Monday, May 12, 2008

BANKRUPTCY OF PURSE OR BANKRUPTCY OF LIFE!!

Let me start off this blog with a quote that Kelly found on the internet this morning. It is from actor and adventurer Sterling Hayden's book, Wanderer:
"We are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, and playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.Where, then, lies the answer?
IN CHOICE!!.Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?" (end of quote)

With our economy (& lately our weather) seemingly headed into the dumpster of disaster I once again turn away from CNN's daily reports & consider the fate of the proverbial Ostrich. There he stands, head buried in the sand, oblivious to the world's troubles around him. Is his head in a state of bliss & serenity under that sand? Has he discovered a new & wonderful world down there? Does that Ostrich truly understand something the rest of us do not? His reaction to his environment is not considered the norm which in turn leads me to something else someone said on the internet lately under the title, "Advice For People Who Don't Want the Normal." It applies to us at the moment & probably to a lot of other RV type people in the same boat facing the same decisions about their future......... "Go today, not tomorrow. The hardest part is untying the dock lines. If you wait a few more years for the stock market to come back...your Social Security to kick in...your retirement to vest at a better rate...or to finish a few more projects to make the RV perfect, you might be waiting too long. Health issues for one spouse or the other can potentially put your dreams back on the shelf in a heartbeat. Nike said in their commercials, "Just Do It".

"Just do it!!" Oh, if only it were that easy, but for all we know, maybe it is. I've been doing a lot of reading on the RV forums of late http://www.rv.net/ & people are in various states of lifestyle changes right now mainly because of the rising price of fuel. For RV owners it's a difficult time & puts new meaning into the saying, between a rock & a hard place. Can't afford the price of fuel but can't sell the RV either because they have basically all turned into big white elephants sitting in driveways across the land. Good time to buy an RV if you got some extra gas money in your pocket but not a good time to try & sell one, even at give-away prices. Therefore, it's the rock & a hard place syndrome, but I can tell you, we have no intentions of trying to sell our motorhome. We have a very big deterrent up here in the north for about 5 months of the year & it's called, WINTER!!!! With the price of fuel constantly rising it's beginning to make the long trek to the southwest in November seem like an improbable if not impossible venture, or as in the quoted words above, we "just do it!!" For us at this point it may seem improbable at times but it definitely is not impossible, so we are thinking forward & continuing to do more small renovations & improvements on the rig. I have already re-organized about a third of the basement storage space for this coming winter's journey to wherever that might be. The rig is due for some maintenance work so that has to be done yet as well. We want to keep our big white elephant in tip top shape. Afterall, it carries a big trunk & may become our future home someday.........................:)) (now if only we could just feed it peanuts instead of gasoline) The photo is from atop our rig in the driveway. I had to shrink wrap the solar panels because of sap dripping from pine trees close by & gumming them up.........

4 comments:

  1. Never let the dreams die. My motor home goes every weekend until we can sell the Condo (lol) Been on the market for 7 months. Three days a week of heaven is better than non. I spent my first 41 years in Cold country (Michigan)the last 27 in Florida.
    If it gets down to using the motor home 1 day a week it will still be worth it. We will find a way!
    Love your blog
    Milton

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  2. Choices are hard to make at times!
    Start your second childhood like i have, it's much more fun.

    the hermit

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  3. I have always "marched to my own drummer" as well..maybe because i grew up on a mink farm, and was a dreamer..I had a lake to explore and swim in, fishing boats,fresh wild berries, and I could water the mink ANYtime..there was no rigid schedule..lol..
    I DO know several people who are putting off motor~homing,and its because of gas prices in Alberta.One old man had heart probs. and spent days driving around BC looking for a hospital to take him in as he wasnt a resident..driving that big rig on freeways and in the city did NOTHING for his health:(..Go with your gut..

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