Me, April, Julie, and Jonathan on the color slides in Estes Park, CO.

This is the continuation of How I Became A Nomad: Part 4. Make sure to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 first.

I arrived at the bar that April had told me how to get to. I will have to admit I was a little anxious. I had no idea what to expect. When I got inside I spotted Julie at a table with a lot of people. There were probably 15 people at the table. I was introduced to everyone including April. I sat next to April and everyone began to ask me questions.

Everyone was so interested in my sudden move to Colorado. I told them the story about the events leading up to me getting there. Then April asked where I was staying. I told her I was staying in my car for now until I found a job.

“Your not staying in your car. We all have places you can stay. How about you stay with me?”

April was a flight attendant for United Airlines. She had recently moved back in with her parents while she waited to move into a house her and some friends (who were sitting with us that night as well) had rented. She told me her brother was off at college and I could stay in his room.

This was great. I didn’t have to sleep in my car another night. Everyone at the table that night was very accepting and fun to be around. I ended up staying at April’s parents house for about a week until she moved in to her house. She told me I could move as well and sleep in the basement.

Me, April, Eric, and Julie

The house was on a street off of Table Mesa Drive. It was a split level house. When you walked in the front door you were immediately met with two sets of stairs. One going up and the other going down. On the top floor was the main living room and kitchen. There were also 2 bedrooms. On the bottom floor was another living room area, a laundry room, and 2 other bedrooms.

Besides April there were three other people living in the house. Three guys. One was an engineer, one was a high school teacher, and the other was in grad school. I was very thankful for everyone being so laid back and not caring that I would be sleeping on the floor in the downstairs living room.

I still did not have a job and was not paying rent. I was diligently applying for jobs, but no one was calling me back. I felt like a mooch, but was consistently reminded that I could continue to stay. I continued to meet new people and Boulder quickly became my home. I had a group of friends that I hung out with everyday. We would go on day trips together to places like Estes Park, CO. I started to rock climb whenever I had the chance. I mostly did bouldering since it didn’t require much gear.

April, Julie, Me, Jonathan, Alli, and Ross

April’s job as a flight attendant allowed her more days off in a row than my other roommates. She would usually work for several days and then be back for several days. This meant that I spent more time with April than the other roommates since we were home a lot at the same time.

One night when we were hanging out I told her we should get out of town and go on a trip. I told her I didn’t want to go too far because I didn’t want to have to drive for a long time. Her response:

“Why would we drive? Let’s just fly.”

That sounded like a great idea. She had buddy passes so that I could fly for free. She pulled out an International Hostels book and said we should pick a hostel we want to stay at. In the US of course.

We came across an amazing looking hostel in Washington State off the coast of Seattle. It was on Vashon Island. The reason this hostel was so great is because you could stay in a tee pee. So we decided that is what we were going to do. We were going to leave the next morning and leave a note for our roommates saying, “we went to ??”

There was only one problem, April had to work the next day. Since she lived in Boulder you would think she worked out of Denver Airport, but she actually worked out of Chicago O’hare airport. So every time she went to work she would jump on a flight to Chicago. Talk about a commute. She thought she might be able to get out of working so we headed to the airport destined for Seattle.

When we got to the airport she went to find out if she could get off. No luck. She was going to have to work. Oh well, I thought, we can just do it another time. Then April asked if I just wanted to come to Chicago with her and stay there while she worked and then we could go to Seattle. April had an apartment in Chicago with two other flight attendants. So we were off to Chicago.

April was working for three days. I did not know anyone in Chicago, so I went out on the town by myself. Her apartment was right off the blue line (one of the train routes in Chicago). I would get on the train everyday and head downtown to explore. I tried to see everything I could that was free. I spent a lot of time in bookstores and on Michigan Avenue.

Once April returned we were off to Seattle. When we arrived we met up with one of her friends. This is the same friend that was having the going away party when I first moved to Boulder. We hung out for the day with her and then she dropped us off at the fairy.

It was my first time to visit Seattle. I loved how green it was there and how you could see Mt. Rainer in the distance.

After the short ferry ride to Vashon Island we were picked up by a van from the hostel. When we arrived, there they were, the tee pees. The hostel was no where near anything. There were no other buildings or houses. We were surrounded by forest.

The weather was perfect. During the day it was in the 70s and at night got into the 40s or 50s. Perfect temperature for camping in a tee pee. The tee pees were big and had enough room for two cots. We spent our days there exploring the trails that ran through the forest. We made a great choice for a hostel.

After our short stay on Vashon Island we were headed back to Boulder. I forgot to mention that each flight we got bumped up to first class. How cool is that.

I stayed in Boulder for a short time longer before moving on to my next destination. I had officially become a nomad.

The trip to Denver was pretty uneventful. I left Lubbock mid afternoon so I arrived in Denver in the middle of the night. I only stopped to eat and get gas.

I was completely unfamiliar with Denver. I had no idea where anything was and what parts of town were safe. But that did not concern me too much. I exited the highway and kept driving till I found a neighborhood apartment complex. I have no idea where I was even today. I drove to the back of the complex and found a dark parking spot and parked.

