On Friday, September 4, 2020 at 8:38:41 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 9/4/2020 11:01 AM, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, September 3, 2020 at 6:15:46 PM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 9/3/2020 1:16 AM, Doug Landau wrote:
Why I quit a job paying ~$200K to be unemployed and homeless is known to noone except - perhaps - me. In any case that was 2 yrs ago and more recently, the motor in my van quit, so I moved into a bob trailer, and was pulling it around with an '80 Colnago Super, until the latter was stolen a few days ago in a moment of carelessness at Ashby BART in Berkeley.

It was an interesting tour, and brought a few things to light. For example, that the covid-19 thing is a hoax, that the population doesn't want America to be great again, and that the population is (are) , in general, assholes.

But back to cycling it was an interesting and learning ride. I criss-crossed the central valley. I thot I wanted to ride to Ohio to visit a friend, and thot I'd warm up by riding to Yosemite first, and maybe coming back over Sonora Pass to get more solar and more water carrying capacity. I rode Livermore-tracy-modesto-oakdale and got to Knight's Ferry, and my 54-y/o knees did not want to pull the trailer up many more hills on the 42-25. So I went to Stockton to look for a bike shop. But all I found was smoke shops. Back thru Lathrop, Tracy, Brentwood, Antioch.

The whole way:
"You can't sleep there."
"You can't do that there."
"Don't stay."
"You have to move."
"What's your name?"
"What's your name?"
"What's your name?"
"What's your name?"
What's you date of birth?
What's your drivers license number?"
What's your name
Whats your name
What's your Name
Sir, wake up.
You can't sleep there.
Sir, you cant sleep there.
What's your Name

What incredible ****ing assholes the whole world is! Why the **** CANT I take a nap on a piece of grass? In a municipal park or in front of a public school or library or ??? I am not talking about camping or sleeping overnight, I am talking about napping during daylight. And why exactly CANT I sort my things on a bench on a sidewalk??? And what the **** does leaf-blowing lady - a city employee - care?

As for the pigs - whose unwanted interaction I garnered almost daily - well, I didn't feel like getting beat up or going downtown and maybe losing my bike n trailer. So I did not refuse to identify myself or answer their questions, on the grounds that I am not actually legally obligated to do so, until mother****er detains me and then asks, and before he can detain me, he must have reasonable suspicion that I am involved in a crime. Except once.
He was sitting in a parking lot and I approached him and asked if there is any open camping nearby. After answering my question he asked "What's your name?" I told him, and added my CDL#, and then said quickly: "I'm pretty big on my constitutional rights these days. Now you asked me, and I told you, but if I understand correctly, I am not in fact legally obligated to tell you who I am until you detain me, and before you can do that, you have to have reasonable suspicion that I am involved in a crime. Thank you the directions and good night." and rode away. Before he started with the where are you from and where are you going crap. And the look of anger and disgust on his face suggested to me that had I answered every cop like that, I would have been slammed to the ground , just for starters, ere long.

Goddam disgusting ****ing pigs don't give a **** about rights or constitutions, with slight exaggeration. Worse, they don't even know it or them. When I refused to answer my local los gatos pigs' question where I got my solar panels that are on the roof of my van, when being questioned for something else, and asked them if I looked blonde to them, I got the distinct impression that they did not know that which I was saying, and had simply been taught in cop skool that I have to answer their questions.

And yes, I am exaggerating somewhat. The fact is that most of the cops who woke me in the morning while sleeping on bike paths, sidewalks, etc, accepted my argument that I believe that I am not breaking the law by sleeping here; that I found the article in the sf chronicle in 2019 saying that the supreme court upheld that laws against homelessness are unconstitutional, and that I have the right to lay my body down on a piece of public property if there is no alternative at hand - no homeless shelter nearby or it is full. And did not proceed to cite me, but just let me go saying I had to move cause they had a complaint. Once their partner had found the article, anyway.

I wonder if they teach hem in cop skool to ask stupid questions, and lots of them, just to draw out answers, as the more answers they get the better the chance that the suspect will contradict himself or something. "Y-Y-You just up and decided to do this one day?" he asked, pretending to not understand the concept of bike touring. I looked at him with disgust and glared and asked him loudly "OK YOU TELL ME, where do you think I am better off? I happened to be unemployed and homeless when this covid thing came along. Now where do you think I'm better off, in a homeless tent in Oakland filled with meth smoke exhaled by 9 of my best friends, who keep holding the pipe out to me, where everyone is scratching their balls and their hair and noone is washing their hands, or out here, with just me, my bike, some weed, some hand sanitizer, and my penis?"

