Living the dream, how we got here

Another guest blog entry by SD: Silent Dave.

The most common comment we get is still "wow, you're living the dream."   As I explained in a previous post (http://kellytimetoo.blogspot.com/2015/08/living-dream-will-take-some-getting.html) it needed some getting used to.  After five months of living on the road I can say we are definitely getting used to it and at the moment we would have serious issues with going back to our previous life style.  Another question we often get is how we did it.  In a couple of entries I'm going to address that one starting with how we got ready for this adventure.

A casual wedding

One of the best things I did was to find (after more than 50 years of looking) a great partner.  It might not be completely necessary to have a great partner, but it sure makes everything better.  KD tells me that on our first date she thought I was trying to scare her away by relating how I would like to get a van and hit the road and how that did just the opposite as she liked the idea.  It took a while to hit the road, eight years or so, but its worked out great.  We had lots of adventures in those eight years, now culminating in the KDT.   We keep looking forward and planning where it will take us next.

Yoga with snowshoes on, I'm not the most
 graceful even with out the winter coat and
snow shoes on! 

Another important aspect to getting ready for this adventure was staying in shape.  I always joked that going to the gym during the week and heading out for bike rides or hikes in New Hampshire was just enough to keep us from dying before we really started our adventure.  Sure we struggled with this and working in sedentary jobs made it tougher.  But it kept us close enough to being in shape that when we did hit the road, after a few weeks of all day activity killing us, now we can hike and bike and not feel like its killing us.  Being in shape, as an old work colleague told me and I completely buy into, means having strength,endurance and flexibility.  Cardio and lifting takes care of the first two, yoga takes care of the last.  In addition to hitting the gym after work I was also lucky to have a yoga class a couple of times a week during lunch hour at work.  It not only kept me flexible, well I'll never be flexible but I'm a lot better than I would have been with out it.  I was fortunate to have a great yoga instructor who keep pushing just enough to keep me getting better the more I practiced.

Additionally staying in shape meant keeping to a good diet, trying to stay away from junk food and all that and eating lots of fish, veggies and fruit.  A good chunk of dead flesh cooked over the grill never hurts either!        

This is what my hips look like now.

And lets hear it for modern medical science too.  Actually without the benefits of great surgeons I wouldn't be here as I was a hurting unit for a while there.  In the two years before hitting the road I had both hips replaced and arthroscopic knee surgery.  I was lucky to have a couple of great surgeons in Beverly who made it possible for me to hit the KDT.

Lastly I'll mention that having some cash also helps.  I've been putting money into retirement accounts, IRA's and the like, since I was in my 20's.  The only retirement I have is from 6 years as a Fed and that almost pays for our health insurance.  Almost.  Fortunately I've made some good investments in mutual funds and bought and sold a few houses over the years that were profitable.  One of the problems that KD foresaw was my thriftiness might be a problem.  But after saving for 40 years I've made the transition, with a little bit of hesitation, to spending.   In a few years I'll be able to collect Social Security, that'll help too.

After all, aren't you supposed to spend your last dollar the day you leave this mortal coil?  I'm working on that.

This is a quick primer on how we keep ready to take the plunge.  Next I'll go into the first phase of taking the plunge.