Panama City Beach, FL: Happy Valentines Day From Sunny Florida

Weather is much warmer today and sunny. Still not hot enough for the pool but nice enough to open the windows and do our walks in t-shirts.

The campground hosted a Valentine’s Day Champagne Party. About 20 couples plus members of the campground staff attended. Lots of interesting people and stories. MLA and I celebrate Valentine’s Day by going out to dinner a day or two before the actual date, same as we do when we are home. Better luck getting into the restaurant of our choice. So the Champagne Social was a nice way to celebrate without driving anywhere. Would have been even nicer if either of us drank Champagne….

We are reviewing several caravans and rallies scheduled for later this year. NYC Caravan, Gillette WY Rally, Calgary Rodeo Trip, Leaf Peeper Tours of New England in the fall, Nova Scotia Tour, etc. are just a few of the many choices.

Lot of questions on our part about the cost of a guided trip vs. doing it ourselves, the fixed itinerary vs. our flexible lifestyle preference & commitment, logistics of planning months in advance, etc.

The one area that we have absolutely no concern about: is there something on our calendar that would prohibit us from taking any trip we wanted? Nope. No need to check with anybody or look at a calendar. Other than we would prefer to be home at our stick house for Christmas, we are amazingly open.

OMG -- What a feeling. I don’t mean to gush but while working I was accustomed to having my schedule completely full for the next 2-3- weeks and mostly full for the next two months, sometimes three months. What a liberating (and I might add, strange) feeling. I wonder , does the feeling go away or do you get caught up in the trap of overly planned calendars for RV travel?

Who knows. For now I’m enjoying a whole new sensation. I had a boss who retired about 5 years ago named John. Whenever I saw John, I would ask him to wipe that silly grin off of his face, which of course, he could not do. Try as he might, the grin was soon back, spreading from ear-to-ear, looking like the proverbial cat who ate the canary. At the time I thought I understood. Now I not only understand, I have the same silly grin spread across my face. John still has it to this day.

Somebody cuts me off in traffic -- Hey buddy, that’s ok. You go ahead, you must still be working.
Someone jumps in front of me at the grocery mart -- Hey, it’s ok. I’m in no hurry. I’m retired.
Traffic jam while moving the RV -- No worries mate. If we get stuck we have food, bed and a bathroom.

I’ve already experienced just those feelings. Took me a while. When your working you don’t even realize you are wound tight as a spring. MLA knew it and told me so; of course I denied it. Said I had it all under control. I told her it was perfectly normal for me to yell at someone who cut me off. Or to make a less than polite comment about someone’s ability to count when they took 13 items through the 10 or less checkout lane.

Of course she was right -- I still struggle with her being right most of the time. Retired or not, that can get to a guy.

Well, I’ll wrap up now (not that I have anything else planned). Just seems like I’ve gone on long enough. Maybe I’ll wander over to the street not to far from here that’s always jammed at rush hour. See how many one finger salutes I can collect by waving a “I’m Retired” sign with a big grin plastered across my face.

See Ya!