On Being the New Kid in Town, Again . . . and Again

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Bad brake system 2006 Dodge Ram 2500While sitting in the Dodge dealer today in Jackson, WY, as they did over $2k in repair work on our truck brakes, I realized that I’ve finally discovered a couple of real downsides to living the fulltime RVer lifestyle.

Fulltimer Downside #1: when you pull into a town with out-of-state plates, and tell the local auto shop that you’re having vehicle trouble, who do you trust? You gotta wonder; Is that service guy really drooling? Are those actual dollar signs in his eyes?

From Florida to Wyoming, three different shops have looked at our truck, to find out the cause of a loud, chirping sound coming from the wheels. One wanted to charge us $700 for what they claim was the real problem (we said ?no way.?). We paid another shop $75 to determine we had dirty brakes.

But the sound keeps getting louder, and we have some steep mountain passes to tackle on the way to the Pacific Coast. So today, we took it to a third shop.

The problem, Shop #3 said, is that our entire brake system is blown to hell. We are left wondering: why didn’t the other shops see this? The service guy said that’s because they didn’t tear the break system apart to investigate. We have to go on faith that he’s not a scheister. Jim saw our parts lying on the floor, next to good ones from another truck, and verified that ours looked blown. The caliper seals were all indeed shot. And the rotors had a deep blue tinge to them ? discoloration indicating they had been cooked pretty hard.

So what would you do, dear reader? Take your vehicle to another no-name shop in town, and pay another $60 estimate fee? Or run away, hoping the dealer was lying while praying for the best on those seven percent downhill grades?

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American Earth A Must-Read for the Green-Conscious

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We were recently asked to review the new Library of America book, American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau. Edited by Bill McKibben, this anthology covers environmental writing from Walden Pond to global warming.

It sounds like a great read, and we’re honored to review it. But that might not be very soon since we’re on the road again. We’ll have the book forwarded as soon as we have a steady address for a while, or we’ll pick it up at Thanksgiving.

Until then, check out this overview from the publisher and see what major publications have to say about American Earth …

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The Vickers Hay Chronicles

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The Vickers hay Chronicles features The funny short film Hay Country! with Larry Vickers mowing the hay field and workamper Jim helping Paul get the John Deere out of the mud. Part two introduces the fifth generation of Lake City ranchers and workamper Boll Weevil. In part three, meet old Perk Vickers and find out how life on the ranch used to be.

The hay is in the barn.

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What does a gay horse eat? Haaaay-aaaay!!!

Rocky Mountain Hay Meadow at Vickers RanchYou probably gotta hear that one to get it. Or have gay friends. But the point is, ya gotta have a good sense of humor when it comes to hayin’ because things can go wrong which may ruin your day, or entire season. And when you’re a hayin’ there are an awful lot of things that can go wrong.

We actually got all the hay in the Vickers Ranch barn a few weeks ago now. But with so much that happened to halt the hayin’ this year, its amazing we got it in at all. In fact, according to the Vickers we still finished earlier ? and with more hay ? than any ever before.

Jim tying hay bales on the stackerCollecting and stacking hay is hard work, but first it must be baled. Before that it has to be raked into windrows. But to do that it must first be mowed.

All of the above depends upon the weather. Oh, and the equipment working properly. And nobody getting hurt.

Luckily no one got hurt, which is amazing in itself. But apparently, the weather was on our side this year. Holding out just long enough for us to deal with each of the myriad mishaps…

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Catching the Lone Cowboy in Lake City

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We can’t over emphasize how fortunate we feel to have hooked up with the Vickers family here in Lake City. The work is hard, but their generosity and kindness more than makes up for even the longest days here on the ranch.

Michael Martin Murphey and Vickers Family Lake City CORecently, Larry and Paulette Vickers took us all to the “The Lone Cowboy Concert,” a BBQ dinner and show with cowboy poet and singer Michael Martin Murphey. OK, you might ask “Who?”

Well, if you’re not into cowboy music, you might not know who this legend is. But if you’re old enough to remember the classic ’70s hit “Wildfire,” then your ears have been graced by his music.

If you’re not of a certain age, then do yourself a favor and get to know him. He is incredibly talented and puts on an entertaining, intimate show. Here’s just a sample of Murphey’s heartland cowboy songs …

Read on to check out the video of his amazing opening act, and see what Jim had to say Michael.

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Affordable Colorado Mountain Property: Donations Greatly Appreciated

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Affordable Western Colorado Real EstateWalking into a real estate office and meeting a new agent is akin to sitting your butt down in a dentist’s chair. It’s just gonna suck, whether you’re there for a root canal or just a cleaning.

Unfortunately, dealing with certain kinds of professionals that can rip your teeth out, make you bleed, and rob you blind, just seems like an evil fact of life.*

During our travels we’ve seen tons of great properaty listings, but we’ve never walked into a real estate office to learn more. Recently though, we got up the nerve to do just that, after learning that our neighbor’s daughter works for a Lake City broker. Thinking, “how bad could it be if we have an in with a local?” we went in.

We heard there was a 40 acre property just north of town, for sale at $200k, an unheard of price here. When we got to the office, we learned the property was actually listed at $299k, which is way over our cash-only budget, but still closer to it than anything we’ve seen for that many acres of western Colorado mountain property, with water rights.

We asked the agent if we could see it anyways (not mentioning that only a winning lotto ticket would give us a chance to buy it).

“Oh sorry, you’d have to cross private property, only I can take you there,” he said.

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