Okay, I'm about to do a test run. I can't just sit here anymore.

Better Today

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Thu Oct-07-10 05:32 PM
Original message

Okay, I'm about to do a test run. I can't just sit here anymore.

A few months back I put up a post about nearly being homeless, and looking to take my extensive and unusual photography equipment and myself on the road. Right after that I got a job with the Census Bureau for about three weeks which kept me from going. Then I got another job, but that asshole after 4 weeks was clearly in no position to actually pay anyone, since I was his office manager/accountant, when I say it was clear, I mean it was clear. So we parted ways, nonetheless still delayed my going drive-about.

Well, I'm going on a test run, starting next week. I have a friend from CA that is going to a convention in Las Vegas, I'll meet him there, taking a few days to get there, then down to his place in CA. I built his website and he has new product so I'll spend a couple of days revamping his site, getting him new photography, etc. During that time I will live in his backyard in my utility trailer to test whether or not I have everything I need to be drive-about. Not that he hasn't offered his home to me, but I need the test. After that I will return here, taking a few days to traverse up through northern CA and Oregon, to get anything I missed thinking the need of, and to return things I didn't really need and took up too much space.

Then I'll be heading out and about. Though my equipment is unique and imo exciting, right now very few will pay for professional photography or videography, particularly from someone like me who is a technical rather than artistic photographer. So my thought then and now, is to travel the US and record for posterity a lot of the anguish and homelessness and so on. Back when I first posted this idea I had only photography, since then I have organized a set up to do videography, which doesn't seem like much till you realize that the unique thing about my set up is that I use a 50' mast allowing me to be well out of the way, and after set up, generally not noticed much. So I capture a reality that is sometimes missed from ground level when people know they are being recorded.

Yesterday, my wonderful neighbors helped me put a captain's bed in my small utility trailer. Fortunately my actual equipment needed the 5'x8' trailer because the mast when collapsed is still 8' long, but it takes up almost no room at all side-to-side or up-n-down. Today and thru the weekend, I'll be loading the drawers and the trunk of my car with things I think I'll need to survive living on the road for an extended time. I have no doubt I'll make some mistakes in those choices, hence the test run.

I am nearly completely broke, actually I'm going to have to file bankruptcy because what little I have left was actually taken from a credit card account. My daughter has transferred my cell to her billing, which is costs $10 instead of $60 and has agreed to pay that for me. Otherwise all I have left will go to gas and raw food, ie not restaurants or fast food. I will likely be traveling with a very large, but very sweet dog. I say likely, because he is part of this test. I don't know if he will really behave and tolerate this as well I hope. If he doesn't there's someone here who loves him and will take him.

So, just like last time I thought I was about to go drive-about. I have a few requests for anyone who might be agreeable. First and foremost, when I arrive in areas, I won't know where to find that which needs recording for posterity, whether it's the homeless areas of a town or perhaps a protest or anything else politically or socially interesting going on in the area at the time. So I'd appreciate any assistance in this area. I'll be blogging, and vlogging, so everyone will know where I am and where I'm going. Hopefully y'all who are in those areas will message me and let me know what to focus on.

Secondly, I would really appreciate having a safe place to park and sleep when it's possible, perhaps have a real meal (I'll be traveling primarily with rice and beans, cheap and filling), perhaps a load of laundry, and perhaps recharge some equipment.

Lastly, I'm hoping that after I'm proving myself valuable in regard to posting and blogging about what I'm seeing and recording, some will be willing to donate or sponsor in minor amounts so I can keep going till I've covered all of the 48 lower states. My funds might get me through about 2 months, after that I'll be dead in the water. But since I'm only buying gas, beans and rice, and the bare necessities, I won't need much and want to find a way to limit contributions to what I need, I'm not wanting to profit from this, pay off that credit card debt, or catch up on the mortgage. Just enough to keep going doing this project.

I'll be starting in the NW where I am currently living and going from there to ... well, I'm thinking y'all should help direct me to where the important things are going on. I'd like to take the entire year of 2011 to do this. I believe I'll bring a unique perspective to what I'm planning for a number of reasons. I've never been homeless or financially strapped till two years ago, and in those two years, I've not felt it because I was borrowing to stay above water. Also, I've never traveled or vacationed or anything. I've moved from and to cities, but once there, I've never had the opportunity really to leave with work and kids and home and such, I just am very small in my world too date, so everything will be new and unusual for me. I won't be able to have any pre-judgements heading into much of anything I'll be seeing.

Goodness, this has gotten long. I guess I should stop here and read some responses before I add anymore. I fear, now that I'm putting this out there again, that I'll get few responses, little interest, and will basically get unrec'd into obscurity, but hey, y'all are the only online forum I frequent, so if not here, where?

Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think, any ideas, or criticisms, or concerns will be appreciated.