Latest Campsite: Southeast Utah

MOAB, UTAH – My family and I are “on the run” in America. We camp by night, drive by day… like fugitives, always keeping one step ahead of the law.

We only use backroads, we never break the speed limit (or run stop signs), and we seek out the most desolate parts of the country. We avoid big cities at all costs.

Sometimes, kindly strangers offer us a hot meal and a bed for the night.

Otherwise, we sleep outside, in our tent.

I’m writing to you now from our latest campsite, a sweet little spot at the bottom of a severe but beautiful red canyon…

We’re in southeast Utah, near Moab, where the desert is red. It’s been carved up by the Colorado River into the most dramatic, beautiful, otherworldly landscape on Earth.

The two national parks near Moab – the Arches and Canyonlands – are spectacular.

So far, we’ve traveled 8,500 miles since leaving Florida. It’s taken us three months to get here.

Next, we head north… to Wyoming, where there will be more safe houses we can stay in.

We’ll see the Teton Mountains and Yellowstone National Park. Then – hopefully – we’ll cross the Canadian border and spend the winter hiding out in British Columbia.

As many readers have pointed out in our mailbag recently, this last part might be an issue. The Canadian border is currently closed due to COVID-19.

Unless they open it soon, we may be denied entry into Canada. We’ll have to come up with a new plan. We’ll see…

For now, this campground is beautiful. The Colorado River runs right past our camp. There’s even a beach. We spent all afternoon playing at the edge of the river.

We’ll stay here two nights, I think.

– Tom Dyson

P.S. Short postcard today. Had trouble finding cell signal out here in the bush…

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Readers talk gold… possible twists on the Dow-to-Gold ratio… and the “commodity supply trap,” after Tom wrote about falling gold production…

Reader question: In addition to the Dow-to-Gold ratio, have you ever considered using a 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) on a monthly candlestick chart and watching the overall trend and key support and resistance levels to best determine entry and exit or purchase points?

Anyway, stay healthy and safe travels. If you’re ever in Tucson, AZ I’d love to meet you and your family. You could even park your RV at my parents’ place in nearby Green Valley. They’d love to meet you as well. Just avoid the summer. The heat is unbearable and Monsoon storms are mini 20-minute hurricanes!

Tom’s response: I’m using a moving average to help me figure out when the trend in the Dow-to-Gold ratio changes. It’s not the moving average you suggest, but I’ll take a look at yours to see if it improves anything…

[Editor’s Note: Tom wrote a whole section on this in his Tom’s Portfolio report. Read it here if you’re a paid-up subscriber, or find out how to get access to it here if you aren’t subscribed yet.]

Reader comment: Hey Tom… Love what you’re doing. Don’t be in such a hurry though. Spend two days at each spot and enjoy it.

I’ve been following the Dow-to-Gold (DG) ratio for a long time. I choose gold stocks over bullion or coins (BC) for the following reason. When the DG ratio signals it’s time to sell gold, the market will be flooded with BC and if I can find a buyer, the premium will be high. The little guys won’t have the cash to buy the whole valley’s gold.

If I go to one of the large firms, they are really just a middleman. They don’t have the cash to settle up with all of us ASAP, so they will have to sell to a bigger boy, each one taking a cut out of my profit. I can sell all my stock for hard cash in less than a minute.

Your thoughts? And please believe me when I say I take no offense if you beat me down and tell me I’m an idiot!

Tom’s response: Gold stocks should work out fine if you can hold on to them. As the bull market heats up, they’ll become quite slippery, I warn you. Anyway, I disagree with your logic about gold bullion and coins. It’s a liquid market and it’ll be easy to sell when the time comes.

Reader comment: Don’t fall for the commodity supply trap. At $2,000 per ounce, gold production will rise to meet demand. I am not talking about new mines that did not make sense at $1,200 but do at $2,000. It takes a decade to bring a new mine online. But many currently producing mines have areas that were not economic at $1,200 but are at $2,000. Many can, and they are being brought online quickly. No peak gold theories here.

Tom’s response: I’m just saying gold’s supply is far more inelastic than its demand.

Reader comment: Tom, let’s say that you received a windfall profit or inheritance tomorrow. Would you put these new assets into gold/silver and miners at current prices? $3,000/oz? $5,000/oz? Thanks for “coming back” and sharing your wisdom and family adventures. Best to you and your family.

Tom’s response: It would depend on the Dow-to-Gold ratio. At current levels of the Dow-to-Gold ratio, I’d put it into gold. But if the Dow-to-Gold ratio were any lower, I’d find something else cheap and contrarian and safe. Maybe a basket of commodities?

