Friday, July 31, 2026

July 31 - Peaceful Existence

July 31, 2026

Day 1,766 of the Adventure


Even though the day count in the heading says it's been "1,766 Days of the Adventure", the fact is that it's only been that long since we moved to the backwoods property. We actually began this part of the story back in late February 2011 when we bought our first little run-down cabin property. I guess if you're keeping track, that's somewhere around 5,640 days ago. Quite a long time for an ongoing "adventure". The intent of this journey began with a quest to obtain a place of peace and quiet where we could escape the business rat-race and find some tranquility. Something like a lake cabin. Well, it became more than that. It began with not just a cabin but four cabins. Then a fifth one. Then eight more of them with a pool. Then an entire campground where we started building treehouse cabins. Then a Lakefront resort with tackle shop and marina, then a Lakeside motel........ The "Peace and Quiet" never really materialized. Oh, it did on occasion when we weren't frantically trying to keep up with five lodging businesses. It's just that somewhere along the line, the tranquility of a nature escape turned into yet another business pursuit. 

Shortly after an event nearly six years ago that's been in the news recently, we took a new and hard look at our direction of life and decided it was perhaps time to re-evaluate. This reflection brought us to the realization that the ability to control our own destiny was maybe slipping away. A decision was made to begin reeling in our business exposure and begin focusing on a more self-reliant way of life. Things like this can't change overnight, but the decision to change had already been made. within that very year, we made the commitment to buying the "Camp Run-Amuck" property. A self-sufficient dream on 12 acres of raw and woodsy Ozark Mountains.  About five years later, and a short 30 day ago, the transition became complete with the sale of our final resort and lodging business. The bonus that we weren't expecting was the coinciding opportunity to pick up additional land adjoining Camp Run-Amuck bringing our total to nearly 50 acres. 

This morning, I sit on the back deck of the cabin soaking in the peace and quiet, and the slight, warm late July drizzle that is gently falling in the Ozarks. Thinking to myself how the tranquility of a peaceful existence has possibly finally caught up to me. Did it catch up, or did I simply slow down and allow it to overtake me? I suppose that whatever the case may be, today it feels a lot like we've actually arrived at the destination we sought after 5,640 days ago. Has it been worth all of the energy and effort? I think so. 

Carry On

Adventure Quote: “I must change my life so that I can live it, not wait for it.” ― Susan Sontag

Resources

Make sure to visit our website regularly to see new products and resources.

YouTube Channel: The Campfire Trail

Our Books
Treasures of Life - Daily Devotionals by Shelley
Treasures of Life 2 - Daily Devotionals by Shelley
Treasures of Life 3 - Daily Devotionals by Shelley
Back to the Land - Planning your Back to the Land Roadmap by Martin
Wealth Creation - Principles of Wealth Creation by Martin

Please Consider Subscribing to our newsletter in the upper right corner of this page.
on No comments:

Thursday, July 30, 2026

July 30 - Exploring A Forest

July 30, 2026

Day 1,765 of the Adventure


We've not yet spent any real time on the new property, but Shelley did wander its perimeter the other day with Adreane, our daughter. They were able to locate several of the survey markers and get at least a little bit of a feel for it. Being such a remote area, there doesn't appear to be much evidence of anything that's been touched by humans. Plenty of game trails and just plain old wilderness. They did encounter some huge Cedar trees. Cedars can get pretty big around here, but the global Cedar market mostly prevents that. Eastern Red Cedars grow like weeds in this part of the Ozarks, making this region a prime area for harvesting the trees for Cedar closet lining material. They literally grow faster than they can be used up. Wherever the land remains untouched, they can get much larger than you might expect. Shelley found a rather large one and decided to hug it...... I guess! It's almost certain to remain a stalwart resident of the forest. I don't see us feeling compelled to sacrifice the woods for a few dollars-worth of logs that are already plentifully cheap. We do plan to engage in some trail building at some point, but I feel that will begin to occur as the weather starts to moderate later this fall. Until then, we are simply Exploring A Forest. 

Carry On

Adventure Quote: “Deep in the forest, the earth hushes the mental noise and reminds us of the light we carry within.” ― Jayita Bhattacharjee

Resources

Make sure to visit our website regularly to see new products and resources.

