Perceptions

I have found it interesting all the different kinds of feedback I get from people about my bus conversion plans. Only a handful of people seriously think this is a cool idea and seem genuinely envious. Most people are skeptical to say the least. And it seems the closer they are to me the more vocal they are about their doubts. It no longer bothers me...in fact it illustrates the very reason why I am doing this. Not a single person who tries to share their negative viewpoints have the type of lives I want. It seems that they are passing along the same negative attitude that kept them from chasing their dreams. The people I look up to, that are universally icons of success, were not following conventional wisdom. They broke from the beaten path and made their own way. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Mother Theresa, Richard Branson, Bono, Edmund Hillary, Crocodile Hunter to name a few. For most of my life I fell into the trap of following the advice of the mediocre masses. The ones that said go to college, get a job, get married and have kids. That was the extent of their wisdom. They knew nothing else, nor did they care to know anymore. I am not built that way. I have an itch that needs scratching. I crave adventure, excitement. Creature comforts are nice, but not a high priority for me. I finally am truly getting to know myself and I want to take a full measure of the man I am. How much can I survive? How much can I learn? How much does the world have to teach me?
This is not a criticism of people who aren't like me. It is an epiphany of why people are not supportive of things like what I am doing. What if Bill Gate's friends in college said 'don't drop out of college and go into something unknown like computers. It might not even catch on." What if Mother Theresa's peers said don't help the poor in India, you might catch leprosy or get killed, or you won't make a difference. So many people have excellent hindsight and can see what a good idea something is after the fact. But I have realized that fear is a powerful force in most people's lives. Just about everybody I have ever talked with has some form of repressed dream that they never let manifest. And they are armed with reasons (excuses) for not pursuing them. Granted some things are legitimate concerns that could make things more difficult. If I had a family this may be considerabley more difficult...or it might not be. Having a partner to help and discuss ideas and offer general support would be priceless. That is why most people Fulltime with a spouse.
Material wealth is not a goal of mine but I could see it be a byproduct. If I were to do something I loved (ie adventure travel, etc) then I would be successful and money may follow. But again the richest people in the world aren't working because they need the money, they do it because they love it. The mediocre people are playing the lottery thinking that the money will make them happy. I heard once, imagine that you had $200 million, what would you do during the day. How would you fill you days? This defines what you love.
My definition of success is happiness with my life. I only need enough money to get by. I don't need more to impress anyone or buy things I don't need. I need enough to gas up the bus, feed me and the pets, and a little bit for maintenance, improvements and repairs of the bus. Yes, if I had $200 million life would be easier, but I don't necessarily crave easier. I crave the challenge. I would still keep the same bus I have now, maybe buy all the dream accessories I want (Solar panels, diesel generator, big refrigerator). But I don't really dream of those things, I am too busy figuring out my next step. And that gives me purpose. Once the bus is road worthy I don't want to go parking in RV parks all the time, maybe once a week. The rest of the time I want to be boondocking off the beaten path in national parks, or where ever I am.
I feel like although I don't have many of the things that made my previous life convenient that I am not in any way suffering. In fact, I am more self satisfied with my accomplishments thus far than anything else I have done before. This is truly me and my goal. Everything else...college, jobs...have been at the coaxing of others and was their wish for me. But that is a little too generic for me.
I like the random people I meet in my limited travels so far. I have found my bus is very approachable (vs the million dollar rock star bus). Countless girls in a Walmart parking lot stop and ask about it, truckers at rest areas stop me and spent half an hour talking about my bus and their similar dreams of doing a conversion. I will start asking them if they mind me taking their photo to put on my blog. I enjoy these sometimes random visits.
Then there are the people who have gone the extra mile that helped me incredibly. Stacey and Andre Burger, Bronson, Grandma, and Heather who all gave me a place to park so I could get work done on my bus. And they all provided me with the sweet lifeline of an extension cord to their electricity. Their kindness is appreciated deeply.
Charles Bordner who employed me to tile his bathrooms when I needed a job. A job site where I could bring my dog, do my laundry, take a shower and get on the internet. Elizabeth Hanner and Britt McGregor who helped me out in countless ways from letting me borrow a trailer to get supplies from home depot, to odd jobs to make a little extra money, to giving me food from their pantry that they weren't going to use.
Not too surprising is the random acts of kindness from strangers. Todd, the guy who fixed my clutch; Brian who bought my jeep and in the meantime provided a place for me to park the bus, John, the owner of a small business in Mauldin who allowed me to stay behind his business with electricity and access to water and Wifi. Greg, the guy in Mauldin who had done a school bus conversion himself and provided me with tons of insight and just plain great conversation. He also took me to run errands a couple of times and even bought me lunch (and he gave me what seemed like 5 lbs of his tasty boiled peanuts that he sold at local race tracks). The guy I forget his name, that stopped by and talked then went home and brought me a couple of RV parts manuals so I could see what is out there for the RV market.
My brother Mark, for the great pair of brand new gym shoes. I had held off buying some because they were a definite necessity although they were mighty close to being on the must have list.
My neighbor, who out of the blue on the day before I moved out gave me so much cool stuff I can't even list it all. 3 wet suits, plumbing supplies, electric supplies, tools, coolers, rock climbing gear. A treasure trove perfect for my adventure.
I have become very grateful for the simplest of gestures and gifts. In fact for every setback I encounter, there is an equal or greater help out there from someone. Today I realized my fuel line is dry rotted in a spot to the point that fuel is actually leaking through the side of the hose. It is a very slow leak, with a drop of diesel falling every 2 minutes. Definitely needs fixin'. But something good will happen soon, it always does. The fuel line thing seems like a simple fix. The tough part is disconnecting the line from the gas tank without all the fuel draining onto the ground. I will research online to find a fix. I also need to find about 6ft of 13/32 fuel line. I'm thinking autozone.
Here are some photos that I have of people from my journey so far.

