Your Retirement Life: On the Road Again, Part II

By Denise Barlock @ Shutterstock.com

In the summer of 1984, we traveled across the country in our 21 foot Winnebago Brave (yes we were) and can relate to this article as a new swath of RV drivers hit the roads to dodge COVID restrictions.

Joe Barrett writes in The Wall Street Journal:

Brad Swenson, who lives in his RV, was at a stoplight in the Black Hills of South Dakota last month when he saw a rental RV trying to use a fast-food drive-through—a typical rookie mistake.

“It was like I was about to see a dog get hit by a car. I wanted to help, but there was nothing I could do,” said Mr. Swenson, 50, a Seattle property investor.

“He was about 2 feet away from doing major damage” but stopped when he reached a hanging sign alerting him that the RV was too tall, Mr. Swenson said. Still, the man was going to have to ask everyone in line to get out of his way so he could back up. “I felt bad for him,” Mr. Swenson said. “I almost wanted to send him a Hallmark card saying, ‘We’ve all been there.’”

Gina Marie Eynon knew her new 31-foot RV was too tall for a Starbucks drive-through as the family traveled from Mashpee, Mass., to Scottsdale, Ariz., to visit her ailing father-in-law in late May. So she parked and walked to the drive-in window to order her iced caramel macchiato.

But when she went to drive away from the Starbucks in Effingham, Ill., she cut a tight corner too close. “I tried to go wide,” said Ms. Eynon, 42, who sells essential oils, but all of a sudden she heard a crash. “The pole next to the building literally just pummeled my RV.”

When her husband, Deryk, 49, a schoolteacher, took over to try to free the camper from the pole, the two batteries that power the RV’s appliances fell out of their compartment. It took a repairman about two hours to get the family back on the road—including a brief pause when he got shocked.

“It was a $200 coffee,” Ms. Eynon quipped, adding that the Grand Canyon was amazing.

You never know what can happen on the road until you’re out there. But it’s not all bad.

As you read in Part I about our trip in 1984, “I remember as a kid when we drove across the country in our Winnebago, how cool it was to talk to the truck drivers using our CB radio and also just listening to the chatter. It was Waze before there was Waze, and it was like a game, especially when we’d hear a tip in real time on how to avoid the construction delays up ahead.”

Drive safely.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.

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