Rich&Sylvia

Well, I bought a "creeper" at Harbor Freight last week for $35. and it's really a nice one. A mechanic friend told me about it - elsewhere, creepers usually cost around $125+ No more "inch-worming" under the truck for me.

That might be the student rate via the link above. WSJ advertises the regular non-student $4 dollar rate on Facebook occasionally - which is where I got the low digital subscription rate.

How long will my savings last: https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/savings-withdrawal-calculator-tool.aspx Another how long will my money last: https://www.firecalc.com/ Portfolio Visualizer: A more advance fun or serious tool set: https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/ 2 million pretty much does it for anyone with a semi-frugal life style.

I recently subscribed to Forbes and Smithsonian since both were offering extreme value subscriptions. WSJ at $4.00 / month online version (if that counts).

In retrospect, a Roth IRA would be my first choice - and if a company matching fund were available - max it out. Long term successful investing can actually put one into a position of getting bumped into a higher tax bracket. We are required to take withdrawals from traditional IRA's (401k's) at age 70 (or is it 72 now?) And money taken from a traditional IRA is taxed as ordinary income. Money taken from a Roth is tax free. If one does not need the money it is better to leave it alone - in a Roth.

To me, your plan sounds very difficult to achieve. I suspect that others have attempt your plan and find themselves in homeless encampments. Campgrounds are very full nowadays. And free spaces are being used more often as the crowded RV boom continues to grow. I agree with the trailer idea. And I wish you well with finding a spot. I've found that there are often covenants against RV parking when looking at land. And you don't want to be too far away from urban amenities (I assume). There's a small chance that your plan might work handsomely as a caretaker. Take a look at caretaker.org for a few ideas. Maybe the right fit might come along. Try a google search for "caretaker jobs" for additional ideas. Best of luck in your endeavor - it sounds like an adventure.

Stay the course has been my lesson learned. Hillary Clinton's tax return investments were not press worthy: 100 percent S&P 500 Warren Buffet stated that he would invest 90 percent in the S&P 500 and 10% bonds for his wife. So there's that. And then there are the "Lazy Portfolio" options: https://portfolioslab.com/lazy-portfolios Generally, at this late point in life, we are not as adventuresome as the early days. Investing early in one's career is most important - though that can be hard to do when many demands are placed on one's income salary.

Mayo Clinic Phoenix is now allowing two visitors. No temperature checks. Two months ago it was only one visitor. Last winter - no visitors allowed. Masks are required at all medical facilities regardless of vaccine status.

Yesterday I was in ACE hardware looking at faucet hose sprinkler timers - for the kind with two outlets, battery operated timer that attaches to a faucet. (full timers can ignore this - probably won't make sense to you 🙂 ) ACE price was $45.00 Knowing that I could probably get it cheaper online I checked Amazon: $49.00 I checked Walmart: $50.00 Conclusion: ACE has yesterday's pricing (for the moment).

I'd start with GVWR - which is meaningless by itself. You also have to know what the vehicle weighs. . .which is the UVW. (The first sentence in sandsys's post says it all.) "Unladen" weight means no people, fresh water or fuels in the tanks when it's weighed. GVWR is the maximum weight the vehicle should ever weigh. Typically, that includes people, fuels, water, food, gear, additional batteries, solar panels ---any stuff that you can put on it or in it. Subtract UVW from GVWR and that is - weight you can put in or on the vehicle. When RV shopping I found that I could not put as weight in a Class C as I could in a Class A As a rule, the Class A's had a higher GVWR and lower UVW than the Class C's - thus allowing me to collect more stuff (weight). So. . .good question asked.

Maybe you should think about writing a book. I'd guess that you've gathered enough accumulated knowledge to do it.

Melting ice has not caused an actual "rise" in water levels - but ice that melts over land will do that - and sea level may well change with that event. Fresh water sinks - as it is added to the ocean it was theorized (many years ago) that it would slow the gulf stream - which brings warm currents and air to the US east coast and Britain. It's only theory - until it's tested and proved otherwise.

Looking forward, the collapse of the Gulf Stream ocean current is expected to cause freezing in the Northeast and western Europe. The climate will probably whipsaw.

"Desert-if-ication" is what I think is happening. According to one of my long departed university professors (pre-global warming) the earth has been heating up for ages. The desert areas have been moving north and south from the equator for decades. Deserts temps are typically marked by higher-high temps and lower-low temps. The average may remain the same. Currently, it seems that both the highs and lows are becoming consistently higher. And droughts are becoming more common world wide. "Desertification" is too much of a mouth-full for the news media. And so it will not become a media star. The consequences are serious beyond belief.

Thanks for the reminder about head walking into the slideout. We've been grounded mostly because of health issues but I loaded the camper onto the truck yesterday and took it for a short test drive spin. I had remembered everything except to put air in the air bags and adjust the shocks to a higher setting. The ride was really cush till then.