New series: Readers reflect on their paths to retirement

By Chuck Woodbury
FOUNDER AND PUBLISHER
Last issue I wrote about my struggle with successfully retiring. As much as I try, I can’t seem to do it. In my essay I wrote one important realization about retirement that I had come to was that a person cannot simply retire, he or she must retire to (something):

“The thing about retiring is that you cannot JUST RETIRE. You have to RETIRE TO something — hopefully something you have always wanted to do but never had time. For many people, that’s RVing. For those who do not replace their work with something they love, retirement is just a pit stop on their journey to their final frontier.”

Read my essay in the last issue here.

Readers responded

I asked readers to write me with their thoughts about retirement. Several dozen responded, most with very interesting tales to tell. I can’t post them here in one issue, but what I can do is post them over time. Beginning now.

Here is Drew Vactor’s story:

Dear Chuck,
I enjoyed your article about retiring. You asked for stories so here is mine.

I worked 80 hours a week for 26 years owning and operating a highly awarded fine dining restaurant and had no exit plan. The restaurant took 80% of my time but only generated 20% of my income so I also ran 5 other small businesses. Fortunately, we owned the land and building which had grown in value. Selling the dirt was way more lucrative than selling steaks and I was able to retire at 53.

I was over-worked, but loved being in business. I have a degree in marketing and it all made sense, but 80-hour weeks are much more fun at 27 years old than they were at 47, when I started looking for a way out. We had enough money from the property sale to retire but not to travel.

We were fortunate to get gigs as guest lecturers on cruise ships for 6 years, where we were on 6 weeks and off 6 weeks. In between, when home, we were also SCUBA instructors and taught diving. We put together trips for our students and other clients, working closely with our local dive center. We got to dive for free and got to exotic destinations using the frequent flyer miles from the cruise ship trips. Basically, we leveraged our skills to get others to pay for our travel all over the world. Talk about the “work” you love! Sadly, the cruise ship program ended after 6 years, but we had then accumulated money from not being home and could afford our own trips. We kept leading dive trips for 20 years.

As you can imagine, we saw a lot of the world, but started struggling to find places we had not been. Shortly before COVID, we decided to see America. We thought it would be by car and on riverboats, some of which we did, but we wanted more. Using Outdoorsy and RVshare, we rented RVs. Although my wife had always resisted RV travel (“the room service sucks”), it turned out she loved it, too. So we bought a 43’ Class A Newmar Ventana and have now been in every state except the East Coast, which is a long way from Arizona.

The room service still sucks, but we both drive and share the duties. We try to get out at least a few days every month with a major 2-month trip each year. No winterizing, here. We can RV all year and CHAMBLU (she is Champagne and Blue) is protected in an indoor shelter when not on the road.

So, this is consistent with your observation that you need something to go to, to work on, to make a difference in your life. We really had no exit plan when we retired, but travel has certainly provided that platform for us. When home, we are active in Rotary, so we have local community with valuable friends as well and it works.

When to retire?

But that brings us to Part 2 of your question: When to retire? We are now 77. We have had our RV for 4 years, 35,000 miles. We still find it fascinating to see America. Unlike Arizona, there is actually water in rivers we cross and it really makes us appreciate farmers. Our National Parks are incredible, although it can sometimes be challenging finding 43’ parking.

We walk 2 to 3 miles every morning when home to “train” for travel and, although we have both had health scares, we are in relatively good health.

Although we still have a large sticks-and-bricks home, we love being in our “tiny” home on wheels. After 55 years, we still just love being together. We know there is a time clock that will probably be triggered by something health-related, but as long as we can hook up the Jeep and climb the stairs, we still arm wrestle for who gets the driver’s seat. We believe our bodies will eventually know when we have had enough, but we still have roads to travel and 17 more states to visit.

FROM CHUCK:
Thank you, Drew! You have had a fascinating life. May you keep on going!

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If you have a story about your own journey to your retirement, please email me at chuck (at) RVtravel.com with your story. We’d love to include it in a future article.

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