My homeless / Hobo daypack gear 

Thanks for sharing! It's nice to know that you can find things and use your skills to survive, but living it isn't much fun is it?

I used an extension cord once 😂

Feel free, I'm sure everyone would love to hear it!

OK. The old school term was " going streamlined " , this was the lightest way to travel. It was pretty much just wearing two sets of clothes and a small sack. You put lots of stuff in your pockets and some grub in the sack. Important stuff : a p-38 can opener, church key ( type of bottle opener ), pocket knife, a few bucks, twine, matches, a railroad spike ( had dozen of uses ), spoon. I usually carried a day pack (small backpack), with a sleeping bag, cheap blue tarp, twine, hoodie and sweats. Of course a small bleach bottle. Empty but the residue would help purify river water and make it taste like "city water". And of course always a can of beans. The base for hobo stew. Tin cans for a stove and cooking pot. I was experienced enough to know how to collect more gear if I needed it. @@hoboroad

Any advice,tips,tricks, or hacks would be helpful, thanks

My always carry pack was a tarp, twine, hoodie, sweat pants, can of beans, rail road flare, water jug, and a paperback book. I could often get a crappy blanket from a charity either for a sob story or cheaply. If I had room I stuffed it in my pack or rolled and tied to the pack. Would pick up odds and ends from dumpsters as needed also. @@astrumdeus7098

Utility is the mother of vanity gear. I love the idea of using the duffel to keep your legs and feet warm. But I can't think of what I would use the putty knife for. Weight also plays a big part of my decision to keep or discard an item. I did have pliers at one point but tossed them as they were never used. Thanks for posting! I'm always looking for different ideas for new useful gear.

@@hoboroad I’m sorry. I am an armchair quarterback and a dreamer. I’m too old to do anything. So don’t take my advice. I do wish you well and I hope you survive the winter.

@generator6946 I was hoping on opening a dialogue and get you to tell me the benefits of your gear but I guess I failed. Peace brother!

Yep,or hidden in a garbage bag disguised as trash in the woods

@@hoboroad my luck the dustbin men would come along and clear the area! X

Ikr

​@@hoboroad you think tying it to a tree like a bear bag would work or a camo bag cover and hiding it in thick brush or something ?

@ThatGuy-sc5rx tying it in a tree in this weather when all the leaves are coming down would just be an advertisement. I have on the past lightly buried backup gear, but got all my eggs in one basket for now.

Welcome aboard!

Good tips, thanks for sharing!

Agreed, I'm doing this from now on.

Yeah i do too, plus when my old pants bust I always keep the extra fabric on me so if my new pants bust, I can just patch my pants up

That has been my plan since I started this channel but waiting to make enough money to get the gear I want. Until then I plan on doing videos that I can. Thanks for sharing!

I agree 👍 My biggest concern when it comes to survival is my paranoid fueled fear of bein homeless again... So I been tryin to learn what I can about urban survival and homeless survival. Unfortunatly there aint that many good videos on it. Seems too many folks are worried about an apocalypse of one kind or another and they always forget or just dont think / realise that bein homeless is a kind of apocalypse all its own.

Thanks for the sub! My PayPal is www.paypal.me/hoboroad and thx for the thought. Yes, It's quite concerning that we as a country are so close to becoming homeless, and the worst aspect in my opinion is that once homeless you stop being a taxpayer and valued member of society. You stop being human in the eyes if others, and become a pariah, a throw away with no control over your circumstances.

Thank you! You too!

Nice!

So I'm no longer travelling, just full filling this homeless stereotype. I've done frogg toggs and the poncho thing, but I would rather wait until I have enough cash for a good long jacket with a hood. In Portland, there's such a fierce wind that you really need a more permanent way of deflecting the rain. Peace.

@@hoboroad never been to Portland so I really can’t speak about that. What type of rain jacket is used there? I used a ponch in Florida during my time in military. They are extremely tough as long as you buy certain ones.

@@richardhenry1969 really anything water resistant. I had a trench type wool pea coat at one time that worked well. But from a homeless perspective, it's different. If you get wet you stay wet and that's bad in the cold like this. A trash bag is good in a pinch. I was homeless in Sarasota briefly, and I know living there is a completely different experience. The humidity and bugs really can be underscored enough.

