In 2018 I wrote:

Empty nesters?  Now what?

With our 35th wedding anniversary approaching,  the kids officially out of the house living their own successful lives and retirement  within view – the question becomes what is next for us?  We know we want to continue to travel and we want to be as free, as possible, from household maintenance and the traditional grind.  Do we move into an apartment near the beach?  Do we move out of state?  Do we move out of country?  We know we want to DO something different that will feed our wanderlust.

While pondering ‘what’s next’, I stumbled across the blog of a young family that decided, instead of buying the ‘McMansion’ they had been saving for, to purchase an Airstream and travel the U.S. for a year.  While they were not where we were in our lives it was interesting to follow their travels, the good, the bad and the ugly.  As they traveled across country down and around and back  I was very enticed, though I didn’t mention it to my husband until I was sure it was something I REALLY wanted to do – what if I mentioned it and he thought it was a great idea and then I chickened out???  I wanted to be sure of myself first!  By the time their first year was over and had decided to continue for one more year,  I was hooked.  While my husband may have thought I’d finally lost my marbles, he listened with an open mind and we began our research.  It wasn’t long before we found YouTube vlogs by Less Junk More Journey, Long Long Honeymoon, The Motorhome Experiment and a few others.  Needless to say the future of Our New Neighborhood was in the making!

Please follow along on our journey to the journey.  It promises to be an exciting path!

And here is the new plan:

It’s always good to have a plan and be wise enough to accept there are often forks in the road and plans can change.  How you handle the change affects the journey.  While we spent the last few years planning a life of fulltime RV living once he retired in 2023 (this year!), we had to pause at the yield sign and have long conversations of whether we veer to the left or to the right at the crossroads.  While we still have the hunger for exploration and the freedom to travel we have adjusted our course.  We will be staying close to our grown children, and the community we have been a part of for our 40 years together, as a home base.  As happened to many when the reaction to how pandemic affected us, in one way or the other, our thought process changed.  We  want to stay within reach of family, physicians and my work from home employment.    However, our travels will not end.  Our 1975 GMC Motorhome, our beach cabana on wheels, is raring to go and we are planning extended road trips as I write.  We also have a few cruise ship vacations booked to enjoy the sea air and new ports of call. 

Flexibility is the key to a 40 year old relationship/marriage, whether it’s adjusting to the fact the toilet seat will NEVER be put back down (him) or the ….hmmmm coming up with no faults of mine!  Anyway, let’s move on – what was I saying??  Oh, adjustments to a plan and being flexible yadda yadda yadda, sometimes life doesn’t go the way you have planned but it doesn’t mean it’s a negative, it’s just different.  We are looking forward to the freedom his retirement will bring us and the adventures ahead of us as this new chapter begins.  Hope you continue to follow along!