Thoughts from Dave

I don't often contribute to this blog. But since my name appears on it I feel that once in awhile I should at least make an effort to say something appropriate about our travels.

On Tuesday I completed my fourth month away from work, so I thought I would reflect a little on my feelings about retirement up to this point. Wahoo!!! Nuff said. Seriously, it has been everything I hoped for, and more. We have really enjoyed the freedom that retirement brings. Getting up when you want, going to bed when you want, going where you want, for as long as you want.

This is not to say that taking the first step wasn't a little scary. Second thoughts would sometimes creep in. Like should we have sold the house? Do we have enough money coming in to sustain this lifestyle? Do we really want to lead this nomadic life? To these questions the answers so far are a resounding YES. It sometimes gets a little boring, but then again, so did work. We have met interesting people and gone to some interesting places. We have just gotten our toes wet, and ready to take the plunge.

So far, we have stayed in the Northwest, but that is soon to change. In another week we will be heading South to California and then to Las Vegas in a few more weeks. Where, by the way, our friends Chad and Robin will be coming down for a few days to visit. From there the plans are to head East to Texas to spend most of the winter in a warmer climate. These are our tentative plans right now, but the great thing is they can change, and probably will. There is really nothing holding us back from doing what we darn well please right now.

Lori and I have spent more quality time with each other in these last four months than in the prior four years. We go on walks together a few times a day. We talk about our travel plans for the immediate future. And generally just communicate with each other much better than when we were working. I feel that it has been very good for our relationship. This October 31st, we will be celebrating our anniversary. And we will be in Las Vegas, where we were married 14 years ago. We planned it this way, because we could. And who knows, maybe we'll make it a yearly ritual. We'll see.

Well, that's enough rambling from me, I'll let Lori take over again and complete the Blog. She's much better at it than I. Happy Trails.

Dave

Photos:
Top: Cheye relaxing on the couch (she's not spoiled at all)
Middle: wild flowers
Bottom: Cheye at the ocean
Video: Since Dave was doing a little looking back I thought I’d go back even further and make a slide show of photos taken before we were full-timers