Friday, February 7, 2014

Inspiration

Over these past 12 years I had been told more than once that I was an inspiration to them to head out as a full time RVer.
"Be thankful for what you have. Your life, no matter how bad you think it is, is someone else's fairy tale." - Wale Ayeni
Me? An Inspiration. My life of living a retirement of traveling the road in an RV was a fairy tale for some. Now that I have made a settled existence, there have been more comments and emails with that same sentiment.

How did it happen. Where was the inspiration for me to be a wandering nomad. There was no real inspiration. It was serendipity.

The last year of my employment in the year 2000, I took several vacations. One of those was a three week guided camping trip to Alaska. I brought my sleeping bag and personal stuff. Everything else was provided.


Signature photo from the Alaskan vacation

One evening as I walked around a campground I saw all varieties of RVs from pop up tents, truck campers to Class A coaches. At the time I didn't know the terminology. I didn't know a Class A coach from a fifth wheel.

In front of one of those Class A coaches, a guy was cleaning bugs from the windshield of the coach which had Florida license plate. As he moved his ladder, I commented to him that he was a long way from home. He turned to point to the coach and said "That was home."

At the beginning of the year 2000, I knew I was going to retire before the end of the year. I knew I needed to "retire to" something. I just didn't know what that was going to be. That comment from the RVer wasn't really inspiration. It was a serendipitous event when I realized what I was going to do in my retirement. I will forever be thankful to that nameless person for sending me on a 12 year meandering.

Now that I have settled down, the comments continue such as this in a recent email from a one time co-worker: "You’ve led an adventurous and inspirational retirement lifestyle."

Really. I continue to be flattered that I could be an inspiration.

6 comments:

  1. Well Lloyd you were not my inspiration but you were definitely one of my best mentors to acting on my wants for full timing. Thank you very much.

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    1. You are certainly welcome. Even better I was able to meet up with some of my followers over the years. You were one of those. I will continue to follow your travels.

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  2. You are one of my inspirations and I will continually go back to your "wandrin's" for ideas on where I will go next, along with other blog adventures. I am starting my adventure next Monday and I am excited beyond words, but I am sure you know the feeling. I too will one day settle down again to a more permanent lifestyle of some sort. I am sure I will never regret my decision to explore. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Welcome to the world of full time RVing. There is new scenery, new stories and more questions around every corner. It will drive your curiosity. Bon Voyage!

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  3. I think many people would love to be full-timers, but are too afraid to take the plunge. They admire the guts it took, I think, to leave everything and everyone behind and drive off on your own in this minimalist way of life. It's a risk most people won't take. For those that will, your blog might have helped them make that decision.

    I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing for now. Eventually I'll do what you're doing and settle down in one place. I know that day will come, but not quite yet. I suspect I'll keep my motor home, though. I hope so. :)

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    1. I've heard many of the reasons for not being a full time RVer. Perhaps it is reading too much into their reasons, but it seems to me that most times it is simply an excuse. The real reason is that most people like structure and predictability in their lives. Full time RVing is none of that.

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