So I’ve been at work almost a month now, and living in the truck for just as long. I’ve definitely established a comfortable routine, and I’m a lean, mean, code-producing machine on my team, so everything is going good. This means I can focus my non-work hours to the real goal: the big trip.

When I interned in Silicon Valley last summer, I realized a few very important and related things:

I’m a very judgmental person, I have been for as long as I can remember. It’s certainly not a trait that I’m proud of, it’s just always been easier for me to dismiss people based on superficial observations than to actually try to understand anything about them. If neither software engineering nor driving buses work out for me, I can readily imagine myself becoming a dunk tank clown, because I’m quick to recognize “flaws” with a cursory glance. I’m sure a proper psychiatric evaluation would conclude that it stems from some deep-seated insecurity that I’ve yet to acknowledge, but that’s entirely beside the point.

Tips from the Truck is a new series I’m starting now, where I talk about the various little things you can do to make truck life easier.

I briefly mentioned in this post that eating out all the time can quickly cut into your truck savings. Why would you be eating out all the time, you ask? Because you can never, under any circumstances, keep food in your truck. Even non-perishables, you don’t want to keep any vaguely organic, edible substances within like a 100-foot radius of your abode. You might be saying to yourself, “Brandon, doesn’t that seem a little excessive? What if I get hungry at night and want a Clif Bar or something?” To which I say, Too Bad™.

A few days ago, I opened up a question form where people can ask whatever they want about the truck-life. I’ve gotten a few questions (potentially all from one person), and I’m going to copy them in all of their unedited, verbatim glory here, and answer them to the best of my ability.

Will you be throwing a truck-warming party?

Yes actually! I don’t know specifically when it’ll be, or where it’ll be (besides in the truck, obviously), but plans are in the works. Moving into a new place can be stressful, as I’ve undoubtedly alluded to in previous posts. House-warming parties help to take the edge off and ease the transition. I think that the truck-warming party is just as important, if not more of a necessity, than a standard house-warming party would be.

It appears I have a few prolific inquirers, so here goes Q & A round two.

Is what you’re doing illegal?

There’s two underlying questions here. First, is being homeless illegal, and second, are you homeless if you live in a car. To briefly answer the second one: living in a car is definitely considered being homeless, but I’ll address that in one of the later questions. As for the legality of being homeless, I had trouble finding relevant city ordinances for where I frequently park, but nearby cities like Palo Alto and Manteca have cracked down in recent years. Additionally, there’s an excellent paper that details all of the laws that California cities have regarding homelessness, in addition to providing a bunch of other useful information. Nearby places like San Francisco, Oakland, Sunnyvale, and San Jose all have anti-homeless laws, but there is no statewide ban on homelessness. I might just be missing the ordinances in my specific city, but from what I’ve read, it might not actually be illegal. Naturally, these laws only apply to public property. Since I’m in a parking lot owned by my company, it’s well within their power to “evict” me, if they so chose.