Purging the old, gaining the new.

One of my favorite things bout moving all the time is the purging. I'm not one of those sentimental people that keep everything. I have a few things that I've kept forever in my room at my folks house. I have a few things that I've kept with me time after time... But primarily I actually enjoy the purge. I used to, every couple of years, go through and get rid of clothes, books, all sorts of old possessions. I didn't use it anymore, didn't need it anymore... Now I can do so every few months. And it's awesome. Freeing myself of more and more material things I put less and less stock in material things. While I enjoy walking through the touristy shops and looking at all sorts of things. Enjoy looking at beautiful rocks, incredible little collectible statues, posters, etc. Then I leave the store and go to the next one. I don't have to buy any of it. I don't feel the need to. If it serves no purpose, why?
It's like the George Carlin bit about STUFF. People are all about STUFF. Having more STUFF than the next guy. Better STUFF. And when you get too much STUFF for your current residence, you either get a storage unit or a bigger place.... All for your STUFF. Not me.
I know a guy who boils down to a backpack. Anything he gets over the season he gets rid of by the end. Boils right back down to that backpack. He travels with ease. He's the happiest guy I know. It's awesome.
I boil down pretty small. I have a three piece set of luggage that I use, and I always have extra space. Always have extra STUFF that I don't use. Clothing I don't wear. I keep things that I WANT to wear but still I don't.
As I purge time after time year after year, I have kept thinking about what I need versus don't need. Use versus don't use. The more I free myself of the more I appreciate what I have. The more I value what I do use and the more I realize I can do without.
There are things I want. There are things I will never get rid of. Still, at the end of the day, those clothes are just clothes. Those books are just books. Nothing that I'll die without. Still, I don't need those nick-nacks.
As we get closer to our travel date, we are working on purging. Deciding what to take with us. As we are flying instead of driving we have to really cut it back. One carry on, one checked. Max per person. I'm excited. I'm excited to leave behind more stuff. Clothes, laptop, a few books, a little craft stuff. Truly, what else do I need? When we get there I want to buy fishing rods. And a puppy, but Chris says no.
So those are my thoughts on purging. It's good for you. I think everyone should do it more often. I know far too many people put far too much stock in material possessions. Too many people don't even know what they have anymore they have soo much STUFF.
Last thought - PURGE PEOPLE! It's GOOD FOR YOU! :D

The Wait...

While I'm glad we know where we are going and the anxiety has gone down drastically now that we have a destination - I'm still antsy/anxious.
With five-ish weeks of work left and over a month before we get going, there's too much time. There's so much that still needs to come together, so much that could fall apart. That's one of the worst things about the lifestyle. It is, luckily, something that having an rv/motorhome will help alleviate and so by this time next year I will not be so anxious and stressed. But it's not this time next year yet. Chris is smoking more than usual. Due to the anxiety. I can't blame him, I would be too. My anxiousness manifests in stress and OCD and knotted shoulders. I would drink more, but luckily we don't have the drink to do so!
We've a lot planned out already. Nothing really is set in stone yet and that's what makes it hard. I will breathe easier when we have plane tickets bought. When we've got a hostel/hotel booked. When we have a few good CraigsList people willing to wait and see with us. We got the job, that's one thing off the checklist, but the list is a lot longer than that. It's not like looking for a job in your area, where you just have to figure a new route to work. Our route is a little.... intense in comparison.
The stress is a killer. I know some that the stress half kills the pre-trip excitement. It's not fun if you're so worried. For me it's half fun and half worry. I manage because I have faith in the universe. Somehow we'll make it work. Easy or hard, quickly coming together or dragging it's feet the entire way, we will make it work. The universe will not fail us so horribly.
Meanwhile, life is too short not to live it. No matter the temporary stress of right now, the ultimate adventure, the experiences we'll have are worth it without a doubt.
People ask me if we're coming back next winter. Nope, probably not. Well, why not? Always the response. Why not? Where will you go?
ANYWHERE is what I want to say. But instead.... Oh, Telluride maybe, there's a beautiful spot in Canada Chris showed me, or maybe back to Jackson Hole....
I went back to Yellowstone four summers running. I'm ready to move on and have new adventures. When you're ready to move on, why stop again? It's like getting your car goin' real good, like you're about to get on the interstate. You feel like you're flyin by.... Then you get on the interstate and it's stop-and-go Portland rush-hour style. Who wants that? Or finding out you have to turn back around.... No man, keep going. Keep moving forward. I think if I go back to Yellowstone it'll be for a visit. Tourist style.
Life is about moving forward. No one wants a dead-end job. You want to get promoted. People want to own their own business - which is always moving forward. Technology is always trying to move forward. Homemakers, raising kids IS moving forward. It's all about the future. What I'm sayin, what I'm doing, is not so unlike what everyone else is doing and saying in their own right. I take a different path, but we're all going in the same direction. Forward.
Granted, there are people with life on backward, but we won't talk about them. The rest of us, we're going places. We call it the future. Grown respectable kids, good job, own business, whatever your forward is. Whatever your bliss is. Chase it.
And that's the message of the day, I suppose. Keep moving forward. And good luck.

