It’s done. I now own “Moose Lodge” and what a journey. I sat here for a long time thinking about how to best tell the story. It’s that conflict between talking about what happened and preserving my privacy. Even the work I’m doing at Infrrd isn’t something I don’t feel I can write about. I’ve been like this my whole life.

Years ago, I don’t even remember how long ago now, probably 2015 if I had to guess, I started to day dream about living somewhere other than Seattle and Kirkland. I wanted to be out in the country somewhere and so I’d spend my free time on Zillow looking at houses. I looked in every corner of Washington State, but I wasn’t finding anything compelling. I had to think about why I wanted to move and I wanted to be sure I wasn’t avoiding something. Yet, a move was gnawing at me.

In 2020, when COVID hit, and I was shut in, I began to get even more restless. The time I’d spend on Zillow increased and I began to think of living somewhere outside of Washington State. I made some decisions about what I’d do if things went one way or another, but in all of it, it would result in a move. I was tired of my house. That summed it up.

I was also tired of the left wing radical politics that has become so much of the Pacific Coast. I wanted to be in a different, friendlier environment to a wide range of viewpoints and not what was politically correct. I have no plans to get “woke” and live a lifestyle of never questioning our politicians on both sides. Seattle is turning into San Francisco and I didn’t want to be a part of it.

I love my work and I’m good at it, and had to trust that my lifestyle would lead my career. I wanted to be in an environment where I could do my best work and so I had a criteria in mind as I started to look around. It was early May when I put the plan in motion. I finally selected a realtor and listed the house at the end of May. I loaded up Tide in the Alfa and off we went to explore other states, generally preferring to be closer to my siblings.

The trip took me from Washington to Idaho, then Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, then Wisconsin, then back through Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming once again and eventually home to wait for the sale to close. At each overnight stop, I’d comb Zillow, then mark a few houses to tour that looked like a close fit. In person, they were all so disappointing. Some looked fantastic on paper, but were not all that great once I was seeing the house first hand.

What I did love about the midwest was the general nice nature of everyone I met, regardless of race and background or even political leanings. It was how I remembered life growing up and far from the unfriendliness that Seattle has become.

I learned from the first venture out, that touring the country looking at houses with a dog in tow was not practical. There were heat issues, restaurants I couldn’t visit while leaving him in the car, and so I decided to buy the Airstream Interstate van to better explore the US.

When the house finally sold in August, my dog and I hightailed it to Wisconsin in the Jeep where we left it in storage, then rented a car to head to Knoxville to pick up the Airstream Interstate Sprinter, then start the search from there. This time, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri before I finally found the house just as I was negotiating my agreement with Infrrd. This was after touring dozens of houses, and a growing level of skepticism.

This house is not just any house. This 7,000+ square foot house was designed and built by world-class architect Tom Jowett who’s famous for his work at Bass Pro Shops and all the amazing projects of Johnny Morris, including Big Cedar Lodge. Tom’s attention to detail and his sense of design that created a feeling left me exclaiming “Wow!” the second I stepped into the house. It was far better than my expectations, and the photos don’t do it justice. I knew it was exactly what I wanted after looking online at somewhere, conservatively counting, at roughly 10,000 houses. How cool to have a house with an indoor salt water pool and a waterfall!?!

So many little things had to perfectly fall into place to buy the house, and they did. I even bought the furniture. To say the house is remarkable is an understatement. I recently received a letter from one of Tom’s friends about Tom and the history of the house.

It closed in late December and as I write this, I’m now in Las Vegas for CES and I’m missing my spectacular home and work retreat. It’s a wonderful spot.

I could write for days about what this has all meant to me. Most of all, it was following that thing that was nagging at me to go do and not just stagnate in Kirkland. I don’t miss downtown Seattle one bit and my stint at OAC was one of the most demoralizing experiences of my life, and the only job I’ve ever regretted accepting.

Now that it’s closed, it’s time to use the place as I intended. I have a lot to learn about Infrrd and it’s hard to keep every detail straight in the process. I do keep password protected pages on this site for friends to know more personal stuff. If you are one, just ask for the password. I didn’t know how else to keep a barrier between my public writing and my private life.