We'll take that double-dog dare

 Reading the Workkamper forums, I came across this post written by retiredmsgt2 (hope they don't mind me reposting it).

 " Have contract on home...moving into RV this weekend...auctioning what is left after sifting through priorities. Just some thoughts for the hesitant dreamer out there: Most of us start fulltime after the kids are grown and gone. You get left with the results of creating a home for the family, but there are empty rooms now. You are paying to heat and cool rooms that aren't being used anymore. Your personal priority changed with age, and a lot of accumulated things no longer have the same luster. That huge kitchen was nice, but it is usually just dinner for two these days. You eat TV dinners on a tray in front of the TV while watching reruns of "I Love Lucy". As Peggy Lee used to sing..."Is That All There Is ?" No, it isn't. There's the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Disney World, Adventureland, National Forests, barbecue in the South, fresh trout in Colorado, raw beauty in Big Bend, History in Boston, and mountains to be crossed on the way to the beach in California. There's country music in Nashville, variety in Branson, a submarine in North Little Rock, flea markets everywhere, and lots of friends that you haven't met yet. So, come on, let go of what was, accept what is, and think of what your life could be if you put a plan into action...and don't look back. There is laughter, fun, adventure, and the pure joy of being free waiting at the end of your driveway. Go for it !!! I double-dog dare you to enjoy the rest of your life."

 Well put! There is SO MUCH out there to see and do. His list is just the tip of the iceberg.

  We have empty rooms and eat on TV trays (not TV dinners). We are so glad our kids are supportive of our plans. They have heard them for YEARS. Now we are in limbo, waiting for the house to sell and counting down the days (27 more weeks).



  "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor...Explore. Dream. Discover."  --Mark Twain

The Fix

  What a great weekend!! We got our grand kid fix. That's what we call it when we haven't seen the boys for a while.
  Nothing like spending time with grand kids.
  While it was nice enough to go camping, our camper is in storage. Its not far to get, but with trying to sell the house it takes the entire driveway.
 We were to have 3 showings, but one cancelled. Hope the warm weather gets people moving- literally!
               On Saturday we went fishing. Didn't catch anything- but that didn't matter.


Lukas, Isaiah, grandpa, and Noah







Noah



                                We took a hike to the Vernon marsh.

 

 Had campfire in the back yard.

The boys slept in a tent set up in the sunroom.

 On Sunday we did a little geocaching and then had a nice lunch with our youngest daughter Colleen.

Lukas and grandpa

  






Isaiah and geo treasures

                                                                                                                     
Ooh!!  On Saturday the girls gave us tickets to see Zac Brown on July 5.
That is something we really wanted to do- but I'm to cheap-haha
Wendy loves their song Free.
We really have the best kids!!!!!
                                          

  

Geocaching (Sunday)

                            Wow, I'll take this weather. What a nice warm day.
  Seeing that we had another Open House today,  we planned on going hiking. One of our favorite state parks is only 19 miles away. Bong State Park has a lot of hiking trails and 2 nice campgrounds.
   We packed up a small lunch and some drinks and headed out. Stopped at Home Depot to get some command strips to hang the GPS to the dash board. We got the velcro ones and put the GPS over one of the vents. It's angled towards the driver. The glare wasn't as bad as on top of the dash board.

 We drove to the park and paid for our annual sticker. With the warm weather, there were a few cars pulling in. The geocaches we are going to look for are The Big Bad Wolf series. The trails were quite wet in places. Saw a lot of deer tracks in the mud. The first cache, we headed down the trail and turned left. Stopped to recalculate the GPS and we heard buzzing noise. Didn't see any bees nest but there was a swarm of them at the top of a tree. Turned around and went back to the main trail. A short walk and we found The Straw House.

  Signed the log book and headed off to find The Stick House. It wasn't to far down the trail and the GPS was pointing to the left off the trail. A little bushwhacking and we found it.

  Hiked down the trail to find The Brick House. This was a easy find. Couldn't miss this little red house.

  Signed the log book and added a small peg game. We like to leave things that the kids to find. Moved the house about a foot to the right. Its by a tree and not out in plain sight for a muggler to get. Finished the trail loop and took a break for our lunch. Sat on the tailgate enjoying the warm sunny day.  Not far down another trail was a cache called Swan Lake. It didn't take long and we found the small lake. And yes there were 2 swans.

We had to look around for this one. Found it!

   Had a few more caches on our list to find. We'll save them for the next time. Hiked back to the truck. Had a great time hiking and talking about our future plans.

 
   


  

Traditions

   Last night we continued an old tradition of celebrating birthdays with Wendy and Dawn. We have been friends with Bill since high school and Dawn after he robbed the cradle.
  Their birthdays are Febuary and we try and get out for a good dinner as soon as our busy schedules allow. haha.