How We Do It: Getting There

Times they are a-changin!
Getting there is different for everyone and every situation. My first trip out, I flew. MUCH fun. Out from Portland which is a big airport. Wound up in two SMALL airplanes. Small as in two rows on one side, one on the other and I got the window seat! We - me and the person I went with - were booked for the row on the wing, so out the window I got a PERFECT few of the propeller. It was super cool to me. My second time ever flying and here I was in this super small plane with old school propellers.
But I was stuck in the park without transportation to the nearest town 3 hours away.
The next time - I got a car. My crazy self, I got the car AND learned to drive in two weeks, got the license and was out the door. Absolutely the best route. Sure. The point is - ROAD TRIP! Yellowstone is only a 14 hour drive away, but since it was my first time and I was taking my best friend, her parents came with. It was SUCH fun. We made a two day deal of it. Took our time. Like one should with a road trip. You don't want to rust off and just BE where you're going. You don't want to drive through all that country and only see roads and hotel rooms... Drive to Idaho, stay, then drive to Montana. Then drive in to the stone. I went to the Cracker Barrel for the first time. I had interesting conversations. I saw new places.
My second year I did it again - but by myself. Espresso from a cart in Idaho talking to a woman who transplanted FROM OREGON where I was from. Who'da thunk?! Such interesting things.
The next year I went with a boyfriend-of-the-time. Went to yet new diners I hadn't been to before. Stopped to see different things.
And now I'm planning my trip to Alaska. The options! We thought about taking the ferry up from Washington. We thought about driving up - getting passports and going through Canada and into Alaska. We thought about flying up. We TRIED to think about taking the train, but alas, no trains through Canada.
We settled on flying. But it's not just fly up, go in, be done. Just like a road trip. You don't just go. You take your time. We are flying up three weeks early. We found an awesome hostel to stay in for two weeks. Go up with a few light bags and check out Anchorage for a few weeks. Buy a car while we're up there - thank you inventor of Craigslist. Then drive in to Chicken - a WEEK early so we have time to settle in and get a feel for the area. It's not like driving to work.... Get up, go, get there. No. Take your time, see the world as you go not just the bit of the world you land in.
The goal for this summer is to end it with our own rv/mobile home kind of thing. Then our next trip to winter seasonal we can take longer see more. I'm super excited for a mobile home. No more new housing. As much as I enjoy packing and unpacking, coping with new housing can suck. No more hotels. Which also helps with our timeline. Having our own kitchenette we won't necessarily need to budget for as much eating out. Groceries are cheaper. AND! We could get a pet! :D

So yes. I get side tracked. Getting there. The point is that it's never the same and the possibilities are almost as endless as the places you're going TO. The only option that is not an option is to go straight there without passing go or collecting 200 dollars. Take a stroll around the board people! See the sights, stay at Park Place. Even when it seems I took the same route twice, it was so different. The similarities were drowned out by the unique experiences.

Speaking of getting there - as a last note, one more thing I love about my work. Every day you get up, get ready for work. You take the bus, you drive, you commute somehow to your job. Right? So do I. The difference? My commute is through a mountain with amazing views (especially if you can catch the sunrise over the white river turnout!). My commute back to my folks house is a lot of I5 just like yours, but first, the drive down to Gresham - through all that forest. Amazing. There is little beauty in asphalt and concrete to me. The incredible skylines and high rises aren't as stunning to me as they are to some. I'm not saying my life, my commute is any better than anyone else's. On the contrary, I believe my chosen life really isn't for everyone or even most. I'm only saying TO ME (the one that matters), my commute is better for the sake of the beauty. TO ME, the mountain drive is more appealing than the high rises in Seattle with its Space Needle or the asphalt mazes of Portland that some I'm sure enjoy.

So yes. Getting there. Even if you DO enjoy the high rises and asphalt. Take the time to enjoy it now and then. Realize the beauty around you. Try not to take it for granted. If you prefer nature for beauty, find it. And enjoy it. Whatever is around you. Just notice it. Take a look round the next drive your own. Inhale real big. Notice anything new? Notice anything you didn't notice before?

