I put in my time in some other jobs as well, but got lucky and didn't have to after 30. Was a ranch-hand, oil rig worker, spike-pounder on the Burlington Northern, and worked on a custom-cutting crew for 6 summers, mostly whacking wheat and barley but also some safflower. Still have my hard-hat from the oil-field days hanging on the wall of my office.
But also got lucky in the only really full-time job I've ever had except writing. Was the map-maker for a history/archaeology research firm for about a year and a half, which like hunting/gun writing got me into the field frequently, in interesting country.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
