Another person takes a trip "into the wild" bus (Fairbanks: movies, cost of)

[Gungnir]

Originally Posted by Glitch

I am not only suggesting it, I am saying it out-right - McCandless was a complete moron, a fool in every respect. Which, I am certain of it, is why he is so popular among lesser-48ers. They can personally identify with his stupidity.

He may have been that does not detract from the fact that choosing to live in a bus down by a river is not, by and of itself, a moronic choice. The only moronic thing would be to do so unprepared, unplanned, and unskilled. That is a combination that was present in McCandless.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by RedJacket

Yes he did. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YzzategYDM...ess_Signal.jpg

Seen that before, funny then, and funny now because I have seen signs like that when flying over friends homesteads!

They were serious too!

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by Gungnir

He may have been that does not detract from the fact that choosing to live in a bus down by a river is not, by and of itself, a moronic choice. The only moronic thing would be to do so unprepared, unplanned, and unskilled. That is a combination that was present in McCandless.

Of course it was a moronic choice. Who in their right mind would live in a bus, even if they were well supplied? His entire life was about making moronic choices, I am surprised he lived as long as he did.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by RedJacket

Living in a bus down by the river is special. There are folks (Glitch) who desire the safety and comforts of a city like Anchorage, while a select few prefer living off the grid in a bus down by the river.

My cousin has a school bus he lived in, and McCandless made him look smart. And that was really hard to do.

I finely towed his bus to his parents house where it rots today. Maybe in another 40 years they can make that bus famous...

McCandless wasn't in that much of a wilderness, there were a number of cabins in the area that he broke into and stole food and such. He went in late spring following a snowmachine trail, otherwise he would have neve found the bus or survived as long as he did without finding other people's supplies.

The romance of his diary and the movie leaves a lot of the details out.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by starlite9

My cousin has a school bus he lived in, and McCandless made him look smart. And that was really hard to do.

I finely towed his bus to his parents house where it rots today. Maybe in another 40 years they can make that bus famous...

McCandless wasn't in that much of a wilderness, there were a number of cabins in the area that he broke into and stole food and such. He went in late spring following a snowmachine trail, otherwise he would have neve found the bus or survived as long as he did without finding other people's supplies.

The romance of his diary and the movie leaves a lot of the details out.

You would think that a bus in the area would be their first clue that it is NOT wilderness. Obviously not for the McCandless wanna-bes.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by Glitch

You would think that a bus in the area would be their first clue that it is NOT wilderness. Obviously not for the McCandless wanna-bes.

One of the guys from Healy drove his fourwheeler in and video'd his drive up to the bus and announced "Here we are at the Magic Bus" and posted it on YouTube. In the remarks section some idiot remarked "Oh great, now the bus is famous, they made a road there!", the moron has no clue that was the same road the bus drove in on....

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by starlite9

One of the guys from Healy drove his fourwheeler in and video'd his drive up to the bus and announced "Here we are at the Magic Bus" and posted it on YouTube. In the remarks section some idiot remarked "Oh great, now the bus is famous, they made a road there!", the moron has no clue that was the same road the bus drove in on....

I was just thinking that. It truly must be a "magic" bus to suddenly appear in the middle of nowhere. Damn those bus fairies!

[Gungnir]

Originally Posted by Glitch

Of course it was a moronic choice. Who in their right mind would live in a bus, even if they were well supplied? His entire life was about making moronic choices, I am surprised he lived as long as he did.

So by that measure, it's a moronic choice to take a lift with someone else, own a 22LR, and eat tuna melts... I don't think that's what you mean, but it seems to be what you're saying.

Who in their right mind would choose to live their life in a 1000 to 3000 square foot pastel walled box with wiring, plumbing and sewer, with IKEA furniture in a commune of another 30 identical to it (all with varying amounts of IKEA furniture), and having no idea about (and rarely seeing) anyone who lives within 100 feet of them? Welcome to the vast majority of America, and if majority defines normality, then how do you rate on the scale of abnormal choice that another may consider moronic.

Someone with the skills and preparation could easily have survived in that bus for a very long time at least a few years. McCandless couldn't, that was his moronic choice, choosing to live in a manner that he could not survive, the bus aspect had little to do with his survival, it could have been a wall-tent, a trapping cabin, a Winnebago. All of which have been successfully lived in by others in Alaska for years while people construct their own homes (some wall tents even have 110V power, and internet connections... ). So the choice of living quarters was not moronic, the act of him trying to live there at the time he did with the abilities he did was.

[Dakster]

Couple of Comments... One is that people that go there are just adding chlorine to the gene pool...

And the other is that Arizona has a stupid motorist law - if there is a sign that says don't drive through here and you do and have to be rescued, you have to pay for the rescue. Sounds reasonable to me...

I agree with gungnir - I don't judge McCandless by the way he choose to live, but his preparation to do so. If you want to live in a bus in the middle of nowhere, that's great, who I am to judge. I am impressed by the people that live in bush Alaska and I know that I am not prepared mentally to do so.

[ShipOfFools42]

Jesus, Glitch, you have gotta be one wound-up dude. You get intense about this stuff.

I liked what someone in the News-Miner comments section said: they should charge money and put a little footbridge over the river for people who want to hike out to the bus. Just put a little turnstile in and make people pay to cross. But then those people wouldn't go because it wouldn't be "wilderness" anymore. Irony abounds.