Attacking the Present!

May 3, 2024: 788 Days Remaining

I always go back and read my previous post prior to writing the current one and yeah, I was a bit whinny. There are so many people out in the world that don’t have the light at the end of the tunnel that I have. There are so many people who just work until they die while dreaming of true freedom. The fact that I’ll be self sufficient with the family without working for anyone ever again by the age of 38 in a location that I deeply love is truly an incredible accomplishment that I should be thankful for instead of complaining that I’m not there yet at the age of 36. Yes, I still yearn for the wilderness of Michigan to the point where a few days ago I put on some bug spray as a cologne just so I could enjoy the nostalgia of the smell of DEET. Yes, it’s ridiculous. Yes, I’m going to keep doing it. No, I’m not going to keep dwelling on the lodge to the point that it negatively impacts my present day life.

It helps that since my last post I’ve published my book “Don’t Die: A Survival Manual” on Amazon and we’ve cleared up the assignment to Tyndall, Florida. We are definitely going now and in only 37 days on June 9th. I’m in full out-processing mode now trying to get big things done everyday. We have movers coming on the 27th and then we’re living out of suitcases for two weeks. Finally, we’ll fly into Detroit, rent a minivan, and drive up to the U.P. to enjoy some time off enroute. After our down time we’re off to the races! Driving down to Florida with the Excursion pulling the 3-axle trailer loaded with all our goodies we’ve missed for the last three years (four if you count the Qatar). Then we’re moving into a new house in Florida for less than two years before moving back up north permanently! It’s going to go fast and I’ll stop complaining once we get there (maybe). Plus we have to fix up my Dad’s old house down there and get it sold so that he can move up to the U.P. permanently as well. Also Al has agreed to offer his property to me before putting it on the open market when the time comes for him and Cathy to move closer to medical care. He’s in his 80’s now but he’s one of the most active and healthy people I’ve ever met so he’ll likely outlive me and we’ll never get to reunite the original properties as I’ve dreamed of doing. I hope to keep them around as long as possible so I’m wishing long life and health for both of them.

I anticipate that the next two years are going to fly by in a flurry and I can almost hear my future self nodding and saying “Yup.” as he reads this down the road. So instead of lamenting the wait… I’ve decided to attack the present! I have a house to pack, a family to move internationally, a summer to enjoy, a house to fix up and sell, and a new job to absolutely CRUSH! There’s no time for lamentation, especially lamentation of having such a bright thing to look forward to. I sound like a kid that is angry that his birthday is three days away. It makes no sense, but I only complain because I’m so close to living the life that I have dreamed of since I was nine years old. I am incredibly lucky that it will soon be a reality. Until then, CHARGE!

-A more present Travis.

The Problem With A Bright Future

October 15, 2023: 989 Days Remaining

So we’ve discussed why we want to homestead, how we’re going to get there, and what hurdles exist along that path. However, we now face an unexpected hurdle that I personally was completely unprepared for… We are now fully prepared to start the homestead, we have all our capabilities developed enough to start, and we still have 989 days until we begin. I thought that would be motivating (and sometimes it is) but I’m finding it highly frustrating to be so close (compared to the 7,300 days we started with) and not be able to begin or accelerate the process. I must stay in the full 20 years in order to get my retirement but we are ready NOW!

Don’t get me wrong, I love my job. It’s the best job in the entire world and I’ll write a tribute to it once I retire and can be more open about what I do/did. I can’t imagine doing anything else to be honest and I enjoy the impacts I make on a weekly basis. I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to be paid to do something that truly matters and I’m lucky to have found it when I was 18 years old. However… the homestead life is so ridiculously motivating and exciting that the “light at the end of the tunnel” is downright blinding. I couldn’t be more distracted from my job than I am right now. Every single tiny inconvenience makes me think of the Lodge and the lifestyle waiting for me there. I’ve even googled “how to wait 1,000 days for something” and found almost no help.

