never lived with his kids or their mothers, AFAIK, but he has always been a devoted father. He sees each child nearly every day as they're growing up and even as adults. Every day he makes his rounds of the different places in the city where the kids live. He takes three different buses and also walks a lot. His wife used to drive him the two miles to work every night, but she died suddenly a few months ago. Now he walks or buses to work and usually somebody gives him a ride home in the morning. Harry can drive. In fact, he was a truck driver for a few years. But he chooses to spend his money on his kids rather than a complicated lifestyle. He only works part-time so he has to stretch his dollars. I offered him several bikes over the years, but he said he just never liked riding a bike. He likes walking and loves taking the bus.

jfowler85

Food snob alert.

That is not devotion.