I make no bones about it: The Fat Rancher is a city boy. A technology refugee.

At the tender age of 18 I headed to Austin and spent the next 35 years bouncing around metro areas working with technology companies. However, the allure of The Silicon Hills faded as I searched for family friendly activities. Fate conspired introduce our family to RVing where we fell back in love with nature. After years of spending family weekends seeking out natural surroundings at various state and local parks, we decided to buy our own “little piece of heaven” where we could retreat on the weekends.

One thing led to another and, since property values in Austin (our hometown) were skyrocketing, we thought: “Why not just move out of the rat-race?” With that thought we started looking for just the right spot: Within a half hour of the city, off the beaten path but with highway accessability. Enough acreage to insure privacy, access to good, conservative public schools. Blessedly, we found Liberty Hill, Texas.

Now, much to the chagrin of the locals, lots of other city refugees have discovered our little secret. And Liberty Hill is growing fast.

However, we do our best to keep the small town charm by volunteering at our church, patronizing the small businesses here in town and resisting change wherever possible. Though I must admit that decent broadband would be a guilty pleasure…

You can tell I’m not really into this “selfie” stuff. But chugging around the pasture on our 40 year old Kubota tractor listening to Three Days Grace or Disturbed? It’s almost liberating.

How long will Liberty Hill be called home? There’s no telling.

The arrival of Costco and “The largest Target store in the US” probably seals our town’s fate.

But until we find another “slice of heaven,” our little spread feels like home.