Who I met

I'm in a pretty good mood at this point. I have met some pretty fantastic individuals, and I'm happy to know these people exist. After work on my second night I was walking around the beach paths around 2am or so. I ran into a guy riding a bicycle around and waved. That was Dan from Maryland who drove down here to simplify his life and live outside. My age. We have a lot of the same thoughts and feelings about life and all of the details. Our move down here was similarly motivated, except that he is going to the extreme in his thinking and actions in some ways, where I am striving hard to find a happy sustainable medium toward that side of the spectrum. We discussed this and other ideas until about 6am. He hangs out with others who sleep outside on the beach and island.

Sleeping in the Truck at this point was starting to wear thin. Too much traffic outside, and sleeping late is difficult. That makes it tough when I get off of work at 4am. I had another pretty poor night of sleeping, and left the island when I woke up to find a place to open the roll up door and air it out and cook some food. On my way back I parked about a hundred yards behind what I suspected were other vehicles being lived in. I wanted to talk to another vehicle dweller to learn their experiences with living here. I found the king! I waved at him a little tentatively through his open door, and he put down his book quickly and invited me in with a warm greeting. I asked a few questions, and he showed me a fat file of paperwork about his experiences in Key West as a vehicle dweller. He was taken to court in 1994, and his case was dismissed. He showed me the original article with a headline stating that a 'man proved living in a vehicle is legal.' I gave him a tour of Truck House, and we discussed the pros and cons. Then we picked up his goofy yellow Schwinn with a small front wheel, stopped by where my city bike was parked, and he showed me some good parking areas that I hadn't yet seen. This man is a smart friendly character. He also introduced me to Seth who lives in his van which is painted all shades of radical. I ran into Seth later and found out he was accepted at MIT. Seems like a pretty smart guy.

Last night, my third night of pedicabbing, I saw Nicholi, one of the guys who sleeps outside, and stopped to talk. He was friends with Dan, who introduced us briefly before we went on a walk. Nicholi, in his own words, is chasing the sun. Random guy said "the cops won't mess with you unless you're really fucking up." Nicholi said "yeah, that's the problem, I'm always fucking up and drinking or some kind of shit." He's very vocal, and he's clearly a good person. He introduced me to some others. Then he said Dan packed up his car and left, and he didn't tell anyone. He wished Dan had said something.