Sometimes Things Get Tough....

Even in Paradise.  Now that I was here in Ouray I had to figure out how to make a living.  So listen up! This is important info for you if you are seriously thinking of relocating to Ouray or some other idyllic spot and have not yet retired.

Short and sweet:

• In my first profession I was a Medical Technologist, so I went to work at the smallish hospital in Montrose, CO, 35 miles away, working deep nights for a big pay cut compared to the Dallas job I left.

• I opened a gift shop called "Uniquely Ouray" in the Wright Opera House on Main St.  My shop was the tiny space on the far left.  The Wright Opera House was built in 1888 by Francis Carney, the builder of many of Ouray's more significant early structures.
• The shop never made much money because tourist season really only lasts 3-4 months in the summer.
• Long story short:  I basically worked 24/7 for a year until exhaustion drove me back to Dallas and back to the much higher paying profession of software development.
• But it all had a happy ending!!  I worked for a great Dallas company (and still do).  After a year the company gave me permission to telecommute since all my work was done on the computer.  So I made a beeline back to Ouray, bringing my job with me this time and have been successfully telecommuting for the last 10 years.

I gradually made changes: 

• I dispensed with the little black sports car and bought a respectable Toyota 4Runner which can climb into the mountains with no problems.
• I bought land near Dallas Divide, remarried, and built a house.  Things turned out so well and I'm grateful to whatever powers that be that made all this possible.

Fun fact to know:  Ralph Lauren is my neighbor!  No, really!  Well..........OK.........I own 2 acres of land and he owns 2 or 3 mountains.  And I've never met him and he has no idea I exist.  But still, technically, we're neighbors!