[NA] What is the Modern Gypsy?

Rich Holt

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Jul 16, 2021
Messages
783
Location
SC
Display Name

Display name:
holtyrd
Growing up my parents always threatened to sell me to the gypsies if I didn't get my act together. What is the modern equivalent and how does one find them?

Seriously considering joining the permanent RV life right about now. The road calls.
 
Gypsies are specifically nomadic Romanis (Indo-Aryan decent). Not to be confused with those that choose to live the Jim Rockford lifestyle.
 
Growing up my parents always threatened to sell me to the gypsies if I didn't get my act together. What is the modern equivalent and how does one find them?

Seriously considering joining the permanent RV life right about now. The road calls.
I full time RV’d for about 8 years. Still do long stints snow birding in the winter. Do lotsa research. Things ain’t like they used to be. Lotsa demand for space. Supply and Demand pricing is in force. There’s always boondocking if you wanna go full gypsy.
 
Gypsies are specifically nomadic Romanis (Indo-Aryan decent). Not to be confused with those that choose to live the Jim Rockford lifestyle.
Or Riggs in Lethal Weapon. Who was that resident on some Hospital TV show? Lived in his RV. Called it the Ark or something like that.
 
Nothing like getting into something at the top of the market.
 
Growing up my parents always threatened to sell me to the gypsies if I didn't get my act together. What is the modern equivalent and how does one find them?

Seriously considering joining the permanent RV life right about now. The road calls.
You mean like parking on a side street next to home depot in San Francisco or Portland or some nice place like that? I hear it is free so that is good.
 
Nothing like getting into something at the top of the market.

If he waits a little while and the gas prices stay up I think there will be some deals on used RVs.

My parents would threaten to make me sleep in the sand box in our backyard when I was misbehaving. lol
 
The really well-to-do homeless here live in ratted out, pig sty RV's that reek of urine, rotting garbage and feces. And they keep moving them around, until they become incapable of moving around.
 
My parents had a RV in the 70s. In the 80s when I got old enough to drive it was mostly wore out. I fixed it up and took it on my honeymoon. Used it enough to get the RV vibe, had many fun trips and memory's, Thanks to my late Dad.
Then in 2002 I bought a new one built on a freightliner chassis designed to pull a gooseneck race car trailer. I used it for racing for a few years, then stopped racing and sold the race car trailer. We would stay at the track to watch our trailer and save the hassle of hotels and driving into the track each day.
I kept the RV because it was so unique.

Then in 2008 we started vacationing in it mostly pulling a open trailer with a classic car on it so we had something to drive when setup in campgrounds. If you remember it was during the recession years and we had the roads and parks and campgrounds mostly to our self's. It was wonderful, remember seeing mostly foreign tourist in the national parks because their money was worth something here in the US.

We did not do it full time but we would be out on the road for 2 weeks at a time 3-4 times a year during the summer months. Did a lot of boon docking as we were self contained. Really enjoyed it.

Fast forward to the last few years it has really changed out there, the highways are packed now and the parks are too. Not nearly as much fun and relaxation it used to be. Plenty of rude people now in campgrounds that make it not so nice. The highways are either packed with traffic or under construction, I would dream about orange barrels in my sleep.
Been to Oshkosh and Sun n Fun with it in the last 3-4 years except for the last 2 because of covid.
Last 2 years I have taken it to a out of the way grass airport and setup there for a couple weeks at a time. Wife and dog stays there and I fly in and out. Airport owners let us stay there for a while and have a hook up for a RV, it is perfect. Still have the freightliner RV 20 years later.
 
Last edited:
@Gary Ward we need a pic dude. Some of those semi-chassis RVs are insane. Show us a pic so I can be disappointed vs what I’m imagining, lol.
 
@Gary Ward we need a pic dude. Some of those semi-chassis RVs are insane. Show us a pic so I can be disappointed vs what I’m imagining, lol.
I got a ton of pictures...
Last fall 2021.
IMG_0877(1).JPG

Been to 38 states with it in the last 20 years.

