Anybody watched Nomadland" yet?
 

It is a movie developed from the 2017 book by the same name written by Jessica Bruder which I read. It reveals the plight of many seniors struggling to get by who live in campers and go from job to job like migrant workers. Pretty sad situation for them.

NOMADLAND | Official Trailer | Searchlight Pictures - YouTube

Lived out west for awhile and also traveled some fro east to west coast with no particular place to go . I ran into many people like the ones in trailer most knew the road could be hard but still wouldn’t quit . There is something to be said for picking up and going nowhere.

Enjoy almost anything with Frances McDormand in it. Frances McDormand - Wikipedia

I have run into some people who visit Doggie Doo Run Run on occasion who do this kind of work. Some scrub boats and/or do other kind of work like this. They do have some special talents to offer.

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I had a 26' Winnie back in the 1970s which we took down to Guaymas, Mexico, camping on the Beach at Kino Bay, Mexico for quite a while. We took it all over Napa Valley and stopped at wineries. I even drove it down the winding part of Lombard Street in San Fran. Also had a 22' Winnie for a while. Finally, my favorite, a '78 26' GMC which we drove up into Canada. We were a family of four and really enjoyed camping and fishing for many years in those motorhomes. We once stayed in a casino RV park in Las Vegas, NV for a few nights. Best hookups anywhere. I spent the month of June one year in Mesa, AZ and had to add a second A/C on the roof as it was so hot outside. Over the years I have met many interesting people and enjoyed some nice times in campgrounds - but I would not want to have to live in an RV.

This one is the color and model of what we owned but ours had a different floor plan. 1978 GMC Royale Motorhome. Charvet Classic Cars - YouTube

You got a 26' Winnie down Lombard Street in San Francisco? That would have been something to see. I have had trouble getting down it in a small car.

Yes, it was rush hour 4-5ish and I found myself driving the 26' Winnebago down it and could not turn around so I kept going. Very slowly...

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I sincerely doubt there is anyone living in the villages who has worked all of their lives and they only receive $550 a month Social Security for retirement. You have to really live the life to understand it.

Back to the movie...It is free on Hulu right now. Watched it last night. Frances McDormand was great, but as a commentary on our society while probably accurate, was pretty depressing.

Yes, back to the movie. Her husband dies, she tries and tries to get over him and on with her life. She's living in a standard size van, not the nostalgic Winnebago types of posters' earlier years. This after living in a company tract house in a small mining town that went belly up, although she seemed happy there. She drives from job to job, making short-term friends along the way. It's possibly the most depressing movie I've watched since Roma.


The acting is great.

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I did see the movie. I enjoyed the acting of Frances Mcdormand. I most enjoyed the characters. I assume most of them were actual Nomads they discovered on the road. It was almost like a documentary. It was somewhat sad that some of them had to make by in what they had. However like Fern many had other options but for whatever reason chose to stay on the road. I got the feeling Fern felt guilty if she settled down with the male friend (who offered her a place to live) because her husband had died. It was like she felt she wasn’t supposed to be happy. Pretty sad.

I have told my wife that I f something we’re to happen to me, I hope she meets someone and makes a happy life. I don’t want her to be alone.

Yes, we watched it last night. Frances McDormand is a marvel as an actress in this movie. It’s on Hulu. I can’t imagine living like that but can understand it.

It’s playing at the AMC Lake Square Mall in Leesburg. We plan to see it this week. Another somewhat similar theme movie, Land, is also showing there.

I watched it just last night. It gave me a bit of trouble sleeping. Such a sad depiction of some, although I did get the impression that for others....they didn't fit the life that is considered the "norm". It seems some were forever outcasts, if only in their own minds.

