I started laughing when my Mom asked me this question. We were talking about some of our adventures, activities, etc. on the road, just a normal conversation bringing her up to date and she just had to ask if we were associating with any friends my age or if all my new friends were now retired??
OK, so some of our new friends are slightly older than Dale (he robbed the cradle when he married me), the newly retired ones probably closest to his age, but she's right. For the most part, I'm suddenly hanging out with people who are 10-25 years older than I am.
Ahhh, the joys of diversity in life. I really hadn't thought about it much before, it doesn't bother me, but as I started thinking about the age differences, it made me realize just how long we might we really have to enjoy this FT lifestyle should we continue to pursue it well into retirement. After all, we started out saying 1-3 years on the road, now we're saying at least 5, who knows, it might just go on for a very long time.
Loving this life and all these new friends!!
Alie and Jims Carrilite said
08:05 PM Mar 6, 2015
I understand your dilemma... I think I'm the youngest fulltimer in the Rio Grand Valley this year. Add the fact that I don't head off to work in the morning like some of the local wind farm workers makes for some interesting conversations...them-."Aren't you a little young to be retired"...me- No I'm not retired, I just don't owe any money to anybody so I can pick when and where I want to work... it usually gets their attention.
Barbaraok said
08:10 PM Mar 6, 2015
We lived in Phoenix area in the early 70s when Dave was in graduate school at ASU. Hated winter when all of the retirees arrived as they clogged the streets, etc. We would never be that old - heavens we didn't trust anyone over 30!
Sure enough, 45 yrs later, we are now helping to clog the streets in the winter.
We lived on college campuses most of our lives, so we were always around wide range of ages groups - - of course the students went from being just a little younger than we were, to somewhat younger, to us being the age of their parents, to being the age of their grandparents - we decided to retire!
Barb
Terry and Jo said
10:53 PM Mar 6, 2015
Nope, all our friends aren't retired yet either. Some are jealous and some are ecstatic that we can do it, even if we aren't really traveling yet.
Barbara's comment brought to mind a comment that a "relative" said one time to Jo and her sisters. This was back when this relative stated that once one reached 65 years old, they ought to volunteer for euthanasia. (That was during the hippie days.) Now that this relative is over 65, none of the three sisters have had the nerve to ask this relative if they are going to volunteer or not. (By the way, Jo won't let me broach the subject either. But, if said relative (in-law in my case) ever presses me enough, the question just might be blurted out.)
Terry
MarkS said
12:02 AM Mar 7, 2015
I have to laugh at me when I characterize somebody as "that old guy".
Incidentally, mirrors aren't allowed in my house! Hey, turn that Led Zepplin back up!
-- Edited by MarkS on Saturday 7th of March 2015 12:03:35 AM
bjoyce said
07:17 AM Mar 7, 2015
Cherie & Chris/Technomadia recently put out a new YouTube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hLtrprch7M, on finding your RVing peers that addresses this to a degree. (It is about an hour long, I set the resolution to 240p with the little gear icon on the bottom right to save bandwidth). There are RVers out there in all age groups, with the retired set being the majority. We mostly have RV friends older than ourselves, but some are younger. Except for both sides not always having watched the same movies or TV shows, we all get along.
Camper Chronicles said
08:12 AM Mar 7, 2015
About half of our FT group of friends are all in their late 40's and early 50's. Some are "retired" but not what I would consider traditional retirement. The way I look at it is...and YMMV here...I have many good years left to contribute to society and want to find a way to do that whether I work or not. Volunteering, work kamping for social interaction and a little money, consulting, starting a small business are all ways people who are "retired" keep themselves busy. When I compare this to how my grandparents retired (ie: stop working and golf a lot) I think it looks very different. I consider myself in the "slow down" period of my career phase rather than retirement.
