Julie and Jim were both born and raised in the burbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We both longed to escape from Wisconsin. In 1990, we headed west in search of adventure. We landed in Everett, Washington, and spent close to 10 years living near the Emerald City, Seattle. Had many exciting adventures and made many great friends whom we miss very much.
At the end of 1999, we decided to move closer to family so headed to Colorado where we'd be close to mountains and could continue enjoying the great outdoors. Jim landed a job in Frisco, Colorado, and we moved to the mountains in early 2000. After a year living in a tiny town home in the resort burb of Silverthorne, we moved to Leadville, Colorado. After 10 years in the Rockies, we decided to hit the road and see more of the states. Follow our adventures at www.imperfectdestiny.com.
WFRs | 24 years and counting | Downsizing
We are WFRs!
Spent nine intense and fun days in the classroom and outdoors doing practical scenarios for Wilderness First Responder plus Adult CPR certification in 2007. We had great instructors and great course mates. Recertified in 2009.
We highly recommend taking this course if you spend a lot of time in the wilderness. And High Mountain Institute in Leadville is a great place to take the course. (Not to mention a great place to send your high school-aged kids for a semester!)
24 years and counting...
After being around each other for around 24 years, Jim still cracks me up. Here's a recent quote:
At least it isn't raining down fireballs from hell. Things could be worse.
And a recent e-mail:
From: Jim Drake
To: Julie
Subject: Warning - Caution - Danger
Beware of activities that require new clothes.
– Henry David Thoreau
That is all.
- me
Julie's fav quotes
It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection. ~ The Bhagavad Gita
Follow your bliss and doors will open where there were no doors before.
Downsizing
The days of 17/MPG are gone! We are Jeepless (sold the Wranger in 2008). Jim's driving a Scion XD. 44/MPG is AWESOME! Nice little car--and rated as one of the most reliable cars by Consumer Reports. In fact, the Scion does better on the icy winter roads than the Xterra...heavy snow, now that's a different story.
And the days of cleaning, clearing snow, and caring for a 2100 sq ft. house on a corner and two and a half lots with a huge parking area, sidewalks, a driveway, garage, and shed are over! We sold our house in November 2009 and moved to an 800 sq foot rental. Everyone involved in this deal was downsizing: The buyers of our house were moving from a huge house on three acres, we were moving to a rental half the size of our house, and the person who owns the rental was moving to a studio apartment!
We decided not to rent storage for all of our stuff so sold or gave away half of our belongings. Less is definitely more.
