Last Road Trip

The time is approaching… I will be quitting my job on June 1, 2012, cashing out my retirement and traveling around the warm part of the United States for three months.

This is the item at the top of my bucket list, and I’m pouring it all out! I’m sixty five years old, in questionable health, and I have no health insurance. Medicare? Don’t ask…

It’s not one of those ride off into the sunset scenarios. I have a home here in the valley, and a partner. It’s just something I need to do before I die. My employer has accepted my resignation and while they can’t guarantee my re-hire based on State rules, there is an understanding that I will re-apply the first of September.

My son Riley is prepping a sweet little 1988 Mazda B2200 pickup that’s a second owner vehicle and has been in the family since his grandmother acquired it from it’s first owner. 86K miles, 2.2-liter in-line four-cylinder sweety with a canopy for sleeping.

We’re going to make it extremely road ready and I’ll pick it up when I roll into Seattle on Sunday, June 3. I’ll stock up on travel supplies and depart Seattle on Tuesday, June 5.

The agenda is to hug the Pacific coastline heading south, all the way to San Diego, and then turning left, to the tip of Florida. I’ve done the Pacific run before and driven, flown and hitch-hiked the southern states, but I’ve never driven from San Diego to Miami.

I’m old and it will be my last run.

I’ll be living out of the truck, enjoying the beaches, showering at an occasional 24 Hour Fitness (getting a three month contract…) and maybe an occasional cheap motel.

I’ll also be borrowing bandwidth at every opportunity and documenting the adventure on this blog, which I started on June 6 last year after returning from Vegas.

Thanks for following my eclectic posts, and please stay tuned…