I don’t like to dwell on bad stuff, but a necessary part of planning a major life change is to assess the risks. So what risks do I see in our plan to become full-timers?
1. Health
Health at our age is always a concern. I am in generally better health than Jett, but neither of us has, at this time (and knock on wood, please) any disease or condition that would prevent us from spending a year on the road. To the contrary, Jett’s health issues are mostly stress-related and will probably benefit from getting away from it all.
But this could change at any time, including in the next 5 months. So health is a risk both to us going and staying gone. But other than eating right, taking my vitamins, getting some daily exercise, looking both ways when I cross the street and not getting too pissed off at my job, there is not a lot to do to mitigate this risk.
The other health-related concern is how to deal with both chronic and acute health problems when traveling. I, thankfully, take no prescription medications, but Jett has a couple of drugs that she needs to take regularly. How do we fill her prescriptions? It might be possible to do the mail-order thing and trust that the prescriptions will catch up to us in time to prevent a medical crisis. But more likely we will have to pick a national pharmacy chain and hope that an outlet is nearby when we need it. And that their prescription software is smart enough for her prescriptions to be available in whatever God-forsaken place we are at when a refill is due. Is there a Wal-Mart in Death Valley? Fortunately, there is an app that will tell me that.
Dealing with an acute health problem will require some planning discipline. I will have to seek out the nearest hospital for each stop along the way. If we aren’t totally in the boonies (can you say “West Texas”?) then I might just rely on the campground host to tell me where to find it. I don’t ever want to be Googling “hospital podunk arkansas” while Jett is writhing in pain.
2. Renting the House
To some extent, renting our current home is a money issue, but a very special one. As things stand right now, it is the only known problem that could prevent me from retiring in August. I simply can’t afford to leave my job if I am carrying that mortgage on my back. So we absolutely, positively, have to find a tenant before the end of August. And it has to be at least a one-year lease. And the rent has to at least cover the cost of owning the house. I think this is all very possible – the rental market is strong right now – but I will feel a lot better when it is a done deal.
3. Money
Traveling in an RV, while not as expensive as other kinds of traveling, is still expensive. That diesel fuel won’t buy itself (I spent $116 today filling the tank). The first 100 days alone will drain about $20,000 from our not-very-robust savings. We need to work in 2013 if we are to defer dipping into Social Security until 2014 (when I turn 65 and Jett turns 63). So one of the many money-related issues is finding work. We both have a number of marketable skills, so finding something shouldn’t be the problem. The problem will be finding something that pays us what we are worth. It is not so easy to find short-term jobs that pay over $15 per hour. But I think we will manage. We have to forge ahead with some confidence that we will find gainful employment.
Another money issue is unexpected expenses. This can take many forms. Trips to the ER, something we absolutely, positively can’t live without, a vacation that exceeds our budget, a need to help one of our kids or grandchildren, something breaking in our rented house, something breaking in our RV. And a whole variety of other possibilities I can’t even name because… well, because they are unexpected expenses. It would take just one such unexpected major expense to completely disrupt our delicate budget.
The only way to deal with this issue is to keep some budgeted money in reserve. This will require some discipline and some good accounting of expenses. Not the sort of thing I would normally do on a vacation, but I think it will be necessary for this permanent vacation.
4. Disaster
Bad things can happen to good people, as we all know. So they can probably happen to us, too. By “disaster” I am thinking mostly of some catastrophic event that would completely destroy our plans. An accident that destroys the rig, a slip-and-fall that breaks my leg (a disaster because Jett refuses to drive the rig), a tornado on an RV search-and-destroy mission, a fire in the RV. Damage to the RV will, in most cases, be covered by the insurance, but it could take months to get the claim settled and we would be homeless in the meantime. And I will be real careful coming down those stairs. Perhaps Jett would learn to drive the rig if necessary. But neither of us would be comfortable with her behind the wheel. And you shouldn’t be, either.
5. Marital discord
Jett and I are very good companions and are particularly good travel companions. But have we ever traveled for months on end while sharing a 400 square foot home? No, we have not. There is such a thing as too much togetherness and we will have to be careful to give each other enough space to prevent murderous confrontations. The solution to this problem, of course, is to let Jett have her way. I have lots of experience with that and I can continue to do it for weeks on end.
But 100 days? I dunno.
If I stop blogging, notify the authorities.