Oh, the challenges of retirement in the 21st Century. We have blotched the blog and are trying to figure out how to make this work. This is a test.

We arrived in southwest Florida on Tuesday afternoon. Down to shirt sleeves. Our journey was a success, but carrying all our possessions including one car with our RV was a challenge. At least we did not try to drive out while still connected to anything.

We drove through a storm in Carolina, but the cold front followed us here. The temperature fell to 50 this morning. We wore a jacket to Caloosahatchee Bay and watched dozens of species of shore and water birds on the mud flats this morning. Yesterday at lunch we gazed at three eagles circling above.

We're on I-95 before dawn. Went to bed at 7 p.m. yesterday, but it was not a short day. We rose at 6:30 a.m., slept in the motor home in our neighbor's driveway. Our tasks were to continue to pack and assemble the Birdmobile, finish emptying and cleaning the house, one last shower, and look at the home where we lived for 23 years. Even empty it looked beautiful. We had to go to storage to leave the last few items that we didn't want to take on our journey. While I finished arranging things in the motor home, Chuck loaded our little Ford Focus with our backpacks and camping gear. Then the bikes went on the rear and the canoe on the top. As we finished, Gen Ray drove by and I called my new friend, Vicky Jones. They watched and helped us hitch the Focus to the Birdmobile. Glen took photos of us fully loaded in front of Springettsbury Aven. and with she and Vicky waving us off, we got on the road by 10:15 a.m.

January 18, 2006

I told Anne today that I haven’t had a day off since I quit work. I need a break. This year so far we have bought a motor home and a car, sold one car, sold a house, moved property into storage and segregated our travel gear (some 600 pounds of it) from everything else in the house that has gone to auction. Today, we began loading the Winnebago Minnie Coach that will be our home for much of the next six months.

One accumulates considerable property over 24 years in a large house. It is difficult to part with many things such as large books and crystal balls that make little sense in the confined space of a motor home.

Yesterday was Anne's last day at work. It was bittersweet leaving the office after 26 years of practice as a Family Physician. Sweet, because it has been a rewarding and difficult career. Bitter, because it is sad saying good-bye to patients and staff. Chuck's final day will be January 6th. That same day we will pick up our Winnegago Minnie, a 29 foot preowned class C motorhome with 2 slide outs. We are buying it from a friend of a colleague of Chuck's who has used it for tailgaiting at PennState football games.

We feel like teanagers starting a new life and are excited about the possibilities. Over the next 2 weeks we will be packing what we need for the next 6 months, putting a small amount of furnature, books, and personal items in storage. The rest will go to auction. After closing on our Springettsbury house we will head to Florida to visit Anne's parents and do some wilderness camping in the Everglades using the canoe.