There you have it. We're gonna get there. :D

How We Do It: Money/The Job

There are many blogs on travelers, nomads, gypsies. There are even self-help how-to style books on it. No one is wrong. There are so many different lifestyles to lead that saying I'm a nomad, I'm a traveler doesn't narrow it down as much as you'd think. Reading this blog right now called Technomadia (look it up, it's pretty cool) got me thinking that even though there are millions of ways to live this style, I haven't seen my chosen path anywhere! So, here I am to describe it a bit for you. It may take a few blogs, but we'll start here....
Money/Job:
I am far from retired - not even 30! I have no source of income from a well of money sitting in some bank somewhere left by some loved relative or anything like that. I work.
 Not from home or via internet, but a get up and go to work job. This is where the seasonal aspect comes in. I cook for a living. Luckily for me, everyone eats. Think about that cool resort you went to last week. You think all those people live there? You think they'll all be there next time around? Sure, a lot of them live in the area and there is a group of people that will be there for years. But many people move on when the work leaves. You went there mid summer - mid winter they probably won't have the business to keep that much staff but in summer they HAVE to have it. So they hire a seasonal employee. Just like Macy's hired you last winter during Christmas. You knew it wasn't a forever job, but it was money and it would be over soon. That's what I do, but on a larger scale.
I apply for jobs basically anywhere and everywhere I want to go that has seasonal work. In a way, where you get the job kind of dictates where you will be traveling. I don't just strike out in the morning for Maine because I simply WANT to go there and think I'll automatically get a job when I get there. (Don't get me wrong, I've a few friends that do just that - they're a lot less OCD than I am I believe) This winter, for instance, I wanted to stay near Oregon so I applied in all the ski resorts on every mountain. This coming summer I am not feeling tied to Oregon. I applied in Michigan, Alaska, Yellowstone, Glacier Nat'l Park, Jackson Hole, and a LOT of other places. Applying everywhere gets old fast, but you do it. I've stopped mid application and not applied for companies that revealed just how up-tight or ridiculous they were going to be BY the application process. I've also refrained from applying if I realized anything about them was not what I wanted.
So I've applied everywhere, done phone interviews, even driven to the location a few times for face-to-face interviews (something I only do when they're within 3 hours drive of my current 'home base'). Now the pool of potential employers has narrowed. Now's when I start my research. That's the linchpin of my existence - research.
I research all my potential employers that are researching me. I've made the mistake of going to work for someone you don't really know that much about. Turns out it's a crap job or a crap employer or a crap living situation. There's a lot that can go wrong. Research is key. Do they provide housing? Meals? Transportation to/from the workplace if they're too far from the nearest town or in winter conditions? Do I have any major problems with their policies and ethic? What can I learn about the owner?
When I'm down to two or three employers that I really want, I start trying to nail down the details. No housing? Ok, start looking in the nearby towns for SEASONAL month-to-month housing. Rooms to rent from someones house. Monthly rated apartments. That sort of thing.It's MUCH easier when they provide housing. By the end of this summer I hope to have an RV/motorhome so looking for housing will be easier. Just need a hookup space.
So I've found the job. I've found the place to live. Now I travel. I travel and when I'm there I have six months (approximately) to really explore the new area I'm in.
And basically, that's how we do it. See, it's not so hard. I'll post more with more detail in other areas of what's required for this lifestyle.

...Chicken...

Our new summer job has finally been confirmed! After much searching and a little bit of being turned down, Chris and I got the one job we REALLY wanted. Well, two technically.
In little bitty Chicken, Alaska (Home Page Here), there is a diner that in previous years has been run and operated by one woman. The owner who hired us said that wasn't really the best plan. So I will be the manager and Chris will be the cook. Our new boss said he will probably be hiring one other guy to cover our days off. The amazing part is that this diner is actually a food trailer. For those of you who don't know, Chris and I are planning on owning our own food trailer within three years. PERFECT experience for that. :D
So we've been doing a bit of research, naturally, and found a menu from years past. Buffalo burgers, beef burgers, reindeer sausage, bbq chicken, chili, cold cut sandwiches. Then another menu, probably a more recent one as it had all the old stuff but had been expanded almost three times its size, and added on a lot of home made desserts. Home made pies and cinnamon rolls and potato salad and coleslaw....
I'm excited.
I LOVE the dark side. Chris dabbles in it now and then, but I know I have the talent and practice to take over home made desserts. I know people love my cinnamon rolls, I would rather make cookies instead of pie but I DO have an awesome pie crust recipe somewhere. I want to introduce my mashed potato doughnuts.
All the savory stuff will be an awesome breeze. It's all short-order cook stuff, and Chris is a master short-order cook. I can cook ANY breakfast on a flattop. I can make awesome chicken soup and Chris can make some awesome chili I believe. I think we can really take this diner to the next level.
Both Chris and I had this marked as the job we wanted most out of all that we applied for. It's going to be one heck of an adventure, and it'll be a lot of work, but I'm excited.