"I see what you mean. OK, Doug, we'll let ya go. Hope enjoy the rest of your trip." 2/3 times. The third time he put on latex gloves and pulled everything out of the bob.

Well, it was a start. I'm free of the state-beach/state-park regimen, at least, and approximately 100% free of the trepidation/fear/nervousness I had just 8 weeks ago about sleeping in municipal parks, on sidewalks, parking lots, under stop signs at the end of freeway exits, on the edge of farmers' fields, etc. In fact I should add before closing that farmers are the outstanding exception to everything I have said here. They come around in the morning, and when I quickly say "Thank you for a good night's sleep!! I greatly appreciate it." and smile, they say "you're welcome, glad you slept well" and add that they are very nervous about fire, so would I please not have any fire and be very careful smoking. And I agree and they say a pleasant goodbye and wish me well.

Well I guess i'll shut up now, thanks for reading.
dkl

Wow. Your experiences are SO much different than mine, and those of
touring friends I know. I remember precisely one hassling encounter with
a cop, and after maybe 15 minutes of conversation he was smiling,
shaking our hands and wishing us a good ride.

Having said that, I'll admit I never bicycle toured in California. And
almost all the time, I've done my overnight camping in places where
camping was expected.

You might want to look into the Warm Showers organization & website.

I got evicted from some town parks in nowhere Wyoming and Colorado -- and when trying to snooze at the train station in Seattle. The interactions were not unpleasant except for the fact that I had to move -- once pretty late at night with my tent all wadded up. It was my fault for camping in no-camping parks in tiny towns with probably one hyper-vigilant cop/sheriff. They didn't seem to care east of the Rockies, or maybe the parks allowed camping.

I never got evicted in California, but then again, I tended to stay in campgrounds with minor exceptions. I did get evicted from HWY 101 by the CHP. My wife and I were riding down from Portland, cut off the coast to the Sonoma/Napa valley and drank wine (stayed at state parks) and then had to make time to get from St Helena to SJ, which was a 100 mile day, so I took the highway. This CHP "pulled us over" (on a gigantic shoulder) and told us to get off in the middle of nowhere north of the Golden Gate. We stumbled on to some unmarked (on our road map) bike path that got us to where we needed to go, but it was really hilly and tracked the rolling hills rather than the highway grade. That was a long day.

One online friend I knew had an interesting trick regarding free
camping. He'd pull off and camp at random spots, trying for reasonable
isolation. Occasionally a landowner would find him in the morning and
act offended. This guy would answer the farmer only in French,
pretending it was his only language. He reported that attitudes changed
immediately and that landowners became instantly helpful.

And I think that indicates something about human beings. Yes, we're
tribal and we want to maintain our and our tribe's territory. But most
of us also tend to be interested in travelers and reasonably helpful.

Didn't Oregon used to have a bumper sticker, "Welcome to Oregon. Now go
home." ? That summarizes those conflicting tendencies.

--
- Frank Krygowski

Tom McCall: http://www.chronline.com/news/northw...8051f9e42.html

A senator, John Lim, suggested a sign saying "you are welcome to visit, but please don't stay," but we ended up with various versions of Welcome to Oregon, keep Oregon green, enjoy your stay, etc.

It's not too hard to find ad hoc camping spots out in the country, although any ad hoc site subjects you to some uncertainty.

Urban camping is a breeze here in Portland. Everybody does it, but back when I was touring a lot, urban camping was mostly discouraged. I think Doug experienced that.

I was touring in the Sierra with my wife in the early 90s, doing a loop through Yosemite and up to Tahoe, where we snagged a free spot at a pay campground after I hit it big with the nickel slots at Harrahs, and we stuffed ourselves at some buffet back when casino food was cheap. Anyway, coming back down HWY 49, we stopped in San Andreas and poked around for a campground and found a place, but they were virulently anti-anyone not in an upscale RV. They had had vagrants overstay, and they had to go through evictions, etc., etc. I had to plead for the one ****ty tent spot. I guess the homeless thing was starting to heat up back then. BTW, HWY 49 has some nasty climbs. https://www.pashnit.com/ca-hwy-49-little-dragon And its hot.

-- Jay Beattie.