Alexis Hartz, Author

Before becoming a full-time workamper I was focused on being the best corporate employee that I could be. Once I got on the ladder I climbed it as fast as I could. Within a few short years I doubled my income and received some pretty great perks for climbing the rungs. But that climb came with a price that surpassed what I was earning. The stress that came with it affected my health and my spirit.  I stepped off the ladder when I became a workamper living in a motorhome. I traded the corporate package benefits for a grand lifestyle, with grand vistas and even grander personalities in the transient world where I lived and worked.  Now I have a position that pays like a corporate job but allows me the freedom of living on the road. I found it by leveraging all of the talents I have developed from every job I have ever had and even then I still had to put hours of time and effort into training for my new position. Our jobs are so much more than just a conglomeration ...

In my last post I spoke about "simply living". It's a phrase that resonates deep within me. However, it's just a couple of words to most people that see it in my writing or on my business card. The two words melded into a way of life for me in 2002 when my entire life dissolved. Yes, dissolved, liquified into a state of chaos and nothingness simultaneously. Within a few hours I lost my home, my job, my car and everything I owned. It was a horrific experience. It was also a godsend. The greatest gift ever. The first night was the hardest. My mind wrestled with the grief of my losses, and then the anger that it happened to me . That little voice in my head spewed out survival options. Then it argued that I didn't have the resources or the strength to put any of those ideas into action. And finally it pointed to the source of all this calamity --- me. You see I had taken a step back from my faith during the two years prior to this day. Before then I truste...

Now stick with me here. We're going to talk about spiders. Yes, one of my least favorite things on this planet....or so I thought. I rarely saw spiders in the 20 years I lived in Arizona. And in Colorado most spiders that I came in contact with looked totally harmless. So it was easy to "live and let live". But, that's not the case here in North Carolina. Not only do the spiders here appear more frightful, they are far more plentiful than any other place I have lived. And, they aren't the only insects here either. There are beetles, and roaches, and inch-long thick , slimy, curly worms that crawl into the apartment at night, birth inch-long skinny , slimy, curly worms during the night. In the morning there's a community of these little guys inching their way around the apartment, only to dry up, die, and curl into Cheeto puff-like shapes all over the floor by noon! (Imagine taking a quick trip to the bathroom in the dark with that going on under your fee...

It's a dreary day here in North Carolina.  Not as dreary as South Carolina where residents are facing another day of unprecedented flood conditions. Not as dreary as the Bahamas where residents are cleaning up the mess left from Hurricane Joaquin.  Not as dreary as Oregon where families and friends are mourning senseless losses. All of that dreariness dampens my spirit. Writing about it floods me with guilt. There's enough sadness in these stories without me bringing attention to them in yet another blog. But I am compelled to write.  I see the bad news on television, the reporters perfectly dressed and prompted to present the dreariness with poise and professionalism. Their program is dotted with commercial breaks advertising products that will make our skin prettier, our bowels more regular, and our sex lives more active. Later in their program those same reporters will laugh about the entertainment headlines or show us the latest decorating trends to ma...

I love this image of Cat's  bravest moment. It was only the second time I saw her climb a tree, and the first time to make it this far up into the branches. She appears to be scouting for her next meal, or perusing the horizon for predators. But in reality, she is just a few feet from a bedroom window where she can be pulled to safety by a willing human. She never was an adventurous cat on her own.  The last time she was in a tree was in 2004.  I had had her only a few weeks and we were still working out the details of our pet owner/pet relationship. She had rebelliously run away one morning and a wandering coyote  forced her to find safety in the tree outside of my condominium while I was at work. As soon as I got home and she heard me walking up the sidewalk she started scolding me for leaving her in such a predicament. Meow, meow, meow, meow...."How could you?" That was the first incident in a string of many over our eleven years together that she c...

Georgia O'Keeffe's Inspiration: Abiquiu, New Mexico Today marks the 30th day I've been on the road and away from home. I've travelled through eight states and logged over 3,500 miles. I'm road weary and homesick. I long for the personal comforts that even the most luxurious hotels cannot offer. Comforts like the weak shower head in my bathroom, sitting on a squatty beach chair on my patio, and the sound of the school bus cruising through the neighborhood promptly at 8:15 each morning. I'm not complaining. Everywhere I go I meet people that tell me how much they would like to be in my shoes, to escape their daily routines and wander. I am grateful that I don't have a regular job and a daily routine, but I think they are all romantics. Great cinematography is somewhat to blame for glamorizing life on the road.  Landscapes captured on film don't capture the smell of excessive motor heat, the eye fatigue caused by incessant sun glare on the da...

Each time I visit my parents in Maine I usually have the very good fortune to accompany them on their monthly "hiking group" outing. May's outing was a day of biking day on Peaks Island, one of many islands in Casco Bay off the coast of Portland.   Now an artists' community with about 800 year-round residents,  the island has been a  popular summer destination for vacationers since the late 1800’s. We had to find out why. After purchasing tickets for passengers and bikes, we boarded the Casco Bay Ferry in Portland. The ferry ride is a treat in itself, seventeen minutes of panoramic views of the islands in the bay and the Portland skyline.  From the ferry's dock we could smell  cinnamon and hurried up the hill to Peak's Cafe where some of us enjoyed Linda's famous cinnamon buns. I bypassed the buns to get my buns on a rental bike at  the bike rental stop just down the street.  Brad’s Bike Rentals looks like a small garage with a fr...