Wherein I recite an overview of my adventures of the last few decades and introduce “The Quest for the Holy Buell”
Tahlequah, OK 1959-2009
I’ve been having a mid-life crisis since I was about 24 and don’t see any reason to stop now. I have squandered the last several years chasing after a “good job” and doing my best to avoid just going into business (again) and getting on with things. I got sorta roped into the family auto parts business straight out of high school – took a lot of (wrong) college classes at my little hometown college, and was eventually pretty successful in growing the parts business in spite of not wanting to be there and not having much of an idea of how business actually worked. I sold it to the parent company (NAPA-Genuine Parts) in 2001 and they promptly ran it into the ground and closed it down a few years later. I went to law school at The University of Tulsa, and after a tumultuous few years, graduated with a JD in ’09 at the tender age of 50.
Hendersonville, TN 2009-2011
After I sold the parts store and had my financial meltdown, I moved in with Sis and Mom to try and recover a bit. I had my house up for sale and it FINALLY sold – thanks to a couple of combative realtors who were in an ego contest about who was going to get what % on the commission, unbeknownst to me…and delayed the sale about a year. Once I got that check in hand, I headed to Oregon…FINALLY!
Beaverton/Hubbard, OR 2011-2017
I got a great apartment in Beaverton for the princely sum of $900/month – it would be almost twice that now – and proceeded to live a pretty fun life. Met my future ex within a few months and moved in with her WAY too soon. I never passed the Oregon bar exam, although I took it 3 times…I think that certain busty brown-eyed brunette may have been a factor in that and also in the (mostly) pleasurable loss of around 5 years…about 3 of the best years of my life so far, mixed in with about 2 of the worst. Probably wouldn’t do much different given the chance to start over on them, though. Anyhow – I’ve been back and forth between Tennessee and Oregon quite a few times in my trusty ’94 Chevy van (with the highly sought-after, massively powerful V-6 engine, no less!) and have all in all been having a really good time.
Back to Hendersonville, TN 2018-2019
After the ex made it crystal clear that I was of no further use to her, I tucked tail and loaded up a big UHaul for yet another recuperation period at my long-suffering Sister and Mom’s house. I rebuilt what was left of my psyche and lost about 40 pounds. Took a job at an Advance Auto Parts store and saved up a few bucks, in preparation for my next “adventure.”
Hillsboro, OR 2019-2019
My cousin James had moved from his house in Hillsboro to Summerfield, NC for work and his oldest son was in the Hillsboro house by himself – mostly basement-dwelling between his electrical engineering courses. I rented a “room” from James – which was basically the whole upper house – and finally found a job with a document review company in Beaverton. My first foray into cubicle life. The hours sucked, the management was surly and disrespectful, but the money was pretty good and they mostly left me alone. I worked there for about 7 months, learning a lot about ediscovery the hard way – training was non-existent and you had to drag information out of the folks that would finally give up bits of “tribal knowledge” as they referred to it…if you were persistent enough. The turnover rate was impressively high.
After about 4 months, I managed to switch positions to days – I started on the 2PM-10:30 shift…so, the shift “leads were there for a whopping 3 hours max before they took off, leaving us to sink or swim for the rest of the shift. The day project was for a major bank, trying to undo a mess that had gotten them into a bit of a “snafu” with the authorities. After about 3 months, the bank settled and I was out of a job.
That’s when my “hobo phase” kicked in and I began doing handyman work – and loved it.
Hendersonville, Yet Again 2019-2022
The handyman gigs kept me busy and fed for about 6 months, and I likely could have made it through the winter a bit more comfortably had I planned on the work shutting off because of the season. I had some savings, but not really enough. I stuck it out until about May and probably could have slogged through another couple of years, but it was time for the next adventure.
So, I “sold what I could, packed what I couldn’t” and headed back to the safe haven of the Southlands. I was planning on getting another “job” of some sort and saving all I could for my next move to “somewhere else.”
Hello COVID – and so long to the next two years…
I got settled back in at Safehaven, and eventually lined up work as a document reviewer in downtown Nashville – on site, of course…even though I could do the exact same work from my computer at home. Since we were in the middle of a full-blown lockdown, at least at first – the traffic was pretty much non-existent. I used to park on the 8th to 11th level of the parking garage pre-pandemic – and I was now routinely parking on level 3 or 4. Downtown had a few little places hanging on to eat lunch, but it was nearly deserted most of the time. I had a few projects that lasted a reasonable time and was able to finally save up enough for a new iMac. My faithful mid-2010 iMac was on its last legs – often taking several minutes to boot up and losing the display often. Ten years is not bad, though – and considering the times I slogged it back and forth from Oregon, it had held up amazingly well.
The iMac I bought is also a “mid-year” model, one of the last Intel chipped models.
