Wow......it's been almost 9 months since I have posted to this blog. I guess the old adage is true--time flies when you are having fun, and boy have we! To be honest, it's been partly because I haven't felt like writing and partly because I have been distracted by all the other fun things we have been doing. I am going to catch you up a few of those things here, including some commitments for the near future, but let's jump right into the biggest news.....
We are retired.
Yep, you read that correctly, we both elected to start early retirement in 2022 from our primary careers in R&D at a global chemical company. This was not a short-sighted decision. This was something we discussed back in our mid-thirties-- many times over a good dinner and a glass of wine, discussing our hopes and dreams, where we wanted to travel to next, and eventually where we hoped to retire someday. A lot of work went into planning, modeling finances, and most importantly saving, saving, saving. Fortunate events put us in a position to do this last year, and we are loving the extra time we have to spend with our teenage kids (who will be off to college in the next 2 years), family, friends and investing our time in special projects and efforts that give us purpose. Which leads to...
The van is DONE.
This was the first thing we poured our energy into the first half of 2023, and I am happy to say we are done with the van build! We finally wrapped up the build in early June here in TX, right before the 100-degree heatwave kicked in this summer.
We drove out west at the end of March to visit Guadalupe Mountain National Park for our first shake-down road trip in the van, and while we have a few things we had to address during and following that trip, it was all very minor. We also drove the van with kids and the family dog to visit family in MO in July. For now, the van is in a safe, secure and cooler storage place for the summer, but when the heat subsides, I will film and post an in-depth van tour video.
Travel, travel and more travel....
A lot of folks ask us what we have been doing with our free time, and when it was not working on the van, it has included a lot of travel! In 2023, we have been skiing and snowboarding in Park City and Jackson Hole....
Ryan and I visited Guadalupe National Park to climb the Guadalupe Peak, and Carlesbad Caverns...
We also backpacked down into the Grand Canyon....
Ryan and our daughter visited Japan and Korea and I solo backpacked the first 130 miles of the Appalachian Trail...
We also enjoyed wine weekend with friends, visited family in MO, backpacked in Grand Teton National Park and visited Yellowstone National Park...
.........and its only August! I have a few more trips planned for the remainder of the year, so you will just have to wait and see where that takes us!
Whats next?
Our kids are starting school next week, and much of our time lately has been getting them ready while also tackling some projects around the house. We have all enjoyed a great summer, and now it's time to get back into a normal groove. So, with that said, I am going to work on editing videos for the remainder of the van build and our backpacking trips as we move into fall and get into posting weekly on the blog.
I hope you will continue to follow us!! Stay connected with us here and our Facebook and Instagram accounts and be sure to Like and Subscribe to our YouTube channel!
Commentaires