Life Is Like A Box Of Chocolates

Not trying to be a Negative Nelly here, but I thought maybe I could share some of what goes on during our real life as real humans!  Bob and I hoped for so long that we would one day be able to step away from the workforce and be able to carry on for as long as possible doing the things we had put off doing.  It seemed like such a pie-in-the-sky sort of lifestyle!  What would we do? Would we be healthy? Would we even like retirement? What if one of us got sick? What if one of us was left alone? And on....

One of our most hoped-for goals was to have the time to go places for more than a week or 10 days at a time.  We have never had high paying jobs and that's ok.  We knew how to live within our means and carried on.  We knew that retirement was not going to bring a big pot of money with it!  So the only real way we could travel much was to do it on our terms, which means economically!  That's what led to our choice to get ourselves a comfortable home on wheels and see what develops.  And it's still developing, and we're having a good time.  But in the interest of transparency, I'll clue you in that there are little bumps along the road, too!  Things happen, and you change. 
​Just like this agave plant in Arizona, growing all happy in its spot until a wildfire comes along and changes things!  Hopefully there will probably be some new growth on this guy, but only time will tell.

Our own glitches aren't near as hazardous as a wildfire!  And not life changing in any way. Here are some examples of the not romantic side of life while we travel--

• Even in a new trailer, things break!  I don't care how much you pay for it.  Systems malfunction, materials break, screws loosen.  And scratches happen.  Deal with it and continue on and there's no one to blame.
• Sometimes the toilet stinks.  Because sh_ _ happens!  Deal with it and turn on the fan!
• We are short on space, always.  Clothing has become a non-issue when I realized that a large assortment of clothes just leads to having to make more decisions about what to wear.
• We don't have space to entertain, unless we're all outdoors.  And quarantining makes it a moot point!
• We sometimes don't have phone service, wifi or the tv channels we like.  So we either talk or read or take a nap!
• You really spend a LOT of time together.  Sometimes too much!  Then I use my words and we figure it out.  
• Bob drives too close to the center line, if you ask me.  I drive too close to the outside line, if you ask Bob. Maybe it averages out, when I'm riding I try not to think about what he's doing! And I really bite my tongue!
• Our wine can't even come close to being temperature controlled.  Not a problem, I made a footstool into a wine storage facility and at least the bottles are cushioned so they can't break when we hit a speed bump! And buy cheaper wine, which I might not like as well but it's all better for me because I should lessen my wine intake anyway!
• I have hardly any space for my sewing and yarn and fabric!  I can't work on multiple projects at once, like usual, but now I'm putting more thought into what I am doing.  And that costs nothing!
• Despite GPS, phone apps and real paper maps, sometimes we get off track!  I won't say lost, because we are always somewhere!  But it's not as easy to get out of a wrong turn when towing a trailer!

As you can see, there's the downside and the upside of enjoying our retirement plan of travel with our trailer.  None of this is really a problem, just a series of adjustments.  We know we are privileged to be doing this together, and we don't take that lightly.  Just keeping it real here, and pass the chocolate!
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Isn't she beautiful! Waiting for you to visit in Ajo, Arizona. Just up the road from Why. My favorite name place next to Nowthen, Minnesota!