Going forward but still looking back
This board is really a life saver for me. It just means a lot to be able to communicate with others that have had the same experiences and then to realize how very different we are and yet alike in many ways. I do not have any pain in my incisions and haven't had since about 6 months after the surgery. I have chest pain above my left breast. That's where I had the pain before the bypass but this time its sore when I wake up and also feels numb which is new. I sometimes have pain in my left shoulder and back. When I read the symptoms for a heart attack, my pain fits but I know it is not a heart attack. Think I would have been dead long ago if that was the problem. I am angry that I was told so very little about what to expect before the bypass surgery and I still regret agreeing to have the surgery even though my family all believe I would not be here had I said no. So I just have to keep trying to convince myself that they are right and I did the right thing. So many of you have so much more to deal with than I do and I feel ashamed for even complaining sometimes. I admire your strength in being able to deal with all that life hands you. Just want everyone to live each day to its fullest and enjoy it as much as you can. Life really is short and there is so much more good than bad in this world it really is worth it to be here. That doesn't mean you cannot continue to voice your opinions and work for the causes that you feel are important. Living life does not mean accepting those things you believe or wrong. Everyone have a great day!! Ann
Ann, I thought about you today. Because of an article in the Fort Worth Star Telegram about two middle age "newlyweds....married only 1 1/2 years"... They rented a 25' RV to take a vacation to experience a taste of a possible retirement dream.....living and traveling all over the country in an RV instead of staying with the homestead/taxes. And I think thats what you said that you and your husband do. The woman hated it. The man didn't sound too thrilled. I believe "hell" was the closest endearment that she used in describing the experience. As Mark and I are getting closer and closer to wondering about retirement plans, I've wondered what it would be like to always be on the road, foot loose and fancy free instead of having to worry about dusting all the what-knots in this big old house. I sort of envy you when you talk about the way y'all are retiring...expecially the part where you get to be Vegas playing slots and enjoying the buffets...whenever the mood strikes. And getting to see the country. I'm sure it's much more enjoyable than the lady made it out to be....she's probably not the type that likes to fish and camp, etc. We still don't know where we want to live when we retire. So far, the only answer I get out of Mark is "where the deer and the antelope roam". LOL Connie STEVE RAY <ramblingrays@... This board is really a life saver for me. It just means a lot to be able to communicate with others that have had the same experiences and then to realize how very different we are and yet alike in many ways. I do not have any pain in my incisions and haven't had since about 6 months after the surgery. I have chest pain above my left breast. That's where I had the pain before the bypass but this time its sore when I wake up and also feels numb which is new. I sometimes have pain in my left shoulder and back. When I read the symptoms for a heart attack, my pain fits but I know it is not a heart attack. Think I would have been dead long ago if that was the problem. I am angry that I was told so very little about what to expect before the bypass surgery and I still regret agreeing to have the surgery even though my family all believe I would not be here had I said no. So I just have to keep trying to convince myself that they are right and I did the right thing. So many of you have so much more to deal with than I do and I feel ashamed for even complaining sometimes. I admire your strength in being able to deal with all that life hands you. Just want everyone to live each day to its fullest and enjoy it as much as you can. Life really is short and there is so much more good than bad in this world it really is worth it to be here. That doesn't mean you cannot continue to voice your opinions and work for the causes that you feel are important. Living life does not mean accepting those things you believe or wrong. Everyone have a great day!! Ann Connie Turner
Connie, let me say that the RV life is not for everyone. When you pull your home around with you, things happen. The slide outs stick, sewer hoses get holes in them, sometimes it rains and you find you have a leak, the roof air might quit on you when its hot. Ours went out years ago in Quartzsite, AZ in July. It was 110 and already dark. It is a memorable night for us. My husband can fix most things. When we were living in a house he fixed all kinds of little things that broke and does the same for our fifth wheel. Oh, I forgot, our heater went out in the winter but we had an electric heater so that wasn't as memorable as the air going out in the desert. We have had a few near misses on the road. Other drivers do not realize how hard it is to stop and you can't do that quickly without shifting everything in your trailer. We have had someone cut in front of us a few times and nearly hit them. It's scary when that happens. To enjoy this life you have to be the type person that accepts the fact that things are going to go wrong with