It looks like I may be doing extensive car camping, that is, living out of my car for some or all of my transition to a hopefully better place and life. I am starting to puzzle through being "location independent" as at least a temporary lifestyle.

Cellphones and the Internet, for both email and faxes, are pieces that will work. Credit cards linked to accounts at national banks should be okay.

How can mail be handled while on the road for an extended time? Maybe RV folks have this one figured out? [Guess I just defined one of my next research projects.]

Laundromats are everywhere. The occasional motel stay fits in. Gas prices are scary. KOAs, and national and state parks seem to be most places.

Temporary jobs here and there could sure help the cash flow. Should I try to add job experience at a national chain business or two?

Your thoughts most welcome.

Thanks.

A lot of truckstops have showers, or if you can afford the dues a membership to the YMCA might be worth it for access to their facilities.

-Blast

There is no shame in taking a temporary job, and as far as your resume, it's not a bad thing either. Some temp jobs turn into fulltime jobs.

Is there someone you know, anywhere, that you trust to forward mail? If there is, you can change your address, use their address, and have them send mail to places you will get it. Someone who could scan some mail and send you copies via email might also be a big help. There would need to be a high level of trust.

Most RV'ers setup a P.O. box in wherever they are claining as their home state, usually a state with low cost RV registration.
Then most anything important you can setup paperless billing or statements. I get very little mail these days and the mojority of what I still get it junk.
Online banking and paperless statements, paperless billing from anything else, opting out of pre-screened credit offers, etc.

Sign up with two banks, open checking, savings and credit accounts then close the rest. I say two just in case you can't reach one or one wants to charge an atm fee or somehting you can just use the other. close all other credit card accounts so you can simply do all your banking from those two web sites.

"...How can mail be handled while on the road..."

We have a friend forward ours, we pay her a monthly amount for being the rental agent for our house, pay the postage for those flat rate boxes, and she does the rest. Lacking a trustworthy/willing friend, there are those mailbox stores ("Mailboxes r Us" types), that will give you a mailing address, and forward your mail for a fee. You can google "mailboxes" and get a lot of hits.

You will find that county, state, and federal campgrounds are much less expensive than the KOA's (which we never ever stay in). You can camp for free in national forests and on BLM land. Usually no facilities, but FREE. We have stayed in USFS campground that were free and had firerings, tables, and outhouses. Altho they are usually designed for people with RV's, you can subscribe to Workamper News (http://www.workamper.com/), you get a bi-monthly magazing and daily e-mails about jobs all over the country. Some are volunteer only, but many include pay. Most offer full hookups for the RV, but some have actual housing. We prefer to volunteer at state and federal facilities, but have done the workamper thing also.

My guess is that it couldn't hurt to have a national chain on your resume, many will allow transfers all over the country, which could come in handy...

UPS Stores turn out to handle the mail thing pretty well. 24/7 access, a street rather than post office box address, etc.

They handle mail forwarding, package receipt and forwarding, etc.

There ya go...

I had some experience with that many years ago.

1. Get a mailbox at a UPS store or even a mom and pop post box place. The mom and pop ones will often do a bit more for you. Mine would forward specific pieces of mail to me or even open them and fax them if I so requested.

2. Membership at a gym/health club with plenty of locations in the places you'll expect to be. YMCA's are usually everywhere and LA fitness is very common out west. Keeping fit and clean does wonders for your self-esteem when everything else is going down the tubes.

3. If you sleep in your car outside of a regular camp area, expect some harassment from LEO and security.

4. Public Libraries are your friend. Lots to do, climate controlled, internet access, and long hours. Even if you are working/looking for work full time, there are still many hours in a day that you need to fill.

That's the spirit. That goes along with my previous post.

Jeanette Isabelle

Excellent ideas, guys, thanks!