Dirtbag Writer

You Know You Are a Dirtbag If…

Posted on 21. Sep, 2009 by Writer in On The Road

Several people have recently asked me what exactly a dirtbag is. DirtbaggerGuide.com uses the term dirtbag to describe the dreamer, adventurer, conventional dissenter, uber cheap, and sometimes well-worn traveler. The new dirtbag has evolved into an ambitious, eco-conscience, cooperative individual from its dirty, unkempt, and contemptable roots.

Basically a dirtbag is an extreme budget traveler who doesn’t mind alternative sleeping arrangements and getting a little dirty.  You know you are a dirtbag if…

1. You get up at 5 am and sneak out of the campsite before the camp host gets up instead of waking at a more reasonable hour and risk having to pay for the site.
2. You buy a box of wine or a 6-pack of tall boys rather than spending money at the bar.
3. You are on an all expense paid trip for work and you cook dinner outside your hotel room so you can pocket the per diem.
4. You know the camping limits and rules of every major BLM recreation area.
5. You consider a natural hot spring a shower.
6. You can wrap anything in a tortilla and call it dinner.  You also have perfect torilla wrapping skills.
7. You have a particular adoration for Wet Wipes.
8. You can sleep peacefully basically anywhere (bivy sack in a rainstorm, a picnic table or the backseat at a rest area).
9. You catch free wireless at the library rather than the coffee shop because you don’t have to buy a cup of coffee.
10. You are constantly scheming up ways to quit your day job and never have to work again.

A journey into the wilderness is the freest, cheapest, most nonprivileged of pleasures.
Anyone with two legs and the price of a pair of army surplus combat boots may enter.
~Edward Abbey

Tags: Dirtbagging, Simple Living