I have cousins in NC and OK that have been bad influences on me, having been riding cycles since they were toddlers. NC cousin has a whiz-bang BMW – I think it may have a built-in espresso machine, it seems to have everything else. OK cousin is a bit of a trader, so there’s not much telling what sort of dual sport/street bike/dirt bike he’ll come up with at any given time…but he’s always got a few. They’ve been doing some 4 day +/- rides for the last few years and I’ve really been wanting to get in on their shenanigans. NC cousin, knowing how much I loved my horrible ’95 Buell S-2, suggested I look at a Ulysses…and the more I looked and learned, the more I like them for what I want a bike to do. I want to be able to run the backroads here in middle Tennessee, including some “logging roads” – drawing the line at single track….I’m crazy, but not that crazy. LOL – BUT, I want to load up the bags, fill up the tank and head NW to Oregon or NE to Maine without too much worry. I know that Buells are great bikes if you like wrenching – luckily, I don’t mind the wrenching part, and having been driving “junque” my whole life, a few little side adventures won’t throw me into a tizzy.
I’ve scoured Craigslist and CycleTrader for months…it seems that when I have some cash stashed, the “right one” wasn’t listed, and when I was broke (which is pretty much “usually”) there were unicorns emerging from their cocoons all over the country. I missed an ’08 with less than 10k miles in Ft. Smith for $3500 a few months ago. Talked with the guy, he’d found it at a Harley dealer – one owner, the guy just “didn’t like it.”
edit: My desire…(obsession is such a harsh word)…to own one of these beasts has finally been fulfilled. I have written a post about my experience(s) entitled: “My Quest For a Buell Ulysses Adventure Motorcycle
Byrdstown, TN? 2022-?
I’m (hopefully) on the cusp of beginning a new remote gig that could last for the better part of a year, if not longer. It’s with a major player in the ediscovery field and actually PAYS their people pretty well. Unlike the interim short-term gigs I’ve been getting for the last couple of years, this one pays pretty close to what an entry level data analyst makes. It’s not a windfall, but I can actually see a future at this pay rate where I can afford my own place to live (again).
I’d been looking at Chattanooga, TN as a possible place to live. The city has been working on attracting tech people and has one of the fastest internet services in the US, oddly enough. It’s a small city and has some decent stats. It has great outdoor activities close by – hiking, kayaking, bicycling. Almost an Austin “vibe” – I think I’d like it there, not 100% convinced.
There’s a YouTube channel called “The World According to Briggs” that highlights best and worst places in the U.S. Recently, Briggs had an episode titled, “Great Rural Towns in Tennessee to Retire or Buy a Home” and he rated Byrdstown as #1 on the list – citing great outdoor activities, low cost of living, low crime rate, etc. I’d seen a few similar of his videos and researched other places – but something was always a little bit “off” about them. So far, Byrdstown seems like a better fit.
Well, That Gig Was a F-n Lie…
The company sent me a cheapo laptop and kept stringing me along for months on end. I bought an external monitor that undoubtedly cost more than the cheezy little laptop they sent, but it did make a nice setup…with a decent thrift store keyboard and mouse. It would have worked out fine. Unfortunately, work did not get sent my way and I finally shipped that sucker back (after a year of getting jerked around.) I was eligible for Social Security when I first got “hired” by them, and put it off for several months in anticipation of a pretty decent income. Oh well, sometimes these things work out and sometimes, they don’t.
Anyhow – I rode the Buell to Byrdstown and looked things over a bit. All in all, it looked pretty darn cool. A bit rundown, but pretty small and pretty quiet. Twin Lakes is the internet provider there, and the lady at their office said they were servicing pretty much the entire area…more likely to be available than to not be. I rode to the lake and looked it over – it looks about as clear as Tenkiller, maybe a little better, so there’s my SCUBA spot. Most of the friggin rivers and lakes around here are muddier than Ft. Gibson Lake back “home.”
The main drawback I see with Byrdstown is that it’s a “lake town” where people like to throw an extra million bucks or so at a “cabin” to impress their friends and enemies…and lordy! There are some HOUSEBOATS on that sucker. I just thought I’d seen big houseboats on a lake.
I’ve been watching real estate listings in the region, and although prices are steadily dropping it’s still not realistic. It’ll likely get there pretty quick, though. The much-anticipated “golden horde” of Californians has failed to materialize. For some reason, folks don’t seem to wild to get out of LA and buy a little acreage in Pleasant Shade, Defeated, or Hilham…those hotbeds of social activity.
Out of the blue, a friend of Dena’s invited her to meet in Gainesboro for dinner at a little Irish pub-themed restaurant, The Bull and Thistle. The whole crew of us made the short trip, and got there early to do some antiquing. I took off on foot and checked out the downtown – took a few pictures and kinda got the feel of the place.
I like it. A lot.
I’ve gone back several times and just hung out and met folks for the last few months. I try to go at least every other week and spend the better part of the day there. Folks are really friendly, and every one of them I’ve talked to says that they love living there. A lot of them live in the surrounding area – the woods and hollers are full of folks. I’m sure that the meth and opioid waves have taken a toll there, but it’s not apparent. It seems like it’s just isolated enough to stay out of a lot of the mainstream BS…but I’m sure there’s plenty of small town BS to take up the slack.
I’m still looking – but I would really like to get somewhere “in the country” by early summer.
Stay tuned! Things may get interesting. :-)
