Back from Never-Never Land

It has been several months since I have posted anything on this blog, but there is a good reason. On little more than a few moments of thought, a great deal of hope, and even a few prayers, I decided to join my two sisters and take a wild ride from Schenectady New York to the deserts of West Texas, where we now permanently live.

I had a little more than a month to prepare for the journey, once I decided that I was in. Essentially, I dumped everything I owned in New York, and loaded a Toyota Camry station wagon with a few of my essential belongings, my two Greyhounds, and headed west.

I joined my sisters, and their 6 kids, 9 great Danes, 1 pit bull mix, 4 cats, 2 birds, and a turtle. As one might imagine, it was quite the trip. We landed here in the middle of February, where, unlike New York, the days required only a t-shirt and there was not a single flake of snow on the ground.

Because of the remoteness of the area, and the local bureaucracy, it took us until just recently to secure an internet connection, via satellite.

So why did I do it? A quick list is in order...

-I have wanted to leave the filth, noise, and insanity of the city for a very long time.
-I realized that I did not need 90% of the junk that I had, nor the huge house to store it all in.
-With energy prices on the rise, the cold New York winters were becoming ever more expensive.
-I hated the local gestapo, in the form of the city government and the police, as well as the neighbors who have nothing better to do than report on your business.
-I have always wanted to live in the desert.
-My Family was the only real reason I was still in New York.

And of course, let's not forget the bigger picture...

-The United States is starting to look more and more like a country straight from Orwell's imagination, and should the military ever be turned against the citizens, the city is not the place to be.

-The economy of the United States is teetering on the edge of a complete meltdown, along with the dollar itself. If, as many believe, the country goes into another depression, once again, the city is not the place to be.

-Global food prices are on the rise, and there have already been food riots in other nations, and corporations right here in the United States have begun rationing the supply of key food ingredients, such as rice and flour. The city is not the place to be when food shortages happen.

-Oil prices continue to skyrocket, and the future will be sustainable energy. Unfortunately, code enforcement in the city would likely frown upon windmills, and perhaps even solar panels.

-And let's not forget that the city is not the place to be if another country, such as Russia or China, decides to step in and protect small countries around the world from the military might of the United States.



So here we are on a large chunk of land in west Texas, where the closest "city" is 60 miles away, with a staggering population of 4,700 people. The "corner store" is 13 miles away.

Life is not easy in a desert. We have little more than what we came down here with. Electricity is supplied with a generator, internet with a satellite, and we have to haul our own water for the moment. Compared to our lives in Schenectady, however, we are much happier, and we are on the way to a smarter, self-sustainable way of living that is somewhat insulated from the troubles of the outside world.

I have a new definition of freedom now...