    Our favorite has been Crawdaddys. They serve as you can imagine by the name Louisiana fare. It includes crayfish,(crawdads) alligator, jumbaylala, and the like.

Southern Lemonade, Hurricane, Gater Guzzler.

  As with most good places to eat there is a wait. We have waited as long as 2 hours when it first became popular. Tonight the wait was a nice 45 minutes. Just enough time for a good Louisiana drink.

  The decor is Mardi gras and music to create a fiestive atmosphere.

  

 As we waited Dawn entertained with her drawing of an elephants but. She said she wanted to be an art teacher at one time, but didn't think she could deal with the kids. Maybe if should could knock em around a little. ---we had a good laugh thinkin how that would go.

 The dinner selection is huge and as we wait we usually change our minds on what we're having 3 or 4 times.



Eggplant w/shrimp,crawdads



Cajun Chicken Oscar



                          We took some doggy bags home so we had room for our deserts.



Creme Brule, Key Lime pie, Pecan pie, and a Chocolate creme pie. Yummy!



 The night ended with a couple games of cribbage at our house talking about how full we were.

 On Sunday we have a open house scheduled and plan to go geocaching to walk off some #s.

Packing it in

  This is how we did our vacations. Packed it in. We never made reservations, except for National Parks. Did a lot of planning and had a lot of options. Here is what we did on one vacation to Colorado in July 2005.
  It took 2 days to drive to Great Sand Dunes National Park. We didn't have reservations and they had sites available. We stayed for 2 nights.

 
  The sand dunes were fun to hike. There was water in Medano Creek.It was only ankle deep. We were lucky because most of the time there is no water. Up on top of the dunes, you could see the creek and then it would disappear into the sand.  A lot of great hiking trails.

  We moved on to Lake City area. Camped at a park on Lake San Cristobal. We paid for 4 nights. This is the best site we have ever had. Waking up to the view of the mountains was great.

  The first full day we drove the Alpine Loop. Nothing like being on the edge. A woman in town gave us good advise. She told us which way to drive the loop so we were on the mountain side of the road instead of the edge. There isn't much room for 2 vehicles passing.
   On the loop we stopped at the American Basin. The wildflowers were at their peak. Stopped at Animes Forks, a old mining town and Engineer Pass.

  On the next day we got up before it got light. We were off to summit Handies Peak (14048'). There were a few other hikers out on the trail. We had a 2750' elevation gain to the summit. The view at the top was breath taking!

   The third day we thought we would go find out where the trail head for Uncompahgre Peak was. We planned on hiking it the next day. Found the road to the trail head and drove down it to the parking lot. By the time we got to the parking, I told Ray there was no way I'm riding back down THIS road again. We had most of our hiking stuff with us so off we went to summit another peak. It was a 7.6 miles round trip to the top of the 14309' peak. Near the summit we did meet up with 2 men that were in their 70s. If they could make it,so could I. Our elevation gain was 2900'.

  Rested up the next day. Walked around Lake City and did some geocaching. Also paid for a couple more nights. With one more full day in the area, we were off to summit Redcloud Peak (14034') and Sunshine Peak (14001'). It was a long hike to the summit of Redcloud. Ray said he wasn't feeling real great so we didn't go on to the other peak. Three summits in 4 days was enough.

Sunshine Peak is in the background.

Uncompahgre is on the left in the background.

    Off to Ouray. Paid for 3 nights at the Amphitheater Campground. Toured town and did some geocaching. Our first full day we hiked Bear Creek Trail. Hike it to Yellow Jacket Mine and back. About 8 miles round trip. I remember it down poured on the way back. it didn't last long.

                                                             Hiking on the edge

   The next day, our hike started from the campground. It was 5 miles round trip on the Upper Cascade Falls Trail. The trail went through Chief Ouray Mine bunkhouse and past the falls.
    Well that was what we did in Colorado and now it was time to start for home. Two days of driving and we were back home and back to the real life. I HATED the drive home from our vacations.
   Once we hit the road fultiming, I know we'll pack it in. But we'll have a lot more time to take it all in. Can't wait!!

  
 

  

Retirement

   I was reading a topic in one forum and it was what does retirement mean to you?
One said that retirement is not quitting, but simply doing what you want to and enjoy doing. I like that thinking. Another saying that when you are looking back later no one says I wished I would have worked longer.
  Many times when asked I will not say retiring, just going to do something else.
  Sometimes I feel guilty that we're doing this. Many people are not as fortunate to be able to do this.
 Maybe it just means were getting old-and I'm in denial to that :).
 We plan to work some, maybe not paid positions  I think our ideal gig would be a small campground with a few cabins to clean. Maybe just work for site.Ooh- can you picture me with a cardboard sign -(WILL WORK FOR SITE) haha.

Ray wrote the first part of this blog. I'm sure he'll continue to find time to relax here and there.