Tag retirement

Top Ten Retirement Adventures: No. 6

Reg Spittle Leave a comment

In 2016, we plunged into the world of RVing. By spring of 2017, without having mastered the art of hookups nor the skill of guiding our Rockwood Mini travel trailer into camping sites, Sue and I climbed into our Toyota Tacoma and headed to Arizona with only one other definite stop: Charleston, West Virginia, where we visited our son Chris and his girlfriend Gail.

The tow police questioned our choice of trucks. Some asked, “How does that tow for ya?” when they actually meant, “You’re towing that with that?” But Taco never let us down and actually became quite attached to Minnie, aka Mini.

Recognize these places? Sedona, Bowie, Chiricahua, Saguaro, Asheville, Warm Springs, Badlands, and Charleston, South Carolina? There were many more highlights. We used our hiking shoes often and Minnie’s favorite spot was South Dakota’s Black Hills (Can’t you tell in the photo above?).

In the Hill Country of Texas, we rode out a tornado warning in Taco, where we buckled up for safety. He thanked us for not leaving him alone by running to the restroom to ride out the storm in a shelter with a foundation. We learned the art of reverse hookups in Texas, when the sewer, water, and electric hookups were on the opposite side, meaning we had to somehow string pipes and wires under Minnie. They barely reached.

After twenty-five states, 9,833 miles, and 61 days, I wrote:

“Was it easy? Absolutely not, but the best trips have challenges. Call us crazy, but we think overcoming hardships is part of the joy of travel. Towing a trailer into a hard wind is no fun, but the smell of coffee from your own kitchen each morning is a dividend.”

Top Ten Retirement Adventures: No. 7

Reg Spittle 3 Comments

Nostalgia fills me when I think of my number seven retirement adventure. Within hours of arriving at our European destination in May 2014, the sale of our longtime Mariposa, California home became final. Our modest home on three forested acres held twenty-five years of memories, highlighted by the childhoods of our three sons, Andrew, Brad, and Chris. Yosemite National Park was our backyard.

Sue and I were homeless. Well, not exactly. We had packed our lives in a storage container awaiting our move to the quaint southern Oregon town of Ashland. Once we found a home there, that is. We would live in a rental condo in Ashland while we searched.

But first, we would walk a trail packed with more nostalgia and memory-making. One of Europe’s most popular trails, the West Highland Way, awaited our boots. In Scotland, which just happened to be our beloved home for a year while I worked there on a Fulbright teaching exchange. Our sons hadn’t reached double digits in life at the time and loved life in a tiny Fife village and school, where they were welcomed like celebrities.

Scotland has almost always been kind to us, and it continued in granting us mostly fair weather on our 150 miles from Glasgow to Loch Ness, except for one six-hour deluge that reminded us to never take Scotland for granted. The scenery was astounding, especially the Highlands, which thousands of sheep graciously shared with us.

After our trek, we had a blast with Scottish friends for a week, then traveled to Oxfordshire, England, and Copenhagen, Denmark to visit wonderful friends we had made on our first distance walk.

Adventure number six is next. Another trek, you ask? Good try, but nope.