Sunny morning. Warmer than we expected it would be - since we're having a cold snap in Florida. Packed and into Monroe - with a quick stop at McDonald's for some coffee, then glide up I-4 and around Orlando's Greenway to the Beach Line - and down familiar I-95.
We've started a list of places we'll go on our NEXT trip - whenever that may be: we're not at all "road-weary" and not tired of each others' company.
We decided to stop for lunch before we got home - only about 100 yards from home - partially to try "Squid Lips" again (good, creative food, but STILL rather pricey - even for lunch!) - and partially to kind of prove to ourselves that we really were *not* anxious to pull into the driveway and call it "done".
But after lunch, we *did* pull around the corner and into the driveway and began to unpack. Everything is fine. My car started first-time-out after sitting for 2 months. I *did* have to find somewhere to inflate the tires (and the first 4 places I tried either had someone sitting in front of the Air pump - or the pump was broken or whatever) but I got the job done while Kathy unpacked. We had dinner with Kelly & Glenn - to catch up, talk, pick up our US Mail, and collect our little brat cat "Missy" - and bring her home, too.
We're home. It's been really great and we *do* intend to do this again.
Here is the final, updated map:
It has been a wonderful experience - visiting family, friends, and landmarks - and bonding with *each other* again. And it has absolutely been a confirmation that Early Retirement is
"A Lifestyle, not a Vacation" -
as the Kaderli's of "Retire Early Lifestyle" say. I didn't understand really what that meant until I retired and could look at life as *life* rather than looking at my *job* as my life - living 50 weeks per year just so I could pay for a rushed, mad scramble in the other 2 weeks - to do what I really wanted to do. We have been living the last 55 days "on an annual pass" rather than on a "day pass": we had plenty of TIME to do things so we didn't need to try to cram everything into those fleeting few vacation days. It's a whole different attitude that helps us realize that there are many things we really don't need - and many others that we *can* afford - if we prioritize to get *them* instead of what we thought we wanted - until we slowed down enough to really look at what we were spending our money and our precious *time* on. We only have so much time. Each of us.
We didn't "miss our lives" while doing this: this *is* living. We also enjoyed *not* being up on "the news" - even thru the Presidential Election. Most of what is in "the news" - really doesn't matter at all - one week later. It is freeing to just ignore "The Press".
And I'm very-pleased that we didn't let the outrageous gas prices change our plans. When we left home, we paid $4.11 per gallon to fill the tank - and were concerned about being irresponsible about setting off on a venture based on gasoline. By the time we got back home, that crisis had subsided again and we did our final fill-up for $1.97 per gallon. My point is that this world is in rapid flux: don't let a momentary, seemingly-important "world event" set the course of your life.
Some statistics:
10,785 miles as recorded by "Leila". We averaged just over 22 MPG, so that implies 488 gallons of gas.
55 Days - almost 8 weeks.
18 unique States (we entered and left a few multiple times): Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama - and back to Florida.
6 "Books on CD"
3218 Photos (that's only counting the ones we're *keeping* - as opposed to the ones we just deleted off the digital cameras). Wanna come over and see our "Vacation Slides"?
I *do* still intend to post accounts of Zion, Vegas, Yosemite, Sacramento, San Francisco, and San Jose, so do keep checking back.
But for now: thanks for riding along with us and "Welcome Home!"
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