Jan 28, 2022: the reality of moving in 2021.

6 months ago today, Alan and I sold our home of 21 years in Bayfield to head out on this adventure. It was not a sudden decision but one we’d made back in 2018. Dismantling a working small farm takes time: selling cows, finding homes for chickens and ducks, figuring out what to do with 3 freezers of food, etc. However, after Alan got Covid in Feb., 2021 and spent a week in the hospital, we decided that life is too short to keep dilly-dallying, and we pushed to get the house on the market. It sold quickly for a good price, thanks to the insanely hungry real estate market, but the other side of that story hit us immediately: there were no properties available around SW Colorado that we liked or could afford.

So we moved into Pippin, our 14-foot camper, and lived in it for 3 months while we searched and made offers and searched some more. We found 4Fords in early August, but it took 3 months to close, forcing us to keep looking. The seller had Alzheimer’s; there were lawyers and family and courts and psychiatric assessments to be done. All the other potential properties either were without water, had strict HOAs that wouldn’t allow us to built a yurt or live off-grid, or were asking the moon (and stars!).

Luckily, we love camping and managed to find remote boondocking spots throughout the area. Those 3 months were full of amazing hikes, stunning vistas and wonderful night skies (and great hotspots for internet!) I continued teaching online throughout, often lecturing on Zoom from the little table outside the camper.

Ultimately, we were in love with this 80 acres right here in Rio Arriba County. We moved in on November 1.

Do I miss our old house? No…other than the kitchen….it had the most amazingly perfect kitchen.