There's got to be reddit deep dives on this

Casadena

Dear Prudence,

I am a single 57-year-old woman who has never had kids. Right now, I have two dogs, and they are my life. I’ve had a very successful career, but was recently laid off from my job, and it has me thinking about moving my life into a whole new direction. I’ve cashed out my small IRA in order to outfit myself with a vehicle and amenities that would allow me to travel the country alone with my dogs. The state of politics scares me here, and I would much prefer to live in the woods, and maybe meet some new friends and even find romance.

I have been working on a plan for living life on the road for a few months now. I know there will be dangers, but I do have two dogs and other ways of protecting myself. I want to go where I can’t be found by anyone unless I choose to be found. It all sounds so exciting and true to myself, and I’m pretty determined to carry it out.

The problem is that I don’t know how to prepare for every contingency, especially if I will be alone. What happens if one of my dogs gets sick or injured? Or what happens to them if I get sick or injured? These are questions I have been asked, and I don’t know where to draw the line between I’m totally prepared for it versus I’ll deal with it if it happens. Wouldn’t it be the same if I had gotten pregnant at an inconvenient time? There will never be a perfect time to follow my dreams. This will be my last opportunity, but the what-ifs are so difficult to plan for. I don’t want fear of the unknown to derail this dream.

VarunaTT

The first thing I thought of was one of the GPS systems that thru hikers use when cell phone service is sketch.  You attach this beeper looking thing to your backpack.  Once/day you hit a button and it sends out a satellite text message to your person, that's basically just an "I'm okay" text.  If your person doesn't get it, they call for for help for you with your last known location from the beeper.

These questions don't even seem this hard.  I think LW is scared of making the leap, which is makes sense, but at some point, you can't plan for every contingency, but you put as many structures in place as you can and go.

levioosa

There's probably not just one subreddit for this, there's probably dozens. Prepper subreddit, at home vet care subreddit, van life subreddit. The list is endless. But yeah, have the main points taken care of, but you can't plan for literally every contingency.

short+sassy

levioosa said:

There's probably not just one subreddit for this, there's probably dozens. Prepper subreddit, at home vet care subreddit, van life subreddit. The list is endless. But yeah, have the main points taken care of, but you can't plan for literally every contingency.

When I came across a subreddit called "bodegacats", I knew there must be a subreddit for everything, lol.

I'm with @VarunaTT.  Nothing she's worried about sounds that challenging to overcome.  Satellite phones work in almost every area of the world, jic there is an emergency and she can't drive.  I also think it's more the fear of the unknown that is holding her back, which is fair enough!

There still might be something crazy and awful that happens to her or one of her dogs.  It's impossible to plan for every eventuality.  When isn't that true!  But I don't think it's enough of an elevated risk that it should keep her from her dreams.  That risk level will also get higher as she gets older.

MyNameIsNot

Thru-hiking was exactly what I thought of too, @VarunaTT. I've gone down a few rabbit holes lately and there are a lot of people doing much riskier stuff that LW. I get that this is really scary, especially for someone who has lived a fairly traditional lifestyle for this many years. I think she's just looking for reassurance that this isn't completely insane and that she doesn't have to plan for every single contingency.

It sounds like LW probably has some financial resources available to her. That's the biggest thing. If her van breaks down, she'll be able to get a tow. If she finds herself stuck somewhere with sub zero temperatures, she'll be able to get a hotel. She'll be fine.