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Old 09-02-2013, 09:01 AM   #1
SAD
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I hate when it's over!!

Well... Packed up and left the lake today... Drove home and parked the RV in the shop...

Poop... I hate when the long weekend is over.

I envy those who are retired and the return to work is a faded memory.

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Old 09-02-2013, 09:29 AM   #2
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SAD -
Hang in there - your retirement time will come - eventually. We are just happy to have the good fortunes of being able to stay home on these long weekends and stay off the highways and away from wall-to-wall campers.

I hate to rub it in but the best part (for us) is yet to come...... we can hook up and go to our favourite and nearly deserted campgrounds now that all of you working folks have gone back to work.
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Old 09-02-2013, 09:42 AM   #3
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SAD -
Hang in there - your retirement time will come - eventually. We are just happy to have the good fortunes of being able to stay home on these long weekends and stay off the highways and away from wall-to-wall campers.

I hate to rub it in but the best part (for us) is yet to come...... we can hook up and go to our favourite and nearly deserted campgrounds now that all of you working folks have gone back to work.
Not too long ago, a thread was started on another (non-RV) forum I visit. Subject matter was "Plans for retirement?"...

Given the non-RV nature of said forum, the age of participants ranges from 20s to 60s. I'd wager the median is somewhere in the mid 30s.

I do plenty of saving, don't carry short term debt (RV and house are the only things we owe money on).... Yet it still seems like a TON of work (I.e. sacrifice) to be able to retire by 55.

I consider myself (probably) better off than my peers... Yet still it seems a stretch.

I do not wish to be the guy that works till he's nearly dead... Then retire.. And promptly die...

Ugh.

Part of my frustration lies in the fact that I have a career and my wife has a job... From a simplistic standpoint this means that I have 6 weeks + vacation and she has just 2.

I could scratch my itch to retire/travel if she had more time off and we could take a 1 or 2 week trip every now and then...

We do not require her income to live, but it enables our lifestyle (nice home, property, shop, toys, big savings)....

Sure she could quit.. But day to day, she'd be bored... And this would push retirement date back...

I'm sure there are plenty out there like us... Grrrrr...
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Old 09-02-2013, 09:57 AM   #4
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We just got back from a weekend at a COE park in Central Texas. Wall to wall people, kids, noise, barking dogs, heat..., all of the things associated with summer camping.
My best camping season is just starting. The parks are quiet, summer vacations are over, the kids are in school, I have a better choice of sites, and it's just me looking out over the lake having that first cup of coffee with a cool breeze blowing and watching the leaves falling from the trees.. Ahhh... Fall camping. You have to love it. The mountains in Arkansas are gorgeous in October and it's a day drive from home..
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Old 09-02-2013, 10:01 AM   #5
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We just got back from a weekend at a COE park in Central Texas. Wall to wall people, kids, noise, barking dogs, heat..., all of the things associated with summer camping.
My best camping season is just starting. The parks are quiet, summer vacations are over, the kids are in school, I have a better choice of sites, and it's just me looking out over the lake having that first cup of coffee with a cool breeze blowing and watching the leaves falling from the trees.. Ahhh... Fall camping. You have to love it. The mountains in Arkansas are gorgeous in October and it's a day drive from home..
Fall camping is coming... We have a favorite, no-facilities campground we use at that time of year. Can't wait...

Wish we could do a week there.

As it stands, I go Friday morning and setup.... Enjoying the quiet of a totally empty park... Wife joins me after work.
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Old 09-02-2013, 10:11 AM   #6
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The dw and I used to do just holiday camping and occasionally a week long trip. We too have have some time (about 15 years) until retirement. We decided to do a seasonal site at a campground that we frequented about 20 miles from home. This allowed us to do much more camping than we had been able to do. We are able to go even if it is only for a day or two. It is nice not to have to pack-up the entire trailer when leaving or have to set everything up when we get there. We can also load up and go somewhere else when ever we want.
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Old 09-02-2013, 02:19 PM   #7
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When we "retired" (yeah right, I'm busier now than when I worked) we built a house on the lake with enough woods to call it "campign" year round. We have a glass room on the back of the house overlooking the woods so we can be "outside" even in bad weather, a back deck and a short trip (50 yards) to the lake through those woods. A conversation pit behind the house (close enough to access the refrigerator when needed) complete with fire ring, a cord+ of firewood, a phone with an "OFF" button and the closest neighbors are 100 yards away (when they come up for the weekend). And for those times we really want to "rough it" we have another fire pit down by the lake complete with a picnic table, swings, and a dock to dangle our feet in the water.

