Good evening.

Welcome to another edition o Inside the Cover, one of my most favorite shows on PBS Kansas the home of seriously good TV.

One of the best things about reading is discovering a book that is more than it seems.

Tonight's book, Cabin, written by Patrick Hutchison, is one of those books.

It is now time to go inside the cover.

Subtitled Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman, the book was copyrighted in 2024.

Hutchison had gone to college with the plan to be a doctor, but instead had double majored in anthropology and history.

After graduating, he spent six months wandering around in Patagonia and Colombia.

Back home, he worked at random jobs a bartender, a sandwic delivery person, a sushi busboy.

Out of those wanderings and a social science education, he landed on a dream of becoming a gonzo journalist travel writer type person.

Think Hunter S Thompson meets Paul Theroux and Anthony Bourdain.

However, as Hutchison notes, in his mid-twenties, he started selling off parts of the writing dream for thing like being able to afford rent, health care and foods that didn't rhyme with Rop Tamen.

Years after leaving college with an intent to roam the earth, telling the stories of beautiful lunatics, he was living in Seattle, working in an office and wondering how he had ended up there.

He writes, ‘What I did know was that every passing week, month and year that the aimlessness went on, I was more and more desperate.

And then, on a whim, Hutchison, in the early fall of 2013, purchased a cabin for $7,500 from a guy on Craigslist named Tony.

It was a rundown off the grid cabin, 120 shabby square feet of fixer upper located at the end of a gravel road named Wit's End in the mossy woods of the Cascade Mountains of Washington.

The cabin was located in Index, Washington, a little outpost hemmed i by brutally beautiful mountains that consisted of a shabby mini mart, a small coffee shop, and an adventure rafting company.

And as Hutchison summed up his decision, ‘nestled into the forest, the cabin begged for someone to cozy up inside.

Light a fire.

Take a slug of whiskey.

And let the world drift away.

All for the price of a used Hyundai.

In the 282 pages that follow, Hutchison writes of his efforts to maintain, modify, protect, enhance, and improv his little getaway in the woods.

He share stories of questionable neighbors, spiders in the outhouse.

Yes.

Outhouse.

This place truly was off the grid.

And mice in the loft.

And remember the subtle reference to a clueless craftsman?

Hutchison makes clear that he truly was clueless in do it yourself skills.

And he shares how much one can learn from YouTube videos and visits to Home Depot.

This is a book about learning, self-development, self-discovery, and growth.

In fact, in the end, Hutchison leaves his computer and becomes a carpenter.

It is a book about America and it is a book about friends who often accompanied Hutchison to Wit's End for weekend work projects, along with a bit of fun, some beers and or a sip or two of whiskey and friendship.

Cabin is about the beauty and serenity of wilderness, and about the fearsome power of Mother Nature.

Rain plus rain plus rain equals mudslides.

I found Hutchison to be an engaging, likable, entertaining and candidly revealing writer.

I very much enjoyed this book and I wanted to share it with you.

It's a book you might otherwise pass by on a shelf, but I recommend you pick it up for a satisfying read.

That's our show.

Our book tonight has been Cabin by Patrick Hutchison.

See you next time.

Until then, let's keep reading.