Stepping Off of the Grid?

torpor asks: "Has anyone on Slashdot ever stepped off of the grid? I don't just mean long yuppy vacations to pacified islands, but seriously gone from 'tech-dedicated' to 'doing my own thing in the middle of nowhere for a while'. It's that time of year again. I've killed my TV, and I'm finding myself looking for adventure and mayhem in distant quarters. Have any of you ever done this, and returned with interesting stories to tell?"

Comments

The Tech Jerk...

[TripMaster Monkey]

Actually, I'm going to be doing this in just a couple of hours...my fiancee and I will be undertaking the arduous journey up to my parents' cabin in the North (eight miles south of the Mackinac Bridge).

Yup, I'll be completely cut off from all my life-sustaining tech...

Except for my Sidekick, that is...that's all.

...and my digital camera...you know...to take pictures of Nature and all...and that's it.

...and my work phone...gotta have my work phone in case a server crashes or something...and that's it.

...and my work laptop...in case I have to VPN in to work...and that's ALL.

...and my personal laptop...after all, they're both in the same case...and nothing ELSE.

...except for my USB thumb drives...

...and my USB hub...

...and my wireless hub...

...and my external HDD...

...and my external DVD-RW...

*sigh*

Was/isn't a SciFi author doing that in Sri Lanka?

[ivi]

Arthur C Clark, maybe...?

Wrong Audience

[Anm]

Slashdot does not seem like the place to connect with people who have already escaped technology.

I'd suggest finding a local adventure (backpacking, etc.) store.

Anm

Have you considered...?

[Otter]

I'd recommend auditioning for a reality show. Just try to stay out of situations where people have to choose between voting for you or for the hot chick. And learn how to filet a fish _before_ you go, not while you're starving.

Actually, after watching that commercial for The Real Gilligan's Island where Mary Ann and Ginger smear coconut cream pie over each other and then wrestle in the shower -- maybe that's the way to go! Can you make an MP3 player out of bamboo, coconuts and a bicycle?

Yet still I can see your post

[acklenx]

Dude you posted this on slashdot. Next time try sending this kind of question aloft tied to a helium balloon.

Stepping off the grid

[zoloto]

I did this for a year. Except I went about it in a more extreme way.

Quit my job.
Almost emptied my bank account (just enough to keep it open) and had the cash saved safely.
Moved from my parents place to miscellaneous places under aliases and didn't use my real name.
Never went near "public" cameras.
Paid cash for everything.
Never logged onto the internet and used "my" name or email account... ever.
Didn't contact my family through means where they could trace me (unmarried, no holidays)
Worked jobs where I was paid under the table with my alias.

I did this all half-way across the country. You don't have any clue how much I loved it. New name, new face, new style of living. Hell, even this slashdot subscription I have was paid for by someone I don't know who has never met me in real life or online (except through slashdot). This "alias" of zoloto isn't linked to my real name in any way, shape or form... and that's the way I like it. (someone guessed at my name once thinking he was "cool" but it never worked for him/her)

It's great. It's too bad we can't do this anymore with our real lives since people (companies/govt too) openly share our information and collect "assurances" that we're credit worthy and an assett to society.

Re:Stepping off the grid

[Alan]

Maybe someone found the bodies^w skeletons in his closet? :)

Sounds like fun, but for a lot of geeks, maybe not practical. IE: to live and survive you need to make money somehow, and most of us (/. readership) work in computers, so you'd probably end up back in a job working with computers to make a "new" living. That kinda kills the "step off the grid" thing.

Of course, if the grandparent emptied their bank account to get $$ to live without working, then yea, go for it. Just make sure you have a job or skill you can come back to (assuming you want to come back).

Not hugely practical after you hit a certain age though, I doubt my wife and cats would appreciate me just disappearing one day :)

Re:Stepping off the grid

[zoloto]

Just for fun and to prove one could do it for the long term. I only had a few thousand dollars in my account at the time and I was 18, so I went back to my parents place when I was 19 and started working / school again. That was around 1997-8 and I tell you it was a lot of fun.

