Mine, Mine, Mine!

Here's my baby Ranger before I drove her away and racked up 43,000 miles.

Got the title in the mail today! The monthly payments had gotten to be a major drag on my meager Non-Profit Saloon and Shootin Gallery income, so I dropped a chunk of underperforming mutual funds and paid Ranger off and banked the rest as reserves.

It was worth it. I'm not getting any younger and neither are Mom or my widely scattered friends. I retired here in Tucson to enjoy the wonderful weather (read: avoid winter as much as possible), but there's no use holing up down here and reducing trips to see the much loved family back home when I can manage to afford it. Here's where I've got to find balance; when I was raking in the dough, it didn't allow me a lot of time for visiting...now that I've got a lot of time available, things like broken a/c and balky refrigerators have eaten into liquid savings and cut down my roadtrip time.

Next year, when I resolve to finally take up college, time will again be precious, so I might as well wring out some enjoyment this fall/winter. Next month has a high concentration of matches (really, another major reason why I retired here), so I reluctantly moved my roadtrip timetable to December/January. Gawwwwd, I hate winter driving, though I consider myself proficient at it. The trip East will go on an ironclad timetable (knock on wood); the return trip will be pre-planned by much weather reconnaissance and vary by several days.