“I have a hard enough time living in my ’08 by myself. But I have to admit I can see the attraction. You’ll see that us LIPs are a hearty bunch. And the SUV is an awesome vehicle for learning the tricks. Welcome to the family.”
As we noted in the last posting, this is what Sam was saying as he introduced himself after crawling out of a night’s sleep on the border of Santa Barbara. This was how we would learn about the concept that I jokingly called SUVpacking.
It seems, according to Sam, that we were literally awakening in a place where a lot of people who travel up and down California rest when they get the chance. It’s accessible and a nice place, pretty safe from the problems of hanging out in a more urban neighborhood.
He chatted with us about the idea and then said, “There really are a lot of people who aren’t homeless or who aren’t as lost as being on the move might suggest. The world is changing and lots of people see the great adventures that await Location Independent People.”
Location Independent People – LIPs!! (Google the phrase, BTW.) What a great acronym. Fun anyway, and suggests something worth talking about.
We would later learn that others use the word professional as opposed to people because they believe that their jobs allow them the exceptional freedom to explore the land, small towns, natural spaces and cultural depths of our countryside – something that other nations reward in young people.
Even now when I think about this I envision the people of the 60s or 70s and the Haight Ashbury district in San Francisco. I always loved fantasizing about being one of those hippies …now I find I’m helping in some small way to bring their style back!! Weird but wonderful!
Anyway, before he took off in the opposite direction (he was heading north toward the Napa/Sonoma wine country, “though more on the coast”) he shared a bit more of his story. It turns out he was an awesome programmer who has worked for a number of start-up businesses, but for lots of reasons wasn’t able to work as his family fell away with the economic meltdown. He freely admits he was homeless for a while, and then….
“I got settled and I changed my realization. Living in a vehicle so well designed for moving about is a very cool American — United States American,” he added with emphasis, he said. “One can’t hike the country and we don’t have good public transit.”
So we have to make our own USAmerican choices! (We learned later about the other Americas, too!)
Making the choice to be a SUVpacker, Sam said giggling at my term, was something he really believed in. And it was something that he promised us we would uncover for ourselves as we moved on.
“Good luck,” he said. “Tell our stories.”
SUVpacking 