It was five years ago today I started at the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge – my first home in Washington. September 27th, 2012…it was the beginning of big changes in life and this chapter has been incredible thus far!

I have posted most of my adventures on here since the start (hurry…check out all the pages from Day One!), and I try to keep it interesting for those who follow me or those who might be interested. Do I post everything? No. There are things I do not post because there’s no reason to post some things, and there’s definitely no reason to post everything. That’s what Facebook is for… if I were still on that timesuck (which I haven’t been for over five years).

Yes, there have been a few challenges over the last couple of years. And, yes, I made it through those challenges. There has been the incredible sadness of those who have passed out of my life and that sucked in the worst possible way (and always will). At the same time there have also been additions of new family to my life as well and more to come! And there’s the motorcycle wreck three years ago…unfortunately my body makes sure that I can never forget that challenge and I have constant reminders of that nearly-tragic day every waking moment.

There’s been a lot of thinking done the last few years about a lot of things done all the years before that. Yes, I wrote before how I have learned things about myself and how that has been good for me to take the time for me to do.  I really think that everyone should make the time for some soul-searching in their lives. It has answered some questions for myself and maybe settled an internal tug-of-war or two as well. It also begs the question “Would I change anything?”.

It’s good to question, and every day is a learning opportunity. I saw an article not long ago and it said that you learn something new every single day of your life. That’s really very true if you think about it. It may not be anything big, but you are still learning something even if it is just an experience. Wow…existential…

Anyway, I meet and work with a lot of people doing the kind of work that I have chosen to do who live the same seasonal lifestyle I do to some degree or another so it is more common than you think. They scrape by and live the life they want to live – hiking the PCT, the CDT, AND across New Zealand in their off-seasons, winter ski bums, going hiking in Belize, bicycling across Mexico…many things in many places. Some live at their parent’s house when not at work. I finally have an apartment, while some scramble to find a place to live close to recreation they enjoy even in the off-season. Yes, these are true-to-life examples of people I know. I don’t scrape by like many, but I live fairly low-key.

You are required by law to have an address so having a residence in a state that I want to be in and be a part of is important and necessary. I am quite tired of the PO Box shuffle – I have had eleven PO Boxes in the last five years with all the different places I have lived (I prefer to keep my address in WA and no other state because it IS where I live and work and the place I call home). For the time being (at least) I do not need to worry about the address issue any more. Having a place takes a lot of pressure off of me. Even though I may be paying money on a place I may not be at sometimes in the off-season, I still have a place to live in the work-season. Yeah, five years in government housing has been nice and it has helped me tremendously but it is okay for only a short time, and that’s depending on the circumstances. I’ve stayed in some nice government housing and I’ve also stayed in some that weren’t so nice.

Will this be the last place I live? Probably not. I don’t even know where that will be and won’t know until I get there. Could be here in Washington someplace – Port Townsend is a real possibility. It could be Alaska, I could be back in Colorado… I just do not know but will find out when I get there. I do know for certain that my choices are narrow and I have reasons for he few places that I WILL live. I’ve got other things to do at this point in time so the time to worry about that is later. Procrastinate!

Five years is a milestone and I can say it’s been a great five. Stay tuned for the next five!