About

It’s about time! Full-time that is, on the road in what will be our first Class A.  Not a new or spontaneous thought, rather something we (Brian and Andrea Carlin)   focused on for years.  We practiced in a 28′ Class C, made lots of typical and funny mistakes (remember the time we left our stairs out and thought people were so friendly, waving at us frantically?) but mostly had an amazing , compatible and unique time.  Was it enough to prepare us for shedding our conventional lifestyle for an adventure, and hopefully an Odyssey? Ever since Homer’s epic poem The Odysseus’ ten-year journey home from Troy, odyssey has meant any epic journey.  As with the word journey, odyssey has both a literal meaning and a figurative one.   A cross-country adventure in your RV can be an odyssey, but so can the journey from orientation to finals that is the freshman year of college.  And so here we are, ready to begin our odyssey, share our triumphs and pitfalls, aiming to give food for thought and answer some questions about the transition process in one concise place.  Saying come on, let’s do it and actually doing it takes a bit more planning and shedding of those things that heretofore were our most precious and prized possessions.

Some of my (Andrea’s) life-time preparation for this, our next phase:

• successful Real Estate Broker career in New York for 10+ years
• civic involvement in the form of PTA,  Locust Valley school board president
• and a grand move (following 25 years in the same sweet cape cod  house in Bayville, NY) to Colorado in 2001
• followed by a rewarding career in Geographic Information Systems for the oil and gas industry

A two year relocation stint in Houston, TX (home of the oil and gas industry – 2010-2012) and one move back to Colorado in 2012 to assist our daughter with her wedding, and now I feel ready for EARLY RETIREMENT!  (link to social security page)  http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/quickcalc/early_late.html  Well, Brian is ready for early retirement too, but we aren’t getting younger and medical benefits are a BIG consideration for us. Luckily Brian’s job as an Account Manager for a software developer allows him the freedom to be wherever there is an internet connection (more on this later).  A consideration when we agreed to relocate to Houston was Brian’s diagnosis of Prostate Cancer, a 7 on the Gleason Score (http://www.cancer.gov/dictionary?cdrid=45696), and the advanced medical treatment (Robotic Surgery) available there.  Turns out the cancer had given reason for doctors to believe it may have spread and he was referred for radiation as well (another story for another page). One more reason to grab the proverbial brass ring and GO FOR IT, get on the road while we are still vital and able to enjoy a very high quality of life (oh, we have aches and pains and may even enjoy telling you about it sometime, but we expect this, right?).

 

We invite  you to come along with us on our Odyssey,  first while we get ready for the road, launch date Summer/Fall of 2014

1. the purchase of our Class A
2. purging our lifelong collections
3. deciding on a new home base  (http://www.rv-dreams.home base-base-selection.html)
4.  and outfitting our new home

and then, on to our learning experiences as we travel

(pictures, budget, interesting people and places, etc.)!