Figuring everything out as if I was starting fresh, new everything and looking for legal jobs was a great experience. I made enough money to live, eat, enjoy some small entertainment and go about my business. Bought a car, did everything under that name essentially keeping "my self" off the grid and this new person on for just a year.

Actually with common names such as Brown, Johnson, Smith and Thompson I was easily noticed, but just as quickly dismissed. Just like that cherry red van you say just a minute ago driving down the street... or did you?

See what I mean. It's all about disguise. Sometimes you have to keep it all out in the open, and keep the secrets locked-in-tight and no one will notice you.

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify...

[Iced Cubicle]

I've been doing this for years... I work as a software engineer during the week, but weekends and vacations are all about backpacking and climbing. I've done one 22 day through hike in the CA Sierras, all without technology. In a year or so I'm going to quit my job and backpack the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. After that it will be some new adventure. Obviously not for everyone (especially the hardcore /. crowd) but being in the outdoors without all the things we've come to rely on so heavily brings a certain clarity and purpose to my life that I just dont find while pounding out code.

Re:Simplify, Simplify, Simplify...

[nytes]

I've done one 22 day through hike in the CA Sierras, all without technology.

I'll bet you did it without electronics, but not without technology. You probably used a qualofill (sp?) sleeping bag and a ripstop nylon backpack on an aluminum pack frame and some freeze-dried food.

Make the same trip with a couple of wool blankets, a sack full of dried corn and forage for food on the trail (not that the USFS would appreciate that last part). That would be leaving technology behind.

[Disclaimer: you've still done more than I've got guts to try.]

I wanted to get off the grid once...

[azuroff]

...but alas, I had already taken the blue pill.

50' yurt, 12v power and WiMAX laptop...

[tfurrows]

I'd like to get off the grid in a different way... one that still lets me use /.

I've found Yurts to be an interesting architectural endeavour, and very affordable... not to mention the interesting psychological/environmental changes that one would experience living in a round building.

In a few years I plan to take advantage of Composting toilets, solar and exercised charged deep-cycle battery power, Solar Cooking, Efficient wood cooking and heating and whatever other kinds of natural/off-grid lifestyles I can find...

Let's not forget Intel's WiMAX technologies that should let me get my /. fix out in the sticks...

Luckily I should be aquiring 5 acres of land for free or cheap in the next few years, which makes this whole thing much more feasible.

You guys are lame :P

[tdmg]

I was off the grid for 5 months and 10 days when I hiked the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia in 2003. I had a cell phone, but if you look at Cingular's maps, there is a thin strip up the East coast where you can't get reception. That strip is the AT, which I hiked. It was really easy, I didn't miss the internet at all, didn't miss IMing or e-mail, and I sure as hell didn't miss all the spamming and ads all over. I would write letters to my parents that they would type up and e-mail to my friends, but that was about it for the internet. Not having to deal with technology was a great relief. But, being back here it's hard to live without it, my lifestyle at the time just didn't require it.

I remember when I stopped by a town in NH and I saw the last week's newspaper in the trash. It read "Great 2003 Blackout!". It's amazing to have missed something like that. I even heard stories of hikers who didn't hear about 9/11.

I'm planning to do long hikes in the future, so that won't be the last time I'm off the grid. (I know some people who hiked without ID, I still had my DL).

Anyway, if any of you have question or are just interested, I have all the answers. You can e-mail me at aberkowi@student.umass.edu

Re:Give it to the hot ones

[Wog]

Recommend a Glock 23, 200 rounds of cheapo walmart metal jacket ammo, and 100 rounds of nice name-brand hollow-point. Add a nice holster, and you've got a complete, compact self-defense package + 200 rounds to practice with, for under $700.

Get a concealed carry license for any state you plan to meet people in, unless you've got the balls to disconnect so completely that you never see an authority figure again. In most states that have enough wilderness to dissappear into, it should be very easy, even for a non-resident to get a permit.

I say this not to make you a gun nut, but to keep you from being a victim when several larger people in the hills decide to take advantage of you. You're more likely to encounter animals that need to be put down for your own safety. Do some studying about the balistic reactions of different points in the animals that frequent your destination.

Just be careful, and don't burn too many bridges back home before you go out the first time.