Why did you seek out the forums?

[GotSmart]

The question of the week is what caused you to join a forum about dwelling on the road?

For me it was easy. I left home to get away from my kids.   

I have three daughters. I made sure that I had a place for them in case of life’s happening. My chickens kept coming home to roost, as my mother would say. When my youngest daughter was in her second year of college, I bought a old dodge van. First I joined a dodge forum, and got the mechanics dialed in. Then I joined the crvl to learn how to get the living space set up right. I discovered solar.    I had so much fun building everything the way I wanted it that it was almost a year until I realized that I had a short van.    All along the way there was Sternwake to guide me in the electrical. I doubt that I would have made it without the community to give ideas and an occasional part. It took a couple of years to be able to hit the road. But I made it. 

For me this is what this life is about. Sharing information and passing along the favors given by people that once were complete strangers. Many are now friends.

[RoamerRV428]

Camm asked this on another thread so I am copying and pasting it here for me:

BUT yea Camm.....what brought me to van dwellers is that I wanted cheap also and tricks and tips for living on the road to save money.....find out cheaper places to hit like parking lots on the road while long travel and then also wanted info on more boondocking that we wanted to do. kid friendly on the road when kid was alot younger from others who had kids, but now, kid gonna hit college so don't need that anymore

So I ain't no van LOL, won't ever be....lowest I ever intend to go is a small Class B if hubby croaks and I am on my own

Road Life while traveling and all it entails. and all that other crap that goes with it

Maybe a site forum name change.....get the van out of it and maybe just encompass 'all things on the road for travel' with a recreational vehicle of any kind, tents too of course. just a thought.....we don't need to be associated with any other forums ya know.....we can be us as we need if it suits everyone for a possible name change? again, throwing out options

[Scott7022]

Why did I come to the forum. I enjoyed reading the experiences of others on crlv and in particular the legacy YARC individuals that ran against the grain and stood firm in their beliefs. Gunny, HDR, American Patriot. Not that I shared their view or agreed with everything they stood for. But I wrote a cheque pledging my life to protect their right to say it. So for me it was refreshing.

Then it got a little old as the stay on topic bogged down the creativity and this site version 1.7 was born. I enjoyed reading the exchanges and the debates. We formed a community and I shared what I could. In my style of tall tail or too tall to be fiction.

Considering what is going on in the world with twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the like being blocked by “elected” types it’s important to have a space to call home to find out someone you know, by reading or sharing a campfire, opinion. It doesn’t have to be truth it doesn’t have to be 100% facts and just the facts. It’s just a regular person you knows view from his drivers seat. I think this is super important. Perspective. Or in the case of my contributions a story to ease the night into tomorrow or some different perspective to think about.

It’s also nice to have a second set of eyes and ears to run a build idea past to have some input and not just: “use four gauge wire here’s my affiliate link”. Some crazy social fun, experiments, or whatever whim happens to cross the weird overlords mind over coffee is also good as it breaks up the seriousness of life and makes us remember that even a 56, some younger, others older, we are still the people that would jump the first bus to never-never land. At least in spirit. That child like engagement with life makes us special and as he is fond of saying YARC’d lol.


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[Kyz]

I joined as a total wanna be. I was still working and had one chicken that had returned home with baby. It took quite a few years to get to the "living in an RV" part, but now I'm waiting to get to the nomad part.

[Kyz]

Something else I just remembered...I read the forums for years before I actually joined. I waited until I was closer to being able to make it a reality. That might be the case for other wanna be's so maybe a way to draw those people in, a space to discuss how to even get started. Everyone has to sort out their own situation of course.

[Rav]

Came to this forum just today for love of my good friend Cammalu. I lurked on CRVL for a few years before getting my rig and becoming nomadic, but eventually joined to answer someone’s question. I’ve lurked here, too, off and on.

I have a love/hate relationship with forums. I love all of the good info I’ve gotten and hopefully given a little good info back. I also love that I’ve met and befriended some wonderful nomads because of forums.

The parts I hate are folks being rude to each other, going off the deep end on subjects beyond the scope of the thread, and know-it-alls.