What a great post. You see cheap rving and traveling Robert on YouTube and see the country from home in there rv.
It’s a great way to get away from everything now and then including a lot of things u don’t need.
When u get back home it feels really big ������������

The book this movie is based on is nonfiction and worth reading IMHO. It opened my eyes about how some seniors either must live or choose to live. I have stopped for fuel many time at Quartzsite, Arizona before crossing the border into California where fuel is much more expensive. At times the landscape was dotted with RVs of every description seemingly for miles. What's the Big Deal About Quartzsite? - RV LIFE

The book also delves into "stealth camping" in urban areas. The Villages has at least one "stealth camper" according to the "Some Kind of Heaven" movie. I imagine there are others. Stealth Camping Tips For Van Life In The City >> Building A Camper Van Conversion

I watched the movie last night, thinking it was going to be about the adventures I had while I roamed the USA for 15 years, as a fulltime RVer. It wasn't about fun and adventures, it was about a woman who was broke and broken. Only 4 people, in the film, were actors.... the rest were all real people. I would like he movie to have been about the lady who went to Alaska, she was more representative of people who choose the RV lifestyle. Fern chose it, she had other options, but it wasn't the right life for her...... the movie was depressing.

We retired in 2001 and purchases a 40' diesel pusher towing a Jeep Wrangler. Traveled the country for a year and found there are two types of people that travel around as we did. Those with money that do it for fun (20%), and those without money that do it because they have to (80%). I couldn't tell you how many times I was approached by someone wanting to polish my wheels, wash my rig & car, or just give them some cash/food. It was sad on one side and dangerous on another. You best carry sidearms in the rig. We didn't care for it, and sold the Rig. Today I would just fly, rent a car, and stay in a Hilton.

A wonderful string to read
 

I will watch this movie; it sounds like something I will enjoy. I've done a little camping in my lifetime, but nothing like this! I really enjoyed reading about all your experiences. Thanks for sharing!

Looks like you have to be a Hulu member to get in.

I have done some "stealth sleeping" on car trips to avoid the high cost of motels. Most Walmarts allow it. The longest that I ever did that was for about 3 weeks during a trip from TV Land to Spokane and Portland, Or. I was scouting for possible areas to spend the hot summer months - thus avoiding Fl. summer heat and humidity. I also would check the prices for small fixer-upper houses while there. I did that for about 2 years in a row (about 10 years ago) when I was in pretty good shape physically. I was lucky both years and did not have any "run-ins" with police or any car problems. I got good at sleeping in the driver's seat. I made a game of trying to spend the LEAST money, while still enjoying myself. I spent time at a local college in Spokane where I could jog on their track. I would hit tennis balls against a wall. People would come along and ask me to play. People in Spokane were very friendly. I could take showers there. There was a senior center a little outside Spokane that had FREE table tennis available twice a week. I met many nice people there. And they sold lunch at a reduced price to seniors and it was delicious. I found a local beach to swim and nearby to fish. I stopped at a bike shop and got a demonstration ride on an electric bike. Houses were very reasonable in the Spokane area. I spent a little less time in Portland. They had lots of activities for seniors, but house prices were much higher. I ended up not purchasing any property out West, but I enjoyed the travel so much that I did NOT consider the time spent to be wasted. I did something similar traveling to Alaska after college graduation, but that is another long story!

Yes, on to Alaska. A worthy goal for seniors.

That is like a small example of most of life. If you stand out with a luxury home, or RV, or even wearing a gold chain, you open yourself up to people that are jealous of what you have and hassle you. When you are on your home turf or neighborhood you probably are surrounded by neighbors of equal wealth and display equal luxury - so, you feel safer, not perfectly safe, but somewhat safer. The younger you are the more you are prone to dangerous adventure, lifestyle, or travel. When you travel in a RV, you are more exposed to ALL the masses of society - the adrenaline of adventure is intensified along with greater danger. You at less bored than at home with the same old like-minded and economically equal people. As we age we have a greater need for stability and boredom can be better tolerated. .......happy trails to ALL

That's so unselfish and noble.

Looks Terrific!!
 

