My earliest memory of being intrigued by the itinerant lifestyle is as a teenager. I was an avid fan of science fiction and wondered, if I were to write my own sci-fi story, what would it be? I don't know where the idea came from, maybe something I read in Popular Science or Boys' Life, but I imagined a lifestyle in the near future when people wouldn't be tied to living in one location for any length of time.
In my story, the mobile homes would be hovercraft (quiet and efficient hovercraft!), not confined to roads, and self-navigating so their owners would be free to sleep, work, and generally go about life as they slid from place to place. Most jobs would be conducted by telecommuting. I'd like to believe that from my vantage point in the 1960s, this concept was at least somewhat visionary, though, no doubt, significant aspects of it were already being lived out by a few trailblazers.
The story never got much further than that, lacking a plot, character development, and any interest on my part to actually put in the effort to write it. I did have some vague concept of conflict arising as the hovercraft slid willy-nilly across farmers' fields, flattening crops; recalling the feuds of cattlemen vs farmers in the nineteenth century. And there'd be an underlying theme of how disconnected people felt from one another - typical teenage stuff. But I never lost my fascination with combining the comforts of home with the stimulation of effortless travel.
Though it surprises me, I probably have experienced more domestic travel than the average U.S. citizen. I've visited about 45 of the 50 states, and not just an airport layover but wheels on the road. This includes a trip with my parents from Omaha, to Niagra Falls, then across the top of the Great Lakes as we returned home, a 3000 mile road trip with a college roommate which was a great loop around the western United States, and another 3000 mile road trip with three roommates, starting from Houston, across the Southeastern U.S., up the coast to Boston, and back across the Midwest to Omaha. I've lived for significant periods of time in Omaha, Houston, Atlanta, and San Diego. I've done relatively little international travel, having seen most of Britain, a bit of France, and just extending a toe across the borders into Canada and Mexico.
My traveling horizons were expanded, at least conceptually, when Steven Roberts, the original technomad, served as guru in residence for the nascent design project course I was teaching at UCSD in the early 90's. He conceived and mentored many of the projects my students worked on over a period of several months, giving the course a much-needed shot in the arm when it was most needed. His cutting-edge tech savvy and the presence of his technology-laden recumbent bicycle, Behemoth, in the lab, were a tremendous inspiration to the students. It was Steve's "live the life I want to" attitude and his tech-heavy possessions-light style of travel that inspired me. Though his unconventionality felt dangerous to me at the time, seeds were planted that appear to be germinating now, twenty-some years later.
When my wife, Pam, and I discussed retirement plans, the possibility of touring in a motorhome always came up, but seemed too far in the future to begin serious planning. As our two daughters grew older, we did begin to travel more, taking a tour of Britain and France in 2008, Hawaii the next year, and a cruise to Alaska in 2011 to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. A month after we returned from that trip, Pam was diagnosed with cancer. A year later, having brought the entire family closer together that we had ever been, and inspiring us all with her unshakable faith, Pam passed on. When my grief began to recede, I found myself asking, "What now?" I recognized that the unexpected suddenness of Pam's illness had instilled in me a determination not to take the future for granted. Who wants to look back and realize they spent their last year of good health only planning future adventures?
I went on the university's retirement website and was surprised to find I'd already accumulated a sufficient pension. Up to then, I'd been planning on at least six more years of work. Immediate retirement was out of the question. I had commitments to the university and to my graduate students. And I needed a plan. The last thing I wanted to do was spend day after day alone in my house. The plan I developed will be the subject of the next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment