Snow Birds, Travelling Kids, Cowboys, and Other American Nomads

Across America, millions of people actively choose a life of roaming. Some of them are pursuing dreams, others escaping nightmares. This documentary, American Nomads, covers who they are and where they roam, and looks into the reasons why they would choose a life on the road.











Narrated by British writer Richard Grant and beautifully filmed, it starts off slowly as the narrater comes upon some dubious characters, then onto various kinds of nomadic groups across the south west and up into the north. He picks up hitchhikers, enters a nomadic 'city', observes wild horses and herds of bison, and finally, climbs breathtaking, snow-covered mountains in a forest of giant sequoias to interview a nomadic man who lives alone in the peaks. It's a fascinating, 1.5 hour documentary in which you'll learn about:


Snow Birds--the 3 million over 55-year old, affluent retirees who sold their homes to live and travel in luxurious RV's.


Travelling Kids--the runaway teenagers hitch-hiking and jumping trains without direction across the continent.


Slab City-- a 'city' of staunchly anti-establishment nomads who converge to live on an abandoned Marine base in the Mojave desert every winter, known as a 'TAZ': a Temporary Autonomous Zone of contested, un-policed land near a military artillery range. 


Rodeo Cowboys--the very handsome but painfully dumb young men who roam from one rodeo to the next, intoxicated by the danger and rootlessness of their profession. Women will love this bit!


Working Nomads--Truckers, carpenters, seasonal produce pickers, and laborers living freely on the road. 

Richard Grant was a former train-hopping nomad himself, so he interviews the array of characters he meets with compassion and understanding, caution and concern. His narrating eloquence is matched by surprising intelligence and articulation in the most unlikely nomads.


Well worth the time if you find modern nomadism as fascinating as I do. Enjoy!




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