Our Magickal Journey

Wow.  Does anyone else remember the movie, “Armageddon?” At one point, one of the actors said something like, “It’s like 98% excitement and 2% fear.  No, maybe it’s 98% fear and 2% excitement.” From day to day, it changes for us.  We’re excited to start our adventure, but scared s***less, too.

This reminds me of when I retired from the Air Farce.  I had never known any other way of life.  Twenty-one years of being told when to eat, when to go to bed, where to live, and that I’ll always have job security.  I had never filled out a resume and had no idea how to live like a civilian.  I was sick to death of all the rules, regulations, and general nonsense of military life and had some vague notion that when I retired, I wouldn’t have to put up with that stuff.  If I didn’t like the job I had, I could just quit! And then get another job.  Silly, naive boy…

Now, I’m sick (literally) of being a cop.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved it.  And I’m still going to be a “reserve” (read unpaid) cop and work a shift occasionally.  But the doctors have spoken.  And, I’ll admit, we’ve dreamed about this for eleven years.  You know, if we don’t like where we’re staying, why, just unhook and head for someplace else.  Freedom with a capital FREE! Silly, naive boy…

For some reason, Lady G thinks we should eat now and then.  In a motorhome that gets 5 mpg, we’re going to be able to “head someplace else” about once every month or two.  We have no gear for RVing.  All the “little” things, like a way to tow our car behind the coach (Figure $1500 worth of towbar, brakes, lights, etc.) we’ll just have to save up the money for.  And this is a 20-year-old coach with no kind of warranty, expressed or implied. Things WILL go wrong with it.  So, we have to save money for gas, campgrounds, gear, repairs, RV clubs, mail forwarding service, internet access, and, oh yeah, food! All on an income less than half of what we’re used to. We both have the feeling that failure is a distinct possibility. And failure means living under a bridge someplace.  Fear.

On the other hand, if things go well, there are few repairs that are needed, we can find inexpensive places to park the RV, gas prices don’t skyrocket again, etc., we are going to be able to see so many wonderful things.  There are people who know how to RV on a budget and we’ve thought of things we can do to reduce costs.  This could work!  I’ve never seen the Grand Canyon even though I’ve lived in Arizona for 7 to 8 years all together.  How about a visit to Mt. Rushmore? Yellowstone? The Florida Keys? The Hoover dam? All the family and friends we can visit.  This is ADVENTURE!  Excitement.

So we read everything we can get our hands on about RVing, and especially full-timing.  We try to educate ourselves (Yes, I bought “The Idiots Guide to RVing”).  And we trust in our magic, karma, luck, or whatever you want to call it.  “Leap and a net will appear.” And we realize that there ARE going to be nasty surprises.  And some VERY good surprises, too. Today, I can’t wait to get on the road! I am so pumped!  And Lady G said to me this morning, as soon as she got up, “Tell me again that we CAN do this.” Tomorrow, I’ll be the one needing reassurance and she’ll be the one giddy with excitement.  And that’s why we’ll succeed!

Until Next Time,

Lord Geezer

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