Have been back in the midwest just about 2 weeks, and am missing being on the open road and sleeping in my trailer!! But, it MUST have been God leading me to leave when I did and return to Illinois!! Because I was not here even 3 days when an opportunity presented itself to go to work! And after talking with the recruiter for this company about the perks and benefits, I jumped at the opportunity!!
I mean, the money, in my opinion is great.....last week, my first week, I made $820. NET in just 4 days, $20 per day per diem, .47 cents a mile travel, AND hotel paid for!! I expect a naysayer to get on here and say thats chump change for a chump, but I will take it EVERY DAMN DAY!!!
Especially when you consider that just 2 weeks ago I was sweating over deciding what to do and where to go from Arizona!! It won't take long to store up some serious cash in the travel fund at this rate, and I'm told the company has PLENTY of scheduled work all year long!! Suits me fine!!
One thing about it, that open road will STILL be there waiting for me.....and my trailer will STILL be ready to hook up and roll when I am!! This past trip and the 6 months that I was on the road was a learning curve experience for me! I know a lot more now about solar power, how much LP I need for a week in the desert,how the rules work when camping on BLM lands, and many other things. I learned just how little money I could get by on every day and still be well fed and comfortable! I learned you can camp/sleep in damn near ANYTHING!! And I learned that total strangers can turn out to be best friends with me on the internet and my blog!People who I may never meet, giving me encouragement to follow my dream of a very basic and simple lifestyle! And, me encouraging some of those same people to get out there and do it too!
But I think the most important thing I learned was just how great it was to camp in the desert, or in a Pilot parking lot, or an interstate rest area......to wake up at 5am without a care in the world....to see the star filled sky from the total darkness of the Arizona desert and wonder.....and realize that THIS is exactly what I want to do again, in the future...and I WILL!! And I hope that you'll be there with me when that time comes around!
I will be on every now and then just to keep you guys posted on how things are going.....in the meantime, everyone stay safe and warm!!
Of course all of this is awesome news! It's better to prepare and then hit the road, as otherwise the financial stress will negate the enjoyment of traveling.
ReplyDeleteBut hey, with your job you're still traveling and that's pretty cool. Thanks for keeping us updated :)
I look forward to future blogging,as i have learned quite a bit from reading your blog,good luck!
ReplyDeleteInspiring...
ReplyDeletehey john, I agree that the 1st trip was a learning experience. It'll only get better.
ReplyDeleteAnd, $800+ a week isn't chump change at all! That's good money. You'll probably need all of the .47 a mile to feed that thirsty truck! LOL.
Stay warm and safe yourself.
I'd take that job in a heart beat! Way to go John! Please do stay in touch. Don't leave us hangin' around here without you too long. So happy for you! HugZ, D
ReplyDeleteI'm tickled for ya. We all do what we gotta do to get by.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great job. I'm happy for you. Good post.
ReplyDeletebrenda from ar
Now I love you John,
ReplyDeleteYour finally out there working your ass off, paying shit loads of taxes for building those roads and parks so some King of dead beats like "RV" can enjoy living for free off the system. Doesn't that feel really good when your supporting the freeloader system ? YOUR DA MAN !!!! The longer you keep working the more roads can be built for those 79 million baby boomers coming your way.
GOD bless you
RV Loves you more and more......
I'm tickled that I made you happy Mike! Does this mean we will have decent conversations now?
DeleteThis is "the Mike?" Wow. Nice to see your comments here.
DeleteJohn
ReplyDeleteI hope you read this story i sent you a while back, if not here is the link again !!! PLEASE read it !!!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
This is a great example, why our great country is not working right....
its easy to understand the problem....
Then we can go back to my other idea & you will see what I was really getting at,
makes sense if you think about what I said a little longer.....
Because I used to think the same way as you....
OK Mike, I just finished reading the article.... but this crap has been going on for 40 years!! Ever heard of TRW Electronics? They have a plant in my hometown in Illinois, and 40 years ago they were shipping parts to a plant they owned in Haiti!! Plus daily receiving shipments from Haiti...I know this because my very 1st job was working for TRW, and my job was driving to Indy every afternoon to meet the overseas flights.
DeleteDo I agree with what Apple is doing?? Of course not!
40 years ago is was nickel and dime production stuff, today they are stetting up ultra modern factories overnight that can house 250,000 people....
