Two momentous events happened on May 8. The first was that after three-and-a-half years of indecision and uncertainty I finally talked to a contractor to put in a driveway and parking pad on my property. The second was that Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected as the new pontiff for the one, holy, and apostolic Catholic Church as Pope Leo XIV.
As to the former, my wife and I have been back and forth whether or not to keep the property for at least three years. In the fall of 2021, after we had sold our cabin in Alaska we were looking for a home or at least a few acres of land in one of the Rocky Mountain states in “The Lower 48”. One of the areas we traveled through was a mountainous area that stood out for its rugged beauty. We were so in awe after starting down a pass that we had to take the nearest exit after the scenic view to dip our feet in the river and take it all in. After that we took the very next exit in order to check out a shockingly affordable cabin on five acres that we had previously looked up. We didn't make it far. A few miles on the narrow, steep, and twisty road was enough to traumatize my wife so we pulled the plug...and that was fine with me. At that time we realized why the place was seemingly the only affordable real estate in the state: it was smack dab in the heart of the wilderness on a goat trail that one had to take for many miles. After our retreat, my wife inquired with a park ranger about the road and he informed us that essentially the only people who lived year-round back there were survivalists.
Fast forward a few months. My family is now living in a brand new travel trailer on the property of my parents in Georgia to help them and to regroup. We considered buying in the south but ultimately came to terms that our home is in the west. This is when my tenacious wife found what is now our property listed on one of the internet real estate sites, so after due diligence in which I had the property surveyed for exact boundaries we were ecstatic to buy land in the same area we had visited the summer before. This time, however, the property – which used to be part of a large ranch – is right off the interstate instead of miles down a glorified hiking path scrutinized by well-armed and paranoid survivalists. In fact, the only thing between the interstate and our land is a defunct railroad. But somehow, after all our research we missed a minor detail which we discovered the first time we went to the property in the spring of '22. It turned out to be a real crisis moment for my wife (and therefore a stressful one for me). It started when we took the same interstate exit as we did the previous year and passed the dreaded road sign that could have read Ted Kacynski Ave. Somehow when we bought our land we overlooked the access road despite the property being a stone's throw away from the interstate. We assumed that the drive was easy and direct, but forgot that we were not just dealing with any road but an interstate – and to get off of interstates one needs to take designated exits. At any rate, despite our otherwise thorough investigation into our land we missed that detail. So instead of taking us five seconds to access our five-plus acres from the interstate, the access road took us over 10 minutes up and over a cliff overlooking the river and back down....passing Kacynski's road along the way. That did not sit well with my wife. I grew up in Rocky Mountain states and lived over 20 years in Alaska - most of it driving trucks on gnarly roads - so I was okay with it. But the idea of potentially driving that road in winter caused her to have a near panic attack. Three years later she's still not comfortable with it and - in truth - I'm not crazy about it either but we kept the land (after our realtor who was so stellar about helping us buy the land blew us off two summers in a row when we inquired about selling it).
But we survived that crisis, and each time we visited the land it's potential grew. But the location has drawbacks, and sensible people encouraged us to sell it. But since I don't claim to be particularly sensible my wife and I are now investing in it. It is located about one hour from the closest big towns. If I need to commute to work I won't be able to afford the fuel for my little pickup and will have to pick up another vehicle in a state in which car insurance is outrageous. And should we be so far away from a hospital if we had to rush the kids in for an emergency? There are many legitimate concerns for living in the boondocks but, as already stated, the land also offers incredible opportunities and is particularly a favorite destination of fisherman during the summer. We didn't have a clear vision what to do on or with the land, but time – and Covid – have helped to clarify.
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