F&F Day 18: Working My Way Home

I’m finishing day one of a two-day stay with special friends John and Sue just outside Walterboro, SC.   They’ve gone to the barn to feed the “boys,” Sue’s two beautiful horses, Aragon and Ruger, so I’m going to take a few minutes to write a short blog post.

Like many (most?) of my friends these days, the friendship with John and Sue started with a common love for riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles, but grew to be much more and much more important than that.  They have now retired to a beautiful farm in South Carolina, though I think retirement for them involves far more work than most people who hold a paying job do during a day.

Fortunately for me, John lets me share the work when I visit.  I don’t think I could keep up with John full-time, but there is always something to do on the farm and I always enjoy working here.  I’ve trapped coyotes and other varmints, I’ve cleared brush, I’ve helped with minor repairs, and today John and I put out some corn for the resident deer and then he planted a small field and mowed the pasture while I went rode around on a small tractor bush hogging fire roads.  Not terribly hard work, but at the end of the day I was both satisfied with my productive output and ready for a small glass of Mr. Daniel’s extraordinary Tennessee elixir.  Tomorrow, more bush hogging is on the schedule and whatever else John will let me do to help out.

Like our new home in Maggie Valley, John and Sue’s place in South Carolina is peaceful.  Even when I’m working here or there, I seem to be relaxing.  There is no pressure, no boss, no deadlines, no quotas, no performance reviews.  Work without stress is the best way to retire.  And, if you get tired of working, you can always go for a motorcycle ride. Or read a book. Or fish in Alaska.  Or hike in the woods.  Or enjoy music with friends.  Or any one of thousands of pleasant diversions.  I’m glad most working people don’t know how good retirement is, because they’d all quit and nothing would get done.  Hmmmm.  Maybe that’s not such a bad idea, either.  Sometimes nothing is better than something.

Visits with friends like John and Sue, in addition to the family contacts along the way have made this short ride (hey, I haven’t even gone 4,000 miles yet) a great trip.  I didn’t get to see all my friends scattered about and missed a couple of family members, but there will be other rides and I can go 1,000 miles out of way for a visit if I need to.

I’ll try to make one more post tomorrow night and then a wrap-up on Saturday after I get back to Maggie Valley.