New to the ER forum

[Bob Michigan]

New to the ER forum, last day of work March 31, 2005 after 42 years of work at the same company.  Started when I was 18 and now I am 60.  I believe 60 qualifies as early, if only two years. 

Pat my wife "retired" seven years ago when she was 48. 

Just adjusting to not working and enjoying it.  Bought a Motorhome
in 2003 and love traveling in it. 

Will keep the house on the water as home base,  Life is good!

 

[Mr._johngalt]

New to the ER forum, last day of work March 31, 2005 after 42 years of work at the same company.  Started when I was 18 and now I am 60.  I believe 60 qualifies as early, if only two years. 

Pat my wife "retired" seven years ago when she was 48. 

Just adjusting to not working and enjoying it.  Bought a Motorhome
in 2003 and love traveling in it. 

Will keep the house on the water as home base,  Life is good!

Sounds good. What part of Michigan? I have lived/worked all over the state.

JG

 

[Spanky]

Bob,

Working for the same company demostrates loyalty. Well, how do you keep a house on water in Lake Michigan?

Spanky

 

[Bob Michigan]

Southeast Michigan, North and East of Detroit about 42 miles. We are on a cannel off the North Channel of the Saint Clair River just north of Lake Saint Clair.

Bought the lot in 1984, designed and built the house “on the land” in 1985-86 moved in 1986. That was a dream and goal of mine to design and also build a house myself since I was very young. Kind of a hobby to build houses
and additions on to many homes in the past. Thought I might continue building homes in retirement after working in industrial sales for many years, but now at 60 I do not want to work that hard.

Just looking forward to traveling the United States.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Southeast Michigan, North and East of Detroit about 42 miles.  We are on a cannel off the North Channel of the Saint Clair River just north of Lake Saint Clair. 

Bought the lot in 1984, designed and built the house “on the land” in 1985-86 moved in 1986.  That was a dream and goal of mine to design and also build a house myself since I was very young.  Kind of a hobby to build houses
and additions on to many homes in the past.  Thought I might continue building homes in retirement after working in industrial sales for many years, but now at 60 I do not want to work that hard. 

Just looking forward to traveling the United States.

I understand completely, esp. re. dreams and goals but not wanting
to "work that hard" at age 60. Every time I get ready to jump back in
(to working), I just wait 24 hours and the urge goes away. BTW, I am thinking of taking up serious muskie fishing. The only legal muskie I ever
caught was out of Lake St. Clair (around 10 lbs.). I have often said that
if Lake St. Clair was located elsewhere (away from the Great Lakes),
it would be world famous. Anyway, I am traveling to northern Wisc.
this week for some muskie fishing. Maybe this will cause me to get serious about it.

JG

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Southeast Michigan, North and East of Detroit about 42 miles.  We are on a cannel off the North Channel of the Saint Clair River just north of Lake Saint Clair. 

Bought the lot in 1984, designed and built the house “on the land” in 1985-86 moved in 1986.  That was a dream and goal of mine to design and also build a house myself since I was very young.  Kind of a hobby to build houses
and additions on to many homes in the past.  Thought I might continue building homes in retirement after working in industrial sales for many years, but now at 60 I do not want to work that hard. 

Just looking forward to traveling the United States.

Your goals are modest. That's good!

I lived/worked in Detroit, Farmington Hills, Fenton, Hartland, Grand Blanc,
Traverse City, Menominee and Cornell, Michigan over about 15 years.
Still my fav. northern state.

JG

 

[Eagle43]

Come on in, Bob Michigan. I retired at 60, and I consider it early. 42 years at the same company. Amazing. Congratulations, and welcome aboard.

 

[Bob Michigan]

And here I am 14 years later enjoying life in retirement. I will have to write about my life in retirement. That will take some time. So I will do that and post again. Bob

 

[CaptTom]

Cool! Thanks for coming back to fill us in!

 

[SunBlueSky]

And here I am 14 years later enjoying life in retirement. I will have to write about my life in retirement. That will take some time. So I will do that and post again. Bob

Would love to see you write about your designing and building houses, too.

