#Whatsbetterthanworking

The idea was hatched a couple of weeks ago, I was flying with ‘Ron’. Now ‘Ron’ is great, and fun to fly with, but he talks about money and wealth a lot, and for a guy like me that, as long as we are ‘in the black’, life is good. On day three of a four day pairing with ‘Ron’, the company sends out an email asking for volunteers for a leave of absence, and I got giddy! I could not have replied quicker, and the differences between my mentality and ‘Ron’s’ becomes very apparent.

When I started at The Great Western Jet Flying Company Ltd. five years ago, within 5 months of working, they offered for the first time evah!! a voluntary leave, and I didn’t take it. I vowed the next time they offer, I’m’a takin’ it! With 10% of the 737 fleet grounded for ‘technical difficulties’, they offered it again. It’s just for the month of May, so don’t get too excited.

Going back several months, my parents sent the family a trip report of what they decided would be the last trip in the camper, and posed the question ‘anyone interested?’. I threw my hat in the ring, with the clause that if anyone else is interested, we would take second spot. Well, no one did. Dad suggested we try it first, so in late Sept ‘18, we had a couple days that worked, so we made the short trip to the Cypress Hills. S ince it was so effin’ cold, we were the only ones there, except a truck that pulled in very late, and slept in the cab, starting the engine now and again to he didn’t freeze to death. The days were amazing though, and we just hiked around and enjoyed each other’s company.

It was insisted upon that we don’t buy it in the fall, since we wouldn’t be using it anyhow, but fast forward to spring, the moment the sun warmed us up a little, mom calls and asks if we were still interested. Now this is before the LOA, but I was days away from calling her and asking her ‘are we doin’ this??’ What timing.

So now we have a truck and a camper, and I’ve got time off to use it. I left Monday and today is only Friday, and I’m pooped! I left Medicine Hat at whatever o’clock, and the first night I stayed on Government land (Bureau of Land Management or BLM) just outside of Pocatello Idaho, and by the second night I was on BLM land near Hurricane Utah. I was intending to stay near Bryce Canyon, but it was colder and definitely windier than home, so I backtracked to the interstate and went another 60kms south to Hurricane. There were some mud holes on the road while I was cruising the BLM for a spot, and because of it, I found a spot close to some other people. . . . a good 300 m away! There is room to breath out here. It’s such a strange thing, but there is BLM land all over the States, and on these lands are thousands of people staying in everything from high end RVs, to school busses, and even an old guy down the road from me clearly living, not just camping in Chevy Astro van. Bonkers!! The couple nearest me have been in the area since October, staying in and 80s Chevy camper van. They also have a late model 1/2 ton truck and a $7000US mountain bike. A couple guys on vacation from Minnesota also went to the overlook for the sunset called them ‘trust-a-farians’, trust fund kids.

I’ve only brought with me a mountain bike, and there are some fantastic trails here, so I spent the day riding. I rode for around 4 hours in the morning, and I felt guilty lazing around a few hours, so I went back out for another 2 hours.

Grafton Mesa trails were tuuuuuuffffff!

Tomorrow is something completely unexpected, I’m headed for Vegas!!!!