Hanging up the keysMay 24, 2008
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From Wichita Falls, we had planned to drive to Hickory Creek Corps of Engineers park, stay overnight, and then deliver the Airstream to the repair shop. The body damage from the blow out needed to be taken care of plus we had a couple of other small things we wanted them to look at. However, as we were driving through Bowie, I said to Jeff, "Why don't we just drive in to Amanda's, park the Airstream on the street overnight, and then take it to the repair shop the next morning. So we did.
When Amanda got home from school, we went with her to pick Madeleine and Jean-Luc up at the day care, and totally surprised them since they weren't expecting us until the next day. That was fun. The next morning we took the Airstream in for the estimate. Between the body damage, checking out the wheel bearings, and looking into an intermittent tank odor, looks like it'll take about a week to repair. Lucky for us, we have a place to stay at Amanda's.
And now for something completely different . . .
We have been discussing our plans for an exit strategy since Jeff's mobility has been compromised. The midnight run to the emergency room in LA when we thought Jeff was possibly having a heart attack put a scare in me, and our recent stay at Palo Duro where we had no cell phone or internet signal (and there was that extreme grade getting out of the park which would be a real trick to drive in the dark) started us thinking about what we would do when we had to give up the truly wonderful fulltiming lifestyle.
One morning at Amanda's as we were watching the news about the ever increasing gas prices, it just came to us that perhaps the time was now and not sometime in the future. We would rather make the decision on our own time schedule rather than have the decision forced upon us perhaps in difficult circumstances, so we have decided to get off the road.
Whoa - wait a minute before you panic totally - we're not going to give up traveling, but we're just going to do it in a more conventional ways that have easy access for Jeff's wheelchair and that have more of a support system. We love train trips, so we're looking at taking some of those. We also are looking at different types of escorted tours and cruises. We'll continue to pursue acting jobs, but Jeff will try to do more voice over stuff since his background acting career was cut short with his foot problems.
The current plan is for us to stay here in Arlington until July 1st when we will take the train to Chicago and spend about six weeks there while Jeff is getting his medical checking up done and his insulin pump installed. Since Adam lives in Chicago, and we know we will be visiting him and Laura several times a year, Jeff will continue to have his medical done at North Chicago VA since he has such great care there.
When we return from Chicago, we will live in the Airstream until we find a stationary place to live at which point we will sell the Airstream and our truck and buy a more fuel efficient car.
Life is full of changes, and we feel confident that this change is right for us at this time. We will certainly miss the fulltiming lifestyle and the Airstream, but we have two years of terrific memories which will never fade. We may be hanging up the keys, but we will continue to explore this wonderful world.
I will continue our blog at least through the end of this year (since I'm paid up through then) and maybe beyond to document our travels on trains, boats, and planes.
