A Re-Introduction of Sorts

The realities of life creep up on us all.  No matter how much or how little we believe we are prepared for everything, or anything, the craziness comes out of the blue and leaves us bewildered...

...it drops us in the beautiful San Luis Valley.  What Wikipedia tells us about this wonderous place is that it's "an extensive high-altitude depositional basin ... covering approximately 8,000 square miles ... and sitting at an average elevation of 7,664 feet above sea level."  It's a beautiful place.  As I understand, it's about the size of the state of Connecticut.  There are a National Park and Preserve's amount of Sand Dunes

From a trip down last winter/spring...

in the Valley, covering about 19,000 acres.  There's a UFO watchtower and an alligator farm.   There's a smattering of hot springs pools, tourist trains, and a museum dedicated to the world's greatest heavyweight boxer, Jack Dempsey.  There are educational opportunities, and plenty of things to do.

A little background, we purchased the property here in the San Luis Valley toward the beginning of 2017.  It's been a roller-coaster of journey since then, so we really haven't had an opportunity to invest any time in it.  We've camped down there once or twice, but that's really it.

If you put your feet on the dash while the
defroster is running, you're set!

Right now, we're renting a house in nearby Salida.  Salida is a nice town.  It's where I grew up.  It used to be a REALLY nice town, but then all of the money came in.  That Green Gold was one heck of a draw, apparently.  Salida's still nice, but it's too expensive for anyone who doesn't have a trust fund, parents, three jobs, or the security of being near the end of their mortgage.  Four bedrooms here will run you almost $2k.  There has even been talk about charging $500 monthly to rent a parking space to live in.  It's not the same gentrification that's happening in places like Denver, Bozeman, Salt Lake City, but it's very similar.  Everyone has to have a slice of the Colorado pie... but I'm getting off track.

Me, the ORIGINAL BattleWagon, and Red,
checking out conditions on the ground.

The property we have for the homestead site is almost 40 acres.  The plot is almost square, and very flat.  No well.  No electricity.  No infrastructure at all, except for the access road that borders the south and east sides.  There are some tumbleweeds on it, and we've already seen antelope hiding out down there.  That leads me to assume that there are rabbits, gophers, foxes, and coyotes, too.  That's fun!  No mountain lions down there on the flats, I'd guess, but maybe a bear occasionally?

Our plan is to grow it organically.  Anyone who wants to help or just wants a quiet place to land for a few days/weeks/months/years is welcome to drop in.  It's my current understanding that the water table is relatively shallow, so the first order of business, the well, shouldn't be too difficult to figure out.  Beyond that, the formula I anticipate to be the biggest occupier of the time will be the assembly and usage of adobe bricks.  If you're familiar with Bent's Old Fort out by La Junta, Colorado, you may get an idea of what I'm looking to recreate, albiet on a smaller scale.  Fans of Jim Butcher will recognize the term "-Holt":  This will be SchleicherHolt.

Wouldn't be who I am without my loyal
steed by my side.

Many, many things to do between now and then, however.  It's currently October, which means there probably won't be anything happening down there until next spring when it warms up a bit.  Still, plenty of time to dream and prepare in the interim.  Stay tuned for the journey!