I had a window shade that you put in your front window to keep the sun out, so I put that up to make it harder to see in my Jeep. The rest of the windows were tinted very dark so no one could see in through those with out trying to look in. I laid out my sleeping bag and pillow with the back seat folded down and went to sleep for the night.

I was in my new home, Colorado. I had made it. It had not even been a week since the idea to move came to me.

I had a few hundred dollars in my bank account, but that would not last long if I didn’t find a job. Finding a job was my first order of business. I didn’t want running out of money to defeat my new adventure. I dreaded the idea of having to call my parents to ask for money because things didn’t work out. I could not let that happen.

I woke up Thursday morning at 9. Sleeping in the car wasn’t the most comfortable place, but I felt rested enough. Since I had to find a job I went straight to a convenience store to buy a local paper and get something to eat. Looking in the job section of the newspaper was a little overwhelming for me. Everything I came across I was either under qualified or would not want to do.

So I thought I would just drive around and find places to apply at. I jumped back on the highway, having no idea where I was going, and headed North. I saw a sign that said Boulder. I knew Boulder was a college town, but didn’t know much else about it. I decided I would check it out.

When I got to Boulder I immediately loved it. I drove around for a while just checking everything out. I ended up on a street named Arapahoe Avenue. It had strip centers on both sides of the street. It made sense to start at one end of the strip center and work my way down applying at every store. So I did just that.

On my job hunt I came to a store called EMS or Eastern Mountain Sports. I loved mountain sports and was very excited about the possibility of working there. In Lubbock I had gotten into rock climbing at the rec center at Texas Tech, so I thought I would see if they had any places to climb in Boulder.

I found someone that worked at EMS. It was a girl named Julie. I asked her if she knew of any rock climbing walls in town. I felt very stupid when she answered by saying, “Yes, but most people climb outside.”

Of course they do!

We continued to talk and I told her that I had just moved to Colorado from Texas. She said she went to school in Texas and was very excited that we had met. She told me that her and some friends were having a going away party for someone that night and asked if I would like to come.

Are you kidding? Someone wants be my friend already? I just moved here!

I told her that would be great. I gave her my phone number and she gave me hers. I was so excited. I was about to meet new people and hopefully make some new friends. I was so excited that I could not fill out any more applications for jobs, so I called it a day, even though it wasn’t even noon yet. I found a coffee shop and stayed there mostly for the rest of the day. I was really hoping that she would call.

A 6 o’clock I got a call. It was her! Well it was her phone number but it was one of her friends, another girl named April. April introduced herself and told me they were meeting at 8 at a bar. She told me how to get there and said she was excited to meet me.

This was great! Making friends here took no effort at all. And from what I could tell both Julie and April were really cool people.

Now I just had to waist time until 8.

To be continued… Read Part 5

Now that I had cleared the biggest hurtle for moving to Colorado, I had to pack and get rid of a lot of stuff. By stuff I mean furniture, clothes, computers, etc.

I think like most Americans I liked having things. My mom is an interior designer so I always had my share of furniture. I had dressers, book cases, desks, and side tables. I also had several computers. I had one very large desk that I had built which had three computers on it. Did I need three computers? Probably not, but I had them.

I also had more clothes than I needed. I always found myself thinking I couldn’t get rid of that shirt or those pants because I may need to wear them someday, just not today.

I guess you could say I was materialistic. Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing but had to change if I was going to go to Colorado.

My plan for the move was to take as little as possible so that I could be mobile. I didn’t expect to find a place to live right away, so I needed to be able to sleep in my car or camp out. I had decided that the most important thing for when I arrive in Colorado was to get a job. Then I could find a place to live.

So I had to go from materialistic to minimalistic, and fast. Fast because I was ready to leave as soon as possible.

I decided I needed to make a list of the things I would need so I could travel light. My list consisted of:

• 3 shirts
• 1 pair of pants
• 1 pair of shorts
• 2 pairs of underwear (don’t judge)
• 2 pairs of socks
• 1 pair of tennis shoes
• 1 pair of flip flops
• 1 jacket
• minor amount of toiletries
• a survival knife (another story about this later)
• first aid kit
• watch
• peanut butter and crackers

There were a few more things but these were the most important. I was able to fit all of this in to a backpack. Besides the things listed I brought a pillow and a sleeping bag.

Now everything else I owned had to go. I probably could have sold everything, or most things, and made a little money, but I didn’t have time for that. So instead I called several of my friends and told them they could come over and take anything they wanted. Almost everything was claimed and the rest I donated.

So now I had dropped out of school and became a minimalist, now I had to say goodbye to all my friends. There was a part of me that didn’t want to say goodbye or even tell everyone what I was doing because I didn’t want to make a big deal about it. So I decided to only say goodbye to my closest friends.

It was Wednesday night and I had said my goodbyes and was all ready to get on the road. My Jeep Cherokee was fueled up and my one bag, pillow, and sleeping bag were in the back.