For many, camping is a means to escape the stressors of work, city living (near work) and the noise, neighbors and close living that is an "evil necessity" to living near enough to commute to work during the week. With retirement, camping is every day now, we use our fifth wheel for travel to even more remote spots or to visit grandchildren (yes, children too) LOL

Many people are more fortunate than us when it comes to financial arrangements for "retirement," but few are any happier. Big savings accounts, lots of personal property, the "good life" are pretty much "fleeting things" once you get to the "goal" and start looking back on life. Enjoy what you have, make the best of things as they happen in life and retire as soon as you can. As said in an earlier post, retiring with a "goose egg" and not waking up the next morning or being too old to enjoy what you worked for doesn't make for a "great retirement."

It may not be completely the "good life" but I haven't found much that I've experienced that I would prefer over living "camping" every day in the woods of northern Michigan.
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Old 09-02-2013, 02:36 PM   #8
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I'm with Bob. Labor Day Weekend is one of the worst times to go out camping. Tons of traffic, and wall-to-wall crowds/noise. It's way more worth it to take one vacation day and make some *other* weekend a three-day.

That being said, we *did* go camping. In the back yard. Now we're reminded again what it's like to sleep on the ground in sleeping bags. But we could see the stars and hear the crickets while in the tent.
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Old 09-02-2013, 02:47 PM   #9
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We just finished packing and are headed to a gathering in South Haven tomorrow. was hoping the cool weather would hold out for the week but will survive.
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Old 09-02-2013, 04:17 PM   #10
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Hey, it could be worse. At dawn on Friday I hightailed it from Moab to Flagstaff in order to snag one of my favorite campsites before a weekender did.

Arrived at noon to find it pleasantly unoccupied---but immediately got stuck in mud up to my 2WD axles. Managed to finally extricate the pickup yesterday evening. The Cougar may have to wait a week or two!
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Old 09-02-2013, 05:59 PM   #11
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We just came back from Jamestown Campground @ Pymatuning State Park here in PA. Very nice campground, spacious layout, and just a 100 feet from the lake shore. Was quiet and relaxing.https://sphotos-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/h...97697384_n.jpg https://sphotos-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/h...14264974_n.jpg The 2nd was the view to our site on the hill from the water.
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Old 09-03-2013, 03:42 AM   #12
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We did not get to go out this weekend as we had a wedding to attend Sat night but we will be camping this weekend and that is followed by 9 days of camping. New to us as our youngest went off to school this year and we suddenly do not have anything to do on weekends. The plan is to be camping 7 of the next 8 weekend with a trip to Ohio to see our daughter in there on the 8th weekend. Lots of fun ahead with quieter campgrounds.
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Old 09-03-2013, 10:16 AM   #13
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We were redneck campers this labor day in the driveway ,Still waiting on the turbos for the dually.fired the grill up on satureday and did 3 beer can chickens had friends over and fired the smoker up sunday morning and smoked 4 boston butts from 5am to 3pm and them things were great
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Old 09-03-2013, 02:10 PM   #14
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Bah!! Another grim reminder that the nice long weekend is over.... MOWING this evening...

Nice to come home from WORK to do MORE WORK.. LOL
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Old 09-03-2013, 05:12 PM   #15
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Bah!! Another grim reminder that the nice long weekend is over.... MOWING this evening...

Nice to come home from WORK to do MORE WORK.. LOL
1.25 acres down... 3 to go... Grrrr...
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Old 09-03-2013, 07:08 PM   #16
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1.25 acres down... 3 to go... Grrrr...
Another unrecognized and unsung benefit of living in northern Michigan is the "grass cutting detail" So far this summer, I've mowed our lawn 3 times. In Louisiana, I mowed on Saturday and again on Wednesday every week from April through to October. It's really refreshing not to have so much lawn work. There we could almost hear the grass growing or sit on the porch and sip mint juleps and watch it grow. Here, well, you can see a difference after 3 or 4 weeks.
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Old 09-04-2013, 05:13 AM   #17
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My(camping season) is just getting started. We stayed home this holiday because we had yard work to get done. but I still had a 4 day weekend with the wife. We spent two days cutting up bradford pear trees, tired of them falling on the neighbor's fence.
BUT the main thing is next week we are headed to the coast of NC for 5 days to camp. then the next weekend we head to the mountains of NC to visit with our youngest daughter in college. then we have to work 3 weeks and then we head back out for another 5 days of camping at the Yogi Bear CG in Tabor City, NC for Halloween weekend. come back and work 4 weeks and then head back to the coast of SC for 9 days at the beach camping over Thanksgiving week. Still kicking the tires for a beach trip over New Year day through that weekend. So our two trips so far this year has seemed slow for us with camping, but its getting ready to bust wide open.

randy
PS no retirement for at least the next 4 years college isn't cheap.. maybe a few more after that.
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