Thank You Past Travis
November 14, 2024: 594 Days Remaining
Yeah, I know I’m supposed to thank my past self in 594 days with a crisp cold drink on the porch of the Lodge sitting right next to Tealah… but I have to say… that dude set me up. He/I was depressed as hell in Germany, I put on 50lbs of fat, and I started to hate what I was as a person. Now, after moving everyone home, spending time in Michigan (twice since we went back up in October for the colors), securing a house in Florida, kicking ass at the new job, and losing 20lbs I’m feeling like I’m BACK BABY! Travis FUCKING Siegwart! Sure, I have 30 more lbs to lose and a lot of work ahead but I - AM - INVIGORATED! Finally, we’re on the right track! Making a difference every single day at the AFRCC, taking care of my troops, and working on awesome projects!
We had a great time in Michigan building the outdoor kitchen patio and timber framing. I’ve been looking forward to that a lot lately and now it’s ready for a roof next summer. We got Dad all settled in at the Cabin and he’s fully moved out of the Jay property which we have nearly completed. I hope to have that on the market in January so we can stop focusing on it and spend more time enjoying Florida. We’ve been diving, we’ve gone caving, we’ve taken the kids to the beach, I’ve fixed the Harley and have been driving it, we bought Uncle Chris’ Tundra, put a new stove in the cabin, sealed the cabin for winter, put a new roof on the back of the cabin, made jelly, fixed the Farmall AND pulled it up to Michigan, and last but NOT least…. we bought an insane boat! But before I spend this whole post ranting about how awesome this all aluminum coast guard drug interdiction vessels is… let me first state the obvious.
Having projects and fun things to accomplish is 100% the way to not only speed up the waiting process for launching the homestead BUT TO ALSO enjoy the time we have until then! I was project starved in Germany and that contributed a lot to my laziness and my depression. Now… however, I am spending every second that I can working on this new ridiculously overkill boat! I skip eating junk food in order to get more done and in the process I burn more calories, time is slipping by faster than I want (that’s a first), and I’m haveing fun with Tealah!
I couldn’t be on a better life path at the moment. We are doing so much better and haveing so much more fun that I feel like I used to and that is a relief! I actually think I might miss this life once we settle in Trout Lake so we are working on setting up a volunteer search and rescue organization to stay a part of the SAR community even as civilians.
I would write more but I’m in an airport in Minnesota and my food just arrived. Heading home from BISC (basic inland SAR course) and pulling a Bravo 3 outdrive off an old boat tomorrow. I will say this before I go. The next post will be the end of May or the beginning of June which puts us within a month of being under a year left! Hot dog! I almost don’t believe it? What will that life be like? Living at the lodge with no impending doom clock counting down to our departure. No outlook emails piling up. I don’t even know what that’s going to feel like. Future Travis, you should make a post about it in about 595 days. I look forward to writing and reading it!
-Travis Fucking Siegwart
