Cabin in the woods - just me and her and her

“Maybe it's the blahsy weather, but I've been thinking alot about this lately.

Buy a few acres of land (it's pretty cheap in some rural areas of GA), build a little cabin and a workshop, and semi-retire. I could wile away the hours in my workshop, producing mebbe a dozen canoes/kayaks a year. I could do occasional remodeling jobs - or whatever - too.

Fish, hunt, garden.
Freeze, dehydrate, can.

Mebbe get a wife that would wanna have a real job. You know - benefits. If not, so be it - she could be my apprentice, hoer, and Master Baiter. Or she could do her own thing - arts, etc.

I dunno. I feel like I'm ready for a change, but I don't necessarily want to get back out in the "real world". Teaching is tough, but I don't consider it work.

Speaking of teaching...
I feel as though I've come full circle. I spent the first four or five years building, changing, and rearranging the program to where it's pretty fine tuned... but it's become monotonous... repetative.

A regular job? Ugh! I hate the idea of a daily commute, incompetent superiors, and insubordinate charges. And don't get me started on that clock-punching business.

Mebbe I just need a beer...”

“You can drink mine too, since I'm flagged for a few months.”

“Geobeet's buyin'!”

“I just finished reading "Terlingua Teacher", written by a teacher who has suffered burnout. He moved to Terlingua, TX and taught K-8 in a one room school house.

Find a job opening somewhere you like and make the move.”

“I saw that Idaho was hiring for the one room school in Atlanta a couple years ago. Atlanta's a great place to visit, but a wee bit remote for me.

I've considered a change in venue. Out of state, even. I dunno...”

“I can relate. I've been hiding out in academia for the past 15 years. Since I already have the cabin, I just need to make the leap. Who knows, one of these days….”

“Wife and I got the same itch and just bought a few acres up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We would like to pull up and semi-retire there in a few years. We'll see how it goes. Plan on building a small vacation home in the next couple.”

“I think the Kaczynski cabin is available for purchase...”

“I know whatcha mean gojo. This past year I've had so much bullshit cross my path I'm thinking of chucking it all and living in a shack someplace. Fuk modern life. Maybe even drive an 18-wheeler for awhile, who knows. City life sucks.”

“There are two “hers” in the title. Gojo, are you planning one becoming a polygamist?”

“MY place is FOR SALE !!!
Not big.... 1/2 acre, 2 B/R, 2 BA ranch style, 1200 sf with a big family room. 1500 sf workshop, heated, cooled and with INdoor plumbing!! Only 5 minutes from Cumberland Island National Seashore and the St.Marys River. 7 or so hrs from Stone Mountain and other fine Georgia places. 2 hours from the TH of the Florida Trail and Ocala National Forest.
Drive it away today for $85k !!!
I take visa, m/c, check and PAY-PAL!”

“Gojo, dolly face, I told you about a million months ago to move to MT. We can find you a job that's laid back, a little out of the way place (although I believe Kaczynski's was hauled away for evidence), and I even know quite a few artsy women in various age ranges (although I'm not sure we can hook you up w/ two at the same time, there ain't alot of them les-bi-annes around here . . . hehehe, I'm retarded). We're close to Idaho, so you can visit the bro. You're even the type we like to have around up here. I'm pretty sure that no one will shoot at you w/ a 12 gauge (they mainly do that to the ones w/ Cali plates). Whadda' ya' say?”

“I already expressed and interest in reading more of the adventures of Sarabelle, the packpacking dog.

Here are a few more examples of story and cartoon critters that have made millions for thier creators and have entertained even more millions of readers...

Heathcliffe, Marmaduke, Kit and Carlyle, Garfield...Cat Dog.

Man...you are missing the boat! with your creative genious and Sarabelle...you could have the world...what backpacker/hiker wouldn't want to read of the exploits and adventures that the two of you could have. I can even envision a small 5 panel cartoon strip in backpacker magazine in the back, every month...you wouldn't be looking for a new pace...you'd own it!”

“try macremae!”

