Raised on
the east coast, Kathy didn’t see a desert until she’d moved to San
Francisco in her college years. Taking bus trips down to beaches in
Mexico, the desert felt like something to ‘get through’ in order to
get to the beach.
Back-packing in the Sierras brought Kathy closer to the
Mojave. One day, driving through Darwin in search of a friend's
place, she felt ‘eyes were on her’ from behind curtains as she
drove through the town. Kathy passed broken down shacks and cars
and wondered how anyone could live in such a place. The town was so
unnerving, she decided not to even get out of her car to walk
around. Over time she came back to Darwin to visit those friends
and began a serious quest for a vacation home there. With such a
small population, property for sale was not easy to come
by.
Through a series of events – some tragic and some
disappointing – Kathy finally got a lead a few Darwin properties
and purchased one. When the work/live space she was hoping for in
San Francisco did not materialize, Kathy decided to make Darwin
home.
In this episode
Kathy describes what it’s like to
live in a desert town with no stores or government, with the
nearest gas or grocery 50 miles away. The only real social scene is
the daily 11:30 a.m. trip to the Post Office for mail – the
Postmaster has the only job in town.
We
also talk about life in the desert as one ages; Kathy calls Darwin
‘a great place to die’.
These
days, Kathy splits time between Darwin and Taos, New Mexico. She
describes the property in Taos as even more primitive and off grid
than Darwin. It’s at an elevation of 7200 feet where she hauls
water and handles other manual living activities
daily.