Fifteen Years as a Roadster Spinner!

     It happened once I got onto Social Security at age 62.  I started at San Francisco, living in Section 8 housing, but within a few months learned the place was poorly constructed, so that I could hear everybody's conversation in rooms around me and was in other ways fenced in!  I got out of there, but fast--and went to some other city.  I determined upon a 'home base" suggested by friends of mine in LA.  It was the city of El Paso, Texas.  I can afford the rents and find plenty to keep me busy around the EP town.

Why El Paso as my Base
    
     The thing about traveling about and staying for a time at each place I went to was suggested to me by Buddhism.  I took their teachings to imply that seniors should travel, even as most seniors do in fact travel.  I found it exhilarating, so long as the body could take it.  It was fun to see how people lived differently, given the different locales.  It kept me involved; and made my life's experiences exciting.  I can't do that anymore--I'm just too old and in need continually of a doctor's care.  So, I'm now settled down in El Paso with a routine of doctor's visits, Salvation Army dinners, wonderful room at the Desoto, bus rides around town especially to the Wal-Marts, use of the El Paso Community classes as desired, good barber, great church--St. Clement--delightful downtown especially near the border, and sometimes I attend concerts, will probably be part of some senior center's membership; maybe, hopefully, go to a senior daycare center at least once a week; and most importantly use the library, and the UTEP library (shortly to start it).  So I have a nice life here.

To continue with my 15 year roadster travel:

    From the base city of El Paso, I then would journey to other cities around the country, live for a time; then return to Home Base! This was my festival roadster journey around the US for some 15 years stopping at Omaha, NB, Washington, DC, Santa Barbara, Honolulu, San Francisco, LA, Raleigh (NC), Las Vegas, and Reno for some period of time before going on to the next city on the roadster highway of my magical map.  Always, the epitome of a roadster spinner, I would take a respite in EP from the demands of the roadster schedule for a month to many months.

     I required the same basics in each town I stayed for-a-while.  Here's an idea of what I did in each of the cities I landed in my roadster (i.e., Greyhound Bus).

What I did where 

    I can't give the period of time I was in any one place.  It could be from 3 months to over a year--like the last time I spent in Omaha.  I'd say the major feature of these 15 years is the blog items I produced,  Indeed, it may be possible to reconstruct the true time line of stops along the way through reference to the 4 blogs.  The computer guru at St. Bonaventure Senior Center in LA set up my initial use of Google blogs.  And he served as a useful reference as I developed my own way to organize items for inclusion in particular blogs.  Wherever I stayed, I was sure to enter items in one of my blogs.

LA:

     I would use the current events class at a nearby community college--Glendale Community College--for fodder to create blog items, particularly when Obama was running for the Presidency.  I lived most of the time while in LA at the Madison Hotel on 7th Street.  I used a nearby clinic on 7th Street, which sometimes even didn't get a reading of an x-ray of my arm right--I had a fracture, though the head doctor at the clinic claimed I was ok.  They've changed the requirements for staying at hotels downtown, so I wouldn't be allowed back in to the Madison, I understand.  The hotel was convenient to buses that went around the city.  I also ate my lunches at soup kitchens right in the area, e.g., that operated by the Catholic Worker.  The church I went to most frequently was The International Dream Church, of the Church of God faith  But I also became a member of Grace Cathedral and was loyal to the 7 AM Eucharist on the time I spent at the Mission Rock Shelter.  They both do marvelous work for the poor, but Grace Cathedral plays favorites among them.  At the end, I even had cable TV in my room (which was furnished).  I also went to evening services-dinner at the LA Mission.  LA routine was indeed ingrained, to include musical events on the Mile row at  the LA Art Museum and nearby museum.  Plenty of events,  too, at UCLA, such as plays. 

     I did my shopping in the Hispanic community near a Park with a lakefront.  I also went to the University of Southern California to use their philosophy library whenever I was writing something philosophical.  Very complete. I liked LA, but was driven out by the poor medical care and advice I was receiving.  Nevertheless, I came back time and time again--just visiting.

San Francisco:

     I found the town too confining, but I would go Saturdays to Hippie Land for breakfast and many lunches, the Catholic offerings at their soup kitchens at noon during the week and the local Methodist church's dinner. Food particularly at the Hippie Kitchen in Hippie Land was outstanding.

      I liked the downtown public library and would endlessly walk the streets in Chinatown, the Wharf area, and the downtown near the end of downtown streets.  All very nice.  But after living in my downtown hotel near Ellis, and moving out, I was unable to locate a homeless apartment again, and certainly not a Section 8.  It drastically curtailed my visiting there after I gave up the Madison, which I had stayed at more than on one occasion.  Also, I didn't like all the drunks circulating downtown around me!

Santa Barbara:

     I lived there just after I left my San Francisco residence on Section 8, 1995.  It was a really nice place but I had to share the room with a loud snorer.  He also was no friend of mine, letting his friends attempt to steal from me while asleep.  I would eat lunch at the Catholic soup kitchen weekdays, went to Trinity Episcopal Church, Father Asman pastor, and wandered the town, especially the fruit stand and beach areas.  I liked the walks along the beach, obviously.  The dock area my specialty!  I went to the Community College and would enjoy being up in their sky campus.  I attended the weekly current events class for seniors that they held at senior centers around town.  I loved to drink coffee and people-watch from a favorite café on the main drag.  Also, loved the bus ride to the nearby sights in the country!  Just a delightful experience.  The first time I was there I was on welfare, that paid so very little, but the place I stayed at had TV you could watch downstairs all night.  Friendly people.  I next tried the homeless shelter and stayed there once but went there for lunch the several other times I was in Santa Barbara, staying at the Rescue Mission, which was ok.
Typically, I would rent a storage locker and change clothes in it.  I used the library to write longhand--they didn't allow persons who were homeless to use the computers. 

