It’s Official – I’m Retired -- Saturday, January 1, 2011

Friday the 31st of December seemed like every other New Year’s Eve. I worked (kind of) a half day and came home to celebrate New Year’s Eve with Nancy. Only this Friday was a little different. I had taken all my work files, records, literature, demos, equipment and work cell phone and turned it in to my now ex-boss. He was really a great guy to work for, but, now – that’s it – I’m done!

Corporate Bill

Bill's New Office

It’s a little scary – now what? We have to sell this house so we can pursue our dream of full-timing in an RV. With no salary coming in any more, I don’t want to be paying the mortgage, utilities and all the other stuff associated with owning a sticks and bricks house for any great length of time. I have quickly turned my efforts to the house. All the painting is done, bathrooms are cleaned and scrubbed, furniture dusted, rugs vacuumed, etc. The house is not cluttered at all and is in “show” condition. We just have to keep it that way. All we need is a buyer! Know anyone that wants a beautiful, furnished house at the beach...let us know!!

Four Bedrooms, 2 Baths at the Beach on a Golf Course!!

Our New Year’s Eve was typical for us. We had our close friends, Bill and Chris Jordan, and Nancy’s Mom for a traditional Northern New Year’s Eve dinner – Sauerkraut and Pork with all the trimmings.

Nancy here,

I just layer sauerkraut, sliced onions, apples slices, pork roast, apple slices, sliced onions and more sauerkraut (in that order) in the crockpot.  Sprinkle caraway seeds on top, then mix the reserved sauerkraut juice with a little brown sugar and dry mustard and pour over the mixture.  Let it cook on medium all day and then YUM!!

We even had a little Hard Apple Cider and Homemade Apple Pie, thanks to the Jordan’s.  Bill is holding our Mega Millions Lottery ticket.  We never play the lottery, but Nancy suggested we get one pick for everyone.  So we had 5 chances to win $220 million.  Boy would that have been something, but it was NOT to be....no winning numbers for us.

After dinner I drove Nancy’s Mom home and when I returned Nancy had totally cleaned up all the dishes and had the place sparkling. Bill and Chris had gone home and Nancy and I did what we’ve always done on New Year’s Eve – we went to bed. Our kids always laugh and say we’re the only people they know that tape the ball dropping in New York City and watch it the next day. Well, this year I fooled them – I didn’t even tape it.

I guess we must be old fuddy-duddies in that we don’t wear goofy hats, bang pans or shoot off fireworks for the new year. However, we are both early risers and enjoy a brisk walk first thing in the morning so, staying up late is not in the cards. Our lives are pretty simple, some might say boring, but, we like it that way!

2011 should be an exciting year for us. Hopefully, our house will sell quickly and we can get Nancy retired as well so we can go to the 2011 RV-Dreams Rally, go to Alaska, and then start our full-timing adventure!! In the meantime I will keep the house spotless and give Nancy a kiss everyday as she goes to work to pay for our medical insurance. Thank you honey!

We do have a 2 ½ week trip to Florida starting on the 7th of January. We have made reservations at four Florida State parks, namely Stephen Foster, Hillsborough River, Collier-Seminole and Silver River. Our class B Pleasureway is waxed (REJEXed… thanks Gin and Syl for that tip) and ready to go.

It is SOOOOO Beautiful!!

Nancy here,

Thanks to Gin and Syl's tip and Bill's hard work, we now have a 10 year old Van that looks like new.

Along with biking and kayaking, we plan to do a lot of R & R. We are going to the large RV show in Tampa for a couple of days. Look out – we’re really getting serious about this full-timing gig. It will be a nice break for both of us.

From Nancy and me, we wish all of you a Happy New Year.

Hope to see some of you in our travels,  Bill