At the end of March I left in a borrowed RV for the east coast. There was a traffic delay going across the desert at Barstow. Using the CB radio it seemed a truck had run into and burst a gas pipe. It was going to take awhile so there I was stopped in the fast lane of a freeway, watching a movie and eating dinner. It turned into a block party with people wandering down the road and visiting. The road was backed up with probably fifty miles of cars. Finally three hours later they let us through. I pulled into the next town to sleep for the evening.

The next night I arrived at Flagstaff Arizona for dinner. I was able to park behind the restaurant in a nice grove of pine trees. Imagine my surprise upon waking finding the RV and the landscape covered in snow. That morning I continued east enjoying the morning sunshine and pretty snow covered view. Then it started to snow and snow. It was getting thick as I started the steep downhill towards New Mexico. Scary! In Albuquerque the snow stopped and the sun came out.

Route 66 through New Mexico and Texas is very flat, plain and boring. Just nothing out there except an occasional house. What made someone want to live there is beyond me.

Coming into Oklahoma City I finally started to see rolling hills and woods. Redbud trees were in bloom. It’s nice there. I’m was tired of barren flatness.

People have an image of Ozark hillbillies, of which there might be a few, but generally they are as modern as anyone else. They do have fun commercializing on the image for the tourists.

Southern Missouri was beautiful. Rolling hills. Critters. Early fireflies. Occasional tornados. People into farming and gardening big time. No zoning laws. Great fishing.

Low prices. I saw a blue painted two bedroom fix-it house on 5 usable acres for $14,000. So you say you can’t afford a place in the country.

I continue on past Springfield Missouri heading for the Ozarks to visit a family that had a large ranch for sale. Doug picked me up at a small park by a river near the small town of Eminence to meet his charming wife Peggy and their kids. We spent the day looking at their farm (191 acres). Parents, all kids and me went hiking and exploring. They even had their own cave with stalagmites. Doug & Peggy had the most healthy, polite kids. Even the 5 year old tugging at my arm "Mr. Wizard, sir - look at this." Such bountiful joy, love and enthusiasm in the kids. No TV. Good manners. No fighting. Cheerful. Respectful. They all helped out. Things money can’t buy. Glowing healthy faces. Any of the kids (or parents!) would be fun to spend a day (or longer) with. What a inspiration. They might not have had piles of money but they had everything else. Love and a spirit filled, close family.

So many kids now-days are overindulged, disrespectful and self centered. Having trouble with the kids? Live as a happy team on a busy farm. What a difference!

People wonder what kind a place they think I deserve or will get. I took a photo of such a dream place. My brother will think I am aiming too high. Yes, you too can get a place in the Ozarks. Well not this fancy, but...I left southeastern Missouri for Kentucky where I proceeded to get lost taking shortcuts. I drove through Lexington where you can buy horses or houses for over a million dollars each. A fancy town in the middle of many poverty towns.

I finally reached the West Virginia border rest stop. Apprehensive. What if after driving so far I didn’t like West Virginia? My inner voice kept tugging me onward, so I have been trusting. Evenings on my guitar I often played the John Denver song "Country Roads" a lot. "Almost heaven... West Virginia..." At the rest stop they had literature, brochures and guides - more than I have seen anywhere else. A lot of fun things to do. So far so good. They had a newsletter posted there announcing a gardening show that day in Charleston 90 miles away. I jumped in the RV and off I went. The garden show was fun and informative. You’ve heard of Ginsing and goldenseal herbs? This is where they find it wild.

The next day I went to meet with a real estate agents I had been communicating with for a few weeks too see what was available. I saw the 49 acres I had picked out earlier that was advertised with outbuildings. Well... The renter comes out with a shotgun if you stop in front so we had to look fast. Two acres were flat, the other 47 were steep hillside. The outbuildings were falling down. Nobody can find the pond. Oh, plus somebody had put a purchase deposit on it last week. Oh... Well, let them have it.

I looked at many properties. The "you can get real cheap property here" was misleading. "Wall, I thank the dogs slept inside here before they starved and died and nobody found them till the sherif discovered the renter was growing marawana in here, you know that smoking stuff... and then the roof musta leaked plus the broken windas didn’t help much. The steep, muddy road goes back 4½ miles and the road does wash out pretty often. You can keep all the junker cars. Yeah, we can get you a good price."

I started looking in the local newspapers, calling ads and visiting many more places. I liked the beautiful green hills of lush countryside. Quaint farm houses. Such nice, friendly, easy-going, kind people. Every one. I just couldn’t find where "home" is yet.

I had a two page checklist with what I wanted. No neighbors in sight, good, clean running water, ponds, hiking trails, plants, trees,&critters. No street lights. Good paved road. Room for a garden plus 46 more things.

No house on the property is fine so I wouldn’t have old problems to repair or smell. "Yeah, that smelled liked that since grandpappy was a boy too." "Maybe something died down there."

On the way back from another long real estate agent outing a neighbor mentioned that a research center was looking for a caretaker it doesn't pay much but free rent and what a view. The next day I took a look.  It was down a nicely kept "holler" (valley) where a few family generations have lived for ages. ("Yah, over there" (huck, spit) "they just moved in last - April 1852. Newcomers. They’s alright").

Here is what the nice county maintained, paved road looks like. Pretty! I have seen some wildlife but it was very flat on the road so far.

I pulled into a meadow. Gasp! It was green and lush. Wide. Long. 166 acres. Big meadows surrounded by trees, hiking hills, creeks, waterfalls, wild flowers, butterflies, edible mushrooms, strawberries and "greens".

It even had two oil wells giving free gas for a stove, refrigerator, heaters, greenhouse, water heaters and such. Free utilities! Also mountain spring water.

Since I was a kid I had always wanted to see a wild zebra swallowtail butterfly. This is where lots of big butterflies hang out. Also fireflies (lightning bugs) at night. What a thrill.

This picture is from the west side looking back towards the road. Notice the small 30 foot temporary red oil tank by the creek for perspective and white dot towards the top is the motor home. Room to plant a few apple trees.

It will be a lot of work but so such fun to see what can be created here. I keep the grass mowed, the road kept up and get to have a BIG garden.

It’s hard to get work done here. So many temptations. A flock of wild turkeys - I’ll be right back. A hillside of white trilliums and wild geraniums.

People are outgoing and happy. It’s fun to have visitors come by with their tractors to talk or give instructions on how to cook a groundhog properly. Call if you need this information.

This is home. Finally. Pretty countryside. Nice people. No crime. Peaceful. Self sufficient folks. I like it.

Maybe I'll get a tractor one day. Much more impressive than a fancy car don’t you think?

Please keep in touch. You know where I am now. And tell me - what are your future dreams and plans?

                 Justin!

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