Retirement, baby!

Well, retirement has pretty much kicked in. The official date is still a few weeks away, but there will be no more eight-hour-a-day grind for me. I did get a part-time job that I will work 20-25 hours a week. Three-day weeks, tops. It never hurts to have extra money for travel and to buy doo-dads that I want for my photography hobby. Last month I bought a new camera and now I want to start picking up nicer lenses.

Over the next eight months Carole and I have planned seven trips, all with our Casita travel trailer. These will pretty much all be within more local states (NC, SC, VA, WV, TN, GA); but we are heavily leaning toward a camping trip to Pennsylvania. I think it would be nice to visit Gettysburg. We'll see if we can firm up the plans.

The only month that we probably won't go anywhere is June. That's a busy month for us. We have our 35th wedding anniversary, my son's birthday, my birthday, and Father's Day. All of that will keep us busy sticking close to home.

At any rate, I made it. All the way until retirement. Hopefully I won't croak anytime soon. Recently an old friend of mine died a week before he was to begin retirement. The second I saw all of that happen, I realized that there was no way I was going to try to punch the clock for even one more year. I'd like to enjoy a few years of the kinds of adventure I want to take and not suffer one more day of the grind of working for either corporate or federal pay-masters (both of which I have done).

Taken on a camping trip. This, and all of the photos that follow, were taken on camping trips. Lots more camping ahead for us!