I am a realist and I understand that days turn into weeks which turn into months and before I know it I’ll be loading up the truck and trailer at my last duty station, going to my final out processing appointment, and beginning the incredible journey. I know I will be there soon, and I know I will read these words someday and smile knowing that I made it, but right now… I’m frustrated and tired of waiting. I’ve been writing these entries every 200 days (or so) so I only have the 799, 599, 399. 199, and retirement post left before this story gets to the moment I’m waiting for… not that long, a few thousand words, less than a thousand days, and still I am distracted.

Ok so you get the point and so do I. What am I going to do about it? Well, obviously I need to focus on making a difference in the moment, spend time with the kids, and teach them to increase their capability. Anything else would be a (ironically) a waste of time. Today for example I need to put a new control arm on the 2012 Mini Van because I bent it looking for apples last week. We’ve decided to sell both vehicles here in Germany because we have enough options available sitting at the lodge that we don’t need to go through the trouble of shipping cars across the world. Especially aging daily drivers. A big upcoming time killer is a potential assignment to Tyndall AFB in Florida. I have already gotten the assignment notification but there are complications with the timeline that won’t be resolved until next week. Anything could happen at this point and my next post will likely clear it all up but it’ll suffice to say that there’s a very good chance that my last duty station will be at Tyndall so I can be closer to Dad and help him with his house down there in Jay. Moving the entire family one last time (not counting the homestead launch) is going to eat a lot of days so that’s good, plus we truly do miss the United States right now.

I’ve been out of country for over three years now and I miss being somewhere where we can read the road signs and where every store has someone who speaks English. America has a lot of problems right now and in many ways the country has disappointed me but I still miss living there. We truly do have more freedom and opportunity there than we have here in Europe or the Middle East (my last two homes).

So how do I wrap up this post? I guess I go forth and continue to prepare for the homestead launch. Build capability with the kids, post another video on youtube (389k subscribers right now) and burn some time waiting for the inevitable.

Oh and a note to future me: Yeah, I know I’m whinny right now and that to you all of this waiting is a memory but don’t forget the price we paid to get where you are now. In fact, you owe me for setting you up with the life you have now so I want you to pour a nice drink for you and Tealah, go sit on the porch swing, look out onto the homestead, and give me the GOD DAMN TOAST I DESERVE YOU LUCKY BASTARD! Congratulations and you’re welcome!

-Past Travis.

Why Homesteading?

1 May 2023: 1194 Days Remaining

Ok, so I haven’t really discussed why Homesteading is so important to Tealah and I… and that’s because half of the answer will probably make us seem insane. Let’s start with the less-insane reason: we want to experience everyday out in the wilderness without having to work for a “boss” or have some sort of management positioned above us. Even the concept of renting a house (which we are currently doing in Germany) really sucks! Having no ability to tear down a wall or add an addition without “permission” from a land lord makes you feel less like a human and more like a domesticated animal. Working for someone else feels the same way. Instead we want to make our own schedule, work on the projects that excite us, and not have to answer to anyone about how we live our lives. Reasonable right? Yes, it’s a bit privileged and probably a lofty goal but it’s what we value. Total and complete freedom in our projects, living space, schedule, and lifestyle. I know, there’s a deeper discussion here about Government but that’s for another post. It will suffice to say in this post that Government, laws, and regulation IS important for us as a society. This isn’t an anarchist or libertarian rant. I promise we see the value in a society that is structured to make helping others easier and to hold those who hurt others accountable for their actions. Right now the best way to do that is Government and the enforcement of moral laws (lots to debate here as well!). However, none of this should distract from the first point here which is: we want to enjoy the wilderness while making our own schedule and not be burdened with a boss, landlord, or any other overseer role.

