It's Been a Busy Summer for Us

I've kind of taken the summer off due to obligations I feel are more pressing than the blog. Nothing personal, just attempting to juggle a bunch of trips and my wife's accelerated global travel. She's gone a bunch to foreign lands while I'm responsible for the household and manchildren. It gets a but busy when you struggle working and getting the kids on and off the bus.

The wife and I have discussed quite a few things regarding our security. She's on board in the mindset that soon America will be a very dangerous place to live in the near future. We considered leaving but I just can't bring myself to do it unless we have ready transport to get back here in the event of something serious.

We've been considering moving overseas and that just isn't going to fly for a while, so the next best option would be to have a 2nd home and a retreat. For a retreat, I'm talking a cabin in the woods pretty far from civilization. My current retreat is shared and I'm just not willing to bet the farm that I can cohabitate with a few of the people that are in the group.

As far as a second home, the wife and I have found an area in the Keys that we really like. It's not touristy, nor is it too expensive. The idea is that when the kids get older we can snow bird at will. Once that's completed, we would sell out current house and buy a cheap condo in town and only hang out here in the summer for family, and develop the cabin as a full time abode. Once the retreat is fully functional, we can sell the condo and be back to 2 places to do upkeep.

That's the idea anyway.

I've tested a TON of new gear this summer. I've spent so much time in the woods that I quit storing my backpack and just leave it out for the next event. I've spent the last 6 weekends in the woods and will spend the next 3 out there as well.

New Equipment:
Backpacking stove
Nysil tarp
Technora cordage
Kuhl pants
Tech charger
Rain gear
Hammock straps
Food

I should be a while getting it all sorted, but it will happen as time permits.

I did recover both my Caches. The minuteman cache was jeopardized by an impending divorce and my grey man was pulled due to the company changing hands as the owner retired and took a buyout offer. Back to square 1. I'm making changes to them while they are here. I've become interested in bushcrafting skills and have found some items to be extraneous. I've also found some cheap kit hacks that you will like for lightening the load.

We've also had some setbacks this year. The house has been in need of some upgrades so we've invested some cash into that. Our HVAC system will be getting replaced next week as well. I've pulled some of the cash from my kits to make the repairs more affordable.

This summer has really been a good one for the family. I've spent more time with my boys in the woods and it's been a really good thing.

 One of the camp sites we spent time at over the summer.