As mentioned in the last chapter, I knew there was no such thing as a virus — and — no such thing as contagion. It’s simply not a possibility amongst the human population.
Having that knowledge gave James and I personal peace in the midst of it all — though turmoil was ramping up around us in the hearts and minds of our friends (who couldn’t be consoled), neighbors, some family members and the public-at-large. For us, it was a time to stand in the gap and stay focused.
Everyone was beginning to be censored. People were being silenced for speaking common sense… which made me think twice about going back on YouTube with what I knew to be true. Not something one wants to think would ever be possible in our great country.
If for any reason you’re still unsure about the two points mentioned above, I highly encourage you take moment, wander over to a website called, The Viral Delusion (http://theviraldelusion.com) and watch the first 2 hours of a riveting six-part documentary that explains all of it. Click the image below to view.
The first 2 hours and 28 minutes are free to watch. If you want to see the entire documentary it’s $11.99. Well worth it.
Back in the late 1980’s, when I wanted to understand the topic of virus and pandemic, I had to research it on my own. I had to track down the people who could answer my questions and get meetings with them (which wasn’t easy) and more. I didn’t have the advantage of so many of the world’s finest physicians, medical scholars and scientists telling this story in plain english to the whole world… as happens in this documentary.
The Viral Delusion Documentary includes Nobel Laureates, Physicians, MD’s and top researchers breaking it all down in the most basic terms that anyone can understand. AND…
These people ALL spoke out during the plandemic — were censored, ignored, thrown off of platforms and some… are not with us today.
There’s no question this is critical knowledge to have so that what happened in 2020, can’t happen again. Such an egregious fraud can ONLY happen when people are taken in by fear due to being ignorant of the truth.
So… I was hoping cooler minds would prevail in government and in the media. Short of staying abreast of the news, James and I paid little personal attention to it. It was going to be a ride.
As described in the previous chapter, James and I moved into my parent’s house to begin sorting for the Estate Sale and ultimately the sale of the house.
We thought it would take a few weeks at most.
By the beginning of February 2020, the Bears seemed much more calm and happy. The conversations around the dinner table when we visited, were bright, laced with little stories about the people they were meeting and laughter. It was good.
Since Mom and Dad were settling in, James and I decided that if nothing came out of our land-hunt by the end of February, it might be time to head back to Denver — or — buy a truck and start our own company — or — find an apartment in St. Louis and go local. We didn’t know and couldn’t seem to figure it out!
There were a lot of options but overall — things felt up in the air and uncertain.
The tone of the country was uncomfortable. Everything was “off” and it could definitely be felt even if the area we were in, in the country, wasn’t as far along the track as the two coasts.
Mid-February 2020, we got a call from our St. Louis real estate agent about a beautiful piece of raw land in southern Missouri.
That property was a good 3 hour drive. We decided that going farther out from St. Louis made sense. Nothing had panned out by trying to stay close.
To make the trip worth it we scheduled two viewings.
The following morning we packed our little lunch pails, some water bottles, some extra snacks and took off for the southern part of Missouri.
When we arrived at the first and highest priced parcel — which we were told had a creek — we discovered there was in fact a creek! It just happened to be 200 feet down — in a ravine — over a very steep cliff.
There was no safe or reasonable way to get to that creek. Ever.
It was a great feature if you had a pair of binoculars on hand at all times. In fact, it was such a distance below the property it was impossible to even hear the water.
This parcel was in a beautiful area with paved roads right up to the property line — but — there wasn’t a level spot to build on, anywhere. And half of the property was up the side of a mountain.
I will always be amazed at how differently real estate agents can think from normal people!
I’m not suggesting I’m normal mind you. Likely I’m not! But when there’s a clear list of important features that someone would like to have and NONE of them are present on a property — I wouldn’t recommend driving 3 hours to go see it. LOL!
We went to our second viewing which we were told was off the beaten path. Well… it certainly was. Off the beaten path in a way I don’t ever want to experience again. I was concerned our vehicle would be damaged getting up to that property.
The property had a live spring on it which we adored but the rest of it — was rocks. No. These were boulders to be more accurate.
When we finally got back to a main road after getting lost for an hour due to no cell towers anywhere in the area — we stopped and laughed at how absurd the day had become.
