Is it wrong?

Go slow. Take your time. Look out for the "little" attractions, too!

seagrace wrote:
I'll be 60 this summer. The small software dev company I work for is shuttering up for good sometime between now and the end of July.

Is it wrong that instead of updating my resume and looking for a new job, I'm planning a 2500 mile road trip through N. Cali? And after that, a 500+ mile offroad trek....and after that, who knows?;)

Do whatever works for you. A few months after I was laid off from my last job, we bought a new Class C motorhome. I have been self employed ever since and much happier.

-Michael

For instance, what if you (and maybe a significant other) screw up and live to be 90+?

And what if they die at 70? My mother died at 55, my FIL at 52. Life is a cr*p shoot-you just don't know. You plan as best you can but you have to deal with what is not what might be. I'm not saying put yourself in the poor house but sometimes ya just gotta say "what the.....".

I retired at age 55 from teaching high school. I was tired of the job and itching to do some other things. I could have gone half time probably with my favourite classes but being tied down was one of the things I was tired of. DW retired at the same time so we were free to travel but didn't actually travel very much. I was in excellent health - the first day of school the next year I spent scrambling up a mountain. I did quite a few interesting things in the next ten years including looking after three of our parents for years at a time. Now at age 66 I'm seriously slowing down. I am very glad I had the decade off work while still "young." I know there are some seniors working that decade who are still feeling young but I think they are exceptions rather than people being kept healthy by work.

We were lucky on the money side by having some savings, pensions amounting to about $3500 a month, considerable savings and inheritances - and good luck in the stock market. It wouldn't be nearly as pleasant short of money in retirement, watching the term deposits diminishing in real value.

Some of these responses are gold! Thanks everybody!

There isn't a day I am at work, where I don't think of ditching everything, and getting on the road.

Didn't read all the responses but NO IT'S NOT WRONG!!!!! If you can afford it, go for it. Hubby stressed himself right into the hospital last week. Life is to short. DO IT!

Not a suggestion, but I thought of this when I saw your plans. I'd recommend reading "The Oregon Trail" by Rinker Buck. A story about a couple of modern day pioneers crossing the Oregon Trail by covered wagon.

You slacker! How can you even contemplate taking time for yourself when you should be buckling down to make someone richer.
Seriously, I have, over my lifetime, taken my retirement in installments. When I had saved up enough to coast a bit, I did so. When it seemed like funds were running low, I went back to work. Now, at 69, I'm in another period of semi-retirement with the added advantage that I now get paid by the government for just drawing breath! What work I do is just a bonus or I can sell off a bunch of the stuff I've accumulated over the years.
Do what you like. If you can afford to take some time off, do that. The alternative is to put it off until you are older and your health is failing. The golden years may not be all that shiny. GD

Wrong? I would consider the trip MANDATORY.