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Leatherman (vagabond)

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Re: Leatherman (vagabond)

#121

Post by rtkwe »

rtkwe wrote: post #87
chinaev wrote: post #52

Gives me an idea of an ultra endurance event... Think "Ironman" of walking. Let's say participants would have two weeks to complete the 587 km course or some part of it and whoever finished first is the Leatherman.

There already are, they're called ultramarathons [0], 587 km would be on the longer end for a regularly held race but it's only slightly longer than Dean Karnazes's record for an uninterrupted run which was 560 km in 80 hours [1] so it'd be a multi day race probably. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramarathon [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Karnazes#Running_highligh...

Usually the extremely long distance ultra events are held as laps around a limited area because it's hard to safely run a race over hundreds of kilometers over a long period. Each racer needs a support car usually in the really long distance events that do happen to be run on roads etc. blocking traffic and making sure if they do get into medical trouble they can get help immediately.

Re: Leatherman (vagabond)

#122

Post by rtkwe »

Sesse__ wrote: post #54
chinaev wrote: post #52

Gives me an idea of an ultra endurance event... Think "Ironman" of walking. Let's say participants would have two weeks to complete the 587 km course or some part of it and whoever finished first is the Leatherman.

How would it differ from other long ultras?

It would be on the longer side of ultras and unique if it was actually run over the route (vaguely defined) that Leatherman took. But that's mostly because they tend to not be done that way because of the difficulties of supporting runners when the course is that long. The really long ultras are often lap based instead of being a course that's actually 100+km long or take place in remote areas with support cars following the runners.

Re: Leatherman (vagabond)

#123

Post by adregan »

buran77 wrote: post #56
iberator wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder what it says about me or my life that my first thought was that it sounded absolutely wonderful. >I do not want to be homeless or get rid of my family, but it sure would be amazing to "be able to" (of course I have a choice: I can just resign) just spend time spending time. Trust me mate. Being homeless or a homeless traveler is HARD. I am homeless for 3 months now and it's absolutely devastating for my so…

People with comfortable enough lives sometimes have this attraction to the very romanticized versions of otherwise very hard lives. You see this with the coder who dreams of the farmer's life, or that of a "rover, wanderer, nomad, vagabond", or even that of a soldier. It's probably the assumption that something that can be a nice hobby on its best days, a short escape, must also be a nice life. But it's the dose that…

I often think of Thoreau when my mind drifts to romanticizing farming:

> I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of. Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in. Who made them serfs of the soil? Why should they eat their sixty acres, when man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt? Why should they begin digging their graves as soon as they are born?

Re: Leatherman (vagabond)

#124

Post by rtkwe »

WillAdams wrote: post #46
ljf wrote: post #5

A very different man, but the book 'The Autobiography of a Super Tramp' is a fascinating read from the hayday of the tramp - about one manes tramping across the UK and USA https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Autobiography_of_a_Super...

The thing which that article leaves unsaid is that this lifestyle existed in the context of seasonal migrant workers (hobos) who were still necessary to the not-yet fully mechanized agriculture of the time. One work which touches on this is Louis L'Amour's autobiography: _Education of a Wandering Man_ which is a great read.

There's still a lot of non mechanized agriculture in the US. Fruits especially are often hand picked. Strawberries in particular can be pretty grueling [0] because they're low to the ground. Even the semi mechanized version has the workers lying on their bellies rapidly picking as the tractor tows their platform along. [1]

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/SipsTea/comments/1kqv2yd/pov_manual... pardon the subreddit it was the best video I could find shortly.

