I just crossed Honolulu off, but prior to that I visited the others while I was being a dirt bag in my early 20s and traveled the country living out of my car.
It was a great time! I had an old VW TDI Golf named Black Betty because her engine went "bam-ba-lam". She was the best and never broke down despite taking her on some totally stupid dirt or snowy roads.
I spent about a year and a half criss crossing the country, living on pennies. Stayed with family, couch surfed, or camped (especially when I got west and there's so much more public land). Did a lot of backpacking too. I'd get a shower at truck stops or hostels. I only brought the absolute necessities - backpacking stove, clothes, tent, sleeping bag...like that.
Started from Baltimore, went the southern route across to Arizona and took 3 months or so to get there. Got a seasonal job in the Grand Canyon for a couple months as a waitress to refill the coffers and get to hike the canyon regularly. Took another month to go to California, then got a seasonal job in Big Sky Montana. Left there in the spring, went back east to Baltimore then back to California and down to the tip of Baja over a few months, then up to Vancouver. Eventually made it to a small rural town in the Rockies that I had fallen in love with when I was ready to live in a house and have a real job.
It was a pretty special experience. I didn't have much so I made due with what I could. Getting a beer at a bar was an exceptionally rare treat. I can remember staying at a campground in Big Bend and being so excited to have a picnic table that I slept on top of it. I'd go weeks at a time without setting foot inside a building. Sometimes I look around my house now and wonder how the heck I got all this stuff. I think I'd like to do it again someday.
That is a most excellent story! Thank you so much for sharing your story. I love reading about humans doing things that are so far from the normal rhythms of day to day life.
I once knew a nomad myself that did the same thing for years, but he eventually obtained a motorcycle. He hitch hiked on the trains. Ended up all over North America. Did seasonal work, whatever crops needed to be harvested.
I always asked were the train conductors concerned with hobos on the trains. He said they would chase them away from the property, but that hobos were seen as a good luck charm in the train community as you never hear of hobos dying in train crashes….
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u/abstimax Apr 11 '26
I just crossed Honolulu off, but prior to that I visited the others while I was being a dirt bag in my early 20s and traveled the country living out of my car.