     All-in-all, a real snob town; and I didn't want to live there long--just visiting.  Oh, I did enjoy breakfast at a nearby McDonald's that everybody from the nice homeless shelter near the beach would eat at.  There was another McDonald's that was great for breakfast, too; and of course, the Burger King near my bank 'out there' on the main drag--State Street.  I also tried the local medical facilities though I wasn't pleased with them--any of them.  Best times was when I was sitting on my folding chair watching the boats!

    My last time there I was drugged at the bus station, waiting to leave town; and they have a holding tank downtown where I awoke to a friendly policeman's voice.  It's not unusual to be drugged somehow while at a bar or waiting to leave town.  It also happened once to me in Honolulu at the Airport.  The disadvantages of traveling homeless. At the airport, I recovered my luggage, which was somewhere else than where I was found. No problem!

Honolulu:

     From LA, I went several times to Oahu hoping maybe to live there.  Oh yes, the places on the roadster map were towns I thought maybe I would settle in, knowing that I always could fall back on El Paso!

     The HMS shelter was fantastic--particularly, when they had the leftovers from the restaurants.  The library was a fabulous place to read at--which is all I did there.  I had a po box but it did not carry the message from Social Security telling me I had won on the Social Security disabled claim--a notice I never got for some years after the decision had been made in my favor.  I never got a penny from the claim.

     Anyway, I did enjoy the beach at Waikiki where the Japanese used to hang out.  Indeed, the islands to my mind were held by the Japanese and the islands like Guam, which sent their people to work and raise their families.  I couldn't get into their neighborhoods.

     Welfare was useful, since they paid more than I could receive on the Mainland.  I went to the community college for information and attended meetings the Governor showed up at.  He of course was a very cordial man.

     Around the downtown police center was also a place to sit.  As well as on Sundays, the park by the Episcopal Cathedral.  On Sundays I went to church (St. Catherine's?) there and stayed for the soup kitchen meal.

     I also went some nights to the soup kitchen in Chinatown, which featured a religious service.  But above all, I enjoyed watching the huge passenger ships, especially from Norway, dock and the passengers mill about the area.

     My last time in Honolulu, I had the upsetting experience at the Airport that cost me money to resolve successfully by my getting out for good!

Raleigh, NC

     I thought of going to Raleigh when I couldn't locate in Washington, DC.  What I discovered was that Raleigh was just too far away to commute in any sense of that word to Washington.

     A friend of mine found a place for me to live right off the campus of North Carolina State University, home, I think, of senior use of the TV--having a station completely dedicated to senior programming.  I did visit the campus grounds and the departments involved with keeping the station going.  Downtown Raleigh was pleasant, but the area seemed for me expensive and hilly.

     I tried Durham, too, and found it not yet recovered from the loss of the tobacco industry.

     I had a favorite park and several places I enjoyed going to.  The welfare department seemed a bit alien and the management company from which I rented my apartment not really understanding my needs nor desires.  The place I lived in harbored non-descripts.  Enough said.  I was glad to leave Raleigh one fateful day to return to DC.  Went there only once.

Las Vegas:

     Actually, I was on my way back to Reno (from El Paso), when I thought I would stop off at Vegas to see what I could see that might interest me.  It took a room for a night downtown and really liked it.  Then, I found a motel that catered to people coming through on 19th and Fremont Street--the main street that goes south from downtown.  I stayed there awhile, didn't realize that I could have had a monthly rate so I stayed with the weekly until I found an apartment complex on 13th and the street that goes east(?) to an area supermarket.  I did my shopping for groceries at the supermarket and took the bus home.  I had been able to rent an apartment on the north end of the apartment complex.

    
Things went smoothly until at the very end, when I felt suffering with heat pimples all over my body--heat rash--and oppressive breathing in my lungs.  That was about 7 months into my lease.  I didn't know how to handle my physical condition and finally ended up running for my life's breath, out of town via, of course, Greyhound.  I did ok once I left town--the rash disappeared; my breath returned to normal.  The experience was emotionally frightful.  Toward, the end there, I got rid of everything, I didn't know what was happening to me.

     I got around via buses and found that everything was terribly spread out and made my journeys much longer than they should have been.  An ugh experience, to be sure.  Made me run for El Paso--time out!

Reno:

     The city I like next best to El Paso is Reno, Nevada.  I returned to Reno several times.  I became disillusioned with the motel I was living on a monthly rental basis, because I became suspicious that he was not on the up-and-up, though he had lovely children and a nice wife.  If I were to return there, I'd try to live someplace else.  I don't gamble, so I wasn't lured by the casinos.  I did love the Truckee River that ran down the center of town.  Great U of Nv Senior Center (OLLI), too.  I would play ball against the wall of the park along the River, used the two libraries in the public system all the time, and liked going out to the town next to it, also with plenty of gambling casino activity.

     My room in the motel was always very nice and quiet, but as I say, you have to be wary of  the people around you in the motels.  Liked also to walk around downtown and environs.  I would occasionally visit Senator Harry Reid's office and received excellent cooperation.   I couldn't find an Episcopal Church I liked, however.  Used US Bank for a checking account. 

All-in-All: An Evaluation

     I had a fun 15 years, centered around travelling about the country.  Take away that aspect of the time spent in the cities I went to, and it would have been pretty dull, I think.  The travelling was a hope that I could anticipate tomorrow with great enthusiasm.

     Now, today, I'm "resigned" to staying here in El Paso.  I sincerely hope that I get to spend many years here--that I'm going to live for sometime into the future.  But who knows when?