“I think the lodge on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is still for sale. 1.5 mil, 2.0 with the store/gas station. Owners want to finance, you just have to come up with the down payment, $400,000 or so.”

“sarabelle's not real?”

“Of course she is! She's the second she in the thread title. Gojo, if I weren't married.... ;)”

“whew. I thought you were going to tell me Gojo was writing all that. Next thing somebody would tell me there's no Santa Claus.”

“Oh yeah! That's right Sarabelle is the other girl! Duh!

(And all this time I was thinking Gojo was into kinky stuff.)”

“Maybe even drive an 18-wheeler for awhile, who knows. City life sucks."
steve hiker
03:56:37 PM
09/26/02

Must be a lawyer burnout kind of thing......because I sure as hell thought about it too.”

“My stepdad is a truck driver. I bet he'd trade you guys. He hates it.”

“Not as much as he would hate sitting next to someone facing capital punishment with the thought that if he f*cks up, it will mean a trip to "ole sparky" for the client.”

“I got lucky and married a woman crazier then I am. She's already plotting the cabin in the woods thing. She told me that I would enjoy it....weather I liked it or not. Sounds like a plan to me.”

“You'd have to know my stepdad, but I'm sure it would bother him little. He'd probably being eating a Twinkie and asking if he could jump up and get a Coke really quick. He doesn't take much of anything (except driving and the "god damned LA freeway") very seriously.”

“To me, a job is just a way of getting the means to do what you really want to do. I have to think that way to stay sane.

:o)~”

“chili,

i've been a lawyer for only two years and there are plenty of times that i've been sick of it; it's definitely not as sophisticated, respectable, or lucrative as it's cracked up to be.

oh, you were completely right about not taking that job. unfortunately, i took it, but trying to make the best of it. i'll plot my escape soon enough.

gojo, i can relate to how you feel. everything is driven by money and all i want is time.”

“I can certainly relate jmitch. I have always heard that the greatest burnout comes at 2 years and 10 years for lawyers...I sort of knew at 2 that I would grow tired of the rat race,,,at 10 I had my fill.

On the job situation, you have to look at it this way....

Life is an experience,,,you don't get it if you don't live it. Good Luck.”

“geez, a couple of lawyers ought to be able to put together a deal to buy a lodge!”

“When I saw where the hut in New Hampshire costs $420,000 to rebuild (in BP mag a couple of issues ago), I had to rule out that option.”

“I'm pretty sure this is the one for sale on the North Rim

Kaibab Lodge”

“Like I said earlier, I just got a spot in NC (Blue Ridge Mountains).

Land in north Georgia and the western part of North Carolina is still very afordable IMO. You can get land for $5,000 to $10,000 an acre (and up). Some of the land is in the middle of nowhere, some outside small towns (like Little Switzerland or Burnsville).

Plopping a cabin on the property would probably run about $100,000 or less perhaps if you did a lot of the work yourself. :)”

“..... kinda sounds like the lyrics in an old Bob Dylan song. Montana would be good but I didn't know there was anything left for the average guy what with Hollywood movie stars and Ted Turner types buying it all up.
>
Wyoming would be nice but damn it gets really cold there.
>
California is the place for me but they loaded up the place with taxes and think houses are made of gold.
>
Idaho could be a possiblity if there was water rights and no one could mine on your place.
>
Oregon... west coast side...way too much rain. Eastern side over near Prineville could be interesting.
>
Washington......maybe but you might as well go for Idaho.
>
Utah ... Might be good if the Mormons wouldn't come knocking on your front door every Saturday morning. But then again ... him and her and her sounds like it's doable.”

“I was thinking the towns around Franklin NC would be great for the little cottage, with some money set aside for August and September spent in Maine (we are talking retirement, in the future, with kids at college or something, right?)”

“Land is expensive back East. I know some areas of MT are getting up there, but I'm pretty sure that in general it doesn't get to be much more then $1,000 per acre.”

“So you screw up and the 'client' has to go sit in 'Ole Sparky'. Even if he was innocent of this one, odds are he was probably gonna do something next year that would have sent him to Death Row anyway. Relax!”