Reader question: Hello, Tom. On Tuesday, you mentioned a “drip” strategy for buying gold stocks. Could you please specify what you mean by that? Do you mean just buying a little every month, or is it waiting for pullbacks? Or something else? Thanks for all your work on your new Tom’s Portfolio service. You are a great addition to Legacy’s great array of metals information.

Tom’s response: Just buying a little every month.

While others weigh in on the Dysons’ travels… Tom’s recent comments on uranium… and his plan to write a book about “heart surfing” in America…

Reader comment: Just a note about Yellowstone: soft sided trailers are prohibited from camping overnight because of the bears. Camp outside of the park and enjoy day trips into the most spectacular park in the world.

Reader comment: I enjoy reading about your travels with your family. I used to tour the United States in a van with a multi-media company that produced drug and alcohol awareness programs for school assemblies and Christian organizations.

The work was hard, stress was high, pay was low, and I survived just about every kind of bad weather, car problem, and bad driver… floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, fog, etc. I even hit several deer and almost hit a black bear.

The adventure and crazy experiences were endless! It was the happiest and most rewarding time of my life and I met and stayed with the most hospitable, generous, and decent people. And I helped tens of thousands of kids make better choices in their lives.

Reader comment: Hello fun family. I’m a single mom with teenage boys 14 and 16. We are leaving Hoboken (and NYC, which was my favorite place for 20 years) next week. We are moving to a small rental condo in Big Sky, Montana for $2,450 per month for a couple of years… unless I think next year the U.S. becomes an overly socialist wreck, and then make a move to Central America.

My kids have been homeschooling through an accredited program for a year and they want to go to a regular school to have some friends. They are brothers but very opposite and are a bit sick of each other! P.S. Love the bandanas! You all look like bank robbers looking for gold and silver!

Reader comment: If you get a chance you must try to get to Cedaredge, CO. It’s on the way to Grand Junction but you won’t have to go that far. Only to a town called Delta. You take the road east out of Delta till you get to a sign for the Grand Mesa. Take that road and it will take you to Cedaredge. The town where we hope to eventually roost.

Aside from the amazing view of the valley below, the museum is a must-see for your family. Because of the lakes on the Grand Mesa, the early settlers of Cedaredge found they could pipe the water down for irrigation and they grow the most amazing fruit there. Several varieties. The museum gives the history.

The AppleShed is on the main road and they sell fruit, and it’s also an amazing art gallery and has a nice café. I just received an e-mail that says it is open again. Hopefully you can make this trip. You won’t regret it. And I know Penny would love the doll building at the museum, especially the doll house. Something there to fascinate everyone.

Happy traveling and stay safe. I started reading your Postcards from the Fringe while you were still traveling the world. I’m living vicariously so have fun for me.

Reader comment: Cool! You made it to Pagosa Springs! And you made it to the non-Disney hot springs across the road! I lived in Bayfield, between Pagosa Springs and Durango, for 18 months. When it finally got warm in the middle of July, I was devastated when the first frost happened on a night two weeks later.

Really, the only thing that got me through my two winters there were the hot springs of Pagosa, and others several miles west of Durango. Something I learned from European-heritage friends who had lived in Pagosa Springs for a decade was: There are dangers to living above 9,000 feet. Probably OK for kids to grow up into it, but for adults to move there, it apparently brings some health issues. Check it out before you seriously consider settling there.

Reader comment: Tom, a long long time ago… another young man set out to discover America. It was in the ’70s. He was where a lot of young people are today – bitter about America.

You should read A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins. Or if it’s available in audio format, listen to it with the family on those long drives. Jenkins wrote a sequel, The Walk West, after stopping in New Orleans for a season and meeting his wife, who walked west with him.

Something has not changed in 50 years. America is still the most generous, hospitable, open society on the planet. Or so I hear…

Reader comment: It caught my attention when you mentioned Moab and uranium almost in the same breath! I am old enough to remember that Moab was the uranium “Gold Rush” of the 1950s.

I mentioned in my last email that I grew up in southern Utah. The story goes, that a man named Stein had spent his last penny prospecting for uranium in the area around Moab. He, like you, had his family in trail when he pulled into a gas station, in despair, to barter for a tank of gas to get back to California. For trade, he offered his core sampler. When the gas station attendant passed by the Geiger counter in the office, the sampler lit it up like a Christmas tree.

Stein was a millionaire overnight. He built a big home on the Bluffs north town and mined uranium until he went broke some years later. You can probably get the real story when you get to Moab!

Reader comment: Hi Tom, Kate and crew! I recently got started on your Postcards and am LOVING them! The stories you will be able to tell and the people you have met. I look forward to the book 😉

Tom’s note: Thanks for all the kind comments! As always, please keep writing us at [email protected].