"My ultimate hobo dream has been a suit, which is comfortable to wear at all times and which protects you from any kind of environment. You wont need a tent or a home."
One of my eternal pub discussions has been about an Urban Mobility Suit which looked like a business suit, but was actually designed for backcountry hiking. Plus a briefcase actually containing ultralight and compact camping gear. To really confuse people in the outdoors. Then as you overtake anyone on the trail, say things like "Excuse me, running late for my 10am."
There was a time in my life where I was feeding the cement mixer and building walls wearing a pair of expensive kenzo shoes and a business suit. I was convinced that cynicism was the only possible ethos. Now that I don't work anymore in the field I don't even wear suits.
I wouldn't call him a hobo in any way, but if you really like a calming way of wandering around North America, I recommend checking out: Foresty Forest YouTube channel.
He lives in a van with a dog. And he will summit random mountains across Canada, go on hikes, cook some food in his van. There is a weird comfort that I think might echo with people who have a fascination with nomadic lifestyle.
Here’s a video that happened to come up on my YouTube feed today. It’s by someone doing what I’ve always thought of as the quintessential hobo activity: hopping a freight train. Beautiful scenery.
I suggest to look up his trip up from Mexico, following the migrant route. For a different view of the same trip, his travelling companion (automous something) has his own channel.
RanOutOnARail isn't really a hobo though ... I think he's a software engineer in Texas somewhere.
Hobo Shoestring has an interesting channel also, albeit with a home base. You'll learn a lot about trains, and hobos' most hated adversaries, the 'homebums'. :D
And of course, there's a 10x hobo, in stobe-the-hobo (RIP), well worth watching all his videos.
Love Shiey and he also goes on quite a few trips with this guy (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8iPVSFr42KUFf8DKsmnvSw) who is very well educated and more philosophical and artistic than Shiey. Like them both a lot, but they're different flavors of the same genre.
Haven't watched him in a while but in the earlier days, his production values were quite charming. He's at a great intersection of vanlife+summiting+pressure-cooking. Not much pretence or glamour.
I took a very long break as well, but I started re-watching again. For some reason, I have become very fond of the idea of finding comfort in routine. He posts a video and the format is pretty much the same, so I just play his videos as I go to sleep.
Sleeping bag kimono, tent that looks like a car (and is "parked" next to a real car). The Finns' subtle sense of humor always makes me smile. Totally love it. Warmest greetings from Estonia!
Also, look at the wear and tear of his HP100LX (main portable computer for 20 years). It's been a close relationship for sure: https://github.com/timonoko/HP100LX
Which is he?
He looks broke/hobo.
But some pics seem like there is apartment, and that he travels some.
So does he have some money and is nomad? (some nest egg? he doesn't look like millionaire).
a blast from the hackernews past, when obscure hacker's personal home pages made it to the front page. timonoko is a hacker's hacker, but then it's kind of hard to figure that out without attentively going over his website, something there's no motivation to do without some kind of pitch.
Interesting page.. but some stuff is pure wtf material:
"Sol emits indeed Nukular Particles and solar panels thus have tendency to produce Nukular Energy, but the accumulation of these particles can be avoided by using "Green" batteries. NiMH-batteries are more "Green" than NiCd-batteries -- and usually labeled as such.."
One of my eternal pub discussions has been about an Urban Mobility Suit which looked like a business suit, but was actually designed for backcountry hiking. Plus a briefcase actually containing ultralight and compact camping gear. To really confuse people in the outdoors. Then as you overtake anyone on the trail, say things like "Excuse me, running late for my 10am."