So what’s the crazy reason you’re hiding from us? …. fine… I’ll get into it but you’ve been warned that it may come off as weird… We are concerned that there may be a downfall in social structure in the next few decades. This downfall may be localized like the looting and fighting that breaks out during/after natural disasters… or it could be more widespread since all of our systems of normalcy are interconnected. We saw small examples of this during the supply chain disruptions during the COVID19 pandemic. Now we’re not saying zombies are going to take over the world here… in fact that’s the ONE apocalypse level event that we are ALL trained for… just shoot them in the head. Done. Instead, think of the likely possibility that a cheeky Government somewhere in the world decides to electronically attack our PowerGrid or a massive solar flare knocks out a couple million transformers. We don’t have millions of spares laying around and it’ll take years to rebuild the grid leaving rural areas without power for many months. How many of your neighbors are willing to do whatever is needed to save their families? How many do you trust with your life? Of course natural disaster, global war, and civil unrest are possible as well. The truth is that we don’t know what is going to happen in the years to come and in order to feel safe and to secure our family’s future we want to be able to survive without external assistance for long periods of time. Once the Homestead is fully setup we’ll be able to weather any storm whether it’s manmade or not… within reason. Obviously Nuclear War would complicate things but we’re deep enough into the wilderness that we’d only have to deal with wind driven fallout.

So now you think we’re crazy and that’s ok. Give me one paragraph to temper that judgment. The bottom line with this line of thought is that there’s very little downside (aside from investment) to being prepared while not being prepared could have serious consequences. It’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. As long as we’re not openly crazy and freaking people out there’s no harm in having a pantry full of food or a few extra rows in the garden. Plus, to be blunt, we’ve experienced enough ice storms, blizzards, downed trees, and bad weather in the U.P. while growing up that it’s taught us that to be prepared is the standard when isolated from civilization. Two winters ago when we were enjoying the beauty of the Great North we were hit with an ice storm that stopped us from having access to town for four days and knocked out power for three days. We had a great time getting the generator running, cooking up some food, moving our refrigerator contents to the porch so they stay cold, and playing board games in a cozy lodge. We were relaxed when others were panicking. We were having fun when others were stressed. We were prepared when others weren’t. That’s all it comes down to, self reliance, preparedness, and enjoyment of the natural world without oversight or anyone to answer to. That’s the dream of Homesteading in our eyes and we’re happy to have you along for the adventure!

Travis

Really? 20 Years Of Preparation?

October 23, 2022: 1,384 Days Remaining. (Travis)

Yes, twenty years of preparation. I know this seems ridiculous and that’s because it is. Many homesteaders jump into the fray with only chicken and raised bed experience and many homesteaders fail to find a reasonable amount of self reliance in the early days of their new lives. Take my family for example. My Great Grand Uncle Jack stepped off a train in the middle of the deep woods of Michigan sometime in the 1920s with nothing but a few bags of tools, food, and man made materials. He spent years hewing railroad ties out of local timber and selling it to the train as it passed by. In those days if you stacked a pile of railroad ties by the track they would stop and buy them off you solving both party’s transportation problems. Uncle Jack made a log cabin a few miles North of a logging town named Wilwin. Wilwin has since been abandoned and sold as personal property but that is a story for another post. Now the town of Trout Lake Michigan has replaced Wilwin as the go-to community for supplies and socialization. Though, there’s still only about 350 residents. Eventually Uncle Jack couldn’t keep up with hewing enough logs in order to justify living next to the train tracks so he moved away to find better employment. He had existed there just long enough to give my Grandpa Frank (his nephew) a passion for the area. Grandpa Frank fell in love with the deep woods surrounding the old town of Wilwin and was able to secure 160 acres of land on an old dirt road just two miles from Uncle Jacks now abandoned cabin.

This is where the trend starts to develop of my family having a passion for this little tract of land and yet not having the capability to live there full time. In some ways it’s considered a family curse! Grandpa had a little cabin on the land but with seven children in the house he couldn’t justify living there full time and was forced to move “down state” to the lower peninsula of Michigan where there was consistent work in order to support the family. It would be decades before he could retire and move back to Trout Lake permanently. He lived on that little dirt road until he was 94 and passed away shortly after splitting his own firewood. In my opinion he succeeded where all other generations of my family have failed. If you live well into your 90’s and are still splitting firewood (albeit with a log splitter not a maul) until your last day: then you’ve won. The only thing I want to change about my life path is that I want to move up there when my kids are still young enough to enjoy the woods. While he moved up there in his 60s I want to move up there in my 30s.

