💾 Archived View for sbg.one › gemlog › 2020 › 10-04-Go-Off-Grid.gmi captured on 2021-12-03 at 14:04:38. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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October 04, 2020
As much as I like computers and electronics, I also like and value time away from them. Or at least time away from people bothering me through them.
I've mentioned this in several posts over the years about how much I loathe the telephone. That also includes cell phones and the accompanying text messages and various other alerts as well.
If I could really get away with it I'd throw that damn thing into a lake and never look back.
Nothing drives me more insane than that phone ringing and I don't care who is on the other end of it either. When I say ringing, that includes incoming calls whether the ringer is on or not.
Bottom line is, don't call me. Write me a letter and mail it, please. That would be my preferred form of communication and if you want to meet someplace and chat, just reference that in the letter and I'll write back agreeing or whatever to the request. This requires planning on your part and on mine. Though for me, I enjoy planning because I don't like surprises or unexpected things happening. Perhaps that's part of the reason why I hate the phone.
So how do I "go off the grid?" I don't really know if it's possible , at least in a practical sense. It can be done for a temporary period of time, for example going on a vacation or trip out to the middle of nowhere. That requires planning of course, which I like, but it also requires alerting those people who care about you or have a need to be in contact with you to know what to expect - that is, you're going to be out of range for a little while. This is to keep the search parties from being dispatched to find you.
Well that is just what I am planning on starting to do, perhaps as early as next year. Right now I have a reservation at Ford Motor Co for the new Bronco. As it stands, orders don't begin until December and the first shipments to customers won't happen until next spring or summer. I didn't get my reservation in until two weeks after they opened up. So I might not get my Bronco until later into 2021 or even 2022. 2022 I hope not!
Regardless, one of the things I want to do is go camping with it out in the middle of nowhere as best I can. When I say camping, I mean the sort of camping I did in the Marine Corps. That is bringing as little stuff with me as I need to survive and get through the trip. I don't like those campers that you tow behind a truck and pull into a "campground" and "camp" with a million other people crowding the area like you are. I also don't care much for the idea of bringing your house along with you to "camp" as some people do. That's not camping to me. That's living at home only in a different spot.
Camping to me is a sleeping bag, a mat and a tent on the ground, or maybe in or on top of your truck, Jeep or Bronco. Being in the outdoors for real and away from other people is my idea of camping. I believe the terms are boondocking or dispersed camping where you are suppsoed to be at least 1 mile from other campers when you set up your own campsite.
I only plan on bringing the gear and supplies I need for the trip and nothing much more. This will be especially true as I am looking to get a 2-door Bronco and I won't be towing a trailer full of crap either.
All I want to do is get in the Bronco and go. Drive, just drive far away from it all for a while. I want and need to recharge myself and let the stress and aggrevation of civilization melt away as I explore some new and remote place with little to no humans around.
I'll have safety gear with me. Some type of communications radio, and possibly one of those Garmin satellite emergency radio things too. As for my phone, I may or may not bring it with me. If I do bring it, I just might turn it off and leave it in the glove box until or unless I really need it or I return home.
Short of me becoming independently wealthy and not needing to work to survive, this is probably going to be the only way I can go off the grid, if for a short time.
If money was no object, I could very easily see myself overlanding. That would mean a 4-door Bronco, or Jeep, with a roof-top tent, and more ammenities such as a refrigerator designed for vehicles and other things for long hauls. But that is a dream for another day.