Wake up call

[honda03842]

I just received a call from a good friend. They are all ready to begin RVing, a new trailer an new diesel truck, ready to begin a 10 year fulltiming adventure this October.

Her husband fell out of a tree this morning, he fainted in the tree and crashed to the ground with a number of cracked bones. I am literally crushed. He is a super guy, as nice a human being as you will ever meet.

You just never know.

In life is important to realize that because you used to do 'some tasks' does not mean that when you get older you should still do them. I know because Ginny warns me all the time.

There are a few people in life that you love, that you would be willing to absorb some of their pain to reduce theirs. My friend Ed is one.

Be careful, listen to your other self... you are no longer young.

[honda03842]

I still thinking about this one. I've been conscious of life is short, but not so conscious of the potential for injury.

In general we are relatively careful, particularly Ginny. As drivers, we now drive slower, rarely drive at night and drive shorter distances,,,staying fresh and alert.

The danger is the feeling that I can do 'that' because I have. It's not always the case.

One nice aspect of a small trailer is it's size, nothing is too high or too big, most things can be done from ground level and everything is a manageable size. As Ginny says I can clean the trailer in minutes, not hours and days. Washing all the windows might be 5 minutes, all done without leaving your feet. Downsizing has advantages in terms of time and effort. (0ur friend has a fifth wheel. Virtually every washing the windows requires a ladder. I bet cleaning the windows of his diesel even requires a small ladder,

Absolutely nothing I ever thought about before.

[Franswa]

"Quit shopping!"

I have a friend who decided a couple of years ago to buy an RV so that he and his lady could spend weekends and holidays camping and kayaking...

He started shopping for an RV but he wanted to buy that "perfect" RV....so he spent that first summer looking at dozens of trailers... finally pulling the trigger on a trailer just before winter allowing for just one weekend shakedown cruise by himself to see what worked...what didn't and generate a list of winter projects to get it perfectly set up....

The second summer was spent travelling to and kayaking in wonderful places.

At the beginning of the third summer his lady got sick, was admitted to hospital. He has been told that she will not be coming out of there.

Again and again he hears from doctors and caregivers about how she tells them that her fondest memories, the thing she is happiest about / most grateful for is that summer of camping and kayaking she experienced last year....and everytime he kicks himself for not having bought any old trailer at the very beginning of that first summer.

[MarkyVasquez]

Wow, I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. We'll be praying he has a speedy recovery.
My uncle has a beautiful 38 foot Allegra motorhome and has always wanted to travel with us. In December 2015 we made reservations at Davis Mountains State Park in Texas for March.
In February he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Two weeks later he had a really bad stroke. Two months later he passed away.
We have to live everyday to it fullest. Enjoy life and be happy. My uncle traveled all 50 states several times and most of it in a popup, a travel trailer, a fifth wheel, and a motorhome. He told me to retire as soon as I could and not when I needed too. I have also been inspired by of your words are of wisdom on retiring. I've decided to retire at 62 and not 67 so I can travel and enjoy life.
Thank you for your enlightening words of caution when driving, trying to doing the same things when we were young now that we're older, and your information on retirement.
Marky

Sent from my Z987 using Fiberglass RV mobile app

[WendyW]

Those are heartbreaking tales of caution, and I hear you, Norm, Ginny and Franswa. Thank you for the wake-up calls. I am grateful for the reminder to be even more careful and to make wise choices. Godspeed to your friend, Norm.

[emij]

So sad to hear of your losses and devastating situations. It's heartbreaking. Healing thoughts to your friend, Norm.

[Mike Magee]

I hope they can get to the root of why he fainted, too. That is not something one wants to have happen at any time, let alone on a tree limb.

[Uplander]

Norm, I agree with all you write. I retired at age 62. I was going to wait until age 65. My financial advisor told me to retire at 62....said it was stupid to wait.
Once I retired the RV camping urge was too great to resist (we had camped for years when the children were young). Glad to be back on the road. Going to visit my son in South Carolina in September. Told him we would take at least 4 days to drive down with the travel trailer. He insisted I could do it in one or two days.
My response was not more than 4 hours maximum driving per day, perhaps 3 hours per day....he asked why...I told him Norm said 3 or 4 hours is best!!!
I agree....why rush...enjoy the journey...I read the retirement manual....go slow and enjoy the trip...Norm knows best.

Thanks for the advise....Happy Camping.

[honda03842]

Patrick,

I can never justify rushing, except for emergencies. We drive down through Delaware and MD, sometimes stopping at Assateague to see the wild horses, only $5 a night. From there we cross the Chesapeake Bay bridge and take 17 after all the way to SC.

Where do you go in SC?

[Pete]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Be careful, listen to your other self... you are no longer young.

My daughter is now my "other self".

She told me not to cut down that tree limb. I had a ladder and a chain saw, now I have a titanium elbow.

She said I was crazy to get that short wheel base, two wheel recumbent bike. Now I have metal holding my leg bones and ankle together.

I guess I'm a slow learner but hey, I'm on the road with my trailer 4 to 7 months out of the year. At least that's a good decision . . . Greetings from Canso, Nova Scotia.

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by Mike Magee

I hope they can get to the root of why he fainted, too. That is not something one wants to have happen at any time, let alone on a tree limb.

Mike,

We believe we know the reason. He had not eaten breakfast and it was 11 AM, possibly low blood sugar.