Yes, I know, I’ve seemed to skip a generation. The generation of my parents Jeffery and Denise. They too had a passion for the area and built the “Nook of the North” a little log cabin just 400 yards from Grandpa’s Lodge. They built it on the weekends, holidays, and summer months while going to school at LSSU in Sault St Marie. They had to buy concrete for the foundation, nails, and roofing but they made the rest from the land around them. I have a wonderful little picture of my mother sitting astride a great big log peeling it with a sharpened leaf spring she had removed from a wrecked Jeep they found in the woods. The windows were picked out of the garbage from another local house that was upgrading to better models and the family used an outhouse instead of indoor plumbing. When my Dad was out putting the roof on the completed cabin a business man on vacation up north pulled into the driveway and asked what such a beautiful log cabin cost. To which my Dad said “Oh, I have about $600 invested so far.” My Dad still laughs about the shocked look he received in response. Ok, I seem to be getting sidetracked. The cabin may be a discussion for another time. The point is that my parents had it right trying to build there so early in their lives and my Grandpa had it right living there till the end but in both cases the family had to move away for work because no matter how “self sufficient” you think you are… you still need salt or medicine or fuel or electricity or clothing. You’ll never be able to make EVERYTHING so money (or community) is needed to fill the gaps in your wants/needs.

When Tealah and I started our journey all we wanted was to exist together. Location, means, money, and everything else meant very little to us. We knew we wanted a quiet farm or homestead someday and we knew that we wanted to not have the need to work for someone else. However, at 18 we didn’t know how to get there so as I mentioned in the last post I joined the Military. We started the 20 year countdown to self sufficiency. The goal became to build our capabilities and resources so that we could lower our cost of living to meet the amount of income my military retirement would generate (50% base pay). For most people in the US it wouldn’t be a livable amount BUT if we grew our own food, hunted, gathered, and had all the tools necessary to repair and build our cost of living would be greatly reduced.

So here’s the breakdown of how to make it happen.

1) Zero Debt: Yes, we’ve taken on debts in the form of cars, credit card, and mortgages over the years but we’ve already paid off all our vehicles, crushed the mortgage we took on to buy Grandpa Frank’s place after he died, and are very very close to paying off our last two credit cards. It took a lot of sacrifice but we were debt free at 33 years old while also owning our forever home (Grandpa Franks).

2) Secure Housing: As I mentioned we have Grandpa’s Lodge paid off and now all we have to do is to keep up on taxes each year. We also had the “Nook of the North” signed over to us when my Mother passed away and my Dad decided to live down in Florida instead of moving back up north. This gives us two houses (both need work but are solid) to work with.

3) Secure transportation: We always buy cheap cars. Our rule of thumb is that for ever $1,000 we spend on a car it has to last one year so if we buy a $1,500 beater car and it lasts two years it’s a WIN! Currently there are six cars in our name and only one of them is a project car. The other five are either road worthy or a few hours of effort from being road worthy. They are not new cars, but with six options something will work when we need it to. They are: 1957 Spitfire (project), 1968 VW Dune Buggy, 1995 Suburban, 2002 Mini Cooper, 2004 Excursion, and our more modern 2012 Mini Van. We can fix all of them when they break so we should be set of vehicles for the next 15-20 years.

4) Grow capability: This is a big one and I won’t be able to fully encapsulate it here but here’s an example: We eat meat-Venison is the cheapest meat since you just need a hunting license and a bullet (no feed, no housing)-we bought two very nice hunting rifles-we also practice with those rifles-we practice skinning/processing deer-we bought a meat grinder-we bough a meat slicer-we bought a sausage press-we stocked up on ammo-and we have a deep freezer. Now of course we’re going to raise chickens and pigs but now we will not need additional money to process or procure our meat while living on the homestead. We’ve done this with hundreds of different categories from apple crushing to milling our own lumber. From planting trees up north to building a sawmill it’s all preparation. You can very quickly see where 20 years of decent income and practice can quickly be used up in the building of skills and capability.