@@hoboroad I get were your coming from. I was homeless quite a few times. I had a drug and relationship problem. I always picked the wrong person and then I’d drown my self in drugs. I’ve been clean now 15-17 years. I got myself a van this way I’ve always got a roof over my head. I’m in Maryland so our weather is everything. It goes from hot to cold enough to kill ya. Plus being near the water makes the weather very unpredictable. I remember wearing a carhartt work jacket in the rain it was so wet it weight 30lbs and took forever to dry. Yet I wasn’t cold until I took it off. I now always have the poncho with me but I dress for the weather. I try not to think about winter in a tent. Good luck my friend I’ll be thinking about you. An praying for you.

@@richardhenry1969 A van would be ideal, just git to get through the present. And I can't imagine, those carthart jackets weigh a ton dry, can't imagine them wet. Gratz on staying clean!

I do feel safe travelling but only reasonably so. Awareness of your surroundings is key and if you get a bad feeling, trust your intuition. While doing my walks across America, I've been more worried about creatures, mountain lions, bears, boars and rattlesnakes. I haven't really had any issues with other homeless folk, and on the road hobos tend to be solitary and other gather in safe areas.

I know, and in Portland proper near the river, the wind will wrap an umbrella around you and make it worthless. But RN I don't have a waterproof hood and since Im bald that means I'm the first to know when it rains. Soon as I can though I plan on getting a jacket with a hood.

Yup no umbrella in the north west

I've visited the PNW several times when it was raining and there was a pretty good amount of people using umbrellas

Would a military poncho work better than umbrella? Can use it to add to your shelter in a pinch.

The cool thing is, they are cheap and you can carry several without really adding weight to your pack. I wish they made them with better quality, enough to last.

@@hoboroad The military versions do seem to last although you gotta worry about the sharp blade catchin on stuff. The coghlans version had a spoon integrated into a P38... When I tried usin it to open a can... The frame of it started to split.

Good to know!

Good Question! Besides using it to stay sane via apps and games, its very helpful for using the city bus system, but also if I apply for a job I would like to receive a callback. Google voice used to be okay for that, but its crap now.

If get desperate, I will look into it, thx!

@@hoboroad I was kind of making a joke but it's an interesting botanical factoid.

Yes, absolutely stick out in the crowd. You need to get caught fast 😂

Thanks for commenting!

Welcome to my channel!

Hey, thanks for commenting! I would be happy to answer your questions. It starts with my mental health. I've had Clinical depression for 15+ years and that's a pretty unpleasant life about 4 days out of 5. I also have other issues like Low Iron Anemia and Hyperthermia, as well as just getting older and I can do the things Ive done when I was younger (ie. Back problems, knee problems, and foot problems like Plantar Fasciitis). For a long time, I lived like anyone else, worked, had a car, a place to live, and trust me, I've tried all kinds of medication for this. But I tend to fall in the 0.01% with regards to the side effects. Fast forward to 2022. Just got out of a relationship that about emotionally destroyed me, and doing the work, sleep, work rotation thing. The Clinical Depression got really bad. Not only was I depressed, but most days I couldn't get out of bed. It got so bad that I actively and daily considered killing myself, which has never been a conscious thought prior. Previous times in my life, when I have travelled, and lived in my car or a tent, that spark of wanderlust has always brought me back to a place of if not happy then a semi-contentment. So I left my life and most of my possessions behind and did the hobo thing awhile. After all if you're going to be homeless and you don't have any other options, you may as well start walking across America which is what I did. Doing the walk did help, and now being homeless, its not as terrible as it was then. But maintaining a good mental outlook is key in keeping the depression at bay, and that's not always something I can do day to day. People seem to pigeon hole all homeless as a dirty tweaker, perv or schizophrenic. But only a small few I have met fit into that category. Yes, 1 of 3 people in the US has a physical, mental, or substance abuse disorder, and it is more prevalent with the chronically homeless. But sometimes, its just making a bad decision and not having a backup plan, which is how I came into it. And being homeless on the surface is easy, but trying to stay clean, stay less aromatic than some can get, and staying sane is a difficult task. Add mental illness, and other disabilities and most days it just sucks. I remember my first homeless experience and up-turning a gallon bottle of water over my head to mimic taking a shower; as It was naïve and a disaster. I wish someone had told me then about how to do a hobo bath, that while being homeless you're not mimicking civilized life but instead doing only what is needed to achieve the same result. That's one of the reasons I created this RU-vid channel. I'm not here to tell people to become homeless and smoke weed all day chilling like Mowgli in the Jungle Book. I'm not here to defend just getting by and living off the system. But Homeless happens to the best of us and when it does, I hope my videos can help someone new to it.

