TonySoprano

My wife(56) and I (57) were in the same frame of mind 18 months ago. We have about $1.5M in retirement and investments. Totally debt free.

The wife had not worked in 2 years. We had sold the home that we raised our kids in S.Louisiana and were living in an apartment in WNC. Someone approached me to buy my business and the price was fair, so I sold and called myself retired.


We had an Airstream camper (paid cash before we sold the business) and we decided to try semi- full time RV travel, thinking that we could eek it out until full retirement age and SS and Medicaid kicked in.


It was a well thought out plan, but what we didn’t realize is how much we ended up resenting living on a strict budget. We both like to eat out, love to visit a brewery or winery, and that gets expensive. Sometimes we would justify it as Harvest Host members, as we would stay free if we patronized the business.

The state of health insurance in America is just a shame. We had a mail service we used that gave us NC mailing address, so our ACA insurance was tied to the Raleigh Durham area, a place we have never been. Everywhere else was out of network, so we never used the coverage even though we were paying ~$750/month for it.

We spent 270 days on the road in 2025 and didn’t even scratch the surface of this great continent we live on. Highlights included Morro Bay CA, Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon NP. Also of note was Lake Tahoe, Arches NP, Acadia NP, Maine seafood, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick (Tides of Fundy), Perce’, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, and Niagara Falls. We also made lifelong friends at the Airstream National Rally in York PA, 9 days of common interest fellowship and many bottles of wine and bourbon emptied.

We ended up back at a family home in SW Mississippi. My wife saw a listing for an accounting job with full benefits, she was hired almost immediately. I ended up in a sales job that I’m not crazy about, but between the both of us we will make ~$120k this year with full benefits.


We plan to work until SS and Medicaid kick in, then we will be gone for good. Our year on the road just made us want more, but next time we will have good income between SS and retirement distributions, and Medicare will fill in the gap of healthcare.


Long story short, my advice to you would be to take an extended leave of absence from that job and go do the 10 things you always wanted to, then go back and finish strong. You don’t want to be that old guy living on scraps.

We are traveling through the Canadian Maritimes, due to repatriate on Oct 12. I’ve heard the customs people are still working. Our problem has been trying to get campsites down the East Coast headed back south. All the federal camping is closed, even though it’s mostly staffed by seasonal work campers that aren’t going anywhere because their campsite is part of their pay arrangement. I really do not think they should close them, nothing much has changed as far as staffing.

I do believe that they close the National Park Campgrounds just to make a show of a shutdown.

We have been on the road in our Airstream since March 19. We despise RV parks and have only stayed 3 nights in all 91 days.

Harvest Host and Boondockers Welcome has totally changed the way people “camp” these days. We stay at wineries, breweries, farms and with BW we stay on other campers property.

We also really like state parks, county parks, national forests etc.

I did 32 years owning/operating bread routes. I sold the last one in January and currently in the RV traveling the country. At some point I will probably go back to some type of work, but if I don’t want to… I don’t have to.

The bread biz has changed so much in just the last 10 years, independent operators will be gone in the next 10. I would not recommend, it’s an after hours soul sucking grind.

He should be hanged by the neck at the nearest overpass to the capitol. Straight up treason.

I’m in Palm Desert California helping my daughter relocate for her first post college job. Of the 3 establishments we tried to patronize tonight, 1 was (Eureka)closed outright, 1 (Kithchen 86)was obviously short staffed and 1 (Sherman’s Deli) was basically normal as far as we could tell. Seems like had a small effect out here.

I had Toyo AT3’s, followed by Ridge Grapplers. Both were quiet until they hit 50% on tread and then got increasingly annoyingly loud.

When I put the Falken Wildpeak AT’s on it was super quiet again. I’m curious how long they will stay that way.

Chevy 3500 HC SRW long bed. Tires are 35x12.5

We are in Nashville for the weekend and want to go to a fun sports bar to watch the game. Any Nashville locals in here that can give suggestions??

Can be on or off Broadway.

Allie Rice’s parents need to show up with a crowd and crash this shindig.

Noah’s Cafe on Ambassador Caffery. Do not sleep on the cornbread dressing.