Laurie says the encampment she stays at in Reno charges people to sleep there, but she still prefers it to the Nevada Cares Campus, which is why she says she panhandles. She says she recently lost both her dad and husband, and is trying to reconnect with several of her children who live in northern Nevada and work at Tesla. Interview and photo by Andrew Maples.
“My name is Laurie.
This dog is my service dog.
My dad recently passed away in California.
With my husband we were thinking of taking his ashes to Arkansas, but on the way our motorhome broke down.
I was trying to replace the engine, but then the motorhome got stolen, and then my husband passed away in Utah, from heat exhaustion, a really bad heat stroke.
I’ve been here a few weeks now. My older children live here, they work at Tesla.
I'm just trying to reconnect with them.
I'm just out here trying to make some money so that I could pay this lady some money so I don't have to move my tent because … I can't like stay there for free. “