The Burger Clan:



Random Girl in Walmart parking lot:

Bus Mechanic:
Final thoughts on perceptions:
As I am typing this in the coffee shop, there is a couple of girls who sat down at a large round table (think big round table at cracker barrel) where a guy was already seated. Evidently the girls are having a bible study. The guy makes a comment about 15 minutes later because he can't help but overhear their conversation. Nothing too much, but he mentioned he was nostic, which is clearly different from what the girls believe. The girls are curious about this strange new belief. Then another man at another table comes over and joins the conversation. Basically, the new guy (in his 50's) is coming to actively debate the original guy's beliefs. The Original guy (about 30) is nice, polite and knows he is being ambushed. He doesn't want to debate but engages in conversation to explain his point of view. The young girls ( maybe all of 18) don't engage, but listen to the older gentleman quoting Josh McDowell and other mainstream christian writers. Then the older gentleman takes the tactic that he wants to pray, and he proceeds to pray for this poor misquided soul. I almost feel the need to go over and defend the the nostic guy, not because I agree with him, but because I believe a person should not be accosted, judged and subjected to fools like the uninvited guy. But the nostic is very calm, very cool, very polite and has handled the guy nicely.
I do NOT like evangelical christianity, it is intrusive, self important, and closed minded. To me this is Christianity in its bastard form. There are no other topics that people can have in a coffee shop where people feel the need to get up and interrupt a conversation to tell someone they are wrong. It is basically rude and self righteous. I think it is a particular problem here in the bible belt of the southeast. I want the free exchange of ideas and the mutual respect of people to not agree. I personally find someone of a different belief interesting to talk with, I don't have a need to change their beliefs.
One of my hero's, Mother Theresa, preached through her actions of love, kindness and caring not by telling people they were wrong. She didn't try to convert but if asked didn't hesitate to share her beliefs.
Politics being the other hot button topic. I find an amazing lack of respect in dialogue pertaining to religion and politics. I find it hard to understand why people grasp to what they know and don't even want to hear what others think, lest they might learn something new. Perhaps their purpose is to give me a chance to work on my own patience issues. I need alot of work.