Old blog, new purpose

Nomads, vagabonds, tramps, gypsies. Travelers. All in different capacities. Tramps and vagabonds tend to travel constantly typically by foot begging. Never seeking more than perhaps an odd job for food, they just keep moving and begging. Not my style. Gypsies I've learned have their own completely unique lifestyle and culture that I know very little about. Nomads are simple travelers that travel mostly out of necessity. Following the animals, plants, seasons. They travel to survive. I suppose I'm somewhere between a gypsy and a nomad. I figure the most accurate thing I could come up with is a seasonal nomad. I choose this life, so while I travel out of necessity it's also by choice. I don't travel constantly but seasonally. It seems to fit. I get restless easy. Six months in any given place is long enough. Pretty soon "comfortable" turns into "stagnant." But I act like this happened on purpose. Like I "designed" this life for myself. Yeah right. Four years later, I'm just now getting to the "design" aspect of my life. See, I needed a job after high school. Save some money, have an adventure, then settle into "life" as we know it. So I applied to a bunch of places. I discovered http://www.coolworks.com/ and went wild. Wound up in Yellowstone. It was incredible. Beautiful places, interesting people, stories to be shared, sights to see. However, in six months we all knew it would end. We'd all go our own separate ways again. And that was ok. Because of the time crunch friendships happened faster. People got closer faster. It was like a time warp, where everything was sped up. More intense. One would see romantic relationships formed under such intensity, and others crack and break. It reminds me of making diamonds. Lump of coal - or people - under intense heat and pressure... Sometimes it's beautiful, even if not romantic it's incredible. I've met some people I will never let go. And sometimes you wind up with a cracked, dense lump of coal of a relationship failed. I've had that happen too. In both friendship and romantic means. It's because of the time warp. So the season ends and I go back home. Out of the time warp into normal time. And it's.... slow. What was steady before became stagnant faster. What was acceptable now ground on me. It felt as if I wasn't just standing still for a time but that I was actively moving backward. So I went back out the next summer to Yellowstone. And the next one. And the next one. Four summers in Yellowstone later, now I'm wintering on a mountain and in a month this season will be over and I will be off to Chicken, Alaska for the next adventure. I'm no longer breaking between summers but taking smaller breaks between seasons. I'm also making the lifestyle easier for me. By the end of this summer season I hope to have an rv/motorhome. I also want a pet sometime. And in a few years I want my own food truck/trailer. Travel still, seasonal still, but work for myself. Put out my own product. Oh, and did I mention I'm not alone? Someone I met in the time warp of Yellowstone has joined me on my adventures. Someone of like mind even. He's been doing seasonal work longer than I have, and loves the traveling and seeing new things/places meeting new people. Our relationship, though it wasn't romantic from the start, was forged in that seasonal time-warp so we are confident that the seasonal time-warp that has killed so many relationships (including three of our own) will not destroy us. This time next year, we see ourselves traveling to our next summer job in our motorhome - we found a half-converted old school bus we'd LOVE to finish - with our puppy. Hopefully a bulldog. I would ADORE a bulldog puppy. AH! But to the main point. Old blog, new purpose. I'm sure it's self-evident by now. I started this when I thought it would only be one summer in Yellowstone. Now it's my adventures for who knows how many more years. I will be getting a nice camera soon and be posting pictures. I will be updating this much more frequently, I swear. It'll be a fun ride, and I'm glad to have this chance to share it.

This weeks update....

