Seems like the right time...

[OlJoe]

&nbsp;Hello all from Oregon!<br>&nbsp;I've been watching this site for quite some time as I prepare for a mobile retired lifestyle - as it happened, circumstances changed and showed me that April was as good a time as any to make the change!<br>I've been preparing a short (20foot) class C for a trip to Alaska this June, and thanks to the unexpected changes in my work status, the schedule no longer matters! It looks like I'll be up north and miss Leadville this summer, but I am very much looking forward to the RTR in January.<br>&nbsp;As I familiarize myself with the camper, and determine if it's trustworthy or not, the option is still on the table for a van conversion of some sort if need be.<br>&nbsp;Meanwhile, I'm just now beginning to learn how to leave the wristwatch off and go back to owning my own time again!!<br>&nbsp;I'm working on the details of my new life and beginning to get itchy for hitting the road, and am looking at the equipment necessary to stay online with you folks as I travel - lots of pleasant challenges ahead...<br>&nbsp;For now, I'll just try to absorb as much information as I can before going out and making all my own mistakes, and learning the tricks of the road as they might apply to the Ol' Joe guy<br>&nbsp;Breathing free air,<br>&nbsp;Joe<br><br>

 

[sl1966]

Congrats Joe! Looking forward to the stories and pictures to come.<div><br></div>

 

[stude53]

<p style="margin: 0px;">Welcome, Ol'Joe <img border="0" align="absmiddle" src="/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif"></p><p style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Bob</p>

 

[yesican]

<p style="margin: 0px;">Welcome to the forums...</p><p style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Rae</p>

 

[VanTrekker]

<p>Greetings&nbsp; and welcome Ol'Joe!&nbsp; Glad to have you here.</p>

 

[WanderingRain]

Welcome and glad to hear you already have a camper. That's way more than some folks begin with.<div>Good luck and happy travels!</div>

 

[Phantom Blooper]

<P>

</P><P>and making all my own mistakes, and learning the tricks of the road as they might apply to the Ol' Joe guy<BR></P>

<br><br>If you don't make mistakes...you ain't doing something right.<br>

 

[akrvbob]

Hi Joe and welcome! I know what you mean about not knowing what to do with your watch. It can be an adjustment not to have every second of the day planned out long in advance. But you get used to that. Then the problem becomes keeping track of which day of the week is it? If I didn't have a cell phone, at least half the time I wouldn't have a clue which day of the week it is. <br><br>One thought about your alaska trip, when you are paying $6-$7 dollars a Gallon for gas in Canada, and your class C is getting 7-10 mpg, having a van conversion getting 15-19 is going to start looking real good!! I'm willing to poop in a bucket for that kind of money. <br><br>I lived in Anchorage, Alaska for over 40 years and driven the Alaska Highway (Alcan to old-timers) a dozen times. I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have about the trip. Bob<br><br>

 

[blars]

Hi from a fellow Oregonian, although I've spent more time in both California and Arizona since I changed my legal residence back to Oregon.&nbsp; I'll be working in Mt. Hood National Forest this summer.<br><br><br>

 

[OlJoe]

Hello Vandwellers!<br>&nbsp;I should know better after following the postings here for a while, but it still surprises me to see the generous response to my posting, now that I've begun to make the transition to retired, unemployed, gypsy, vagabond, rubbertramp, whatever type of self-directed, self-actualized person that intends to meet the world wherever the road takes. That seems overly romantisised, but the immediate reality is that I'm discovering the rights and freedoms that were there before I began to sell my<br>&nbsp;time to the system inn exchange for the cash to pay everyone for the privileges of housing, food, transportation, and the amenities that our consumer society assured us we needed.<br>&nbsp;I'm finding some interesting things about myself as I transition to this new life; namely, I find at first I'm like a farm animal that has just now had the gate left open - at first, it does not occur to me that there's no restriction on my movement, and I take some time to realizt the gate is open to whatever direction I wish to go....freedom is a new concept, even though I thought I possessed it all along.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp; A few tentative trips out to the Oregon coast have felt different, when I realized I didn't have to get back in time for Monday.<br>&nbsp;Now, maybe the roads heading East towards a thawing Cascade mountain range, and maybe the high desert plateaus of eastern Oregon and Idaho may well be an option..<br>&nbsp;If the roads north towards Alaska are indeed clearing as summer approaches, maybe, just maybe setting my schedule by the calendar and the seasons rather than the clock and the workweek will be a reality.<br>&nbsp;After 43 plus years of doing things by their schedule, I'm thinking maybe a different way of keeping time might just work as well.<br>&nbsp;Sorry to get so windy, but if anyone can understand the viewpoint I'm beginning to see, it would probably be you all.<br>&nbsp;Again, greetings from Oregon, and be well.<br>&nbsp;Ol' Joe<br><br>

 

[cargovanconversion]

<p>Welcome and safe travels.</p><p>Van.</p>

 

[yesican]

<p style="margin: 0px;">Sounds like you may be in Alaska just in time for salmon fishing (June-Aug).&nbsp; Great place to be that time of year and what a gorgeous trip all the way up.&nbsp; Enjoy.</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Oh...and welcome to the boards.</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Rae</p>

 

[chelseagle]

<p>Welcome, OlJoe. You're way ahead of me on the camper part. Alaska sounds like a great start. Have fun! <img border="0" align="absmiddle" src="/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif"></p>

 

[judycmomx6]

Welcome Joe. You sound like you will be o.k. after the initial shock goes away. It is a very hard thing to do going from "normal" to vagabond. But I'm sure after you get all organized you will be having the time of your life. People always say they wish they were young again, but I think they are very wrong! I hope you will have a wonderful new life now and I'm sure it will be alot better and alot more peaceful. Keep us posted, and remember to have fun!

 

[OlJoe]

Thanks for the encouragement! I would have to say, though, that my definition of "normal" might stretch the definition a bit. Today I was up in Portland, at a barbecue competition, as a judge! Yup, there really is such a thing as a Certified Pacific Northwest Barbecue Association judge! The job doesn't pay, but it does feature some of the best "low and slow" cooked barbecue you can imagine!<br>&nbsp;These competitions take place all around the northwest during the season, and even though I'll miss a few events while I do the Alaska trek, there'll be several left to attend when I get back.<br>&nbsp;There's a larger organization that's more midwest/southern states centered, called the Kansas City Barbecue Association, or KCBS for short, and they hold many events throughout the atlantic and southwest regions.<br>&nbsp;I'm hoping that this oddball hobby will translate well to the on-the-road plans - there's meets as far east as Saskatchewan and Montana, north to B.C., and some in southern Oregon, the coast, and northern Cal..<br>&nbsp;After an event I usually can't look at barbecue for a half a week or so, then it's into the leftovers for some quality grazing!<br>&nbsp;The group I'm hooked up with is at PNWBA.com, and the KCBS group can be googled easily.<br>&nbsp;So - that's how MY day went!<br>&nbsp;The Ol' Joe guy<br><br>