After a short hiatus, we’re back to trip planning. No, I’m not on the run. Well…sort of. I’m mostly running from a normal life. An exercise I recommend to everybody for their mental and physical well-being.
As my regular readers know, my wife and I bought a house last year. One without wheels. Sticks and bricks (or granite as the case may be).
This is definitely not the end of our nomad travels. Just a bit of advance planning. We’re both pushing fifty, and while we plan to travel as long as possible, we can see a time where we’ll need a place to put up our feet and rest our weary legs.
I realize most people fall into the full-time RV lifestyle during retirement. But it’s hard work. Planning routes, making reservations, site tear down and setup and all the little repairs along the way (good luck finding an RV tech miles from civilization.)
The lifestyle would be tough on a fixed income too. Sure, you can find ways to make it work on the cheap (and we do). Volunteering at campgrounds for free sites. Making meals at home. Exploring the great outdoors as your main source of entertainment – usually a free activity.
But for us, combining travel with remote work is ideal. We’re pioneers of a sort. We started well before Covid drove everyone from their offices.
My wife’s always had high tech jobs where typical meetings are with co-workers and clients spread around the globe. She was telecommuting in her cubicle for years before we made the switch.
(So for those businesses trying to claw people back into the office post-Covid, well, maybe you shouldn’t have outsourced so many jobs to begin with…)
Me? I’ve dabbled in online work since college. One of my side gigs fresh out of school was as a webmaster for an online game company. I even took my then full-time job as a graphic designer and arranged a remote alternative.
Then 9-11 happened. And I wanted to do something. So I did. For the next six years, I was on the road working a job focused exclusively on international terrorism and foreign counterintelligence.
If I sound like I’m being evasive, well, I am.
After my stint with the U.S. Government, I returned to online work. Graphic design, web design, and even took on cases as a licensed private investigator (okay, most of that was in the field, but there was plenty of opportunity for digital sleuthing.)
The dream though had always been writing. And doing it while visiting America’s most beautiful places. But I can’t just write any old travel book. I’m not a listicle writer or a travel guru.
I’m also not Kade Black.
He’s just your typical former special agent on the run, dispatching enemies with a survival shovel and riding off into the sunset in his battered RV.
Part John Wick, part Grizzly Adams, he hasn’t lost a dog, but if you happen to be a spy, terrorist or even a corporate criminal, he’ll come for you.
Sure, I worked for a certain federal agency in a different life. Owned a PI company. I even managed an assist on driving a predatory, corrupt corporation out of my old hometown. And, yes, I once recovered my own stolen vehicle while travelling town to town.
That Kade’s travels so closely follow mine?
Total coincidence.
So the Fort Black Thrillers have been a story long in the making. A crazy, once in a lifetime career followed by a wild plunge into a quirky lifestyle.
Since hitting the road we’ve been to 43 states and hundreds of national and state parks and public lands. We’ve driven our old Mazda out to a bar in the desert, no road linking it to civilization. We traded that trusty vehicle in for a more capable SUV so we could camp beside backcountry glacier-fed lakes in the vast wildernesses of Montana. Every mile a unique experience.
Not something likely to be dreamed up by AI anytime soon.
This series is the best way I could think of to share my journeys. Vivid recollections of the amazing places I’ve visited mashed up with an adrenaline-fueled thriller guaranteed to keep you turning pages.
Early reviews are promising. I’ve heard Kade Black compared to Jack Reacher and John Wick. Some even say Kade’s got the edge. A bold claim I will neither confirm or deny.
Thanks again for reading. I hope you enjoy the new series and maybe be inspired to go on an adventure of your own!
Russ
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RUSS LINTON 
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