DeleteIt now takes us 5 years just to get the permits approved, look at the new Boing plant for example ? or look at the $500 million dollar mess with Solindra solar plant in Fremont Calif. That is the sad joke....The Chinese Government can do in a few days what takes us a few years. So how would it be possible for a worker in the USA to only work 10-20 years "per Randy" and be able to retire ? NO chance at all.... It used to be 65% of the population worked, now only 54% are in the workforce...
Had you told the American worker 40 years ago , that you and I would be too DIRT POOR at age 65 to retire in China or Vietnam, we would have been laughed at "you can live like a king over there" was the answer. But today we are to poor - they are coming over here and buying every house in sight !! and paying CASH !!
Even had you busted your ass and saved $500k... the bank is paying you .05% - 2% interest... In Jimmy Carters time 1979 you could buy a 15% - 30 year non callable T Bill & live like a king on your savings for the next 30 years. Now even people who saved are screwed....
Mike, I'm not arguing with you about this...I agree with you 100%....and I also agree with you that RV has a definite screw loose!! His thinking is so messed up, and he shares it with the world.
DeleteOk JOHN ... Im so happy we are finally on the same page now....
DeleteI just did not want you to smoke to much of that FREE stuff "RV" gives away for on his blog....I used to be a believer of his too....but when I put pencil to paper I soon realized it was selling some really BAD- SHIT, just like those preachers.
Here is another good story about where we are headed, until the bubble pops !!
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/02/12/us/relying-on-government-benefits.html?hp
Randy said...
ReplyDeleteThank you Anonymous for saying: "Who would feed all those layabouts"?
It give me the oportunity to state my view of unemployment: NO MORE THAN 50% OF US NEEDS TO WORK ----CAREERS, IN MY VIEW, SHOULD BE NO LONGER THAN 10 OR 20 YEARS. THAT IS THE GIFT OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION THAT IS BEING HOARDED BY THE GREEDY. It borders on mental illness the way most people grunt and sweat under a weary life.
Hear me anonymous: TIME IS THE CURRENCY OF LIFE---are you spending yours wisely? Stay tuned--I'm about to show you some people who have opted out of the sweaty rat race you seem to glorify.
Mike says:
Randy should stop Sniffing Industrial glue !! The industrial revolution is in china , making $17 per day , sleeping 15 to one room, read the new yorks times story, why there are no friggin jobs in the USA !!! 18 million unemployed, your nightmare is coming TRUE , the 99% will be working till hell freezes over.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg Poised for Taxpayer Hall of Fame
ReplyDeleteBy Matt Nesto | Breakout – Wed, Feb 8, 2012 12:01
In the great scheme of problems, a huge tax bill resulting from a financial windfall has to be one of the best headaches to have. Such is the quandary that 27-year old Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is facing, after revealing plans to sell $5 billion worth of stock options, which will result in a $2 billion tax bill.
This will likely be the largest individual tax bill ever paid out to the IRS and it will immediately induct the young billionaire into what Macke and I call the Taxpayer Hall of Fame.
What's even more amazing is that he's choosing to do it. Zuckerberg does not have to exercise his stock options now. By doing so, he is registering major monetary gains that will be taxed as ordinary income at a 35% rate.
Sure, he'll still have many billions left to get by on after writing his checks to the Federal government and California --the State government will rake in a $500 million chunk of change too. But it didn't have to be this way.
"Not to be a cynic, but this is pure P-R," Macke says, arguing that the payout is ultimately designed to make Facebook look better in the eyes of America.
Of course, when the Harvard dropout pays a 35% rate it makes for some clumsy comparisons, most notably, with Warren Buffett, whose self-described under-taxed status not only earned him and his secretary a mention in President Obama's State of the Union address, but has seen his name being affixed to proposed legislation.
The so-called "Buffett tax" would see anyone earning more than $1 million dollars a year paying at least 30%, regardless of how the money was earned. In Buffett's situation, as well as in the case of Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, that change would effectively double their tax bills, as both paid rates in the mid-teens for 2010.
There are sure to be ripple effects from such an enormous payment on the already contentious tax debate set to be a key topic in the upcoming election. Here's why: It would take 1,000 Mark Zuckerbergs just to balance the Federal budget for one year!
Bottom line is, as big as Mark Zuckerberg's tax bill is and regardless of his intentions, the fiscal crisis this country faces is just that much bigger.
Mark Zuckerburg must be the 1 guy out of 300 million who only needs to work 10 - 20 years because of the Industrial revolution, then he can retire per Randy's plan.....and live cheap in a cargo trailer......