To pay for university and my travels, I spent ten years working in the bush. We were a roving band of gypsies. We would move camp every few weeks. A cook would make us meals from a kitchen trailer and we pulled a shower shack. Most would sleep in tents and the rich folk would have vans or truck campers.

There were usually about 60 people in camp. 60% male and 40% female. We would wake up at 5:30 to a truck horn, to frozen ground, and the smell of bacon.

The work attracted many different types of people, because you could make a lot of money in a short period of time and then head back to your “real” life. There were some like me who loved it so much that they extended the season and worked for 6 months.

There were musicians, photographers, ski bums, Canadian national ski racers, students, African migrants, travellers and even a few criminals. Evenings were spent around a fire dancing, singing, and exploring the world without any inhibitions or expectations. Days off were spent by a river, a dugout sauna on the beach, and naked frolics through the forests. Sometimes on beds of moss.

We were free. The locations of the places we went provided us with freedom, but it was also the people. It was the lack of apprehensions, expectations, and the willingness to coexist with people I would have never been exposed to otherwise.

I’ve never been able to recreate this feeling or experience. I’ve been searching for something like it for the past 15 years.

I’ve always lived my life in the “real” world and have always sought to feel and experience as much as I could.

Bitcoin brought me here, but it’s not why I stay. I stay because I’m back in the bush. I’m with my band of gypsies, around the campfire making music. I didn’t think I would find it again but here we are.