Ever wonder what those people who have brightly lighted Christmas tree lots do the rest of the year? I did, so I asked Kimberly and Jerry Peterson when I bought our tree at their lot at Wyoming and Washington streets, an otherwise-bare piece of land along Stanley Boulevard just south of the McDonald's on Bernal. They're truly the modern-day version of nomads, with their only home being the RV parked next to the tree sales tent. Kimberly's from the Detroit area, Jerry from Las Vegas, and they met and married 13 years ago in Phoenix. That's still their home, I guess, since their only stationary piece of property is a post office box in nearby Peoria, Ariz. Kimberly was a corporate-type, working for American Express and other companies. Jerry was in the tile installation business. But they shared a longstanding dream each had nurtured over the years: to travel the country, live and work where they wanted, and to determine their own destiny. Just before Kimberly's brother Jeffrey died at age 40, he learned of her dream and urged her to "get going" because we don't know how much time we have. That was it and the Petersons have been on the road ever since.

Read the full story here Web Link posted Friday, December 5, 2008, 12:00 AM