“Don't spread it around, but it really doesn't get that cold here in WY.

And, now that the house is almost paid off, and interest rates are so low, the wife has been looking for either acreage or a house in Red Lodge.

How cool would that be?”

“Where's Red Lodge and is there any fly fishing nearby?”

“It'd be very cool Chief. What's acreage in Red Lodge, I bet it's on the high end of things, along w/ Bozeman and Big Sky and some of the areas around Missoula.”

“Never believe a guy trying to get you to fall for him when he claims hes planning on a cabin in the woods! Ive fallen for that 2 many times only to find out they have absolutly no intrest in such a thing or even the outdoors.”

“Sol, definitely good fly fishing around the Red Lodge, Montana area (South of Billings, North of Cody, WY).

Newgie, Not too bad. She was looking at $15-$20,000 for about 5 acres. Some places more, some less. Just got to thinking, we should check into the Cooke City area. Any info Aero? Where has he been lately?”

“I haven't heard from him or seen him around campus or anything. He's prolly busy w/ the cross-country team. It sounded like he had to deal w/ some slacker boys.”

“This used to be my backyard. (crying in my coffee)

3.6 acres, 15 minutes from work, 45 by bike. I could ski or hike out my backyard into the Alaska wilderness, all the way to the Yukon Terr. if I wanted.

My house in the woods”

“bad link

My backyard in the Woods”

“Pretty Stuff Pathman!”

“I'm not antisocial, but way out would be where the less expensive acreage would be, I'd reckon. That's why I'd prefer isolation.

My county has grown by about 120% since 1990 - real estate is outta sight. A couple counties south, tho, it's still fairly reasonable. I'd move there now, but that would require an hour-plus commute in the best of traffic conditions.

That's why driving to a job wouldn't be a consideration if I were home-based employed. I wouldn't mind 10 miles of dirt road if I had to drive only occasionally... you know, Saturday trips to town to pick up supplies, monthly trips to the bootlegger, etc...”

“I guess I am antisocial. I moved to my town because it was way out there, but it is a very busy place now. Still very pretty, but not rural. Someday we will move to a rural area again (luckily or not, my husband is kind of antisocial too :)”

“Im just curious what you people do for a living in MT, WY, ID, etc. I spent a year in the Rockies(CO) for a year(best year of my life) but it was tough making a living. I worked on a ranch, at a ski resort, laid tile, among other things and had to live with 4 guys in a 2 bedroom apt. to afford it. It was a blast but not something you'd want to spend the rest of your life doing. I think about doing what everyone else here is talking about but it's usually "where will I work?" that holds me back. I guess at age 33, stability has become important to me after spending years w/o health ins., moving a lot, etc.”

“I've considered moving up to eastern KY mountains for years...waaaay back where the living is still simple. Have grown my own food in years past, only thing I would need would be cigs and sugar. LOL

Seems we all have similar dreams, but get caught up in the gotta have it syndrome, then by the time you are out of that, there are way too many left over bills to pay to even consider not working for "the man".

Good luck, would love to see a friend make it even if I won't!

P.S., if Sarabelle doesn't like living at the cabin, she can stay with me :)”

“You know, it's funny.

By my calculation, I worked a sixteen hour day yesterday - taught my HS classes, did some work for an academic league I run and chaperoned a Homecoming dance.

And I have to say that I loved every minute of it. I was running the breathalizer at the dance and I remember thinking at 11PM how I should have been way tired. But the kids give me energy.

But, this is an interesting thread because I took this job after I looked at a map and saw lots of lakes. I moved into a little lakeside cottage. It is rural and seemed on the far side of the moon when I first moved here.

But, after getting to know the area, it didn't seem quite so remote. And even small, rural populations have social conventions that can be good or bad. I wonder if people are just in love with the dream of the cabin rather than the cabin itself.

I have similar ideas about hiking/backpacking. If people actually lived in close proximity to the trails, they'd know how much civilization is actually present and have their feelings of isolation destroyed.

Of course, I'm probably just full of #&%!$.”

“Have you tried rearranging your furniture?

Sarabelle is a GURL??!!?”