Alright ladies and gentlemen, assuming that applies. As an update! I have heard word back from both Glacier National Park in Montana - and partly in Canada and Grand Teton Lodge Company in Wyoming. I realize as impatient as I am it's only the 8th and on the 2nd I heard word from Chicken, Alaska. Monday I plan to call a hotel on Macinac Island (pronounced Mack-in-ah) because a generic email was sent saying to call in for a phone interview. The top of my list is still Chicken, then Macinac, then Glacier and Tetons tie. However I kind of feel bad about that. Glacier has been trying to work out me and Chris to get us in there. He's been working with us so much that I will actually feel bad if we end up choosing someone else. Ultimately it depends on where we want to be and what we are offered. But still. Luckily for me, anywhere we end up will be absolutely and incredibly beautiful. One of the favorite things about what I do for a living. :D Meadows recently put out an employee survey. Tell us what you think about the season!! ...you sure you wanna hear what I have to say? So I told 'em. Most of their problems would be solved if they had any kind of disciplinary system in place and STUCK TO IT. They have a lodge full of proverbial toddlers testing their boundaries and finding the only thing to stop them is a feeble verbal wrist slap. Well hell! It's not even a harsh verbal wrist slap. Of course that's not gonna stop a lodge of toddlers. Have you ever asked a toddler to refrain from doing something? How'd that work for you? And the tenth time?? Did it work then? Exactly. Take the toddler, spank her, and put her back in check. But oh no. I did see one action of payback. More payback than discipline though. One girl called out to go to a concert. She was found out. You know what management did? To this HIGH SCHOOL GIRL?? They didn't schedule her to work this coming weekend. Oh yeah, lets discipline someone who didn't want to come in by NOT LETTING THEM COME IN! A high school girl with maybe MAYBE a cellphone bill to pay (probably paid by her folks, lets face it) will feel SSOOO reprimanded. Hmph. Sure. I didn't nay-say it though. It'll be a more peaceful weekend without her. I am excited for the summer to start. Partly just to be out of here. I know I need hours but can't bring myself to offer up my services beyond what they ask for. Offer to be there with those people being the only one productive while they drive me crazy with their antics and their inactivity? No I'm good. I had a meeting today, with the lead crew member, manager, and overall manager. So four people - the "leadership team" they call it. I flat out told them that NO ONE respects anyone at that table, let alone each other. Except MAYBE the overall manager. But even then a few have already proven that they respect no one in that shop. I half expect they respect no one at all. I'm getting good at driving in winter conditions. I'm getting to not mind the snow so much. I will be perfectly willing to do another winter season. I think most of my trepidation was to do it alone. Having Chris around helps. I have goals! Real, achievable goals. This summer I should be able to save enough - well, Chris and I combined - save enough to buy an RV. Motor home. Whatever you want to call it. Either a conventional RV/5th wheel/camper or tricking out an old Blue Bird bus or something liek that. Chris is psyched about the idea of tricking out a large vehicle into a custom home. I would LOVE to do that if we had somewhere to park it while we do this work on it. But we don't really have that luxury. Craigslist is an amazing thing however. We've found so many affordable options. Granted none will be available when we go to get ours. But it's proof positive that when that time comes we will find something. THEN! NEXT summer after this one we should together be able to afford our own food truck. Either food truck or tow along thing.... or converted vehicle. Again - Chris really wants to do a custom bit. So do I but I'm not sure how we'll do it. Now I understand what a few of you will say (Mom, Trina) - What if I'm not with Chris that long? Well, then I save two summers now don't I? Winters I've learned aren't really for saving. Their for surviving. No supplied housing, nothing to do but spend money, etc. I get it. BUT if I don't touch the money from the summer and save two in a row I'll be ok. Probably three if it's just me, need starter money for food and stuff. BUT the point is that within five years I should have my own small business. Hopefully within two years. HELL YEAH! I hitched down the hill the other day and rode along with this nice woman who picked me up. We chatted along and she was thoroughly impressed that someone 'so young' had ambition and plans and so forth. Made me sad that it was so impressive for someone of my generation to be motivated and have plans, but on the other hand I was rather proud of myself. I'm going to do it. I look around and see what she's talking about. So many people. My age, older, younger. No plans, no ambitions. Daily grind to survive. Some have families and to me that is ambition - that's a full investment in the future. But so many don't even have that. Just.... surviving. I'm LIVING. I'm going places and doing things and I'm going to own my own small business. And when I have this truck/tow along - I can still travel. I can still go places and see things, but I'll be the one in charge of my future, not the next seasonal gig. I'm super excited for myself and my own long term future. A brick and mortar place seemed unachievable. A food truck I know I can do. And if I want to settle I can settle my truck. Or I can use that reputation to start a brick and mortar. I have options. Also - that was the first time I hitch hiked. Was fun once I got picked up but awkward until then. I put on my best smile and stuck out my thumb each time someone drove by and then waved as they kept on going. But it only took maybe 10 minutes and 5 ish cars. Well, that's my story. Thanks for listening and tune in.... later.... Thanks all ~Cat