It's nearly upon us. IT is the new year, 2013. I don't know
what happened to the last 12 months, but they surely have passed rapidly. The
reality is that time passes at precisely the same rate it did when I was born.
It just seems like it's passing more rapidly. I've read some scientific
explanations for why time feels like it flies, but I'll let you research that
for yourself if you have a mind to.
The fact is that in just 7 more days 2013 will commence.
It's later than it's ever been and tomorrow and each succeeding day will be the
first day of the rest of my, oh yeah, and your life. I had to throw in a few
clichés. I couldn't resist.
So, The Plan is the topic of this post. I began planning for
2013 a couple months ago. As of January 1, 2013 I will have been living my
nomadic, living free lifestyle for 50 months. I still have no regrets. It has
been an educational and enlightening time. A few important changes have
occurred during this period. One is that I realized that I didn't really need a
38' to 40' diesel pusher motor coach. In fact, I realized that I need far less
space than I originally thought I'd need. This is good for the planet because I
have and will continue to have a much smaller footprint than I've ever had
except for a short period of time while I was in the Air Force.
I've also learned, after spending about three years staying
in the northern Virginia/Washington, DC area during weekdays, that I don't want
to live in any large or medium sized city again. I also learned that after 26
years (longer than the 22 years I lived
in my native hometown of Clifton, NJ) that I could leave and not miss
Winchester, Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. I learned the same lesson when
I moved to Winchester from Annapolis, Maryland, but my Annapolis residency was
only a ten year period.
I've also learned that it is very easy for me to adapt to
most any situation and fall into a comfort zone. Yes! I've had some road time
during these past 50 months, but only a small percentage of the time I had
planned to traverse the country. This is a personal disappointment. My biggest
challenge is "inertia," i.e. an object at rest remains at rest until
acted upon by an outside force (motivation). This is another of the many
personal challenges I have to overcome. Everyone has their own set of personal
challenges and as I've stated here before, this living free lifestyle is a
never ending learning process that includes plenty of trials and errors.
So, 2013 is upon me (us). It is time. I have been doing the
soul searching I need to determine why this "body" has remained
mostly "at rest" and what the "external force" and
"action" is that will propel this "body" into motion. Okay,
so I won't try to delude myself, it's excuses. Yep! I have a million of them.
Okay, that's an exaggeration, but I have lots of them, pretty much all without
basis.
Thus, I started contemplating a plan for 2013 a couple
months ago. It's almost like the plan when I decided to make the change to the
living free lifestyle and leave the ranch at the end of October 2008. I don't
believe in New Years resolutions. Many people seems to make one or more
resolutions, but few follow through on them. Accordingly, I'm making no
resolutions. My 2013 plan is more like a life map of where I'll be going and
what I'll be doing for the year. And, of course, I'm allowing for a few
diversions and detours. Plans have to have a certain amount of flexibility to
allow for unforeseen circumstances, opportunities and serendipities.
Currently, there are certain things already on the plan.
They include some annual doctor appointments in the spring. Then there is a
planning committee meeting for the Veteran Speakers Retreat I have coordinated
for a dozen years in the spring and the annual Veteran Speakers Retreat in
August at Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania. This is my last year as the retreat
coordinator as I'll pass the baton to a new team in August. Then I'll be in San
Antonio, Texas in October for the annual CFDD conference that I help my former
partner with each year. There is also the possibility of at least one
conference project with my long-time friend and client in Fairfax, Virginia,
whose office I use when I'm in the Fairfax area. I don't have dates or
locations yet for any of his 2012 programs. These various events will move me
around the country a reasonable amount, but only represent a small amount of
the available time in 2013.
The first priority for 2013 is to liquidate any remaining
assets in the form of professional audio & video gear, some antique amateur
radio equipment, various technical books (audio and book publishing) and
anything else still in storage in Winchester (some in West Virginia) that I
will never need or use again. This will allow me to close and eliminate the
storage unit in Winchester and hopefully downsize the already small storage
unit in Keyser, West Virginia.
Concurrent with the final downsizing project I will be
completing the build in of My McVansion (my van) and get it road ready. Any
known serious issues are repaired and it appears to be in excellent condition
for nomadic vandwelling around the U.S. Both projects will be complete by
Spring.
The e-book project also begins during the first quarter of
2013. My New Zealand buddy, Brian Morris, has been after me to get started with
publishing several e-books. Brian already has 22 books published, so I have
some catching up to do. Most of the writing for several books is already done.
The major work is editing and formatting now. I have been dragging my feet for
several years in making the transition from book publisher to book author. It's
time to launch this new part of my career.
I'm planning my shakedown cruise through West Virginia in
the spring. While I've had the opportunity to travel through parts of West
Virginia over the years, there is so much to see in this beautiful state. I
have friends in various parts of the state that I'm planning to visit. The trip
will give "Mickey V" (short for My McVansion) a chance to see a lot
of Blue Highways, country roads, small, rural towns and plenty of hills and
small mountains to traverse. It will also allow Mickey V to show what she's
made of.
These past four years have afforded me a lot of time to
contemplate what I want to do and what I want the third half of my life to
stand for. This is a country of fantastic diversity in people, ideas,
businesses, music and art. I've come to the conclusion that my mission over the
next decade, or possibly longer, is to meet as many of these people, listen to
their music, view their art and learn about their businesses. Then I'll write
about what I learn in a variety of blogs and share recordings and interviews
with you and others interested in how folks are living their dreams and living
free.
I'm also creating some ideas to help some folks who are can
benefit in some positive way and then help others by paying it forward. I
haven't determined the details. Later in the year I'm hoping to make it down
south and up north to visit a number of friends. After the shakedown cruise
I'll begin planning specific time slots for the trips.
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