Stunning how fast time can fly when you live in a tent in the middle of the Utah desert 6 days a week. Turns out the one day a week in Vernal at the hotel is PLENTY. Shit in a real toilet, shower off the grime, do laundry, sleep in a bed, then get the fuck out of dodge and back to the hills. Beats hanging with the hordes of young girls/women with hordes of fucking twat rats the average Mormon town is infested with. Not to mention fat dudes in jacked up trucks, many fat dudes in jacked up trucks.

There is no end to the beauty here. Well, Vernal is a shithole, but I mean out of town.

We end up going for hikes almost every day after work for 2-4 hours exploring the endless massive landscape, get back, and exchange notes on what we saw. We hike solo, get plenty of each other sitting in a truck 8-9 hours a day. A side benefit of all this hiking at 6500-7000 feet is developing wicked endurance. Combined with a Primal/Paleo diet and intermittent fasting (16 hours a day) I’ve dropped 15 pounds without even trying. Between that and the hair, gonna look much different when I get back home.

It’s about time to relocate camp again, need better access to the work we’re doing and the current area is almost hiked out. The new area is primarily PJ (Pinyon/Juniper) forest and promises great exploring. And cougars. And bears. It’s always a hoot getting back into the food chain.

See what I mean?

Things have settled down concerning the severe homesickness felt upon heading out to here. Having been so long since I’d last had a proper home it was hard to leave it knowing I’d be gone for so long. Now, I’m in the groove and am pushing the tempo to hit my target of celebrating the 4th of July with friends in Portland. Time will tell.

On days that hiking doesn’t sound good it’s been sitting in the camp chair and reading or staring at shit listening to podcasts, but a new activity can be pursued: Archery. Got myself a Diamond Carbon Cure compound bow and all the associated goodies for a steal and flick 25-30 arrows a night to get the skills buffed up. Next year the skills should be ready to try for deer and elk.

The transition from fire fighting to this work has been fairly smooth, many of the skills translate, but the compensation and work conditions are far superior. The allowance of freedom is so wide it’s been an adjustment. Basically, I was given $100k worth of shit, a credit card, and a human I picked, and told to have a good time, get it done. Being allergic to authority and control freaks, this is a match made in heaven. Thankfully, projects this long will be rare, once every few years, but I’ll still get to travel on the company dime every summer for a few weeks here and there from Alaska to Oklahoma.

Which is all a way to say that at 47, I’ve finally found what, for me, is the perfect gig. Good pay and bennies, a great deal of freedom and most importantly lots of room to grow and apply my broad and eclectic range of skills.

Time to take advantage of this hotel room.

Tomorrow, back to this: