Quickie: My little fantasy

Somehow in the autumn I became infatuated with the idea of resettling in the sticks somewhere and building a house. I absolutely do not mean finding some HOA for outside of town, but close to shopping, and digging up a general contractor and so forth. Actually acquiring a couple of acres, or dozens, away from civilization and building with an eye toward keeping the design within my competence to actually construct an actual, non-overbuilt-RV little house with my own two hands and the assistance of the internet and Harbor Freight.

The more I look into this the less blatantly insane it appears. Had I not been bold enough to destroy my life five years ago, I’d be on it now. The easiest thing to do would be to find a spot near what in lieu of a life I have now and get to work. Austin is pushing productive people out with such ferocity, the wasteland is now over 100 miles away. “Home values” are literally insane, and Austin will be at the heart of the scheduled meltdown of the general economy Q3 next year. “Values” are going up further and further out. Towns that were a stoplight and post office 15 years ago now have competing full-service grocers, which is more than I can say for almost any part of Austin. The city’s sense of suburbia extends from Salado to San Marcos, is bound by the West by the hills and lakes but is extending into the desert aggressively. All of this effort and cost just to make a once vibrant, fascinating city about as exciting as the exurbs anywhere else. This will not end well. The Austinites are thrilled to be in their World Class City, and if you don’t like it you can leave. Drive around the city at night and look at all the dark houses and apartments. The main highway through town is as busy as ever during rush hour, but only then.

Clearly, this isn’t the place. Yet, I intend to finance this madness from my day job. That’s one issue.

Something like a travel trailer is another option, and plausible options remain for getting such a trailer and setting up house without going into the boonies. This may be a start.

The ultimate objective is to build something of a community of exasperated souls, BYOH. The present technological era makes this more practicable than ever before. Water can be collected. Trash organized and minimized. Electricity generated on site and stored. Cooking and heating gas would have to come from elsewhere, but is as common as soil. Sewage and septic are very legitimate concerns, but with a few changes in philosophy this can be handled. Knowledge, and junk science, is everywhere. Very modest homes put up with less effort than you might imagine. Between the greenies and the RVers exceptionally efficient and effective means for bringing civilization with you are within our grasp.

I don’t know if I could pull any of this off, but it’s been a great deal of fun thinking about it.

I have over a year until I get my affairs back to what I would consider my zero point. I do not know what I am going to do from there. Those of you who know me in real life may be under the impression that I may have recently come into a modest amount of capital. I must correct you. I have nothing of the kind, and it is not forthcoming. When I am not hustling and bustling as my present circumstances demand over the next several months, this is something not damaging that I may fantasize about.

I’m entertaining options.