Some things are better than a hefty paycheck

Living sparingly these days, Dan Hempney, 47, gives us a little insight of how it really feels to live the life rolling on wooden wheels. Growing up Dan Hempney had everything. His parents owned a very successful textile mill in Hampton, Virginia. “We had a house, cars, pet goats, and even a tractor to mow the field”, he told reporters. “I would play in coil mines and ditches all day, and that wasn’t all that bad.” Coming from a childhood like that, Dan changed his life and decided to stop paying bills and live “like the Native American’s did, you know, back in the day”.

After reading a few history books on Native Americans, which Dan calls a history degree from ‘Daniel University’, he wanted to be a role model for what he feels our country really stands for. He built his own horse drawn carriage at 35 and continues to use it as transportation and as his living quarters. “When I’m not riding in my carriage, I am walking” he says, “and there’s nothin’ wrong with that.”

When winter hits, Dan has a lot to prepare for. “It gets cold, but my buffalo fur keeps me warm. It’s cheaper than a heated house and there are other benefits too”, which he declined to mention. “I see all these people living in houses and such, there’s no morals in that, all a person needs is the light of the moon, a bald eagle, and a little food here and there!”

When we asked if he ever got hungry, he stated “I sometimes get hungry, and a nice buffalo always gives me my fill for the week” as he continues to track a herd across the Great Plains while he gently sips on his homemade water canteen made out of a buffalo stomach. “This is really the life, screw technology and buying food in grocery stores, Americans have everything all wrong, it’s about our roots, we must teach children the Native American Way early in life to be successful as a country.”