It's Quiet Tonight

The wind finally quit after five days. On the porch, the sun has set, it's moments from dark dark. One ringtail most every night, a skunk or two, few foxes showing up and the raccoons after midnight. Terrible fight last night outside my window in the wind. Jax jumped off the bed and wanted to get involved but they like to fight so what's the point? Still a three to four foot drop off at the river where the beach usually has been for all these years. 

Last weekend a lot of traffic across the river at Caveman Ranch. I thought we finally had neighbors but when Monday came there was nothing, and nothing since.

Hiking guest told me today they found a cactus blooming. Probably  the Claret. I'll go look around tomorrow.

As I'm typing I hear a jet at 30 something thousand feet above me. Probably Denver to L.A. or San Diego. All those years I lived in San Diego right by Miramar Naval Air Station home of Top Gun then. I rarely noticed the noise. But here I notice. I remember flying over this exact spot in the mid 90s somewhere from Denver to Anaheim to look at a building for the indoor soccer company. I looked down from the left side of the plane in front of the wing and I saw the evaporation ponds across the river from here and I saw nothing else. To myself, the big fish in the small pond of indoor soccer, "What kind of moron would live out in the middle of nowhere?"

On that day I didn't know I was just a few years away from hitting the wall. In the business world that's defined as go, go, go, 200 miles an hour, sleeping where you work to save the drive time to a hotel, normally sleeping on planes so you can catch up on sleep while still going as fast as you can. The wall was coming for me and my 20 plus years of 100 hour weeks were about to crash head on where you have nothing left. I thought I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as we made more money. It was a bright so it was close to the end. With time I realized it was a train coming from the other direction.

I hit the wall and the train hit me. I was at a Board of Directors meeting and after founding the company and leading it for 20 plus years I told them it was over. I'd hang while people took my place but then I was going to do something else. As I was driving from our Austin facility to the Tucson location I saw people out in the sticks walk out of their house and get on their dirt bikes and take off and I thought "I need some dirt trails."

As I was driving to our Boise facility I saw people walk out of their homes and grab their canoes getting in the Snake River and I thought "I need a river." The search began. I kept adding things to my list and it got more difficult finding what I was looking for. I looked for years and in 2006 I found Camelot Lodge, out of business, the camels gone, but having done years of camel tours. I was looking for solitude and rest so being out of business was just what I wanted. I tried to get out here in my BMW but in those days the road was bad and I got four flats and four bent rims. That's how I met Nations Towing. Eventually when the real estate agent brought me over Hurrah Pass I looked out and saw the evaporation ponds and thought. "I am him. I am the moron." The agent said "I'll introduce you, then what?" I said, "Just drop me off. If I can't cut a deal I'll walk back." He drove off.

 I talk to the Haydukers that come through and many tell me they're looking for something too. Maybe this. They hope they'll find it on the Hayduke Trail.The Whistler, Derrick, Danielle, and Teresa, all searching. Wanderers.

The first yellow headed blackbird showed up. That means the red-winged blackbirds have left. A few Brewers blackbirds will show. They have such a sheen to them. And shortly, the cow birds will be here with their R2D2 sound.

For the first few years I didn't take any guests. Then I took a few. They told somebody. They told somebody else, who also mentioned it to someone they knew.