Starting A Better Living Quest

I’ve recently started a new site called Better Living Quest. It’s about my family’s effort to pursue better health — physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially. I’m back outside the US now, based in the Philippines after leaving Arizona.

Life Off-Grid in Arizona

From 2021 to 2025, we lived off-grid in Arizona. It was an experience to say the least. It was real homesteading, but I called it ranchsteading since it focused on building an off-grid ranch. It was hard work and a daily struggle to turn raw land into a home.

We succeeded in some ways. We built friendships and went through many hardships. Looking back, we learned a lot. The kids had fun, but it was tough on everyone. We tried to do too much at once while my health failed me and my family.

Back in 2013, when we returned to the US, my health was strong. I was in better shape than I had been in years, with no real blood pressure or diabetes issues. I felt good. I still carried more weight than I wanted, but I knew I was moving in the right direction. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there as my health kept getting worse. Fast forward twelve years.

Choosing a New Direction

We had long known we needed to make a solid change, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to do it. Money and work issues were always at the forefront, and they hurt our off-grid experience too. We were spending more than we earned, day after day. In many ways we felt like slaves.

Finally, we decided enough was enough, even if we didn’t know exactly what to do. In June 2025, we took a cross-country trip to see different parts of the US. We made it all the way to Liberty State Park in New Jersey. That three-week trip cost a lot, but along the way we decided we needed to leave the US. Since my wife hadn’t seen her family since 2013, the Philippines was the clear choice.

The Philippines has its own health challenges. We discovered that quickly after arriving. But no matter the difficulties, we came in mid-August 2025 after a whirlwind of selling and giving away what we could. I didn’t want to pay for a storage unit when we had no idea if or when we’d be back.

A New Chapter

Now we’ve begun our Better Living Quest. We are eating differently, choosing more natural foods, and exercising more. We are working on living better. I don’t know exactly where this will lead or the directions we’ll take, but I’ll share the journey along the way.

This blog (and the companion Substack) won’t focus on the quest itself — that’s for the Better Living Quest site. Here, I’ll write about the things I see, do, and study. These are the Musings of a Lost American.

This article also appears on my Substack at https://fortwoods.substack.com/p/beginning-a-new-quest