“Paradise is where I want to wake up every morning… where I can be the way I want to be.” — Huerfano: A Memoir of Life in the Counterculture

When we were certain we would not be able to work full-time again, Mike and I began considering our options back in 2013. Where would we find our own inexpensive paradise?

After a quick trip down to Cuenca Ecuador in September, we decided to take a closer look at southern Colorado. Mike had an idea that the Huerfano west of Walsenburg might be a good place to begin our search, so we came down here and camped at Lathrop State Park. As luck would have it, we drove right into our first Octoberfest that fall!

Between the fantastic mountains views, the friendly people, the mild climate, the dark skies at night, and the completely reasonable land prices, we decided to research Navajo Ranch further, and the more we learned, the more we liked this area. It had its own water district, electric and phone service already present, and lots priced between $10,000 and 15,000. We returned in December to look at specific lots.

We found it difficult to distinguish one lot from another and hard to tell which lots were for sale. But as luck would have it, the only one we got out to look at more closely was the one we ended up buying in January 2015!

Then all we had to do was go back to Fort Collins, sell our home, and say goodbye to our life of 20+ years up there, a task that turned out to be far more difficult than expected.

To read the whole story behind our great leap of faith, check out my Memoir of Retirement: From Suburbia to Solar and please follow us on TWITTER!