Decisions

Retirement for us was a virtual flashing red neon sign that beckoned us to get on the road and find out what all the spectacular places in the world looked like in live form rather than in an issue of the National Geographic. In talking about retirement I had expressed the view to Vikki that I would not want to sit around scratching myself wondering what to do. Although disabled, I have always been on the go trying to live as normal a life as possible. The first and foremost task, having decided to retire, was to find a suitable vehicle to do our travels in. This task had everything, laughter, frustration, compromise, exasperation, enlightenment, excitement, and that 'YES' factor when we got something right. Now, two years later, we are almost at the point of taking delivery of our spanky new Dodge Sprinter Van, complete with a Sportsmobile van conversion from Fresno, California; ramp access equipment for my wheelchair, and hand controls so that I can drive, both from Norcal in Chico, California; and living accomodation so that we can eat and sleep. I have to say that we started out with a 23 foot class B idea, progressed to a 45 foot class C, and have now settled on a 24 foot class B van conversion. In that process we learned about grey water tanks, black water tanks, gross vehicle weight, gross combined vehicle weight, carrying capacity, trailers, toads, and almost everything else we think we may or may not need to know. The next immediate task is to jettison ourselves off the 22 square miles of rock known as Bermuda and transport ourselves from a 1,200 square foot apartment to a 140 square foot motorhome. The veritable pint into a half pint mug.