RE Gets a Stealth Van!

[Palloy2]

I probably COULD put together an electric powered rig out of a ZEV Trike and Trailer, but where is the energy to run that one coming from?

Searching "cycle round the world", yields a million hits, so electric-assisted cycling around the US, shouldn't be too hard.  Energy-freaks would like to know how many watt.hours it would take for a day's running.  The power to recharge the batteries could comes from the mains, and can be likewise accounted for. No one would begrudge you that.  Or it could come from a solar panel/battery pack on a trailer. How big? How heavy?  The audience would be impressed with a totally unfit RE turning up like that, and listen to the message more attentively.

You would need a blog to keep everyone up to date, and set out the talking schedule, but we have that already 
It is THE MESSAGE that counts - and you can put that RIGHT HERE in any amount of text, audio and video. 

But "we need a million bucks to start to build a concrete dome" so we can live sustainably ever after, isn't going to cut it, not here anyway, where the amount you paid for your tank is more than anyone has ever earned in a lifetime.

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[RE]

But "we need a million bucks to start to build a concrete dome" so we can live sustainably ever after, isn't going to cut it, not here anyway, where the amount you paid for your tank is more than anyone has ever earned in a lifetime.

The amount I paid for the "tank" is less than half of what you live on for a full year from your industrial pension, and YOU live around there.  The annual rent I would pay would also be LESS than yours, since it would be FREE.  So take your Holier-than-Thou bullshit attitude and stick it where the SUN☼ don't Shine.  Let me know when you divest yourself of the 1999 Toyota Corolla. 

RE

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[jdwheeler42]

Both of you should chill!

Take 5 minutes and listen to Formidable Vegetable Sound System's ode to the Permaculture Principle of Diversity:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/LliThslFpjg" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/LliThslFpjg</a>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LliThslFpjg

You both have good ideas, RE and Palloy.  How good the ideas are isn't what matters, though, what matters is what gets done.  Your idea would almost certainly be more impressive, Palloy, but even under the best of circumstances RE might not be able to reach as many people.  But in this case, it very likely may be the difference between getting done or not.  So as long as it is a worthwhile endeavor, we should be encouraging RE, even if his plan might not meet some standard of perfection.

Besides, it's not like this is a permanent lifestyle choice.  If RE was planning on doing this for the next 20 years, you would have a very good point, Palloy.  But this is more of a bucket-list item... RE isn't even sure he's going to make it that long.  (I'm definitely praying for him.)

BTW, RE, I think doing a trial run around Alaska is an excellent idea to work out the bugs in the system.

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[RE]

You both have good ideas, RE and Palloy.  How good the ideas are isn't what matters, though, what matters is what gets done.  Your idea would almost certainly be more impressive, Palloy, but even under the best of circumstances RE might not be able to reach as many people.  But in this case, it very likely may be the difference between getting done or not.  So as long as it is a worthwhile endeavor, we should be encouraging RE, even if his plan might not meet some standard of perfection.

For me in my condition, trying to go cross country on an E-bike or E-Scooter towing a mini-trailer is simply ludicrous.  I'm not sure you could even pull it off if you were healthy.

Generally the MAX range you will get on one of these things is around 50 miles, and that is for the extremely expensive Stealth Electric bike, which costs twice the price of my Stealth Van.  There are some fabulously long stretches of road across Colorado and Nebraska where you won't find a gas station for 300 miles, much less an outlet to plug your E-Bike into for a recharge.  Then, all your recharges are coming off the grid, which is burning fossil fuels to supply the electricity!  Then, even with a 6A charger, it's going to take around 3 hours for every recharge.

Besides that impracticality, there's the Weather impracticality.  In the Van, I have built in shelter, no tent to have to set up every night, maybe in the rain.  I hated doing that when I was healthy, and to try to do it now would be a joke.  By the time the tent got set up I would be soaked through to the bone.  Add in having to drive/ride an E-bike through the rain at a top legal speed for these things at around 25 mph in some states, others as low as 15 mph.  Even if I could drive it every single day non-stop with good weather, it would take 3-4 months.  No time to stop and make speeches either.

The SV gets me around the country relatively economically, few hotels will be necessary.  I know all the truckstops to stay at, everywhere.  They all have free wi-fi nowadays.  Yes, it burns gas, but somebody will burn that gas and it might as well be me.

