When Jim and I hit the road, we never re-registered to vote in the town where we now get our mail. We feared that the California court system would nab us, and make us return to Cali for jury duty. This happens a lot to traveling fulltimers, and getting out of it can be a nightmare. We’ve been avoiding this issue for over a year.

But now, we’ve gotta deal with it. After watching Obama’s incredibly moving speech last night, I cannot with good conscience, sit here being depressed about the state of our country, and not re-register to vote. They say you get the country you deserve. Well, I deserve far better than what we have now (and so do you), so I’m going to get off my butt and re-register, and let the chips fall where they may.

Eight years ago, I gave up on the political system in this country. I still hate the system, and don’t entirely trust it, but I do believe in the change that we as a nation can bring about if we choose Obama as our leader, and commit to keeping this historic momentum going.

I’m not even sure that my vote will actually count, and the election won’t get hijacked again, but as Springsteen says, you can always find a Reason to Believe.

Here on the ranch in Lake City, Colorado, summer seems to have flown by. That’s because it has.

Locals are saying they can smell autumn in the air. And I can sure feel it when we get up in the morning. I overheard one neighbor say that around this time of year, “you can almost hear the switch flip” indicating the changing seasons – the end of summer, and the oncoming freeze.

Ol’ Perk Vickers even said they once had 30″ of snow on the ground for Labor Day! It must almost be time to hit the road.

Walking into a real estate office and meeting a new agent is akin to sitting your butt down in a dentist’s chair. It’s just gonna suck, whether you’re there for a root canal or just a cleaning.

Unfortunately, dealing with certain kinds of professionals that can rip your teeth out, make you bleed, and rob you blind, just seems like an evil fact of life.*

During our travels we’ve seen tons of great properaty listings, but we’ve never walked into a real estate office to learn more. Recently though, we got up the nerve to do just that, after learning that our neighbor’s daughter works for a Lake City broker. Thinking, “how bad could it be if we have an in with a local?” we went in.

We heard there was a 40 acre property just north of town, for sale at $200k, an unheard of price here. When we got to the office, we learned the property was actually listed at $299k, which is way over our cash-only budget, but still closer to it than anything we’ve seen for that many acres of western Colorado mountain property, with water rights.

We asked the agent if we could see it anyways (not mentioning that only a winning lotto ticket would give us a chance to buy it).

“Oh sorry, you’d have to cross private property, only I can take you there,” he said.

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As I mentioned in my last post about planting street signs, I recently discovered why they call these the Rocky Mountains. The ground is full of rocks. Big ones!

Often referred to by locals as a real “Hooney” the large rock formation one encounters when digging in southwestern Colorado is actually of the Leaverite variety.

As in … Leave ‘er right there!

There is one project on my list of workamping duties here at the ranch that I am particularly proud of.

Producing street signs for Vickers Ranch was the perfect opportunity to apply my expertise as a signmaker, brush up on my woodworking skills, and learn to operate a backhoe – all while getting a crash course in condominium plat regulations.

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One of the benefits to workamping at a resort, are the daily freebies you’ll pick up. When we workamped at Riverbend, people were so loopy from the hot water soaking and lord knows what else they were doing, that they often left cool t-shirts, booze, and other sundries behind. Here at Vickers, the guests leave tons of food in the cabins when they check out.

Some days, I’ll bring in a haul like this one. Notice there’s no beer in this photo. Well, there’s only been one or two times that people left behind any sort of tasty alcoholic beverage. Seems like they’ll drink all their booze before finishing their food.

Now, before you go thinking “eeew, sick, you don’t know where that stuff’s been!“, I’ll tell you that I have a few freegan rules about what I bring back: it can’t be home made, must not be in an unmarked package, and be relatively healthy.

Being the tightwad that I am, last month I started doing rough estimates of the dollar value of my daily hauls. In one month alone, I brought in $288 worth of food and other miscellaneous items.

And speaking of saving money, here’s our Road Trip Expense Report for July 2008. We’re saving tons of money here, and have only put in $99 worth of diesel into our tank since June 1st. Town is only 2.5 miles away, so I run most of our errands by bike. Also, notice our food bill. Part of the reason it was so high is because we went to Gunnison and stocked up. Our goal is to not have to go there again. So far so good, I think we have enough provisions till we leave. With a local garden nursery merchant now selling organic produce in town, we’re set.

It’s a perfect, sunny summer day in Lake City, and we just returned from last night’s camp out, high atop the Vicker’s property, at about 10,500′ elevation and only accessible via 4×4 jeep roads.

We ventured up to see the yearly Perseids meteor showers, which are at their peak this week, after 2:30 AM.

I’ve always wanted to watch the Perseids. When we lived in Humboldt County, we never saw them because the skies were always too overcast. Finally, last night under a carpet of twinkling stars, we watched the show. I counted 62 shooting stars between 2:45 am and 4:15 am.

This morning I awoke to warm sunshine, and looked out in awe at the beautiful lake, aspens and spruce trees. I thought; “We used to backpack for miles to get to untouched wilderness like this. Now here we are, the entire place to ourselves, and we got to it in less than 20 minutes!”

This was all I needed to remind myself that, despite the hard work we’ve been doing all summer, this unusual life of ours is still like a dream. I don’t ever want us to wake up from it.

Here’s to the roofers, framers, and ditch diggers who think they have it harder than those who sit in front of a computer for a living.

They may be right. I know because I now have experience working in both worlds.

Having toiled at a desk, driving a mouse for most of my working life, I’ve had a chance this summer to live the life of a laborer, driving everything from nails to a backhoe.

For years, as a busy desk-bound graphic designer, I often wished I was outside just digging a ditch or something. Now, workamping on a busy guest ranch has taught me to be careful what you wish for. And given me cause to reflect on the intricacies of my life on the job, whether it be behind a desk or under a truck.

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This has been a rough week at the ranch. In the span of three days, two workampers quit, the chef got into an accident and might be out for the season, and some guests are being a challenge. I see the look on my boss’ face, and I can relate.

Back in the day, whenever things would get rough while we were running our old business, I would read this quote on the wall above my computer:

“I’d rather be the captain of my own dinghy than a junior officer on the Titanic.”

-Dr. James Chan, Author of “Spare Room Tycoon; The 70 lessons of sane self-employment.”

It was a constant reminder of why Jim and I were working countless 12 hour days, jumping through flames to deliver impossible client demands, and barely stopping to catch our breath to show Jerry some love. Yet, despite the endless agonies that go along with being self-employed, I’ve never been happier while making a living.

It took me a long time to figure out that I was meant to run my own business.

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