I have - so far - never asked the direct question: How did you become homeless? Partly because it is evident that a good many of them like to project the impression that they chose the lifestyle and enjoy it. Not that I don't believe but that some do. One man told me that some people consider him homeless but he doesn't - he likes, he said, to hear the birds sing and the trees and bushes rustle from his camp. Another man told me that he's been 'on the road' for 29 years. He said the longest he's ever stayed at one place since he's been grown was 3 or 4 months.
Several have told me that they took off when their marriages died. Those who have children seem very proud of them and like the touch of visiting them reminds them of home and often they have me read a letter aloud that their 'child' sent them, . Several of them have told me that after they got out of prison they started hitching. One man told me that on the Alaska State Ferry if you pay just to the first stop you can ride as far as they go - nobody checks you.
Made me realize that I don't think I have ever had my ticket checked on the ferry - but I don't think I'll try that!
One of the common themes I have found among them is that they tend to be unabashedly, serenely religious.
It is an interesting bunch of people. Interestingly, too, I found out on Facebook the other day that my granddaughter who is in her second year at university wants to go into social work so that her specialty can be helping homeless women. Isn't that interesting? She knows nothing of my involvement with the homeless.