Thank you DammitJanet - Love your screen name. I know he'll go if he can figure out a way. He's done a lot of research. He was surprized to see so had I. I found the "cheap land" website - it's called billyland.com. Sure enough, you can bid on your down payments and the remaining monthly can be quite low and it's owner-finance. Of course, he doesn't even have a credit rating, so whether he and this other boy can actually buy some is up in the air. Craigslist near him has several listings for RV's from the late 70's to the 90's at quite low prices. Most say they are mechanically sound. What I finally told him before he left was this: "Don't take the fact that we are willing to furnish you with a car and a bit of money while you are in school as approval of your plan. We don't approve. We are, however, aware that you are going to do what you want regardless of what we say. So if you pay attention to nothing else, pay attention to this: However much money you think you'll need, double it. You don't want to get halfway across Kansas and blow a radiator and be stuck with no money. If you plan for the worst case scenario, and it doesn't happen, then you have plenty of money left over when you get there. If you expect clear sailing and something happens; then you are hosed."
I used a good example - My husband and I took a trip to Rome, Belguim and Paris - two weeks - in April 2010. The trip should have taken asbout $7,000. We saved $10,000, bought travel insurance, and got a brand new credit card with a $6,000 limit...just in case. The day we were to fly to Belgium, the volcano in Iceland erupted and stranded us in Italy. There were people sleeping in bus and train stations and airports and on the street. We simply got a nice hotel room. What was supposed to be 7 days in Rome became 19. We went to churches and ruins and little out of the way places we hadn't had time for the first 7 days. When the delays added five days to our trip, we rented a car and drove to the Amalfi coast. Turned out to be the best part of the trip...and all that was because we were prepared! Not for a volcano of course, we were thinking more of pilot strikes or sudden illness...but prepared all the same.
Regarding the student loan money in our savings account, I'm of two minds: One, to give it to him and wave goodbuy...two, to hold on to it until that radiator blows half way across Kansas...or until he gets to Colorado, whichever comes first. I just know if I give it to him now, he'll figure it into the "bare minimum" and I really hate the idea of him starving from stupidity.
Lil
