Time and Context:
Early 1990's. George "Read my lips!" Bush had driven me out of the Republican party and I became a Libertarian.
Ambush and murder at Ruby Ridge, massacre of Branch Davidians.
Location:
San Antonio, Texas
Situation:
Living in a mortgaged three story, five bedroom home in an upper middle class suburban neighborhood.
Working as an equipment superintendent for an international construction company constructing flood control tunnels under the Alamo in downtown San Antonio.
http://www.expressnews.com/150years/major-stories/article/History-River-Tunnel-0711-6378378.php
Glenys had built up a successful cake decorating business.
Our kids had left the nest and were on their own.
Living the American dream, right?
We received a notice from the mortgage company that our house payments would be increased due to an increase in taxes. I copped a resentment and decided that I would show them - I would put the house up for sale. The house sold very quickly and we found ourselves renting. I then resolved that I would never again go into debt, that if we were ever to own another home, we would pay cash or build it ourselves.
I recalled that we had once enjoyed living in an adobe home in New Mexico, and that train of thought led me to investigating and then attending a week long class at:
http://www.adobebuilder.com/southwest-solaradobe-school-1.html
I returned to San Antonio with a nearly fanatical drive to put to use the valuable information I had received. I built adobe forms and began casting adobe blocks. I traded my bass boat for an old bucket truck that I modified to become a mud mixing, lifting, and placing machine. I won an air compressor at a salvage auction. I bought used air tampers, a welder, a skidsteer loader, and some steel to be used for building forms. All of these items seemed to appear out of thin air and were very reasonably priced.
After intensive experimentation and construction I built a rammed earth wall. My first wall measured 2' X 4' X 4' and was formed, rammed, and the forms removed in less than 3 hours. I then knew that I would someday build a rammed earth home.
The tunnel job had ended and with it any desire to climb any corporate ladder. The lesson of giving financial control over to any third party had been learned. Belief in the "political solution" oxymoron was crumbling. The traffic and noise of a populated environment became more noticeable, as the memory of the mountains and solitude of our home in Nevada became irresistible.
We made the decision to leave the American dream behind and begin a new life in the unpredictable but familiar openness of Nevada.