The Hermitage
May 17, 2019
As Pogo (a Walt Kelly cartoon strip for those of you who are not old enough to remember it) says,
"We have met the enemy and he is us."
Got back from my trip on Monday. Was planning on spending three days at Junction, but bad weather was forecast (and actually hit) so I came on home.
Really tired. And that’s part of the issue.
All this is leading up to:
I’m hanging up my spurs.
Had lots of time to think while on the trip (will write a meditation soon.) Really prayed and evaluated the whole RVing experience, and…decided there are three major factors in the decision:
I just don’t have the stamina anymore.
It’s not fun anymore. Traveling solo isn’t the same as traveling with Andrea, or even Molly for that matter.
The greatest of all...I don’t feel I’m a safe RV driver anymore.
As far as the last is concerned, I’ve always said when that day came, I was going to quit.
My eyesight is a big part of that. I have 20/40 vision without glasses which is within TexDot’s requirements, but I’m accustomed to 20/15. My eyes are apparently showing their age because we couldn’t get a good prescription. My eyes were fluctuating too much. “Happy medium” lenses tire my eyes quickly.
The secondary part of that is seeing signs at a distance so I can make decisions. I can do okay in a car, but my RV has over twice the stopping distance and doesn’t take well to quick turns!
I’ve run my decision by my sons and they’re in agreement. Chris and I spent a couple of hours just running through alternatives. I still have plenty.
I can’t be sad.
If you count the couple of years we RV-ed in the 80s, I’ve been on the road over twenty years, traveled over 100,000 miles +/- in 10 coaches, saw most of the USA, and met lots of great folks. The latter isn’t going to stop just because I don’t have an RV anymore.
I still have several trips planned, so we’ll see how airlines and I gee and haw. On all three trips it looks like I can get good connections and good seats, so it’ll just be fighting TSA and baggage. Made it South Africa. Should be able to make it through ATL or DFW! (I’m convinced. When the compute sees my name it says, “Hmmm. He’s getting in at the gate farthest from the terminal, so we’ll make him change terminals, too. That’ll show him!”)
In the meantime, this is probably the last trip blog in the foreseeable future. But…
Till then…
Thanks for yonderin’ with me all these miles.