So I am off to Colorado, but where in Colorado do I go? I decided Denver made the most sense because I could probably get a job there fairly easy. So I was off to Denver only 3 days after returning from the weekend with my parents in Wichita Falls.

To be continued… Read Part 4

To wrap things up in Lubbock there was a lot I had to do. The deal breaker came down to dropping out of school. It was late in the semester and well past the drop date to get a full refund on my tuition. This would not be a problem if I had paid cash for my school, but I had taken out loans for the semester.

Monday morning after returning from Wichita Falls my first destination was the Registrars Office. I had to drop all of my classes and see if I could convince them to give all the money back to the lenders.

Unfortunately they could not be convinced about returning the money. I was told that I would still have to pay 75% of the tuition for that semester. I did not even have close to that amount of money. With school loans the lenders will not pay if you don’t complete the class. So the lender would refuse to pay and I would be responsible for the money owned to the school.

I was extremely disappointed and confused. I knew I was supposed to go to Colorado, but there was no way I could go if I had to pay that much money. And I could not imagine finishing out the semester and then going.

My personality is somewhat impatient when it comes to decisions that I make. Once I decide to do something I don’t want to wait to do it. I don’t see the point in waiting. That is why it was out of the question for me to wait until the semester ended.

I had to figure out a way to get a full refund. If you have ever tried to get something accomplished at a university then you know it is very hard to find the right person to talk to. And if you do, there is so much bureaucracy that even they may not be able to help you out.

The only person I thought could possibly help me was the Dean of Electrical Engineering. So I immediately headed to the Deans office. Usually you can’t just go to the Deans office and speak with him or her. They are too busy and important to talk to just any student. But I had to try.

When I arrived at the office I was greeted by the Deans secretary. She asked what I needed. I decided to tell her why I needed the Deans help so I proceeded to tell her about my move to Colorado and how I knew I was supposed to go. I asked if she could somehow bend the rules to get me a full refund so that I could go.

After I explained everything she walked back to the Deans office. When she returned she had a printed out piece of paper that she handed to me. She said the Dean had granted me a full refund on my tuition and all I had to do was take this paper back to the Registrar and everything would be taken care of.

What?!?!

I couldn’t believe it. That was way too easy. Why would the Dean approve of me dropping out of school? I will never know.

After returning to the Registrars office everything was resolved and I was one step closer to being on the road to Colorado.

To be continued…. Read Part 3

My major at the time was Electrical Engineering/Computer Science. I enjoyed what I was learning in my classes but was seriously considering switching to a Business major. I was at that point in my life that most everyone gets to, where you have no idea what you want to do. There are the lucky few who probably knew in elementary school what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives, but that was not me.

At the time I lived with two of my friends in a house. The house was in a perfect location only a few blocks from campus. I would usually drive to school because I was lazy, but if I wanted to I could ride my bike or walk. I was also working at a local bank part time to pay for my rent, food, and frequent outings with friends. Life was good and I was very happy with where I was at.

Then one day, Friday to be exact, I had this crazy idea to move to Colorado.

Move to Colorado? Why would I want to do that?

To tell you the truth I have no idea why this idea popped into my head. I had not just watched some movie about Colorado or heard a friend talking about it. It was just all of a sudden. The idea didn’t include some fantasy of what my life would be like in Colorado, only that I would move there.

Moving to Colorado made no sense at all for me. I had a great life where I was in Lubbock. I had friends, was going to school, and had a job I enjoyed. Moving to Colorado would mean starting all over again. Besides that, I was completely unfamiliar with Colorado. The only times I had been there was on ski trips in high school.

This idea to move consumed my mind. I really wanted to go. I felt like I was supposed to go.

Before I made my final decision I thought I should discuss it with my parents. I was going home anyway that weekend and thought it would be a good idea to think it over for a few days.

My parents lived in Wichita Falls, TX which is about a 3 hour drive from Lubbock. I left Friday evening. My time in the car was spent getting even more excited about moving. And becoming even more sure that it was what I had to do.

But what would my parents say? Would they be completely dismissive of the idea?

My parents were not usually that way. They would usually support the decisions that I made. But this was a big decision. I was dropping out of college.

Over the weekend all I could think about was my new journey. I would be living each day with out knowing what would happen next. I would meet new people and live in a place I knew nothing about.

A little to my surprise my parents supported me in my new adventures. They asked me lots of questions to make me really think things through. I never had a single doubt that this is what I was supposed to do.

I left Wichita Falls Sunday afternoon heading back to Lubbock and had a feeling of freedom and excitement. It was a feeling that I had never felt before and for the first time in my life I knew with no doubt in my mind that this is what I was supposed to do.

“I am really going to do this!”

As I approached Lubbock the sun had just set. From a distance I could see the glow of the city lights. For a brief moment I was sad to be leaving Lubbock and all my friends there. But then my excitement returned.

Now all I had to do was wrap things up in Lubbock and get on the road to Colorado.

To be continued… Read Part 2