For me, downsizing would be to get rid of our house, and perhaps keep the camp and 100 acres as our summer place, and to buy an RV, not so much to do a marathon vacation trip but to be able to live in different places. I have always enjoyed living in new places more than I have visiting new places. With a good sized RV, perhaps a motorhome, we could do that without a large expense beyond that of buying the RV itself. Yeah, the mileage might be poor, but we wouldn't necessarily be driving it every day and, as it is, we have oil costs, electric costs and water costs. Maybe some day.
Something exciting to look forward to @Babs Hunt! Makes sense to have AAA help you make it the most effeicient route.
I'm adoptable! . I get bored living in one place too long. This is the longest I've lived anywhere....13 years.
Or you could buy one of those tiny houses that you can pull around and always be home wherever you go! That's what I'd like to do. But the bedroom in that tiny house could not be in the loft like most of them are. Everything on one floor for us at this age.
I like the idea of just having an RV or even a camper van and traveling from place to place, too; but I think I would always want a home to come back to. Or maybe not, a house is a lot of work, for sure, and you have to worry if someone is breaking in , or something else happening while you are gone. When I used to have the campground membership, that was great for traveling and being able to either camp out or rent a cottage when we traveled. I used to have the little VW camper bus, and for me, it was the perfect size. It was easy to drive, economical on gas, and had room for everything that I needed to take on a trip. Most campgrounds will let you stay about two weeks, and then you can move to another campground in the area that is part of the membership system, or you can travel to another area if you have been in that location as long as you wanted to be there. The campgrounds have laundry facilities, little stores, and usually have swimming pool and hot tub, as well as other things for enjoyment and entertainment. The one where I used to work also served meals, not anything fancy, but breakfasts or burgers and salad bar, and we had a BBQ steak dinner on weekends. It was actually one of my favorite jobs and a fun place to work .
At one time I did alot of research on living full time in an RV. I thought it would be fun when we retired to try to visit all our states that we have never been to or lived in. I have never even seen where I was born in New Baden, Illinois because at the time of my birth my dad was in the Army or Air Force and two weeks after I was born they moved to a new base. I know New Baden is close to Springfield which is a larger city in Illinois but except as a newborn I have never been back to that state. I would like to see where I was born before I leave this earth. When we weren't traveling in our RV we could always park it at one of our kids homes for awhile or at a home base campground. Life doesn't always work out the way you think it will though and even though I would like to do some traveling now that we have a safe and dependable car for doing this...I don't think I would want to live full time in an RV anymore. But there are lots of beautiful places we have never been to here in America and I'd like to explore a few of those places while we still are able to do this. The West is an area I haven't seen much of so our trip to Colorado, Utah, and Oregon would be a good place to start for sure.
My son lives about an hour from Springfield more or less. I've been there a few times for some reason or other besides it being the capital of Illinois. The one thing I do remember is having lunch there with my daughter when she was in dental school in Edwardsville. It was the first time I had grits in my life and it was so good...it was shrimp and grits. This was probably more than 20 years ago but I still remember that meal.
My daughter in Texas made shrimp and grits the last time I was over there and it was yummy! When I make grits for breakfast I always put eggs and cheese in it...lots of times bacon bits or crumbled sausage too. That with a slice or two or toast is a complete breakfast in one bowl. If I ever make it to my birth place Springfield would be a stop we would make too. I don't think there is much in New Baden to see. My Mom and Dad always told me I was born in an Army tent hospital in New Baden...I still don't know if they were kidding me or not and since they don't live on earth anymore I have no way to find out if this was true. When my Honey and I went to Colorado so I could meet his Mom and his brother, the house he grew up in, the elementary school he went to, and the church where he gave his life to Jesus, etc. I took pictures of everything and I often think how nice it was to be able to see where my Honey spent a good part of his childhood. The best part of my childhood was spent in Summerville, South Carolina and if I knew old house and my school, etc. were still there I wouldn't mind going back there and taking a "stroll" down memory lane with my Honey like he took me on. Talking about traveling is making me feel like doing it so I guess I'm just going to have to keep talking until I get in our car and hit the road!
My middle sister lives in Colorado and has her whole married life, so about 31 years. One of my favorite states, so many things to do and also a very beautiful state scenery wise. She has lived in Littleton, Colorado city, and Monument. My two nieces, her daughters live near Denver. The one who is pregnant now with her first child and her younger sister who will graduate in May and become a pharmacist...don't know where she will settle yet. I do remember that the older girl lived very near the aurora theater shooter.
My picture of Garden of the Gods in Colorado. The year was really 2009, not 2004...at that time I didn't know how to turn the date thing off on my old camera.
I have photos of Garden of the Gods also, just don't know what device they're on...one thats not in use though...maybe my computer I never turn on. I'm thinking I was there around the same time, 2009. That was when after buying my grandson a cap gun at the souvenir shop there, I got pulled over by security because I had it in my carryon and they took it from me. My sister keeps inviting me out, maybe this year I'll go...was planning it last year but my mom died and everything when downhill after that for me for awhile.
Did you say when you plan on doing this? Are you just waiting to get your heart issue sorted out and taken care of and then hit the road?
I will get my Heart and Gastroenterologist out of the way first. My target date for leaving will be the beginning of May that way the weather should be comfortable in the States we want to travel in.