YouTube Channel: The Campfire Trail

Our Books
Treasures of Life - Daily Devotional by Shelley
Treasures of Life 2 - Daily Devotional by Shelley
Back to the Land - Planning your Back to the Land Roadmap by Martin
Wealth Creation - Principles of Wealth Creation by Martin

Please Consider Subscribing to our newsletter in the upper right corner of this page.
on No comments:

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

July 28 - Dog Days

July 28, 2026

Day 1,763 of the Adventure


The dog days of summer are the traditionally hot, sultry, and humid 40-day period spanning from July 3 to August 11 each year. As of July 28, I'd say we are in the dog days......... Maybe even the "double dog" days. It feels like we are at about the midway point of summer and I'm not sure it's been as productive of a stretch this year as I would have hoped. I guess time probably needs to be measured by things other than productivity. My last posting described the drastic changes we've experienced this year so far and how that is setting us up for a new chapter of life. The sale of our treehouse resort and the purchase of additional land at Camp Run-Amuck has opened up a potentially new stretch of adventure for us. One that I'm hoping I still have some "gas in the tank" for. I've been out on the new land briefly last year tracking a deer through part of it. Other than that, I haven't set foot on it. Shelley hiked the perimeter of it yesterday and came back with some interesting reports of beautiful bluffs and massive trees. I'll get out there eventually, but for now the dog days have me focused on projects near the cabin. Namely that of attempting to get the basement of our house finished up. 

Carry On

Adventure Quote: "Here's to having an excellent adventure and may the stopping never start!"

Resources

Make sure to visit our website regularly to see new products and resources.

YouTube Channel: The Campfire Trail

Our Books
Treasures of Life - Daily Devotional by Shelley
Treasures of Life 2 - Daily Devotional by Shelley
Back to the Land - Planning your Back to the Land Roadmap by Martin
Wealth Creation - Principles of Wealth Creation by Martin

Please Consider Subscribing to our newsletter in the upper right corner of this page.
on No comments:

Wednesday, July 22, 2026

July 22 - The Next Installment of our Journey

July 22, 2026

Day 1,757 of the Adventure


The first day at Camp Run-Amuck
It's been well over six months since my last posting and I wasn't sure whether I would come back to this or not. I'm still not sure to be honest. Today, however is a special day. The picture you see to the right was taken on the day we closed on our "Campfire Trail" property. At the time, we referred to it as "Camp Run-Amuck". A rugged and woodsy bit of Ozark Mountain Paradise........ In our opinion anyway. Complete with sloping hillsides, a small canyon and beautiful waterfalls after a rain. It was the basic footprint of our attempt at backwoods life. A life that would embrace the principles of self-sufficient living. At day number 1,757, I can say that the effort has been mostly successful. The measure of success being that of a calm and peaceful existence surrounded by nature. 

Shortly after arriving, we began to take note of our surroundings. We noticed that there was a large bit of woods next to us that wrapped from the East side of our property, all the way around to the north and extended nearly to the lake far to our west. At the time, it would not be practical, or even possible to inquire into the possibility of trying to purchase it. However, we've always kept our eyes on it in the event that it ever came up for sale. For four and a half years, it stood quietly, guarding our eastern, northern and western flanks against any potential encroachments. Sometime around early June, that suddenly changed. I receive daily real estate sales updates from a realtor friend, and I was shocked and excited to see our neighboring property appear in the new listings. Just the day before, actually only about 8 hours before, I had received a call that someone was interested in buying one of our rental properties which I had initially declined. Upon seeing land next to us show up on the market, I called them back announcing that perhaps I'd be interested in selling after all. Literally twenty-four hours later, I received yet another call. It was our realtors letting us know that we had received an offer to purchase our Treehouse Resort business, which had been for sale for nearly two years by now. Hmmmmm..... I was beginning to think that something was up! Sometimes life feels like a long string of random coincidences. Other times, it feels like fate, providence and perhaps even God's intervention. This was one of those times. 

From the early days of opening up our Campfire Trail / Camp Run-Amuck home, we've talked about the possibility of using it as a small educational tool for demonstrating the value of traditional skills and processes. After all, it's what we've been up to down here since our arrival. Our YouTube channel contains 585 videos as a testament to our commitment to creating this type of content. In fact, the video production has made up the backbone of our business efforts down here in the woods. We've often thought that the land next to us would open up our "Studio" to a greater footprint and offer an even greater pallet of possibilities for relevant content related to the skills, traditions and activities surrounding basic off-grid, homestead or just backwoods life. With circumstances now lining up so favorably for that, how could we resist!

We closed on the sale of the treehouses on June 30th. Yesterday, we closed on the purchase of the land next door to us and effectively quadrupled our space out here in the woods. Where does it all go from here? Honestly, it all happened so fast that we have not had a chance to really think it through yet. At 65 and 67, we feel like slowing down to retire is not a bad idea. Yet, when you feel that just perhaps God is opening yet another door with a vision and a mission attached, 65 and 67 seems like maybe like nothing more than just a good starting point! I guess time will be the judge of that!

Carry On

Adventure Quote: "Here's to having an excellent adventure and may the stopping never start!"

Resources

Make sure to visit our website regularly to see new products and resources.

YouTube Channel: The Campfire Trail

Our Books
Treasures of Life - Daily Devotional by Shelley
Treasures of Life 2 - Daily Devotional by Shelley
Back to the Land - Planning your Back to the Land Roadmap by Martin
Wealth Creation - Principles of Wealth Creation by Martin

Please Consider Subscribing to our newsletter in the upper right corner of this page.
on No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)