How One Man Went from Living the Urban Rat Race to Living Like a Desert Rat
June 4th, 2008Here’s an interesting read about a family who threw in the towel on big city living. I don’t agree that deserts are a good way of going, but to each his own. Becky and I have the same general philosophy as these people, and practice similar behaviors in terms of the local economy.
In short: Once you are able to live well on a fraction of your previous income, lots of opportunities present themselves.
Via: San Francisco Chronicle:
By most standards, Carl had been a successful urban businessman. He started a small company when he was in his 20s, and it flourished and grew in the dot-com era and beyond. He was happily married, and he and his wife owned their home in the East Bay. Finances had never been a problem.
Now, on the cusp of 40, Carl found himself living in a double-wide trailer and buying cans of beer from a 90-year old bartender in a Podunk Nevada town. And he had never been happier. His eyes were shining in a way I had never seen when he lived in the city.
A year ago, Carl evacuated from San Francisco and moved to the Nevada desert. He sold the business, sold his house, bought some land and relocated his wife and dog to what he calls the “deep desert.”
Now he’s obsessed with self-reliance and ingenuity, and told me about plans for a windmill that will generate some of the electricity used in the double-wide. As we talked, it became clear that his emigration from city to country had radically changed Carl’s perspective on money, and that living in a scrubby wasteland had forever changed his notion of what is valuable.
