Some of our unhoused neighbors, like Dan in photo, with his two dogs River, 10, and Trixie, 2, say they had no intentions of staying in Reno.

He says his truck broke down several weeks ago on his way from Las Vegas, where he spent the winter, to Spokane, to reunite with some family members. He was looking for money to get his truck fixed.

Dan says he wants to eventually find a place in the northwest and maybe pitch a tent and then try to build a log cabin to live on his own with his dogs in a forest or on BLM land.

Below the story he shared in his own words with reporter Andrew Maples in a shaded area near a local Walmart parking lot about his current hopes if he can find the money to get his truck fixed.

“[I want] to go see my son in Spokane and my grandson and my daughter in law. From there, I'm going to go up in the mountains, either in Idaho, or western Montana, trying to find a place where I can build a log cabin and go about my own business.

I'm going to build it in the backcountry somewhere. At my age, my kids are all grown and doing good things in life. And, so now I can travel around, see the country. You know, times are hard…

I've been through Reno before. I stayed in the winter down in Vegas. My truck broke down when I got here. The spark plug blew out the cylinder head, but like I said, thankfully I’ll get a fix, so I'll be good to go [soon] and then I'm gonna head back up.

I stay a lot of times on, like, National Park or national forest land or BLM land.

I can pitch my tents for right now or whatever until I find that spot.”

Our Town Reno reporting and photo by Andrew Maples