Bob Wells on 'Nomadland'

Bob Wells in Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)

Bob Wells is a hero. When he’s not hosting the annual Rubber Tramp Rendezvous for van dwellers, he’s making YouTube videos on tips and tricks to help assist those who are adopting the minimalist, nomadic lifestyle. While many will be unaware with Bob’s presence, those who have seen the Oscar nominated film, Nomadland, will be quite familiar with how much strength he can emit. I recently had the honor of conducting a video chat with Bob where we discussed his beliefs, his experience working on the film, and the message he hoped would come out of the finished product. This film has touched me in a realistic way that brought up emotions I was keeping down, paralleled to the protagonist played by the legend Frances McDormand; but the final conversation in the movie urged me to contact Bob and I’m happy to report my conversation. Hopefully after you read, you can feel motivated to watch the film if you haven’t already!

What was life like growing up in Alaska?

• My dad was a real big hunter, fisher, and camper, so that was just part of my life. It was just what we did. Who we were.

So all this knowledge of camping  helped you assimilate into the nomadic lifestyle?

• To a degree, yes. I went through a divorce and was forced to move into a van because I couldn't pay for two households. Because I was an experienced camper, I thought if I could live off a backpack for a month at a time, then I can certainly live in a van indefinitely. I thought of the van as a rolling steel tin and I just camped. Anyone who has camped will certainly have an advantage living in a vehicle, but even if you haven't’, there’s information on how to adjust which is basically what my YouTube channel is for.

I browsed your channel and there’s so much information that I’m sure many people appreciate and use to adjust to the nomadic lifestyle as well as just try to survive in a vehicle. What keeps you motivated to help people on this scale?

• Well I started my website in 2005, and at that time, putting up a site and making money from it was completely foreign to me. It was never about money for me and still isn’t, so I make it a point to give most of it away cause I just don’t need it. Compassion is really all you can say. I know what it means to feel hopeless and lost and to not know what is next, so I try to help people through that.

That’s a very noble act. While watching the film, I saw many parallels between myself and characters, themes, etc. The Fern character works at an Amazon warehouse which I once worked at and then she had this grief that she wasn’t processing and I believe I was doing a similar thing with the loss of my mother to cancer last year. That made me realize I need to take hold of my life. It’s fleeting and I need to spend it doing what I love.

• Yeah, very much so.

I read about you wanting to lose the notion of competition in society. Can you expand on this?

• It’s not so much that we need to lose it completely. As fun, it enhances life, but basing our entire society on it is a really really bad idea. We are fighting each other over everything. Homosapiens have been around for thousands of years and for most of that time, they have been nomadic people: hunters/gatherers. You cannot live without others. You would live in a group, become deeply connected to one another, and look out for each other. It’s our nature to be dependent on one another, and once we adapted agriculture and domestication, suddenly we became enemies to ourselves and the Earth. When you want to plant in a field, you first kill everything and clear it out to plant. You conquer then destroy then you rule. That is our life. Kill, conqueror, rule. We’ve advanced somewhat, but it’s still competition.

The thinking becomes backwards with how we are wired to behave as opposed to what we are taught. Make money, go to school, buy things. During the pandemic, you had people fighting over toilet paper in grocery stores. It’s almost unfathomable. 

• Yeah it was the wrong path and we are paying the consequences. And it’s going to get worse.

Going back to the idea of people rejecting social norms in different ways, what is your approach to someone who is wanting to live the nomadic lifestyle by choice as opposed to someone who was forced to adopt it as their own due to financial loss, family issues, etc?

• You always have to hold onto your primary goal which is to make peoples’ lives better. If someone is on the verge of homelessness, teaching them how to live in a van or car will infinitely make their life better. For someone who is just wanting to experience the lifestyle, they can take a trip every quarter and learn how to make their lives work during that time. They will appreciate nature and even learn ideas of simplicity and minimalism that they can apply to other areas of their lives. Your life will be better if you will adopt the nomadic mindset: things are a burden, generosity is the highest value, people are the only thing that count in the long run, you’ve only got a certain amount of days, you better enjoy them now.

I respect that way of looking at things rather than the “look at everything in a positive way” mindset that can at times be detrimental. The principles seem to emit genuine compassion.

• Yeah, and it doesn’t have to be any more difficult than going to a nearby park and having a moment of stillness in nature.

I want to shift topics to the film now. How were you approached to make the film?

• The author of the book, Jessica [Bruder], is a friend of mine. [We met when] she came to an event called the RTR that I held in the desert. When Frances McDormand was shopping the project around, she discovered Chloe Zhao and got familiar with her work and wanted her to write and direct. Jess talked to Chloe and Frances about adapting the book to film and one thing Chloe does is include the real people. So Chloe started contacting the real people to play themselves and one day she contacted me and we got together and talked about the movie. 

How do you feel about the film representing the lifestyle? I came across a few videos and interviews with people not feeling seen on screen but this is a tough concept, as with anything, you are not able to please everyone.

• It’s one woman’s story. It’s a very personal story and it cannot represent all nomads. There are many varieties of people who live in vehicles so it’s a big group. The movie isn’t about being nomadic. It’s Fern’s story of tragedy and healing and it’s set in a nomadic setting with the unusual healing power of nature [on display.] Nature is the star of the movie. You see the sunrise and sunset. One of the most important scenes that people miss is when Fern talks to her sister. Her sister says Fern was always independent and wanting to run away. Fern’s life with her husband was so wonderful that when she lost it, she lost that part of herself. She was really returning to her true self through the whole journey of the movie.  The key thing to the movie is this: you lost your mother, there’s the you that you portray on the outside. When I lost my son, there was the me I portrayed on the outside versus the person I was when I was in my van by myself. This movie takes what goes on inside after the death of someone and puts it on the screen. It’s not a very pleasant thing to see but it’s so real. 

There are many scenes where Fern is pushing through but hiding this grief. It’s pretty uncomfortable and saddening to see someone celebrate New Years by themselves but it does evoke that authentic version of who you would possibly show the outside world.

• Yeah it’s okay to be hurt. It’s okay to be lost. It happens when you lose someone and that’s part of the deal.

And with that end scene, what was it like sharing that piece of yourself with so many viewers on a wide scale?

• I had not coped well with the loss of my son. There was nothing good about that but some good came out of it. Chloe didn’t know anything about it, and so the day before we were going to shoot the scene, she came to me and we talked about what we were going to do. She asked if I had any loss in my life and I made the choice of giving that piece to the world and to my son to honor him but letting his loss do good. It was a conscious decision and Chloe was grateful that it could all work together so well.

From that moment on, have you found that to be a gift that keeps on giving? I am probably not the first to connect with your story.

• Absolutely. Knowing that this amount of good is coming out of it is very helpful.

I appreciate your story and work and inspire to help many just as you do every single day.

• My pleasure. There are no words I can say about your loss but time heals. It does get better, and honor your mom and keep her in your heart always.

Thanks for the conversation Bob Wells.