Hit The Road Jack...

Some of life's greatest decisions are forced upon us; they may not be what we wanted or felt prepared to do at the time, but the situation warranted action and, ready or not, we acted. The results of such momentous decisions are often not what we imagined; what seemed like an absolute disaster or a golden opportunity may turn out to be the opposite, or not really the big deal we had imagined.

We just made a decision that didn't need to be made; to radically change our lives during a time when others are looking for security and peace; calm days without many surprises, satisfaction with the status quo, avoidance of all things stressful and chaotic. Well, I'll admit that, as those of you who know Maureen and I will readily acknowledge, our lives during the last dozen years have not been anyone's idea of idyllic.

My problems have been mostly physical and Maureen's major problem has been me. During a pity party that I held for myself last year, while recuperating from what has become my once or twice-a-year bout with pneumonia, I got to remembering some of my unrealized dreams. I'll be the first to agree that I've lead a pretty interesting life; action-packed with four children, several moves, lots of international travel and the adventure of thirty years of fun-filled corporate life. Even so, there was a dream that I had always wanted to fulfill and was starting to lose sight of; traveling around the U.S. by RV with Maureen.

Before becoming disabled, there seemed to be plenty of time left to do all those things on our lifelist. Since then, though, some dreams had been postponed till some ill-defined time in the future, or ruled out altogether. Well, I decided that I wasn't going to let go of our dream to go RV'ng. And by RV'ng, I mean fulltime; as in motoring off into the sunset for as far and for as long as we wanted. Maureen and I have always loved camping and traveling. We're like two little kids when it comes to road trips; we love to discover and be amazed by the beauty of nature and the calming effect of an early morning breakfast sitting at a picnic table with a view of the mountains in the distance and the sound of a burbling brook at our feet.

During the next four months we will be packing things that will be going into storage and getting rid of anything we don't need anymore (that would be anything that's mine and yes Tony, that means getting rid of more of my books!). I'm still struggling with what to do with my hobby car; the Celica. We could definitely use the money, since much of the RV'ng stuff that will make it easier to fulltime; like a generator, multiple deep cycle batteries, a screened porch (for when we can't stand another moment of being within ten feet of each other) and other things that will make camping more like... well, more like, hmmm, being at home...

Well, selling the Celica would fund all of these purchases right off the bat so that we can "boondock" (live the life of a rich and famous redneck) wherever and whenever we want to. It's actually a great way to save money and the only way to stay in some of the most beautiful state and national forests, which often have no hookups; no electricity, no water, no sewer hookups, NO CABLE TV! But, those parks are often the most beautiful; like those along the Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge Mountains National Park in Virginia.

So stay tuned, by the end of the year we plan to be off and running, probably down to the Keys and around Florida to begin with and then off to the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and points Westward.