[1] https://youtu.be/jmib5b7AhXg?t=24

Re: Leatherman (vagabond)

#125

Post by [deleted] »

iberator wrote: post #25
halper wrote: post #21

I wonder what it says about me or my life that my first thought was that it sounded absolutely wonderful. I had a good stretch of time between jobs (fortunately voluntarily) a while back and ever since I have had a completely different outlook on life that is, sadly, not quite compatible with modern life. During my time unemployed my pace of life was more like it is when you are on a camping/hiking trip with a group…

> I wonder what it says about me or my life that my first thought was that it sounded absolutely wonderful. >I do not want to be homeless or get rid of my family, but it sure would be amazing to "be able to" (of course I have a choice: I can just resign) just spend time spending time. Trust me mate. Being homeless or a homeless traveler is HARD. I am homeless for 3 months now and it's absolutely devastating for my so…

[deleted]

Re: Leatherman (vagabond)

#126

Post by HanClinto »

buran77 wrote: post #56
iberator wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder what it says about me or my life that my first thought was that it sounded absolutely wonderful. >I do not want to be homeless or get rid of my family, but it sure would be amazing to "be able to" (of course I have a choice: I can just resign) just spend time spending time. Trust me mate. Being homeless or a homeless traveler is HARD. I am homeless for 3 months now and it's absolutely devastating for my so…

People with comfortable enough lives sometimes have this attraction to the very romanticized versions of otherwise very hard lives. You see this with the coder who dreams of the farmer's life, or that of a "rover, wanderer, nomad, vagabond", or even that of a soldier. It's probably the assumption that something that can be a nice hobby on its best days, a short escape, must also be a nice life. But it's the dose that…

> People with comfortable enough lives sometimes have this attraction to the very romanticized versions of otherwise very hard lives.

The film Sullivan's Travels from 1941 is a film that explores the concept of this romanticization. It's a good movie whose storytelling and comedy still hold up today. I think more people should be aware of it.

Trivia: This is also where the movie O' Brother Where Art Thou got its name.

Re: Leatherman (vagabond)

#127

Post by nartho »

marze wrote: post #101

My brother has a friend who is the modern day equivalent. He travels North America by bike, eats pizza from cheap pizza restaurant dumpsters.

If he's eating from the dumpsters why not eat from the fancy restaurant's dumpster instead ?

Re: Leatherman (vagabond)

#128

Post by macintux »

buran77 wrote: post #72
throwaway894345 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People with comfortable enough lives sometimes have this attraction to the very romanticized versions of otherwise very hard lives. You see this with the coder who dreams of the farmer's life, or that of a "rover, wanderer, nomad, vagabond", or even that of a soldier. Some people even go camping for recreation .

Exactly, it's the dose that makes the poison. A week of camping is fun, a lifetime of camping is hell.

And living off the land was much easier (not that it was ever easy) when there was land to live off of.

Re: Leatherman (vagabond)

#129

Post by mrbombastic »

mothballed wrote: post #98
tbrake wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about romanticizing a hard life but I'll definitely get hit with a very strong sense of wanting to escape and leave it all behind. It hits me every summer like clockwork tbh - leaving a nicely typed 2 minutes notice on my VP's desk and just taking my chances as a traveling beach bum. Akin to wanderlust, I'm filled with the urge to just go off into the unknown. In my heart of hearts I know I'm a soft city…

You would adapt rapidly. I was fired from a city job. Started hitchiking and living outside. Eventually worked on a fishing boat in the Bering Sea, worked the oil fields in the Dakotas, fought in a civil war in another country, hiked state-long parts of the PCT, hung out with tree-dwelling hippies in the doug-fir forests etc. I would live that life again in a heartbeat if I didn't have a child to support, which was p…

You have any write ups? Sounds like quite the interesting life

Re: Leatherman (vagabond)

#130

Post by Symmetry »

chinaev wrote: post #52

Gives me an idea of an ultra endurance event... Think "Ironman" of walking. Let's say participants would have two weeks to complete the 587 km course or some part of it and whoever finished first is the Leatherman.

That was a big deal in the 19th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedestrianism

Crazy things like people walking 1 mile every hour for 1000 hours, grabbing bits of sleep within those hours.

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