First response so far, not counting family, is from Balloon Bill Morrison:

Jake. What do you know, your story about how you lived and or could have lived. Fascinating. Jesus! Quite a thing to do, give up a fortune. Man. Shaped you up good eh. Courageous fool? No, you live free as Siddharta ferrying the folks back and forth across the . . . I don't know; I'm looking for something here but don't find it. Anyway, apparently you got to write to live for two reasons, to live off a bit of money and because your heart needs it to live. (That, Liz and 'real' love of course). If you had the cushion of the dividends yearly not so much enlightenment, hard scrabble adventure, maybe not nearly the type or as much writing as you do eh. You know something most don't, to have given away ALL your possessions. That's got to be an assuaging thought, in the sense that you know what you can do, did, while others live mundane; you went bottom (TOP) so to speak, in order to rearrange yourself. Reborn. Died in a way and reborn eh. Killed off a part of you to replace it. So, THE STRENGTH COMES FROM you knowing what you can do to make an energizing life happen when push comes to shove. I sent the GUARDIAN piece to my Brother John who enjoys your adventures, work. Bill