Our motto is when things go a little sideways, the best thing to do is… eat!
Our snacks had run out long ago so we found the nearest cafe now that our phones were working again. By the way — that was a good lesson on why it’s not smart to depend entirely on Google Maps. We did stop at a tiny gas station to buy a map… but they didn’t have any!
We pulled into the cafe parking lot and turned the car off. About to head in — the phone rang.
This call came from a real estate agent James found through a billboard ad… at the end of 2019.
We had not spoken to that agent — named Max — one time since then. That was almost two months back.
So, here this agent (Max) was calling us — out of the blue — on the one day we happened to be 200 miles south of St. Louis, looking at land. He asked if we’d like to come see a property he would be showing later that day?
The land was raw and recently had come on the market. It had everything we had discussed two months ago — AND — it was a mere 40 miles south of where we sat… in Arkansas.
We had not considered Arkansas at all. Didn’t really even think of it. So we spent a few minutes discussing the details and agreed to meet up on the property after lunch.
Me and James both felt it was highly unlikely we’d be interested. That said — the chances of getting his call, in that moment, on that day, seemed too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence! We had to see the land — if for no other reason than pure curiosity.
We got to the property and Max met us at the gate. He was an easy going guy. Dressed in a pair of faded jeans, boots and a western-style shirt. He had a big black lab, all puppy, with the sweetest eyes and just ready-and-waiting to go run through the woods.
That’s when we learned there would be another couple and another real estate agent coming along for the walk-through — and that whole crew would be there shortly.
How strange!
Looking at a piece of property with a group?!
That was definitely a first!
Max handed us a brochure with a map.
Can you guess what was one of the key features of this property?
Yep — a creek!
This time there actually was a creek that you could see — and touch — and jump into if you wanted which Max’s lab did immediately.
The creek ran along the entire northern border. The images below were lifted from video that was taken on that day.
I could listen to that sound of all day long…
At the end of our visit — after everyone had left but us — we talked briefly with Max about the asking price, then thanked him for the showing and said our goodbyes.
Yes, we were impressed with the property. It had a gentle lay throughout which was unique among all the parcels we’d seen. It had many good building sites. Lots of trees. An actual creek! It even had a cedar forest on the backside that was like walking into a quiet room. It had oaks, spruce and hickory and hadn’t been used for anything but grazing cattle for well over 100 years.
The drawback was… price.
It was the largest parcel we had seen — at 30 acres — and stretched our budget like a guitar string.
We would have property but nothing left for a house, a barn or all that was needed to get started on raw land…. like a driveway!
Over the next couple of weeks, James and I talked about the Arkansas property. And we did our homework.
We checked the area, looked at the county it was in. We scoped out the resources that were nearby. It was well located to shopping and hardware needs, while still being out in the country in a small town.
After all was said and done — mentally — I let it go.
Back at the Bear’s house…
I needed to start sorting for the Estate Sale. There was a lot in the house after 27 years — but the garage had to be JOB ONE.
My brother felt the house couldn’t even be shown until the garage was addressed so we decided to start there.
Imagine the workshop of a wild genius. Add a generous helping of the wild-haired inventor from Back To The Future… and you’ve got PappaBear’s garage.
The garage was his sanctuary. It was his place to make miracles. Which he did constantly. Seriously, his woodcraft and machine-craft was amazing — and it all came out of that garage.
PappaBear never had the shop he truly wanted with a place for everything and everything in its place. He made do.
If he wanted to use a specific machine he had to move a car, pull out the machine, set it up, do the work and put it back. Then move on to the next tool. He rarely complained about the way he had to do things because doing it was such a joy.
He made many things over the years — from incredibly complex fireplace mantles to shelving, to sets of oak stairs with beautiful creative flourishes along the sides, to custom kitchen cabinets, window cornices and more. He loved making things and was a master craftsman. My love for woodworking comes directly from him.
Once we dove into the garage — the first big find was 4-inch thick cherry wood planks — stacked under a workbench. I remember when he found that wood — 25 years ago! These planks were the left-overs from all of his projects and they were even more gorgeous when we found them than they were when PappaBear first collected them.
