A person who travels and lives out of their vehicle
Such a person is known colloquially, in some circles, as a "rubber tramp." "Rubber" refers to the tires on a vehicle and "tramp" refers to traveling. "Tramp" is also associated with living off of handouts, and I know that there are people who do live their lives like that. On this trip I've seen several examples of people hanging out with their vans or RVs near a gas station with a sign and an empty gas can asking for hand outs. But the people that I know who travel in their vehicles all have a means of support -- savings, retirement income, part-time seasonal work, full-time work done on the road: one or more of the above. From what I can tell, working from the road is not all that different from working remotely in a house or apartment, like I've done for the last ten years or so.
Flashback:
During the summer between my junior and senior years of college, I thought it would be fun to work in the amusement park near my school instead of in a restaurant. So I applied for and got a job there. When I showed up for work on the first day I discovered that I hadn't asked enough questions before taking the job. They said that they paid minimum wage, but they didn't make it clear that they weren't talking about the federal minimum wage, which at the time was about $3 per hour. They were talking about the state minimum wage, which at the time was about $2 per hour. The job they gave me was collecting money at one of the arcade games. It was a fast-paced game and I was supposed to collect a dime from each player for each round. When I took my lunch break, I was expected to hand my money belt to someone else while I was gone and then take it back when I returned. For the duration of that break, someone else had access to my till, it was out of my control, and there was no count made either before or after the break. At the end of the day, my till would be counted and compared with whatever the machines said was the total number of games played that day, and my pay would be docked for any shortages. This was not an acceptable arrangement to me. I quit after the first day and took a job waiting tables that, with tips, paid me just about exactly minimum wage (federal that is).
That one day was an important day in my young working life. I stood up for being treated fairly, I got a peek into a working environment was nothing like it appeared on the surface, and then there was what happened during the slow times -- the conversations between the other workers and me. At that time, the park allowed camping for the whole summer season for one ten-cent admission fee. The "retired" folks I worked with that one day had RVs, parked them there for the summer, and worked the park concessions. It was my first glimpse of a different kind of life than I'd ever heard of before and it planted a seed of curiosity and fascination in me.
Fast Forward:
When I heard about the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous a little over a year ago, I was intrigued. I learned more about it from the website cheaprvliving.com and from YouTube videos. I followed a few people who attended the 2017 event by watching their daily vlogs on YouTube. I felt a longing to be there but I wasn't even close to ready. I set a goal to make it to the 2018 event. There were a lot of logistics to handle to make that happen, but I got there. I didn't do it alone -- I had all kinds of help from friends -- but I made it. When I first arrived I took this photo from where I parked my van. It doesn't show much of the scene but it gives a feeling of the area.
Flashback:
During the summer between my junior and senior years of college, I thought it would be fun to work in the amusement park near my school instead of in a restaurant. So I applied for and got a job there. When I showed up for work on the first day I discovered that I hadn't asked enough questions before taking the job. They said that they paid minimum wage, but they didn't make it clear that they weren't talking about the federal minimum wage, which at the time was about $3 per hour. They were talking about the state minimum wage, which at the time was about $2 per hour. The job they gave me was collecting money at one of the arcade games. It was a fast-paced game and I was supposed to collect a dime from each player for each round. When I took my lunch break, I was expected to hand my money belt to someone else while I was gone and then take it back when I returned. For the duration of that break, someone else had access to my till, it was out of my control, and there was no count made either before or after the break. At the end of the day, my till would be counted and compared with whatever the machines said was the total number of games played that day, and my pay would be docked for any shortages. This was not an acceptable arrangement to me. I quit after the first day and took a job waiting tables that, with tips, paid me just about exactly minimum wage (federal that is).
That one day was an important day in my young working life. I stood up for being treated fairly, I got a peek into a working environment was nothing like it appeared on the surface, and then there was what happened during the slow times -- the conversations between the other workers and me. At that time, the park allowed camping for the whole summer season for one ten-cent admission fee. The "retired" folks I worked with that one day had RVs, parked them there for the summer, and worked the park concessions. It was my first glimpse of a different kind of life than I'd ever heard of before and it planted a seed of curiosity and fascination in me.
Fast Forward:
When I heard about the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous a little over a year ago, I was intrigued. I learned more about it from the website cheaprvliving.com and from YouTube videos. I followed a few people who attended the 2017 event by watching their daily vlogs on YouTube. I felt a longing to be there but I wasn't even close to ready. I set a goal to make it to the 2018 event. There were a lot of logistics to handle to make that happen, but I got there. I didn't do it alone -- I had all kinds of help from friends -- but I made it. When I first arrived I took this photo from where I parked my van. It doesn't show much of the scene but it gives a feeling of the area.
Comments
Post a Comment