Looking back over four years of travel… looking forward to a whole new adventure.
“Travelers’ tales are pretty boring, I thought. It was always better to live it.” —Tor Kelsey, The Edge by Dick Francis
For me, the true attraction of Tor Kelsey, main character in The Edge by Dick Francis, is his understated nature. In the novel, Tor serves the British Jockey Club as a private investigator as that group seeks to foil a villain. He stays camouflaged by conforming to his environment, a perfect invisible man, while observing the characters around him with piercing insight. But with no Dick Francis to shape my story, I have to fall back on writing my own clumsy observations or give up blogging altogether. With apologies to Tor for being boring, and extra boring because this post is mostly about my work, allow me to wax nostalgic and relate a few travelers’ tales – I’m celebrating my 4-year work anniversary, and change is in the wind. This will be my final blog post on The Dauntless Princess.
Houston. Baltimore. Kansas City. Las Vegas. When I started this job four years ago on January 2nd, 2015, I never thought the names of some cities would hold so much meaning for me. But during these past four years I’ve adventured my way across America, and in each place made memories that will stay with me for a lifetime.
Four years of changing cities, apartments, cars, and keys every 45 days or so. Four years of catching early flights to new places. I never meant to stay at this job for so long. I assumed that I would find a place I loved and change jobs so I could make a life in that place. Instead, I found that a) I could live anywhere and b) my curiosity and wanderlust were stronger than my nesting urges.
The little things mean a lot. I picked up this mug in Hagerstown, MD in March 2015. I didn’t think it would last very long, but it has traveled with me through all my assignments without breaking! At one point I did use Gorilla glue to reinforce the handle which developed hairline cracks, but I still use it almost every day.Joy is embracing the small pleasures.When I fell ill in Summer 2016, my body developed an aversion to gluten and dairy. Instead, it preferred paleo recipes heavy on protein and veggies. My favorite comfort food became these homemade chicken nuggets breaded in almond flour.Journaling almost every day kept a great personal record of days and a source of stability in a world always on the go. This picture was taken at the airport on my way to Cape Town in spring 2016.A little bit of imagination always helps keep things fun. Rodger, my snail friend, traveled with me everywhere and had adventures with me!Coffeeshops are like a piece of heaven. This was taken at Mothership Coffee Roasters in Henderson, Nevada outside Las Vegas.
My day-to-day work was with apartment communities, helping to increase occupancy with sales and marketing. I sold apartments much the same way that realtors sell houses. But imagine 350 houses all stacked up together, and you have the constant melee that is the world of apartment rentals and property management. It’s fast-paced, high-turnover, unpredictable, and an addicting challenge. Getting to work on 45 day contracts like I do has been an unparalleled opportunity to jump on and off the hamster wheel at twenty-two unique properties.
Property management is hard on shoes. My dress code required black heels, which I bought almost every assignment secondhand at thrift stores. Walking over so much concrete destroyed old and new shoes alike so before long I heard the telltale scrape of a damaged heel.On some assignments I had to wonder exactly what kind of dark red stain was on my sidewalk anyway. Was it just someone’s dropped slushee? Or something much, much worse? This picture was taken in Charleston.Oh, that twisted cord. Office setups were often less than ideal.The real big gun when it comes to drain opener. Maintenance gave me the bottle, gloves, and said, “Good luck!” Yay!This was the dirtiest shower I’ve ever seen. Not pictured: the accompanying roach infestation. This picture was taken in Lake Mary, Florida.The same shower as above, after some vain attempts to clean the thick mold.One of the most important aspects of multifamily development is practical design, and some of the communities I worked at failed utterly at this. This picture was taken in Houston, where the weather is extremely humid. The partially-open-air corridors collected condensation until there were puddles on the tiles. Mopping was a daily project. Mopping, by the way, not just this corridor but close to thirty just like it.“Wet floor” – signage appropriate.Okay… let’s walk on the wild side for a few minutes here. Some assignments were truly challenging. “Challenging” used here is a euphemism for terrible. I won’t waste too much time talking about most of them, but this picture is a nice representation of how I felt about my project in Kansas City, MO.These were the apartments I was supposed to sell in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. You’re not mistaken – it’s just a dug-out foundation and that shipping container was my office. Part of my daily routine was starting a generator. This picture was taken in May 2018. Move-in was in August 2018. I still shake my head over this one – too ludicrous to be believed.Iowa mud: no joke!!Working in Las Vegas in summer 2018 was a more fun location than Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but no less ridiculous. This community was historically lower-income housing off the Vegas strip. An episode of Cops filmed near there. The owner wanted to upgrade and raise rents for student housing, but kept losing due to asbestos abatement, pest infestation, and general ill will from former long-term residents who had been given short notice to move out before renovations started under new ownership. I’ll never, ever forget watching that process unfold and can honestly say it impacted my goals for my own future.Asbestos abatement in process on my Las Vegas project. It’s a mask symbol on the warning tape, not skull and crossbones… but try telling that to protective parents of college students. Also taken in Las Vegas. I needed to go into the sliding door under the lift and they didn’t care to move. Safety first!One final nod to Las Vegas: this picture was taken while driving, but in that man’s hand is a real, actual pimp cane.From College Station in summer 2017. The office text line always brought in some messages that inspired high blood pressure (or howls of laughter). One angry resident’s parent even threatened mob violence. Our recorded lines were less about micromanaging and more about our own protection here.Some days… you just gotta light something on fire.Summer 2016, Orlando to BaltimoreJanuary 2018, Atlanta to Moline, IA. I find it so interesting how my face in these photographs has aged visibly. Life on the road is full of adventures and opportunities, but it is also hard, draining, fatiguing, and unsettling.Through these years, I’ve learned and grown and matured, but I’m still my quirky self. This photo was taken in Charleston, spring 2017.
I always loved the expression “you never step in the same river twice”. Like I said at the top of this post, I never meant to stay at this job for so long – road life has a short life expectancy, after all. Change is inevitable… all we can hope is that it’s for the better. In my case, I’ve been fortunate – the horizon is rosy with a completely new adventure: my Air Force boyfriend has been stationed in Italy, and we plan to continue our courtship in Europe and explore as much of Europe as we can together. As I get ready to make that transition, I’ll stop actively updating this blog with new posts, instead working on standardizing and better grooming some of the rougher spots so I can put together a print-worthy PDF. I’ll keep the site active as long as I can, but the final destination I have for this project is on my bookshelf and not the world wide web.
The Dauntless Princess has been an experiment: living on the edge, eyes wide open, no regrets, striving every day to be dauntless. As it ends, I feel confident that it has been all that I hoped for and more. For you, the reader, my sincerest hope is that like Tor, you don’t settle for travelers’ tales: your own or others’. He’s right: it is always better to live it.
This is my first time reading and I love your style! 💕💕 proud of you and wishing the best for you continuing forward.
Kathy Christiansensays:
Thanks for the update.
Keep us in the loop of your journey this side of Heaven. May you continue in Christ and His truth and remember that He never sleeps nor slumbers.
Christina Harrison says:
This is my first time reading and I love your style! 💕💕 proud of you and wishing the best for you continuing forward.
Kathy Christiansen says:
Thanks for the update.
Keep us in the loop of your journey this side of Heaven. May you continue in Christ and His truth and remember that He never sleeps nor slumbers.