The most valuable thing

I hope there's a pic to click today.

Well it turns out there is a pic to click, just not a very interesting one. This is a picture of the dirt road that goes from the paved road to the campground, and gives you an idea about what the topography looks like at the Datil campground.

Not much is going on in my life. It's only warm enough for me to enjoy going outside for four or five hours a day; the rest of the time, it's either cold or pretty chilly. For instance it was 17° when I woke up this morning.

There's only one other camper here besides me. The guy and his wife that host are just down the road. So it certainly looks like this is not the busy season at Datil Wells.

A guy walked by yesterday, and we stood in the road and talked for over an hour; he did most of the talking, but he had an interesting life, so I didn't mind listening.

It turns out he is 84 years old and is a world traveler, not because he had to, but because he wanted to. And he hasn't just been to normal places like France or England, he's been to Laos, the Himalayas, and most of the South American countries. He also set the record for the longest person full-timing I've ever met; he has been full-timing on boats and RVs for 43 years.

He was a contractor in Alaska, building apartment buildings during Alaska's boom years, and he made enough money doing that and investing wisely to be able to retire when he was about 40 years old. And his idea of retirement was to live on a boat or a camper and travel around the world.

Needless to say, with all of his adventures, he was very interesting to listen to, and since I've traveled a bit myself, everything I heard him say rang true to my experiences. Furthermore, he looked to be in excellent health and gave me hope that maybe I could last longer in this full-timing lifestyle than I assumed.

After hearing his life story, We said our goodbyes, wishing each other safe travels, he; headed for Mexicali to cross the border and visit friends living in Mexico, and I; thinking about what a life well lived that old man has had, climbed back inside the Lance, just killing time till I head for Gallup,

Which made me wonder, how much time do I have left to kill? Is my time so worthless to me that it has to be killed? Will I look back on the days I wasted and wish I could live just one day more? one hour? even one minute? The most valuable thing we have is time, and yet we spend a large part of our lives not enjoying it....but killing it.

Theboondork