Adventure & Homelessness
by Anna Lore

I did a lot of reading while it rained. One of the books I read was "Foot By Foot" by Francis and Winfrey Line. The book was written quite some years after the adventure which took place in the early 1920's. These two young men after finishing high school decided they would take a year off and travel around the US. They wanted to hit as many states as possible in a years time. Mostly they hitchhiked and walked some 2000 miles. It was a very interesting read. The end result was that Francis Line remained an adventurer, writer and travel film maker. They rose to many challenges earning their living as they went . They sent home over $600 from earnings that year of traveling, so even though they
were totally without funds they managed . Sometimes they were without food for days, slept in mud, were trapped in floods, were thirsty in deserts, and met many interesting people.

After leaving Burro Creek Blm I went to Williams and parked in the National Forest. The next day I went into Flagstaff to visit my favorite book store, Bookmans, a used book store. There I picked up a number of books. The first one I read was "Travels with Lizbeth" by Lars Eighner . This is the story of a man and his dog who were homeless for a number of years. This too was very interesting as well as poignant and tearful reading. Many good ideas in this book for stealth shelters and lifestyles.

What I noticed as the difference between the homeless account and the adventure account was that of attitude. Homelessness is often coupled with depression, a sense of desperation, great loss. The adventurer goes forth with his head high having chosen the course of action and the terms. I couldn't help but think that if more homeless disquised themselves as adventurers, artists, writers, etc. while living a simple life they would not be so subject to
harassment.† People love to have someone of renown in their presence and this homeless man was a published author. He could easily have stated that he was experimenting for a book, which was in fact true.