There was another stack of cherry wood in the backyard, wrapped in tarps that were so weathered they crumbled at a touch. Most of the wood was eaten up by bugs — but a few planks were salvaged.
We went through the wood collections, the tools, the bottles, jars, cans and buckets, separating and sorting the great from the good from the junk. While my father was a perfectionist when it came to his work — he had a strange penchant for NOT throwing anything away. “I might need it someday” he would say. James says I suffer from the same problem! 🙂
I realize this image doesn’t look too daunting… there were 18 more containers filled with the stuff that had to go. This is what we kept and/or gave away and/or put into the Estate Sale.
It took three solid weeks — working dawn to dusk — to get the garage handled. When it was done, we swept, mopped and sat down in two lawn chairs to admire our finished work
…when the phone rang.
I pulled my cell out my pocket and said, “Hello?”
It was the faded jean wearing, southern boy, real estate agent, from Arkansas, with the big black lab that loved jumping in the creek!
I put him on speaker.
“Hey guys! How you doin’? Do you have questions? Have you thought about the property? Interested in making an offer?” (edited for brevity! LOL)
Yes, we liked the property. We talked a lot about what we could do there. We liked the area. Nothing else since even came close. BUT…
About the time we were going to close the conversation and thank him for his time, he broke in with, “You like it? It wouldn’t hurt to make an offer.”
OK, now we had to admit the truth. We’d be too embarrassed to make an offer.
I said, “Max, honestly, our offer would be so far below the asking price — the owner would be offended.”
Max laughed and said, “Hey… all he can do is say no. If you think this property can work for you — and it sounds like it can — why not make an offer? You’ve got nothing to lose.”
James and I looked at one another. I raised an eyebrow and James nodded. Then I made an offer that was almost $50,000 below the asking price and fully expected Max to hang up.
Instead…
He said, “Let me run this by him. Give me 20 minutes?”
“Sure” we said.
“Ok. I’ll let you know what he says” he went on, “give me a few.”
So, we sat in the garage, in the lawn chairs and waited.
Thirty minutes went by and the phone range again.
“Well guys” he started, “I don’t how to put this… but… your offer is accepted.”
James and I sat up straight, turned toward one another and mouthed the word “WHAT???” silently. Max couldn’t hear that part.
Finally, I broke into a little laughter. Tried to hold it back and said, “Are you serious?”
He answered, “Yep. Looks like you guys have 30 acres in the great State of Arkansas.”
We all laughed.
We spent a few minutes talking about coming to see the property again.
There was no paperwork to sign or fill out. No escrow. No contract. If we wanted it, with a handshake — over the phone — they would hold the property until we told them otherwise.
The property would be held for us until we could get there in a few days.
We hung up the phone. James and I jumped out of our lawn chairs, hugged and did a little dance around the newly cleaned garage.
For the rest of the day we kept asking one another, “did that happen?!”
The next week we did go to Arkansas for an overnight stay on the property with permission from the owner. We set our van up with a place to sleep, a cooler and walked every square inch of the property the following day.
A dream coming true… and that is precisely when questions started to flood in.
Are we in over our heads? How will all of this work out? Is this the right property? Can we do this? Should we keep looking?
We had a dream — for at least a decade — and it’s about to come true. Then a flood of feelings I didn’t expect. I was suddenly… scared. No petrified.
How is it possible to want something for so long time and when it’s about to get real — you get scared?
That is uniquely human.
That experience taught me a powerful lesson.
I learned how easy it is to wrap yourself in the IDEA of a dream without expecting it to happen. It’s the mind’s way to hold you in stasis — a place where the idea of the dream takes the place of having it.
That was one of the powerful life lessons — among many, many more — that would be barreling in our direction in the months ahead.
Things were starting to heat up around the country…
…with masks and lockdowns — but not so much in Missouri or Arkansas.
Apparently, people in the Midwest weren’t as quick to change their routines or jump to what came out of Washington D.C. The pandemic wasn’t part of our daily lives… yet.
By the end of March however — the reality was beginning to sink in that the house, which was located in Illinois, might take longer to get cleared out and to sell than we thought.
People in Illinois were beginning to stop showing up for in person events. Including showings of a home.
The Estate Sale was pushed back for the same reason.