Sturgis%20Badlands%20and%20Yellowstone%202014%201166.jpg

San Francisco over looking the Pacific ocean,
Californiatrip7-1-10509.jpg

Bonneville salt flats after beating the car on the salt.
Californiatrip7-1-10897.jpg

Key West.
SDC10483.jpg
 
Last edited:
What kind of speeds were you seeing in the car.??

and Rv.?? :lol:
Funny you ask, the car speedo was saying 139, could not get it to 140, later I look on the GPS I had on board and it was only 118! lol
The truck is 505 hp geared for 124 with a double overdrive auto trans, I've had it going 100. This was approx 12 miles out on the salt.

Californiatrip7-1-10852.jpg

007.jpg


I only drove it fast by myself on the salt. We used to visit family in Sacramento, so I have driven on the salt 4 different years coming back home.
337.jpg

Been to the top of Pikes Peak twice with the same car. It takes some tuning to go from sea level to 14000+ feet with a old carb car.
MVC-007S-7.jpg
 
The really well-to-do homeless here live in ratted out, pig sty RV's that reek of urine, rotting garbage and feces. And they keep moving them around, until they become incapable of moving around.

In the old days the homeless were called hobo's in our area, they hung around the railroads and hopped the trains to travel from town to town doing odd jobs for food and money.
They were not like the disgusting drug addicted degenerate homeless thieves of today.
 
Analogous American gypsies are your circus carnies, with or without the circus. They move about a lot, ply their trade and sell their wares, then move on. Usually staying together but people or families come and go with each move.
 
Gypsies are specifically nomadic Romanis (Indo-Aryan decent).

Yep... the 'Roma'....

In the UK they have the travelers. When we were over there a few years ago, I watched several episodes of a BBC multi-part series on the travelers. Fascinating. It wasn't too far off from what you see in Snatch.
 
If you find out, let me know. I was just threatening my kids to sell them to the circus, but then I realized the circus doesn't exist anymore.
 
If you find out, let me know. I was just threatening my kids to sell them to the circus, but then I realized the circus doesn't exist anymore.

As young teenagers whenever our parents became overbearing we'd threaten to run away and joint the French Foreign Legion. We had no idea what we were saying ... o_O
 
I would say the "modern gypsy" is the person who claims to be homeless with the cardboard sign at the intersection and at the end of the day, walks over to their car and drives home.
 
In the old days the homeless were called hobo's in our area, they hung around the railroads and hopped the trains to travel from town to town doing odd jobs for food and money.
They were not like the disgusting drug addicted degenerate homeless thieves of today.
The author James Bliss, in "Cities in Flight," provided some definitions in 1950:

A hobo was a migrant worker, generally honest.
The tramp would make a living stealing but there would be mutual respect between them.
The bindlestiff was the lowest of the low, for he would steal from the bindles of his fellow wanderers.

Things were a tad better organized in the 20th century. Hobos even had a stick-figure code to pass on to those who followed them....
hobo signs.jpg
I remember that in the early days of 2nd amendment arguments on USENET, a lot of folks did the "Man with gun" symbol in ASC characters....

https://railroadcatalog.com/products/hobo-signs-symbols-sign

And there were "drug addled degenerate homeless thieves" back then, too...alcohol is a drug.

Ron "Every lock that ain't locked, and no one's around" Wanttaja
 
I would say the "modern gypsy" is the person who claims to be homeless with the cardboard sign at the intersection and at the end of the day, walks over to their car RV and drives home.

I watched a guy with a sign stating ''out of luck and stranded, please help'' at the local Walmart parking lot exit. As it got dark, he folded up the sign then walked over to the maybe 5 year old Class A Rv and stepped inside...
 
I watched a guy with a sign stating ''out of luck and stranded, please help'' at the local Walmart parking lot exit. As it got dark, he folded up the sign then walked over to the maybe 5 year old Class A Rv and stepped inside...

if they have a cell phone, a dog or are smoking I just look the other way. I’ve given food to a homeless man only to watch him throw it on the ground as I drove away.

they should have stuck with “bum” but we have to be PC these days
 
Analogous American gypsies are your circus carnies, with or without the circus. They move about a lot, ply their trade and sell their wares, then move on. Usually staying together but people or families come and go with each move.
 
Back
Top