1st Retirement RV Ramble 2024

3 weeks / >5000 miles - Intro

Hello! This is my first post and waaaay overdue. I admit to being intimidated while attempting to learn my way around here. But I think I am starting to get it. Allow me to practice by submitting some journal posts about out recent RV trip to visit friends and family across the miles. We hope to do more of this when Rick reaches full retirement later this year.

Short intro for those who don’t know us, I am retired from the box office at Bridgestone Arena and Rick is working part time through most of this year to burn off built up PTO before full retirement. I intend for this substack to be about our return to hosting house concerts later this year, but first I need to get aquainted with how this app works! :-)

I thought Rick was just dreaming at the beginning of 2024 when he started talking about us taking an RV trip in May. But when he told me he had checked out rental trucks (our pickup is elderly too) I decided he was serious about it. He wanted to visit his last living uncle in Great Falls MT, his sister in Rapid City SD, and our home farm in Minnesota. When he suggested we might visit friends in Colorado and New Mexico too, I was suddenly as excited as I was apprehensive about this upcoming trip. Would Guthrie and I enjoy it or merely survive it?

We set out with a rental truck pulling our small travel trailer called Kerouac, and both dogs also. Guthrie is 16 now and has pretty severe arthritis which we are keeping managed to a degree with meds. We weren’t sure how he would hold up, but he surprised us by doing great and loving the adventure. Levon is 10 and in good health. For our first trip of this length, I opted to make RV campsite reservations in advance. That takes the stress out of ‘where will we park tonight’ but also locks you into a schedule that you may come to regret. It’s definitely a trade-off. Last minute cancellations are not really a thing - at least not one you’d like - in the campsite world. Meet Kerouac, Guthrie and Levon.

Kerouac

This first post has been a huge learning curve! Next we’ll get into the actual trip, and the fun that transpired. Thanks for your interest and hanging with me as I figure out Substack.