Since we retired Ginny and I have become great believers in eating a sensible breakfast every morning. 9 of 10 days we eat a light but filling breakfast, mostly my one egg, a piece of 'grainy' buttered toast (sometimes with honey) and one strip of bacon. It takes us to lunch. I see people who have their two cups of coffee and feel it constitutes breakfast. We have the coffee but with food.

Around 10PM we usually have a little fruit snack, right now it's a handful of cherries.

If we're trying to lose weight, sometimes will have the breakfast meal twice in a day.

[honda03842]

Thanks for the kind words. My friend is doing better this after noon. I told his wife that Ed has helped his friends become conscious of the fact that we're all older and need to be conscious of our age.

As an example I said (to produce a smile) "When we were younger we might of had sex twice before work... now were not working.."

The reality is we need to be conscious of where we are in life. CPAHarley has a post that I added to the NL Caravan "How would you like to meet one of these" with a picture of a big, antlered Moose.

A key to successfully avoiding moose is to be conscious that they are there, waiting to run in front of you, we've had it happen. A reason we rarely drive a night in NL. It's like driving in Zombie territory, you know they come out at night.

[kirkman]

I know to well how short life can be I lost 10 of my friends before I was 36 and the rest of them where gone by the time I was 40. All the people that knew me well that I could remissness about the old days have all passed on. So I have been trying to live like I am retired ever since going, doing and seeing the things I want now. When I reach 62 (6 years from now) you bet I'm retiring I don't have any retirement but I think the wife and I can survive on her small 401k and our social security living in or Egg camper.
Jason

[john madill]

In my younger days canoeing with friends it was always a race to me.

Paddle fastest and get to the takeout first.

Took a while to dawn on me that the last one out of the water was the real winner.

I retired 3 years ago at 62. There are some things I miss about work but I really enjoy doing what I want when I want.

[Uplander]

Norm, We will be headed to Irmo, SC (near Columbia, SC). Our route is from Upstate, NY on the Vermont state line via Interstate 87 south to Interstate 88 at Albany, NY the Interstate 81 at Binghamton, NY south via I81 to I77 down to Columbia. I know that route is all interstate highway going south but our return trip north will be on the Blue Ridge and Skyline Drive etc with other non-interstates as we work our way back north before any snow etc.....all in 3 and 4 hour drive days.

[honda03842]

Patrick,

We used to drive that route when our son's attended Virginia Tech and we've also driven the Skyline drive. Safe travels...

I went to college in SC and we stop in Charleston most years....

[MC1]

Originally Posted by honda03842

I just received a call from a good friend. They are all ready to begin RVing, a new trailer an new diesel truck, ready to begin a 10 year fulltiming adventure this October.

Her husband fell out of a tree this morning, he fainted in the tree and crashed to the ground with a number of cracked bones.
Be careful, listen to your other self... you are no longer young.

Norm and others, I can really relate to your stories. Just yesterday I dropped by to visit a pal. He spent the last 10 years building this 34 Ford from the ground up. He designed and built the frame and worked the crude fiberglass body to what it is today. The car was just finished up and plated a month ago. Ironicly, because of a medical condition he is restricted from driving. All the man wants to do is take the car for a drive and for now, at least, it is not safe and not happening. We hope his health will improve soon and he will have many years of happy motoring.

[Linda Stewart]

I am sorry to hear of the mishaps, losses and pains.

When I was 35 I had a wonderful partner in life, two close girlfriends and thought life was going on as it was forever. We used to joke about how much fun it would be to sit in our rocking chairs together on the porch in our old age and reminisce about the good times.

The next year I had to identify my partner in the morgue. He died at age 38 of a heart attack.

Two years later one of my girlfriends was killed by a drunk driver while on her way to enjoy a scuba weekend. Again, a very upsetting identification at a different morgue.

It wasn't until several years later that I met Steve, underwater, scuba diving. I was still diving in my 50's. I have since given it up. Artificial knees and CPAP machines have that effect.

I am now in my late 60's. Two years ago my other girlfriend was sadly admitted to a nursing home in her early 50's with advanced
early onset dementia. It broke my heart.

Bottom line here is I totally agree. And we have all heard it before. Stop, slow down, be kind to others. Enjoy the simplist things in live. I love to sit in the morning outside of my Boler sipping my coffee and just listening to the sound of a breeze rustling leaves.

No rocking chair, just because, but a camp chair. And sunrises and sunsets, family, and nice people.

Take it easy and safe FGRV forum friends.

Oh, I almost forgot...Bob Miller...yes we did address the safety issues first. The tires were my birthday gift.

[Indiana Lynn]

A year ago my 49-yr-old brother and I were talking about getting a FGRV to take his 2 daughters camping. I had been wanting one since I started tent camping with my autistic niece 3 years ago. My brother was ill. He said that, now that he was retiring, he would camp with us if we had a camper. Well, I am still shopping for a 13 ft "egg" but my brother is gone. Live each month as if it is your last, folks.

[ljswanson53]

I hear ya to all of the above posts. Myself, I just retired in March at the age of 62 so that my hubby and I could knock off some items on the bucket list before health failed one of us. I saw my grandfather die in the early morning of his first day of retirement and my father died before my mother retired. Didn't want that to happen to us. So far, so good!

Linda