Trace
The Restless Youngs said
03:42 PM Mar 7, 2015
On a similiar note, one of the things people keep asking me is, "are you retiring?" Haven't quite figured out the right answer yet, but I basically just say I'm taking a sabbatical or changing directions a bit. Like Trace, still will need something to keep me stimulated and will figure it out. I can't remember not working...so retiring? No. Living? Yes!
One of the things I do enjoy is meeting and hanging with lots of different people--regardless of their age or if they're retired!!
jrzygrl64 said
04:24 PM Mar 7, 2015
My husband and I have "sort of" retired - maybe a sabbatical like Cori said is a better word. Bills most recent job had him pretty wiped out - so we are taking some time to figure out the next move. We have met lots of people of all ages - I am glad for that b/c everyone has different life experiences and we all have different perspectives. Best part is mostly everyone we have met has been honest, willing to be open to new things and best of all supportive.
Basically, age is just a number and all numbers are awesome!
The Junkman said
06:48 PM Mar 9, 2015
I think we would be socializing more if I where of retirement age. Instead we tend to stick to our plans , and ourselfs.
While everyone is nice and all.. we feel out of place. Cards, hamburger lunches, shuffleboard, swimming pools.. is just not are thing..yet. It would be better if we where in our 60's.. Although, our aggressive activity schedules would suffer if we where. We could not keep the pace we do now.. that is for sure..
Twice we had neighbors ask us where we go all day.. everyday..lol
That said.. about ready to buy me a cricket esv, and stick on my hitch on the rear of the trailer just to have for the parks, fairs, events etc..
-- Edited by The Junkman on Monday 9th of March 2015 06:50:48 PM
-- Edited by The Junkman on Monday 9th of March 2015 06:51:52 PM
pkhalin said
07:25 PM Mar 9, 2015
All I can say is I'm looking forward to August when we hit the road and hopefully make all those friends. Don't really care if they're older or younger. I'm equal opportunity when it comes to ****tails!
Happy trails!
pkhalin said
07:28 PM Mar 9, 2015
Oops! Guess I should have said something more like happy hours or drinks. My bad.
The Bear II said
07:32 AM Mar 10, 2015
The RV resort we stay in during the summer is filled with retired folks. Over the course of 20 years we have been staying there; we have developed numerous friendships. Unfortunately, since we are younger than most of the RVers in the resort, many of the original friends we developed from 20 years ago have passed away. That's the sad part.
Each year we seem to gain one or more new friends.... that's the good part sort of... because now we are 20 years older so many of the new friends are younger. We can see where this is headed.
The cycle of life.
-- Edited by The Bear II on Tuesday 10th of March 2015 07:33:23 AM
DebbieM said
03:12 PM Mar 11, 2015
I'd say we have met friends in all categories, both retired, one retired (like us), older, younger, etc. We have enjoyed everyone's company and are really having a great time. I'm actually surprised that more often than not, we are meeting up with or sharing time with others along the way. It's great!
Bill and Jodee said
08:27 PM Mar 11, 2015
One of the things I have found most delightful about this forum and many of the blogs I follow is the many different ages and "circumstances" of the full-timers out there now, and those planning to become full-timers. It would be so boring if everyone were like me, with the same experiences. I so look forward to meeting folks older and younger, working and retired.
Mostly we like to be by ourselves, but there are so many great folks living this life that I suspect we'll be more social than usual
I started laughing when my Mom asked me this question. We were talking about some of our adventures, activities, etc. on the road, just a normal conversation bringing her up to date and she just had to ask if we were associating with any friends my age or if all my new friends were now retired??
OK, so some of our new friends are slightly older than Dale (he robbed the cradle when he married me
), the newly retired ones probably closest to his age, but she's right. For the most part, I'm suddenly hanging out with people who are 10-25 years older than I am.
Ahhh, the joys of diversity in life. I really hadn't thought about it much before, it doesn't bother me, but as I started thinking about the age differences, it made me realize just how long we might we really have to enjoy this FT lifestyle should we continue to pursue it well into retirement. After all, we started out saying 1-3 years on the road, now we're saying at least 5, who knows, it might just go on for a very long time.
