November 8, 2026: Day 160 on the Homestead
It’s been about 200 days since my last entry and “Past Travis” freaking nailed it. I had a lot of uncertainty just 200 days ago before the move up here to Michigan. Yes, I am now writing this from our permanent home in Da U.P. of Michigan as was always the dream. Everything, and I mean absolutely everything, went insanely smoothly. Out-Processing was a breeze, the Retirement Ceremony had a lot of tears and fond farewells, and the trip up North was the smoothest trip we’ve ever had. I would say we were lucky, but an incredible amount of planning went into the endgame which made our own luck. Luck can be defined as when preparation meets opportunity and we’ve finally had our opportunity. Our biggest issue with this entire transition was dealing with three households worth of crap all being in the same place at the same time. The Lodge was furnished, the place in Panama City was full, and we have combined my Dad’s old place here at the Cabin as well so there was stuff EVERYWHERE. It took a few weeks just to get organized!
Zach has started at LSSU and the GI Bill is taking care of things for him. It took 40 days to set it up but that’s ok, the University was patient with the payments. We’ve fully rebuilt the outdoor kitchen, built a new woodshed, loaded both houses with 5.3 cords each for the winter, took the boat out, bought a BRAND NEW TRACTOR (with backhoe and snowblower attachments), took down a garage, fixed a thousand things, got a new snowmobile and fixed another. We’ve grown a garden, took two deer with a new cross bow, bought my retirement gun, threw out several tons of garbage on the property, and done so much more than I could possibly have predicted. In fact we’re doing so much that we’ve already put out 160 videos on our social media accounts. Facebook gave us a huge bonus for joining up with them, YouTube is growing again, and TikTok is finally paying out money again. I couldn’t imagine it going any better than it is. It’s everything we’ve wanted it to be and more. Oh! My VA rating was high enough that we are financially stable with the military pension and social media payments providing a little extra money on the side. I’ve been treating the videos as “the job” and not working for anyone, but honestly we could kill our social media presence and STILL not have to work for anyone ever again which is a very good feeling.
I wish I could tell “Past Travis” that all that work, preparation, planning, and sacrifice was all worth it. Every single day is a joy here and every time I look out into the wilderness and know that I never have to leave again I feel grateful for the live we’ve built. Even right now the fire is blazing away downstairs, Zach is here for the weekend taking a break, and Tealah is snoring peacefully across the room from me. I sometimes miss the military life but then I return to sanity.
It snowed for the first time yesterday and I teared up knowing that I didn’t have to leave. For years we’ve had to go back to an Air Force Base as my leave ran dry missing the best parts of being up in the wilderness. Never having a real garden. Never hunting the big whitetail. Never truly being home. Those days are behind us. Now it is time to stoke the fire, get some sleep, and enjoy the spoils of freedom that took us 20 years to achieve.
Thank you “Past Travis” and thank you “Past Tealah”. You guys fucking rocked it and now you get what you deserve.
-Travis Fucking Siegwart,
MSgt USAF Retired, but working harder than ever for the PURE JOY OF IT!
