Spring on the western slope doesn’t arrive with much fanfare...it doesn’t announce itself in a flurry of blooms and bursts of color... It just… loosens. The air gets softer. The mornings lighten a little earlier. The cold starts stepping back, one degree at a time.

By April, we’d settled into a rhythm with Rangely. I knew which mornings belonged to the wind. I knew when the snowplows would rumble through town. I knew which patches of ice tried to trick me. And I knew the shape of each day walking with Dougie — what he liked, where he sniffed, where he pretended not to hear me when he wanted to stay just a little longer.

But spring also carried a different weight. Quiet. Heavy. Familiar. I’d been trying not to look at it directly, but it was there. You can feel it long before you say it out loud.

Dougie was slowing down.

And I kept telling myself the same thing:

He’ll tell you when it’s time.

That voice had been with me for months. I just didn’t want to hear it yet.

On April 17, the morning felt too good to ignore. Sunny. Sixty-five degrees. The kind of day that tricks you into thinking everything might be fine for a little while longer.

So I loaded Dougie into V2, grabbed a couple waters, and pointed the truck downriver. Further than we had gone before. I wasn’t looking for anything specific. Just… a different place to hang out a bit.

The road eventually narrowed until it ended at a private ranch. Left or right. Two choices. We turned left.

We stepped out into air that was cool enough to wake you up but warm enough to make you stay still for a moment. The river moved steady beside us. Not rushing. Not crawling. Just doing what rivers do.

I lifted Dougie down from the truck, and something in him shifted. Not physically. Not dramatically. Just… quietly. He looked around slower. He took in the air like he was trying to memorize it. And that’s when the voice came back.

He’ll tell you when it’s time…

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Podcast written and recorded by Dougie, Billie, and Craig.

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January in Rangely has a way of resetting you. Maybe it’s the cold. Maybe it’s the quiet. Maybe it’s the feeling that the rest of the world is spinning out somewhere far away while this little town just keeps doing...Rangely.

I was still trying to make sense of everything that had happened over the past year… and then January 6th happened. The Capitol. The chaos. The insurrection... The shock that wasn’t really shock because of who we were dealing with. I had already recorded the episode about it, already tried to wrap my head around it… but my mind kept drifting back to it....

It felt strange. Surreal, honestly. Because while I was replaying the images in my head — the shouting, the broken glass, the absolute insanity of it all — Rangely didn’t even flinch. Some folks barely mentioned it. Some seemed like they hadn’t heard much about it at all. And others didn’t see it the same way I did.

That was one of the first lessons this winter gave me… people live in the same world, at the same time… and still somehow live in different realities. And life just keeps goin... Doesn’t matter if the country is losing its mind. Doesn’t matter if you’re confused or upset or trying to figure out what the heck just happened. You still wake up. You still shovel snow. You still go to work. You still make coffee.

I guess that’s how it works everywhere. Just felt louder here.

Meanwhile, winter...and life.... wasn’t interested in waiting for me to get my head straight…

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This wasn’t part of the plan. It wasn’t supposed to happen. Or was it? A few times in each generation… we get up… turn on the news… and everything changes. I have lived through one of these moments in history. September 11, 2001. Today would be my second.

What have we become? And how did one man drag a nation this far?

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Podcast written and recorded by Dougie, Billie, and Craig.

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We awoke to a 20 degree morning in Meeker... so things had actually warmed a bit since our arrival the night before. We took our time this morning...pulling out of Meeker mid day. Just 50 miles separated us from Rangely.... but with nothing but quarantine to greet us there... there was no hurry. We stopped along the way to check out the December scenery on the Western Slope. We’d pull into Rangely late afternoon. Snow... everywhere. Skies darkening...and temps dropping again....rapidly. The kind of cold that doesn’t bother introducing itself before it gets to work on your bones.

It’s Christmas, but it doesn’t feel like it. It feels like another day in a long line of days that have all blurred together. That’s not unusual for us. Holidays never carried the magic...for me... everyone else seems to feel. Too much noise. Too much pressure. Too much pretending.

But this Christmas… it’s different. Not because it’s special.

Because it’s heavy.

We backed into our spot at the RV park, tires crunching over all the fresh snow. I’m watching the temperature on the dash dip down to eight degrees, then seven, then five as night fell. There’s something about pulling into a place that cold... I mean... Really cold...

It’s quiet... but it makes you pay attention.

And for the first time on this adventure of ours... the first thing we’d have to do after plugging in... shovel our driveway! I can’t remember the last time I had to shovel snow... and I quickly remembered why I hadn’t missed it.

I’m not really thinking about Christmas. I’m thinking about the reason we’re here…

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Podcast written and recorded by Dougie, Billie, and Craig.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lifeoutthere.substack.com

Man... almost hard to believe we made it... over 450 miles from Burlington... to Meeker...i n the midst of a Colorado winter... and in one day!

And when I say winter, I mean full-on, snow-everywhere, a 9-degree morning, no-question-about-it winter.

