Quotes from Jessica Bruder

The economy is a game. This game should be about nonessential things (motorcycles, computers, televisions). A person feeding their family, staying alive, having shelter . . . that should not be subject to an economy.

According to 2015 census figures, among older women living alone, more than one in six are below the poverty line. Nearly twice as many elderly women in America are poor (2.71 million) than their male counterparts (1.49 million).

But for them—as for anyone—survival isn't enough. So what began as a last-ditch effort has become a battle cry for something greater. Being human means yearning for more than subsistence. As much as food or shelter, we require hope.

Swankie arrived at an RTR session wearing a T-shirt that said "Introverts Unite: We're Here, We're Uncomfortable, and We Want to Go Home,

roughly the same interior length as the covered wagon that carried Linda's own great-great-great-grandmother across the country more than a century ago.

one in six American households that have been putting more than half of what they make into shelter.

What parts of this life are you willing to give up, so you can keep on living?

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit

Whatever you want to call them, workampers ride a national circuit of jobs extending coast to coast and up into Canada, a shadow economy created by hundreds of employers posting classified ads on websites with names like Workers on Wheels and Workamper News.

It took the Great Depression to make retirement into a reality in the United States. There were too many workers, too few jobs, and a consequent sense that the elderly needed to be nudged out of the labor pool.

Meanwhile, "living in a van, or 'vandwelling,' is now fashionable," proclaimed The New York Times Magazine in late 2011, adding that 1.2 million homes were predicted to be repossessed that year and noting that van sales were up 24 percent.

An Amazon recruiting handout warns CamperForce candidates that they should be ready to lift up to fifty pounds at a time, in an environment where the temperature may sometimes exceed 90 degrees.

A third worker boasted of walking 547 miles in ten weeks of work. He was later topped by another, who posted a Fitbit log showing 820 miles in twelve-and-a-half weeks.

Most who face this dilemma will not end up dwelling in vehicles. Those who do are analogous to what biologists call an "indicator species"—sensitive organisms with the capacity to signal much larger shifts in an ecosystem.

Workampers run the rides at amusement parks from Dollywood in Tennessee to Adventureland in Iowa, Darien Lake in New York, and Story Land in New Hampshire. ("Workampers not only get to meet and work with new people from around the world, but also get to experience the pure joy of children's dreams coming true every day!" promises a Story Land recruitment

And there is hope on the road. It's a by-product of forward momentum. A sense of opportunity, as wide as the country itself.

Travels with Charley, which Lori was devouring. John Steinbeck's tale of road-tripping in a pickup camper with his French poodle was popular among the nomads, and dog-eared copies passed from hand to hand.

The United States is one of the world's largest producers of manufactured sugar,

By moving into vans and other vehicles, he suggested, people could become conscientious objectors to the system that had failed them. They could be reborn into lives of freedom and adventure.

Takt" is business jargon. Defined as "the desired time that it takes to make one unit of production output," it is used to regulate the pace of work.)

Would you rather have food or dental work? Pay your mortgage or your electric bill? Make a car payment or buy medicine? Cover rent or student loans? Purchase warm clothes or gas for your commute?

Before long her motorhome was registered and cruising south on Interstate 95. Quartzsite was less than two hours away.

Bleary-eyed, they find places to pull off the road and rest. In Walmart parking lots. On quiet suburban streets. At truck stops, amid the lullaby of idling engines. Then in the early morning hours—before anyone notices—they're back on the highway. Driving on, they're secure in this knowledge: The last free place in America is a parking spot.

The Apperleys weren't the only foreclosure victims I found in the ranks of Amazon's CamperForce. I spoke with dozens of workers in Nevada, Kansas, and Kentucky. Tales of money trouble were rampant.