Finding Community in a Small Idaho Snow Town

DRIGGS, IDAHO – Greetings from our cabin on the Idaho-Wyoming border…

In 2018, I quit my job, converted nearly all my savings to gold, and hit the road with my then-ex-wife Kate and our three kids.

We spent two-and-a-half years drifting from country to country, state to state, never staying anywhere for more than a few days.

We made a complete circumnavigation of the planet this way, visiting 32 countries on five continents.

One goal was to repair our family bond after we got divorced in 2014. We’ve made a lot of progress there. Kate and I got remarried last week, but there’s still a long way to go…

Our other goal was to give our kids the best education we could think of. We’ve got a long way to go on this goal, too…

Finding Community

For starters, one of the best things about being a kid is having some close friends. We’ve denied this experience to our kids since we’ve been on the road.

Finding community and making friends was the main motivation behind our decision to spend the winter in Driggs, a small, family-friendly town deep in the wilderness.

Finding community will continue to be our priority over the next few years, even if we don’t stay in Driggs, or even the United States.

We’ve been in Driggs for five months now, and we’ve got another six weeks left before our lease runs out. How are we doing?

Coronavirus doesn’t help, nor does the cold weather. But we’re making progress…

The kids have all made friends, and they are having a great time here. They ski all afternoon with their friends, then they ride the bus home together when the lifts close. Later, they meet online and play Xbox.

Here they are, about to go for another run…

And here is Penny with her new best friend (they like to play with dolls and dress up as Disney princesses)…

Howling Blizzard

On Friday morning, we woke up to another blizzard.

We’ve been getting pounded with snow for weeks now. Every morning there seems to be another 6 inches, 15 inches, 9 inches of new snowfall.

We had more than 154 inches (13 feet) last month. The local paper says it was the snowiest February here since records began in the ’70s.

When I saw we were getting a howling blizzard, I jumped out of bed, grabbed my cameraman (Dusty), and ran outside…

This is the road we drive up every day to go skiing at the resort. It’s called Ski Hill Road. It’s a 20-minute drive from our cabin…

You can’t tell from the photo, but it’s snowing hard. We got another 10 inches or so on Saturday.

The snow is so deep up at the ski resort, it’s chest-high in some spots. They’re asking everyone to be careful. They call it “immersion hazard.”

“Always ski/ride with a partner,” the sign says…

– Tom Dyson

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Readers celebrate the news of Tom and Kate’s remarriage…

Reader comment: Congratulations, Tom and Kate, to your marriage! For better or worse, you’re meant for each other. What a gift! I’ve been following your posts since you were in Hong Kong. Kids have the best learning experience when they travel. Keep traveling when weather allows.

Thanks, Tom, for your genuine care about the economy and how it affects everyone. Your detailed analysis is always appreciated.

Reader comment: Congratulations on your remarriage. I think you have a lovely family. Family will become ever more important as time passes. I am 81 years old. My wife and I had 56 years together before she passed three years ago.

When people would ask us how we stayed together so long, my wife would say: “We both never fell out of love at the same time,” and “We would build bridges and get over it.”

I wish you long life, love, and happiness. The will of God will never send you where the grace of God cannot protect you.

Reader comment: Hi Tom, I am a fan of yours who follows your/your family’s exploits daily. I also took your and John Doody’s advice about precious metals to heart and acted accordingly.

But what I really wrote about was your recent “the big step forward,” for which I congratulate you, Kate, and the kids. You are hereby reminded that there are at least four parties to your marriage: Tom, Kate, the couple, and the kids (individually and collectively). Each party needs separate nurturing… none the least, “the couple.”

The second point is that a successful marriage is a “union of forgivers.” Enough said.

Tom’s note: Thank you all for your kind words. Your messages keep us going, and we read every one you send in. Please keep writing us at [email protected], and I’ll do my best to answer your questions in a future Friday mailbag edition.