 

[Finance Dave]

Congrats Bob, good to see you here!

 

[Bob Michigan]

Some highlights:
2006 We spent 68 days traveling in the motorhome FL, NC, SC, AL and TN. When we got home I remodeled the master bath adding a second sink and vanity.

2007 Spent 88 days in Florida and the Keys traveling in the motorhome Jan – April Social Security started.

2008 Spent 112 days in Florida. 2009, 2010 Florida.

2011 On the road MI, OH, KY, TN, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX, AZ, NV, NM, CO, NM, TX, OK, MO, IL, IN, Home 1) Haines City Florida 10 days. 2} Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Florida 8 days. 3) South Beach, Miami, Florida 1 day Haines City, Florida 30 days. 4) The Villages Florida 1 day. 5) New Orleans, French Quarter, Louisiana 3 days. 6) Galveston Island, Houston, Texas 4 days. 7) Corpus Christi, Texas 4 days. 8) San Antonia, Texas The Alamo - The River Walk 3 days. 9) LBJ Ranch Stonewall, Texas. 10) El Paso Texas 3 days. 11) Tucson Arizona 3 days. 12) Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens 4 days. 13) Palm Springs - Desert Hot Springs California 9 days. 14) Salton Sea California. 15) Malibu, LA, Hollywood Beverly Hills, California 4 days. 16 San Diego California 3 days. 17) Murrieta, California TEMECULA VALLEY 4 days. 18) Las Vegas Nevada 3 days. 19) Bullhead City AZ on the Colorado River 3 days. 20) Grand Canyon & Williams Arizona 3 days. 21) Mesa Verde and Four Corners CO, NM, AZ and UT 4 days. 22) Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, Oklahoma. 23) Saint Louis, Missouri Arch. Home in Michigan.

2012 – 2016 spent 100 days in Florida. 2016 Sold Motorhome April 19th.

2017 – 2019 rented a house in Florida.

2018 Had seawall repaired and I rebuilt the Boardwalk along seawall, took me about 10 days.

2019 I replaced Kitchen cabinets and counter top. 2 months of solid hard work by this old man.

2011 and 2012 purchased two homes during the downturn, could not build them cheaper.

Life is good.

 

[kgtest]

New to the ER forum, last day of work March 31, 2005 after 42 years of work at the same company.* Started when I was 18 and now I am 60.* I believe 60 qualifies as early, if only two years.*

Pat my wife "retired" seven years ago when she was 48.*

Just adjusting to not working and enjoying it.* Bought a Motorhome
in 2003 and love traveling in it.*

Will keep the house on the water as home base,* Life is good!

FRA for me is 67? I am a millenial technically bordering gen x. You are definitely early, Ole man worked unitl 65 even though he didn't need the money. You are much smarter for pulling the plug sooner.

Lots of folks with motor homes...is there anywhere left to park

 

[Dean56]

Bob, it's great to see you've followed your plans and kept busy by traveling in retirement. I hope to do the same when I retire.


Was there much motor home maintenance during the 10 year period? Any major breakdowns?

 

[Oz investor]

WOW .. retired 14 years and too busy to post ( join )

is that a new gold standard ??

welcome to ER

glad to see you have found plenty to keep you happy

cheers

 

[kimcdougc]

Love reading your update. Sounds like retirement agrees with you. Keep updating. Love to read your stories.

 

[Bob Michigan]

Bob, it's great to see you've followed your plans and kept busy by traveling in retirement. I hope to do the same when I retire.


Was there much motor home maintenance during the 10 year period? Any major breakdowns?

36 ft Itasca Sunrise 36m floor plan.

01/20/2014 56,000 miles blew out a Spark Plug out of the V-10 on I-75 had to be towed to the Ford Dealer Clinton TN.

Rusted windshield frame cracked the glass and replaced 9/13/2014

Brakes went out leaving Florida in 2016 had the section of rusted brake line repaired.

Normal Maintenance other than that during 13 years of ownership and 64,000 miles. Total cost of maintenance $12,000.00.