I find your story very interesting, we can learn a lot from you, thanks for sharing , got you subbed

@@alanrice39 Thanks for the sub and commenting! I don't expect to get rich doing these videos anytime soon, but maybe someday I will be a hundred-aire 😃

Thank you for being so honest and forth coming. I wasn't expecting you to say it all, but I'm glad you did. I hope things get better for you and I wish you better health and happiness in your journey. @@hoboroad

oh, I also subbed your channel. Keep up the good work.@@hoboroad

My being homeless is not a "lifestyle" choice, its a result of one ostensibly bad choice out of a thousand good choices I've made in my life. I have clinical depression and a myriad of other disabilities that affect how I am able to live my life in the present. If I come of well-read and of a sound mind in my videos with no evident problems, please keep in mind that, that's how people with clinical depression sound; no different from anyone else. With regards to your comment about the welfare state, keep in mind that I have worked 40 years and paid taxes each and every year, contributing towards human services in which I did not take part. So you're saying that now that I am getting food stamps, after years of paying taxes, this makes me obliged to spend several hours each day at the feet of people just getting by, thanking them for the services I've paid my government for many times over? We like to think that because the pay we receive for work is hard earned that our taxes should be spent according to our personal beliefs or politics. But its spent by politicians we vote into office. Maybe we should all spend a few hours a day thanking the incredibly wealthy because "the top 1 percent paid 42.3 percent of the total federal income tax in 2020". I look at it that I am getting from my government a very small amount of what I paid into it, for this time that I need it. Peace.

@@hoboroad Well said dude 👍 If it wasnt for the poor / middle class folk workin... The rich wouldnt have shit. And as for welfare and disability... Each of us pay into it when were able to work which means we earn the help were entitled to from our goverment.

The dictionary says a hobo is a homeless person; a tramp or vagrant, but no one really knows where the term originated. Some say it's short for "homeward bound" and others say it's short for "homeless boy". I can understand your viewpoint, but keep in mind that a homeless person in modern times compared to that of say the great depression has conveniences and gear not available then; but homeless is homeless. But saying I have to have lost everything but a tent and sleeping bag to use the word hobo isn't accurate. I've lost most of the material things that have made my life comfortable and civilized. And though I have more than some homeless folks, I have less than others.

@@robertmcbain6247 there's the dictionary's definition and there's common understanding or slang and that may change depending on where you're from. Is an artist still an artist if he isn't at that moment creating art? It's not as if I'm saying I'm a sea captain and never seen the ocean. I think my life can be a hobo road, even if I'm currently homeless in one area. I think of myself as a hobo, though currently that's not technically true to the specific present. And to be fair the title of this video is "My homeless/hobo day pack gear" giving the impression that I have used it both as being homeless and on the road.

@@user-vk4lh6ub1j I understand your viewpoint of what a hobo was in the past, but the English language evolves to encompass more than just the original meaning. And today it can mean someone who travels and makes their way through this world, working as they can. Hobos of today don't need to carry knapsacks, and can live in cars, ride bikes or whatever. It can also refer to someone's lifestyle at the present or throughout their lives. It can also relate to someone who is simply homeless as the dictionary defines it.

I see hobos with cell phones all the time. Hell Obama phones are free. I don't see why that seems crazy. Also hobo is only a negative term if you make it one. I've known many folks who used that term referring to themselves. Nobody's making fun here.

Michael..Modern day homeless. I've been there done it. Had some much nicer gear before laid off from covid and lost my lease. What is your experience that you think moden hobos don't have phones? Have you been to Austin? Have you walked in another man's shoes to decide what the homeless have or don't? I suspect you don't know the reality of things these days. Someone always making comments from the know it all gallery. Go back to your cushy couch the grown ups are talking.