If I am going to get the message out in person, this is the only way to do it.

RE

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[monsta666]

For what it is worth I don't think what RE drives (or not drives) will have any significant bearing on the number of people who follow him. People will believe what they want to believe and him driving an electric scooter or even rewilding in the wilderness is going to put off another set of people who are used to the industrial lifestyle. For people on the fence or who don't want to believe there are a million reasons why they would say no even if he did everything right. I don't think his particular lifestyle has much effect on how people think and this can be seen by looking at what the more successful bloggers and public figures of collapse do. How many of those people bugout or live a very frugal or sustainable life? From what I have seen most are either globe trotters or people with good financial means that belong to the middle or upper-class society of the US or some rich western country.

With all that said however I still take the point that in an ideal world you would set the example of the world you wish to be and that should be the choice of action if possible. Problem is that in many instances it is simply not practical and you limit yourself and your message so really you need to balance your ideals and beliefs to pure pragmatism. That means compromise but the key is compromising in the right way that achieves maximizing the reach of your message but at the same time not water your ideas too much and become a sellout to attention, money or fame.

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[RE]

For what it is worth I don't think what RE drives (or not drives) will have any significant bearing on the number of people who follow him. People will believe what they want to believe and him driving an electric scooter or even rewilding in the wilderness is going to put off another set of people who are used to the industrial lifestyle. For people on the fence or who don't want to believe there are a million reasons why they would say no even if he did everything right. I don't think his particular lifestyle has much effect on how people think and this can be seen by looking at what the more successful bloggers and public figures of collapse do. How many of those people bugout or live a very frugal or sustainable life? From what I have seen most are either globe trotters or people with good financial means that belong to the middle or upper-class society of the US or some rich western country.

With all that said however I still take the point that in an ideal world you would set the example of the world you wish to be and that should be the choice of action if possible. Problem is that in many instances it is simply not practical and you limit yourself and your message so really you need to balance your ideals and beliefs to pure pragmatism. That means compromise but the key is compromising in the right way that achieves maximizing the reach of your message but at the same time not water your ideas too much and become a sellout to attention, money or fame.

"Changing Minds" as we have seen here time and again on the Diner is about impossible.  All you really can do is plant some seeds for thought, and that is either over the internet or IRL on a speaking tour.

Just about all the Collapse Pundits do speaking tours, Nicole Foss did several across the FSoA, Canada, Oz and NZ.  Chris Martenson is always going somewhere, and same with Guy "Extinction" McPherson.  NONE of them are riding bicycles for this, that is for damn sure. lol.

For me, such a tour is in a large part a selfish thing, I don't really NEED to do this much traveling, and the number of people I will reach in person might not even be as many as I currently reach using the internet, which itself of course is burning copious amounts of energy every day.  But sometimes, you can make more of an impact in person than you can with your writing and even if I just planted a seed in 1 person that grew to maturity, that makes the whole trip and all the gas burned worthwhile.  It is "Save As Many As You Can", after all.

It matters not where I am, I will be burning fossil fuels everywhere.  Here in my digs, I am burning them to run my lights, refrigerator and computer, along with driving either my carz or my Ewz to buy food each week.  Will I burn more driving the SV OTR?  Yes, I probably will, but you know it probably won't be more than double what I currently burn just parking my crippled ass in one spot.  Palloy is not going to make me feel guilty about this choice, he drives his own 1999 Toyota Corolla around.  He's no fucking Saint, despite living in the Tropical Rain Forest.

RE

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[Palloy2]

When you are talking about getting people to change their lifestyles, Right Action in your own lifestyle, is important. I have admitted already that my lifestyle has not persuaded anyone, and its not because I drive a Corolla to the shops once a week. But I have to say I am disappointed that, even here, no one understands.

Likewise, there is a corner of the internet called pythons.net where they look after pythons as pets.  When I posted a picture of a "green"treesnake that was actually blue and yellow, someone asked what I fed it on - they had no comprehension that it was just living in the forest near my house, in the wild.

No one understands, but Right Action, as best I can do it, is still the only thing to do.