your rig, you are going to be in weather that rocks your home and the rain beats down on you sometimes, you need to love the outdoors as your living space is small, so also you need to like being close to your partner. We will have been doing this for 8 years on February 12 and we celebrate each anniversary of our "on the road life". We are so happy with this life that neither of us can imagine having to live in a home again. We did join Thousand Trails 4 months after we retired and we stay in those campgrounds most of the time. The cost is about $550 a year for dues and $5 a night after the first 50 nights and we like most of the parks. They have over 50 so you have a pretty good choice. We also belong to resort parks international and can stay in one of those parks up to a week for $8 a night, the dues for that are about $30 a year. When we are in places where we pay full price for a site, the prices are going up all the time. When we first retired it was from $10 to $15 a night except at KOA that was usually about $20. Now it cost $20 to $25 for most parks and over $30 in the resort type areas. Fuel is also a consideration for us now. We have a Dodge Cummins Diesel and today we pay over $2 a gallon for fuel. That can run into some bucks when we go from Texas to Nevada or Washington/Oregon area. So we do plan ahead and make sure we have the money. Our income from 2 social security checks and my Texas retirement is about what our income was when we were working. The thing is my husband's health coverage has gone up every year and so has most other things and our income really doesn't change which means we actually have a little less each year just because more is paid out. When we turn 65, we will both have to pay medicare part B and that will probably be close to $200 a month together and about that much for my husband's blue cross so we have to plan ahead for that expense. The good thing about the health insurance is after we are 65 we have no out of pocket expense for the doctors or hospital care just prescriptions which right now we pay $10 a month for a generic and $25 for a non-generic. You really have to look at all of this so you don't get on the road and hate it because you are short of money. Many people are work kampers and they work 15 to 20 hours a week for their site. We have considered that before but have never done it. I have done some volunteer work a few times just because I truly enjoy people and like having something to do. As a volunteer, you are not committed more than a month at a time and can leave without causing the campground a problem as they only count on your for a month. I even volunteered for 2 weeks one time. Right now we are thinking about going back to Disney World next winter and working part time for disney. You get into all the parks free if you become a winter work kamper and you work 20 hours a week or less. Dollywood also has a work kamper program and we have met a couple that works there every summer and really enjoy the work and the area. There are lots of options so you just need to look at all of them. The people we have met that get off the road usually do not participate in the activities, don't care for the outdoors ( do not hike, bike, etc.) and just miss the permanency of a home. When we are traveling to a new place, we always go to the visitors center to get information on what there is to do in the area and we meet some very helpful people at those centers. Campers are a really good bunch of people and fun to be around. We feel safe in most campgrounds and find that people who run RV parks are very open and trusting. We have mailed our site rent to a campground when we have left to early and no one was there to take our money. It is in many ways an easy, uncomplicated lifestyle. The campgrounds in Thousand Trails have activities, like craft classes, line dancing, pot luck dinners, bingo and things like that. In the summer, they also have a full schedule of activities for children and the parks have lots of young families in the summertime. Our grandchildren that live in Texas have been to Lake Tawakoni, Lake Texhoma and Bridgeport and really had a good time. They are always asking to go again. They also enjoy sleeping in our 5th wheel. We only do one at a time because we can't have rough play or fighting in our rig. This is our second 5th wheel. We really wore the first one out completely. It was 9 years old and had been in every state except the small states above New York. We have not been past New York. The traffic was so bad in New York that we just have not ventured that way but once. We did live for 17 months in our first 5th wheel to make sure we could do it before we retired. Our plan was to just sell it if we could not adjust to living in it all the time. It was harder living in it and working for me. We also paid for our first truck and the 5th wheel before we retired so we did not have any payments when we hit the road. We also only had the state retirement at that time so we were living on half the money. If you do decide to try it, don't get yourself in a position where you can't turn back in case you don't like it. We have seen some unhappy campers in high dollar motor homes that want out and can't get enough for their motor home to buy another home and they do feel trapped. Renting a place is really not a very good option at this age as your rent always goes up and your income stays the same. Probably more information than you wanted. I enjoy sharing our experiences with others. Ann