After revisiting the property on March 22 & 23, we returned to St. Louis with a few tick bites — and focused on building our plan. We had an Estate Sale to get done, a house to get sold — and — a house to build!
A month later, on April 27, 2020, we went to Arkansas for the CLOSING — to officially sign on that proverbial dotted line!
Our Title was set to go through the local Courthouse within 72 hours and voila! — we’d be able to start bringing things to the property as soon as the Estate Sale was done.
THE DAY AFTER CLOSING — LOCKDOWN WAS MANDATED IN ARKANSAS
The Courthouse closed. Our Title didn’t get through the Courthouse before the mandate.
No Title. No Title meant we couldn’t change anything on the property.
A culvert was a necessity to get a vehicle from the road onto the property. A drainage ditch along the county road was impassable without installing a culvert.
The Land Management Department — that has to approve culvert installations on County Roads — was closed due to the mandate.
Two weeks to flatten the curve… remember?
Then weeks turned into months and months turned into years.
Instead of twiddling our thumbs, James and I started taking action on everything we could do so that when it came time to move onto the property, we’d be ready.
Moving onto raw land can be incredibly difficult. People fail more often than not when it comes to turning raw, wild land, into a place to live and enjoy on their own. There are driveways to cut, culverts to install, ground coverings to put in place, trees to clear, logs to move, foundations to level and more.
We sold our car (through a dealership) and found an old Ford F350 with the best-of-the-best 7.3 liter diesel engine. A beast! Somehow, it was full of red dirt — and I mean full. That red dirt was in everything. James spent hours and hours cleaning the inside of this truck – even removing the seats, the headliner and the carpet. He cleaned every nook and cranny! It’s amazing inside 🙂
The truck came with a flatbed, which we rather liked. I drew up a sketch for wooden sides — I’ve always been a sucker for those! — and built removable, slatted sides for it. We could use the truck as a flatbed or with sides. James helped me put it all together and then we coated the wood with a mix of motor oil and diesel fuel to weatherize.
Once we had a truck we started looking for a utility trailer. Used.
At first we thought small would be good — but quickly realized small wasn’t going to work. It had to be big enough to be a comfortable temporary shelter — with a kitchen and bed — and haul equipment, tools and furniture, as things progress
After looking at dozens of old utility trailers — through people who were willing to meet in person — it was obvious we had to go new. The savings in buying a new trailer came from bypassing the myriad of problems that comes with used utility trailers — like mold, rotted wood, bad tires, leaks and more.
As the weeks turned into more and more months, we had to be patient — but — patience doesn’t mean doing nothing. We found people willing to meet and do business and get things done
In late September, we traveled to Kentucky, to purchase our trailer — a fairly simple 24 foot utility trailer — double axle — with inside lighting, panelling and insulation already installed. Otherwise, rather basic.
It would take me six months to build out the inside of the trailer with a kitchen, a heating system (with a stove pipe), a solar system for power, a simple manual-pump water system, sink, stove, closets, cabinets and bed!
I created the design and built everything made of wood and James installed the gas, electrical and water lines.
We’d have a place to live on the property… eventually.
We went to the Title Closing on April 27, 2020 — we had no idea it would take 18 months to even be able to drive onto the property for the first time.
See you next week! – Andrea
BONUS PICS….
The trailer before I started… an empty shell.
The curves in this trailer made finding an exhaust fan for the stove impossible… so I had to build one (located on the left side of this image over the stovetop). The exhaust cover is made out of plywood and covered with aluminum sheet. The exhaust hose is actually made for a fireplace but worked out beautifully to exhaust to the outside.
I made the countertop from a piece of 1/2” plywood. The backsplash was. made by running a 4” runner on the table saw, cutting into the back-side enough to. make the curve in one long piece, then set in place with clamps. I used a Stonecoat resin coating, mixing in the colors by hand and finished off with textured finish-coat to take down the gloss. Building the countertop into one piece meant the backsplash would be waterproof. It was the most difficult part of this build and perhaps… the most satisfying once completed — even if did have to build it twice!
James and I fooling around in the garage during the clean-up… playing with things we found tucked away tool boxes! We laughed a LOT when we found these old magnifying glasses. Hope this makes YOU laugh today 🙂
End of Chapter Five
Andrea
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