Remembering the days when I was building bicycle-towed mobile homes and living in them about 10 years ago. I was obsessed with the idea of living a totally mobile, rent-free, mortgage-free, gas-and-insurance-cost-free lifestyle.
I spent nearly a year living in these.
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I was 18 years old and had utopian visions of buying plots on which hexagonal structures built from stuccoed rigid insulation would serve as 'common areas' for a legion of bike trailer dwellers. Each wall would have a 'loading dock' into which a trailer could 'plug in'.
I wrote a zine and widely disseminated it, seeking a 'hard core' of early adopters who would 'revolutionize housing' and kick off a movement toward a 'new anthropology of contemporary nomadism' on the Erie Canal bike trail.
None came, I was (perhaps rightly) dismissed as a crank.
Others have conceived of similar ideas; Brian Campbell's housebike in Portland OR comes to mind. This guy was a little unstable, but a brilliant builder. He swore that his pedal-powered moped wheels and 100+ gears could get him to do 65mph on flat ground.
"Jeff", builder of the 'Luma Dilla' in Willits CA is another one. He's apparently taken this thing from Willits all the way to Sacramento.
And Paul Elkins, a retired Boeing engineer and Burning Man attendee in western WA was a big booster of this idea. Him and I corresponded via email at length about perfecting our designs.
His youtube channel 'ElkinsDIY' is still pretty neat.
Later, I would begin experimenting with 4-stroke engine belt-drive systems for recumbent tricycles. Some had a futuristic 'wind fairing' for efficiency. I rode from Las Vegas to Mexico on one. Sadly, I never got around to building a mobile home for a motorized recumbent trike.
All in all, my bike-focused days were wild times. Some days I still dream of trying again to build the perfect gas-powered high-efficiency ultra-low-cost nomadic bike dwelling. Maybe I will try again in the summertime. 8/8
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It's easy to knock "hippie communes" but once you've lived this way it's quite difficult to go back to "normal".
Virtually everywhere I stayed in my adult life was some iteration of a collective, whether at anarchist squats or their oddly-similar antipode - military barracks. 1/
In a collective, there's always someone around to talk to. You never eat alone. Stimulating conversation takes place daily, though retreating to your room now and then is normal.
At its best, a commune also fuses the productive capabilities of many - making work easier. 2/
By contrast, the normal Western way of living is profoundly isolating. One spends most of their time with their spouse and children, but only obtains meaningful adult discourse sporadically and by deliberate effort, if at all.
Formerly, this was leavened by the "town square". 3/
Falling in love should feel like an irrefutable proof of the existence of God and like a testament to His benevolent genius. Nothing about it is ambivalent or half-hearted, I am not 'of two minds' about her, I am unequivocally hers, forever, until my life is over. Period. 1/
Just before we met I had quietly reached the conclusion that I'd probably never marry. I thought about becoming a Franciscan friar. I knew that the intersection between religious traditionalists and third-world-style off-grid hippies was tiny.
I started to accept it. 2/
Mere weeks after I began to accept this, Keturah and I had our first telephone call. Cautiously, I considered that there might not be a "catch" to what seemed like the greatest relationship prospect of my life.
I was nonetheless hesitant. Too many heartbreaks. I was wary. 3/
"Economic prosperity" as it is understood in America is utterly corrosive to beauty and historic architecture. This is clear to see in any town that got "left behind" after WWII.
Their beautiful buildings would've been torn down if they ever boomed with "lots of jobs". 1/
Cities like Gloversville and Utica have had their flagship architectures largely unmolested, almost solely because they've remained economically depressed. Had lots of "development" occurred, they would've gutted their downtowns with relish.
Luckily, it never happened. 2/
And the countryside near each of these sleepy towns has also been mostly unspoiled, again solely because of their economic irrelevance. Without a doubt, if 'investment' ever came, the powers that be would've covered our valleys with nasty subdivisions and strip malls. 3/
Increasingly convinced that the cheapest and best quality life involves 20 factors: 1. Can heat with wood legally 2. Within bicycling distance of a small city with Amtrak and some public transit (can get away with no car) 3. In a cheap housing market and can own outright
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4. Building codes nonexistent or un-enforced (makes building cheaper) 5. Minimum 90 day growing season 6. Cool summers (no A/C needed) 7. Good hunting + fishing close by 8. Vibrant Catholic community with daily Mass 9. Several 49cc mopeds 10. Lots of local friends/family
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11. A pickup truck shared among friends for occasional use 12. Plenty of fruit and nut trees on property 13. Classical style library with interlibrary loan 14. Daily 4+ mile walks rain or shine 15. Clean, beautiful swimming holes plentiful 16. Enough space for frequent guests
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I am tempted to build a UK-style "narrowboat" to live in seasonally on the Erie Canal. Really doesn't seem like too big a production to build a suitable liveaboard vessel for calm inland waters.
Free mooring system-wide, world class scenery, 5mph speed limit. 1/4
The narrowboats are 6'10" abeam and range from 20' to 50' in length. I'd think at about 25-30' it'd be good and livable on the Erie Canal. I'd keep it simple - flat-bottomed with an outboard since the canal's 12' depth is too deep to pole.
If I'm making 3mph I'm in high clover.
What's interesting about most of the canal is how remote it feels in spite of its proximity to many villages, as the water cuts mostly through quiet farmlands. Most mornings are foggy and serene.
Could tie off to a tree, have breakfast, and write all day.
In the 18th century, a sect splintered from the Russian Orthodox Church known as the Doukhobors. Known for communal living, luddite views, nudism, and arson, ~7500 of them sailed for Canada in 1899, facing persecution from Russian authorities.
They landed in Saskatchewan.
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Their theology was iconoclastic, believing that God was immanently present in all human souls. Staunch pacifists and often vegetarian, they completely rejected military service and most aspects of orthodox religion. Nonetheless, they accepted the divinity of Jesus. 2/
The name "Doukhobor" was perjorative. Orthodox Church hierarchs made the name from the Russian word духоборцы, meaning "spirit-wrestler". The implication was that they were wrestling against the truth of the Faith.
They were beaten savagely and exiled to numerous nations. 3/