5) Build alternate sources of income: Eventually, my sawmill will break or the apple trees will die and we’ll need money. That’s a homesteading fact. You’ll need money (or community) eventually. Right now our main effort is building this community through YouTube and this website. In order to keep a running tally of our YouTube Community growth I’ll put in a few reminders in these posts so we have something personal to look back on. Today we have 304,183 subscribers, multiple brand deals, and have seen between $700 and $3,500 a month increase in income. However, it’s very inconsistent and not enough to quit my job and jump into the homestead three and a half years early. The growth has been incredible this year going from 1,200 subscribers to over 300 thousand in only nine months. I expect it to tapper off from here for awhile and the new goal (since we were not expecting even 100k until 2028) is 1 Million subscribers by 2027. This will give us four months after we arrive in Michigan to start our main adventure. All of this is quite unexpected to be honest and if we DO end up with 1 million subs our homesteading adventure will be quite easy as it’s designed to survive at $3,000 a month income from military retirement. It’s not out of the realm of possibility to see double or triple that goal if we’re selling shirts, have a patreon, and are putting out consistent videos on how we are making things work on the homestead.

Closure: For the first time in 16.5 years it’s becoming a reality in my head instead of a fantasy. Our aspiration (something to work towards but may not achieve) has transitioned into a goal (something that is defined by its completion). Now it’s time for us to buckle down and round out our capabilities so that we can have a smooth transition from what is to what will be. Stick around for the journey and get ready for some hard work come August 2026!

A countdown, not to an end, but to the beginning.

January 15, 2022: 1,666 Days Remaining

Well here we are! Today we added the countdown clock and it’s at 1,666 days. That may seem like a lot to a lot of people but to us it shows that we’re past the 75% mark in achieving our goals set in 2006. When Tealah and I got married we vowed to find the fastest path back to the deep woods and the solution we settled on was to knock out 20 years of military service, retire with half pay, and start a homestead in Trout Lake Michigan. At times that goal seemed impossibly far away as we remodeled homes, learned new skills, and invested in the tools of our future. However, today feels different. Perhaps it’s the countdown clock. Perhaps it’s because we’re in the last location prior to our permanent move home. We just hit 1,200 subscribers on YouTube, got our store up and running on this website, and are in talks for (possibly) our first brand deal. For the first time it really feels like we’re reaching out beyond the military life and beginning to set up our next venture. While every step along the way has been in that direction there is still a subtle shift today that I find invigorating.

Ok, enough about my personal feelings at the moment. Let’s teach something! This has all been about capability. Specifically our capability to set up a homestead in the deep north. Capability requires you to have the Means, Motive, and Opportunity to take action or complete a task. I like to break these down into: Means-Skills & Tools, Motive - the Desire or Discipline to act, and Opportunity - the Time. If you don’t have the capability then you need to get someone with that capability to do it for you or live without the task getting accomplished.

Enough with the vagueness. Let’s use an example. You need to get fresh water out to the animals on a daily basis. You’d LIKE to just be able to turn on a faucet over their trough and not have to carry a bucket 50 yards everyday. In order to make this happen you need the skill required to dig a trench, splice into you water line, hook up a freeze proof spigot, secure everything into place, and rebury. The tools you need include a shovel, pipe wrenches, and a hacksaw. The materials you’ll need are pipe tape, PVC glue, PVC, spigot, couplers, and gravel for underground spigot drainage after shutoff. The time you’ll need is about 10 hours mostly digging. Finally you’ll need to have the desire to do all of this. IF you have the skills, tools, materials, motivation, and time. You will do it. That’s how it works! Everything you’ve ever NOT done in your life was lacking in one of those categories. Take a moment and think about it. What was something you didn’t do? What were you lacking? For us this is what it all boils down to. We want to run a homestead in Michigan. As broke, inexperienced, 18 year olds with no tools, skills, or materials back in 2006 our willpower meant nothing. We had all the motivation in the world but lacked nearly every other component mentioned! This is why we’ve spent the last 16 years (and the next four to go) building our skills, buying the right tools, building up materials (or learning how to make them), and setting aside enough money to bridge any unforeseen gaps. The only thing we have to wait for at this point is the time which brings us back to the countdown clock.

I hope this first post is a good foundation for showing our thought process and goals because we’ve got a lot of work to do, a million skills to master, and an infinite number of possible projects ahead of us. Come along on our journey and learn with us. It won’t always be easy, but it will always be worth doing.

-Travis