The further we drove...it became more and more clear that winter had more than set in here.... but with a break in the weather.... felt like we had to make a break for it...at least get over those Rockies...and vail pass before looking for a spot to crash for the night.

The plains out here are something else. Nothin but snow....as far as we can see...like someone had just dumped a huge bag of flour on everything! This being our first trek through this part of the country...I kept thinking about how different this must look in the summer—green fields, grazing cattle, wildflowers here and there. But right now, so quiet, so cold....all snow-covered, and honestly, it’s kind of mesmerizing.

We kept driving, watching the scenery shift—rolling hills taking over, still blanketed in snow, of course. The trees are bare, their branches reaching up like they’re trying to grab some warmth out of the sky.... It’s like the world’s in some sort of hibernation mode out here.

And then the Rockies show up, and wow. These mountains, covered in snow, are pretty jaw-dropping....the massiveness of it all... The little towns I pass through—Dillon, Frisco—they’re picture-perfect, with snow piled high on rooftops and icicles dangling everywhere. It’s like a postcard come to life. Yet once again...imagining the summer vibe here in contrast to what we are looking at.... hikers hitting the trails, families biking, and wildflowers carpeting the slopes. Today, though, it’s all about the snow.

450 Miles Into a Colorado Winter… and some more History Waiting for Us in Meeker.

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Podcast written and recorded by Dougie, Billie, and Craig.

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Our next stop would be less “discovery”… and more “port in the storm.”

We’d come rolling in from Kansas on I-70… weather reports blaring… and honestly, we didn’t even need those. The road itself was saying it. Whispering… then shouting… find shelter. Find warmth. Find a place to stop this big metal box before Mother Nature really decides to test our commitment to the road.

By the time we hit Burlington... just 170 miles from Hayes Kansas, the skies were already bruising over. Temperatures dropping like a rock. Snow flurries doing that sideways dance they only do when the wind is in one of its moods. And this time? Oh the winds.....they were in a full-blown tantrum. Gusts punching us at 75 mph. Vacilando shaking just enough to remind us that yes… we are small… and Mother Nature’s NOT.

So we parked. And honestly? Felt lucky to have made it to a place where safe parking was even possible.

We’d spend the next two days tucked in tight… letting Mother Nature get whatever this was out of her system. And there was something almost cozy about it… warm lights on inside Vacilando while the wind tried to peel the siding off every structure within a mile radius. Movies. Popcorn. That very specific sound of wind slamming into aluminum. You feel it in your ribs after a while.

And outdoor exploration? Yeah… that wasn’t happening. We ventured out for a couple of brisk “just to say we tried” walks… but mostly… we stayed in. And I read this place called Burlington Colorado.

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Podcast written and recorded by Dougie, Billie, and Craig.

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Our next set of discoveries would come a few hundred miles up the road from Platte City… in a place called Hays, Kansas.

Once again, we found ourselves driving into an endless horizon. This one belonged to the Kansas prairie. The scenery around us in constant change — fall… to winter… then back again — but somehow, the faint scent of harvest still lingered in the air.

We pushed west, leaving behind Platte City, Missouri. The landscape morphing slowly but surely as you cross into Kansas. The grasslands are wide here, skies wide open… deep blue… in between those brief temper tantrums winter kept throwing our way.

And yet again… We would manage somehow to turn an over night stop… Into a week of exploring, learning, and meeting new friends.

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The drive into Platte City from St. Joseph is a slow one... a short one... just 30 miles or so. The rolling hills of northwest Missouri stretched out in front of us, the landscape framed by tall trees and farmland. It’s late fall, or maybe early winter, depending on how you want to look at it. The temperature fluctuates from one day to the next, and the golden hues of autumn are barely holding on. The occasional gust of wind sends the last of the dry leaves scattering across the road.

You’re not prepared for Platte City until you’re right on top of it, and even then, it’s easy to miss the heart of it. There’s a freeway sign that marks its existence, but beyond that, not much to suggest what lies ahead. You exit off I-29, and the choice is simple—head left, and you’ll find yourself at Platte Falls, part of a wildlife management area. Or turn right, over a small hill, and down into a town that’s quietly marked a piece of American history for nearly 180 years.

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A twist of fate landed us in a quaint Nebraska village named Western. It’s small-town America at its finest. We pulled into town with the singular objective of finding a spot to plug in so we could ride out an incoming cold front that threatened to bring a few inches of snow with it. Little did I know we would not leave Western for nearly 2 months!

Full transcript available on Substack and YouTube video versions of podcast.

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Made the 98 miles drive from Craig Missouri to Lincoln Nebraska in good time. We found a subdued Lincoln... the pandemic takes a much larger toll on larger cities than it has in the small towns we've spent the last several months in.

We spent 3 days in Lincoln... working and learning about this part of Nebraska and beyond.

A typical midwestern cold snap chased us out of Lincoln a little ahead of schedule... and on with the adventure.

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