Loving this life and all these new friends!!
We lived in Phoenix area in the early 70s when Dave was in graduate school at ASU. Hated winter when all of the retirees arrived as they clogged the streets, etc.
We would never be that old - heavens we didn't trust anyone over 30!
Sure enough, 45 yrs later, we are now helping to clog the streets in the winter.
We lived on college campuses most of our lives, so we were always around wide range of ages groups - - of course the students went from being just a little younger than we were, to somewhat younger, to us being the age of their parents, to being the age of their grandparents - we decided to retire!
Barb
Nope, all our friends aren't retired yet either. Some are jealous and some are ecstatic that we can do it, even if we aren't really traveling yet.
Barbara's comment brought to mind a comment that a "relative" said one time to Jo and her sisters. This was back when this relative stated that once one reached 65 years old, they ought to volunteer for euthanasia. (That was during the hippie days.) Now that this relative is over 65, none of the three sisters have had the nerve to ask this relative if they are going to volunteer or not. (By the way, Jo won't let me broach the subject either. But, if said relative (in-law in my case) ever presses me enough, the question just might be blurted out.)
Terry
I have to laugh at me when I characterize somebody as "that old guy".
Incidentally, mirrors aren't allowed in my house! Hey, turn that Led Zepplin back up!
-- Edited by MarkS on Saturday 7th of March 2015 12:03:35 AM
Cherie & Chris/Technomadia recently put out a new YouTube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hLtrprch7M, on finding your RVing peers that addresses this to a degree. (It is about an hour long, I set the resolution to 240p with the little gear icon on the bottom right to save bandwidth). There are RVers out there in all age groups, with the retired set being the majority. We mostly have RV friends older than ourselves, but some are younger. Except for both sides not always having watched the same movies or TV shows, we all get along.
Trace
One of the things I do enjoy is meeting and hanging with lots of different people--regardless of their age or if they're retired!!
Basically, age is just a number and all numbers are awesome!
I think we would be socializing more if I where of retirement age.
Instead we tend to stick to our plans , and ourselfs.
While everyone is nice and all.. we feel out of place. Cards, hamburger lunches, shuffleboard, swimming pools.. is just not are thing..yet. It would be better if we where in our 60's.. Although, our aggressive activity schedules would suffer if we where. We could not keep the pace we do now.. that is for sure..
Twice we had neighbors ask us where we go all day.. everyday..lol
That said.. about ready to buy me a cricket esv, and stick on my hitch on the rear of the trailer just to have for the parks, fairs, events etc..
-- Edited by The Junkman on Monday 9th of March 2015 06:50:48 PM
-- Edited by The Junkman on Monday 9th of March 2015 06:51:52 PM
All I can say is I'm looking forward to August when we hit the road and hopefully make all those friends. Don't really care if they're older or younger. I'm equal opportunity when it comes to ****tails!
Happy trails!
Oops! Guess I should have said something more like happy hours or drinks. My bad.
The RV resort we stay in during the summer is filled with retired folks. Over the course of 20 years we have been staying there; we have developed numerous friendships. Unfortunately, since we are younger than most of the RVers in the resort, many of the original friends we developed from 20 years ago have passed away. That's the sad part.
Each year we seem to gain one or more new friends.... that's the good part sort of... because now we are 20 years older so many of the new friends are younger. We can see where this is headed.
The cycle of life.
-- Edited by The Bear II on Tuesday 10th of March 2015 07:33:23 AM
I'd say we have met friends in all categories, both retired, one retired (like us), older, younger, etc. We have enjoyed everyone's company and are really having a great time. I'm actually surprised that more often than not, we are meeting up with or sharing time with others along the way. It's great!
Mostly we like to be by ourselves, but there are so many great folks living this life that I suspect we'll be more social than usual
Viva la difference!
Jodee