Still at Large A collection of columns by Scott Burns The columns contained in this collection were published over nearly 20 years by syndication with AM Universal, Inc. © Andrews McMeel Universal for reprints, contact: Andrews McMeel Universal 1130 Walnut Kansas City, Missouri 64106 tel: 816-581-7500 Collector’s Edition, February, 2017 Dubious Ventures Press Dripping Springs, Texas III Dedication To Carolyn, my wife, for her patience, love, and encouragement as I wrote these columns. IV Acknowledgements Hundreds of people contributed to this book. Many are named and quoted. But I’ve had help from other people whose names don’t appear in the columns--- my editors at AM Universal. Every Tuesday afternoon I would get a call from an editor. First Sue Roush, then Greg Melvin, then Alan McDermott. Laura Jacobus, my editor at the Dallas Morning News did the same. Each helped make better columns with attention to grammar and detail. Any remaining errors, however, are entirely my own. V Another kind of well-heeled. A chartered Hunter 28, en route from Burnt Store to Cabbage Key. VI Table of Contents Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 5 Riding Into Laredo .................................................................................................................. 6 The Incredible Disappearing Slacker ............................................................................... 7 High Times and Low Water .................................................................................................. 9 Where’s The Beef? ................................................................................................................ 11 Lifeguard On the Rio Grande ............................................................................................. 15 Fields of Dreams .................................................................................................................... 17 All Roads Lead To Crystal City .......................................................................................... 19 Night Song in Nuevo Laredo ............................................................................................... 21 The Bridge at Presidio ......................................................................................................... 23 A Great Raw Deal in Juarez ................................................................................................ 26 Containing Growth ................................................................................................................ 28 Born To Be Wild? ................................................................................................................... 29 RVs and the Dusty Road to Mexicare .............................................................................. 31 The Ultimate Crop ................................................................................................................. 33 Lessons from the Road ........................................................................................................ 35 The Phoenician Lives On .................................................................................................... 37 The Real Urban Ecology ...................................................................................................... 38 Living in RV Communities .................................................................................................. 40 Living On The Edge ............................................................................................................... 41 Two Lunches, Two Economies, One Message .............................................................. 44 What Happened To a $10,000 Investment in McDonalds and Starbucks ............................ 45 The $9.50 Martini and the CPI .......................................................................................... 45 Letter From Peru ................................................................................................................... 47 Fire in the Wild, Wild West ................................................................................................ 48 This Time, The Fires ............................................................................................................. 50 Water, Cool, Cool Water ...................................................................................................... 51 Of Earth, Rocks and Hard Places ...................................................................................... 53 As Visible as the Air We Breathe ...................................................................................... 55 Sears, The Great Indoors, and Improvement Inflation ............................................. 56 Will Upscale Home Improvement Mean Stock Improvement for Sears? ............................. 58 Retiring In Mexico ................................................................................................................. 59 Average Monthly Budget for Two People .......................................................................................... 60 Buy or Rent in Mexico? ........................................................................................................ 62 The Pharmaceutical Connection ...................................................................................... 64 Comparing Common Prescription Prices in the U.S. and Mexico ............................................. 66 The Medicare Buck Stops at the Border ........................................................................ 67 Retirement Planning, Part 2 .............................................................................................. 69 Landing In Las Vegas ............................................................................................................ 70 Letter from Northern California ...................................................................................... 72 Real Progress Smaller Than We Think .......................................................................... 74 Overcoming Wealth Addiction ......................................................................................... 75 Return To San Miguel ........................................................................................................... 77 Living Lite: Wealth With Less Money ............................................................................. 79 My New (and Bigger) Prius ................................................................................................ 81 A Floating Retirement ......................................................................................................... 82 The Margarita Portfolio .......................................................................................................... 84 La Dolce Vita in Naples, Florida ........................................................................................ 85 Can You Say Boom? ............................................................................................................... 87 Say Boom: Florida Homes vs. the National Median ............................................................. 88 Your Place at the Beach---$19,500 .................................................................................. 89 John and Lorraine Hays, “full-timers” ............................................................................ 91 Charlie Blackwell’s Vision .................................................................................................. 92 I Have Seen The Future And It’s Got Wrinkles ............................................................ 94 Death, Taxes and Snow ........................................................................................................ 96 A Vision Fulfilled in Mesa ................................................................................................... 98 Unlocking the Secret of RV Living .................................................................................... 99 A New Home Economics ................................................................................................... 101 Whatever Happened To Ensenada? ............................................................................. 102 Blackjack Technology ....................................................................................................... 103 My (Innocent) Mexican Drug Run ................................................................................. 105 Return to Big Bend ............................................................................................................. 107 2 Working Stiff Houses, Fat Cat Prices ............................................................................ 108 All that glitters is aluminum ........................................................................................... 109 ‘Mad Max: The Later Years’ ............................................................................................. 111 Rick Ruff, Airstream Guardian Angel .......................................................................... 113 Ride to Live, Live to Ride ................................................................................................. 114