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[RE]

When you are talking about getting people to change their lifestyles, Right Action in your own lifestyle, is important. I have admitted already that my lifestyle has not persuaded anyone, and its not because I drive a Corolla to the shops once a week. But I have to say I am disappointed that, even here, no one understands.

Likewise, there is a corner of the internet called pythons.net where they look after pythons as pets.  When I posted a picture of a "green"treesnake that was actually blue and yellow, someone asked what I fed it on - they had no comprehension that it was just living in the forest near my house, in the wild.

No one understands, but Right Action, as best I can do it, is still the only thing to do.

I HAVE persuaded people despite not having perfectly "right action".  At least 2 people moved off grid as a result of stuff they read on the Diner, and that is just who I know of.

Right Action is doing what you can to save as many as you can.  If you have to burn some jet fuel like Albert Bates does or a few tanks of gas like I will be doing, it's the price you pay for the Mission.

RE

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[RE]

I drove the SV this morning to Wally World to pick up a new Ink Cartridge for my printer and some FOR SALE signs for the Explorer and the Bugout Machine.  Not going to try to sell the Mazda, it's basically worthless, although it runs great.  If I can sell the Bugout Machine, I'll leave it in that spot in the storage facility for when I get back up here as transportation.

On the way back I stopped for gas to fill up the SV so I can get a more accurate reading on gas mileage.  It cost $35 for the fillup, but that was for less than half a tank of gas.  I'm guessing it has a 25-30 gallon tank.  The Israeli told me it costs around $100 for a full fillup.

Next week I will drive it down to Anchorage again for the Detail job, and also call the Israeli and see if he can install my solar panels on the roof and wire them up.  That would really snazz it up!    That puts 90 miles on it round trip.  Then when I go for the shakedown cruise I will burn through a tank and see how many miles I got out of it and how many gallons to fill.  I'm betting on a 30 gallon tank and 15mpg for a 450 mile range on  a tank full.

On the shakedown, I think I will drive south to Homer, Valdez or Whittier first where the Ferries leave from.  I want to scope out the area and loading proceedure so I know where I am going when my ferry docks.  Don't wanna miss the boat after forking over $3K for the boat ride! 

After that I'll drive north and try to make it to Prudhoe Bay unless I am just bored shitless. There is practically nothing going to Fairbanks, and I'm sure it's worse north of there.  Endless miles of NOTHING, just so I can see some oil rigs in person.  I can Google them up and it's way less work and less gas burned.

RE

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[roamer]

Nice rig RE.  Hope you have a safe trip down the alcan.  Almost headed up there a couple of weeks ago after getting down with my oil rig gig.  Discovered my passport had just expired so have been backpacking and drone piloting across montana and living in my stealth SUV. 

Just getting the editing thing figured out but I'll try to get some drone video clips up here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCveeK70_RbjAvId0L6a_TWw 

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[RE]

Nice rig RE.  Hope you have a safe trip down the alcan.  Almost headed up there a couple of weeks ago after getting down with my oil rig gig.  Discovered my passport had just expired so have been backpacking and drone piloting across montana and living in my stealth SUV. 

Just getting the editing thing figured out but I'll try to get some drone video clips up here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCveeK70_RbjAvId0L6a_TWw

I'm looking at taking the Ferry instead of driving the Alcan.

However, if you're interested I will fly you up here and we can drive the Alcan back down to the Lower 48 together.

RE

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[roamer]

I would be interested in doing that drive with you...but it would take a minimum of 2-3 weeks to get an expideted passport renewal.  What is your timeframe?

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[RE]

I would be interested in doing that drive with you...but it would take a minimum of 2-3 weeks to get an expideted passport renewal.  What is your timeframe?

You have time.  My current Plan is to leave after my SSA hearing on August 16th.

RE

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[roamer]

I'll get ahold of you off forum, but sounds pretty good.  Maybe I'll head up as soon as I get my passport and do labor gigs and stock up on smoked salmon.  Also getting good at drone photography, could make some epic road trip footage.

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[RE]

I'll get ahold of you off forum, but sounds pretty good.  Maybe I'll head up as soon as I get my passport and do labor gigs and stock up on smoked salmon.  Also getting good at drone photography, could make some epic road trip footage.

Sounds good, but I will need a commitment from you to do it, because otherwise I gotta book my reservations for the Ferry in the next week or 2 the most.  PM me.

RE

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