That looks like a beautiful GMC RV, much nicer looking than almost all of the current models. I’ve never even RV’d, but the looks of that ‘78 in the video is awfully tempting. But I’d be terrified to even mention the idea to the Mrs.

It was one heck of a motorhome for its time. The Winnies were boxy, assembled atop truck chassis and drove like overloaded trucks. The GMCs were designed and built by GM using a front drive Oldsmobile Tornado arrangement. I towed a couple of different 18' outboard boats a couple hundred miles each way to lakes in NM. Due to the front wheel drive I put an additional trailer hitch on the front end just to launch the boats on steeper ramps.

Here is an old GM sales brochure. https://www.gmcmi.com/wp-content/upl...s-Brochure.pdf

A friend of mine (our age) lives in waaay northern New Hampshire. Almost every fall, she takes off alone in her van (just like in the movie) or her car (which she would sleep in) and drive....to Alaska or California and all points in between. A few years ago she went to Quartzite, Arizona during the rally. She only had one scary experience, at a campground in Alaska. I've always been in awe of her ability to travel alone that way. One thing: many join LA Fitness because it is (or was) all over the country and open 24 hours a day and is a great place to get a shower.

I agree with another poster, this was not a feel good movie seeing the world in an. RV. She started tome Empire, NV when her husband died and the US Gypsum plant closed. She went from location to location in her van wherever work was available. It was not a feel good movie, but an honest assessment of how some seniors have to live.

Bravo! A real man!

Thanks for sharing those terrific memories!

I also agree it was not a feel good movie; however, it was much happier than the book, which, IMO, was very depressing. There are various levels of RVing. This is scraping by paycheck to paycheck in mostly physically demanding jobs. It’s a whole different world I wasn’t aware existed. It made me count my many blessings.

I agree. Also, I felt that she couldn't bring herself to commit again.


I had a friend whose mother deserted the family and took off in a small camper van. She would come back very occasionally to visit her adult daughters, but could not bring herself to stay. It was very sad. She came to our house with her daughter for Thanksgiving dinner one year, having taken on a pseudonym, and talked about how good it was to be able to get away from the world around her by just crawling into her van. I couldn't decide whether to believe her or think she was talking to herself. She had no health insurance and eventually the authorities found her van at a Walmart with her inside, having died from cancer. The daughters had to go clean out the van and dispose of it.


I guess that's why I found the movie so depressing. No friends to rely on, and in Francis Gormand's case, no family at all. I'm left wondering... did she care about that? What was going on that she couldn't accept the friendships that were offered to her for more than a little while at a time.


The movie left me very sad.

I agree. Also, I felt that she couldn't bring herself to commit again.


I had a friend whose mother deserted the family and took off in a small camper van. She would come back very occasionally to visit her adult daughters, but could not bring herself to stay. It was very sad. She came to our house with her daughter for Thanksgiving dinner one year, having taken on a pseudonym, and talked about how good it was to be able to get away from the world around her by just crawling into her van. I couldn't decide whether to believe her or think she was talking to herself. She had no health insurance and eventually the authorities found her van at a Walmart with her inside, having died from cancer. The daughters had to go clean out the van and dispose of it.


I guess that's why I found the movie so depressing. No friends to rely on, and in Francis McDormand's case, no family at all. I'm left wondering... did she care about that? What was going on that she couldn't accept the friendships that were offered to her for more than a little while at a time.


The movie left me very sad.

This guy is one of the main real-life van-dwellers in the movie. I've seen his website for years and I think his mother lives or lived in Lady Lake.

Cheap RV Living.com-Home

Agreed....not a Hallmark Movie by any stretch of the imagination :)

I don't like to go to bed sad.

I don't either. In fact at my age, I have enough dark thoughts and worries that come unbidden. I try to avoid sad movies.

Yesterday on this forum I was called an "old cow". I don't understand the world at all anymore.