The Modern Gypsy Technical Worker

Airstream trailers hold their value because they last for decades. 

I am skilled labor. Not strong back labor. Not a housing contractor. Not a heavy lifter. Not a bookkeeper or accountant. I'm helpdesk IT, and I'm a librarian (in training). I am skilled just the same. I endured some terrible jobs over the years, and I don't think others should put up with a bad boss. I never plan to do so again. I would rather pack up and move somewhere else. So I've been looking into the options. While I'm already reducing my "stuff" to pretty minimal levels, I could reduce more. Ideally, I should be able to pick up every single thing I own, other than my car, by myself without help. That's true freedom, being able to move without begging someone to lift the other side of some furniture. I donated most of that stuff to charity. I will probably donate the rest as well. Light and strong are certainly possible, and I'm finding that having electronic format books is just fine.

Eventually I'm going to get down to cloud-based entertainment and basic living requirements, plus cooking gear. This gets me down to trailer size. I can really live in a trailer, and never pay $1450/MONTH for rent again. Boy, that was a ripoff. Ideally, a nicely furnished Airstream trailer, with solar panels on the roof, wifi antennas, a decent fridge, a comfy bed, and sufficient counter space to cook full meals the way I like to, that would work for me. Park this in a high end park with full hookups, do the job, finish the job, move on to the next job and good upscale park: I could live with that. I really could.

Full Sized Airstream, a small house inside, and only $135K. 

I really do think about this. It is rational and efficient. Its better than trying to get a job you don't want in a town that doesn't want you. And I sometimes feel that way here. Everywhere I interview, they only want local boys. Or chesty women with negotiable affection rates. If you aren't from here, or desperate to get a back injury, they don't want you. 

I don't own a puller vehicle, but if I did, it would probably be a pickup truck. They are boring to drive, however, and in a more perfect world, I would totally drive a motor scooter or motorcycle to work and leave the towing truck at home, just use it on rainy days and the grocery run. This is rational, and I've got experience pulling trailers. Its mostly about accepting you need to go slow, to stay on smooth roads in the slow lane, and avoiding backing up as much as possible.

Piaggio Fly 150

A light vehicle for commuting across town or into town from a trailer park or campground a little too far away for a bicycle makes good sense. That's why I keep interested in them as a viable vehicle, and you should too. These things may look antique and dangerous when considered in LA traffic, but in the boonies or a tiny town in the midwest or a farm town? These are 80 mpg fuel sippers. Compare that to a 10 mpg pickup truck or 8 mpg RV.

Yamaha SR 400

Motorcycles and scooters are light enough to carry on a ramp on the back (or front) of an RV and allow you to go for miles on country roads without getting exhausted like a bicycle can.

Bus Frame Based RV

Winnebago Sprinter, large Van based RV. 

A big RV is dandy on smooth roads and has lots of living space inside. However, if you think you need to back up a lot, or go on rough roads then a bus-frame RV like this is wrong for you. You need to be looking at an RV instead. While the huge RVs based on a tour-bus frame are the most comfortable, they are NOT capable on rough roads, nor are they much good at backing up. A proper RV is a lot smaller, and has ground clearance to backup or go over rough surfaces.

This truck-top RV camper shell  can extend its jacks and you can drive the truck out from under it. This is handy because you can then use the truck as a vehicle without all the weight. The downside is that the living space is basically room to sleep and heat a meal. Its not comfy, not like an Airstream trailer. But is is practical, and I know building contractors who use these to live in at a job site. If you're fresh out of the army and hate having the same view all the time, but want to decompress as a rentacop without the hassle of a mall crowd, an RV or trailer will work for car lot security. In towns like mine, the guards live at the lot and keep the local junkies out of the new cars. I'm not sure that's really needed, but the local car lots pay them just the same.

A couple years ago I would have thought being a Librarian is a stable job. My education is showing me that isn't the case at all. Budgets for libraries are largely controlled by property taxes, and with unfunded Federal mandates for many special programs, there just isn't enough money left over to maintain jobs at Libraries. For many new librarians, you have to be mobile if you want to make a living, or get paid consistently. Thus all the RVs and trailers.

Moving to the jobs is the rational response to the economy, and quitting jobs that are going under anyway due to budget cuts or broken promises, well that's just being responsible in the modern disloyal America of today. People are jerks. Don't let it get you down. Watch them get smaller in the rear view mirror as you abandon them to their lonely fates. A house with wheels is the ultimate "f-u and your community". That may sound hostile, but getting kicked to a curb after fixing someone's problems with the promise of continued employment? Yeah, that's what keeps happening. I'm done with that. Give me contracts with much higher pay, in writing, and none of this BS 'well we've got this job maybe you could do if you fix this little problem for us". That's ALWAYS a lie. Managers are just too comfortable being bastards.