Looking Back.....

There is a time in everyone’s life when you start looking more to the past than the future. That time is probably different for everyone and it is definitely age driven, sometimes event driven. For Barb and I it started the day our youngest left the house. The year was 2005 and Forrest had moved from Wisconsin to Arizona to go to school. Jessica had already moved out and had too moved away to go to school in Salt Lake City. It was at that moment, in our quiet empty house, that we started looking back and although there were and still are plenty of things to look forward to, many of our thoughts were now looking back with memories of raising and missing our children. The good times we had, seeing them grow up and mature and eventually seeing them leave the nest. Happy, yet sad times all at once. 

This is one of our favorite pictures of the two of them; brother and sister side by side without a care in the world. God, how we miss those times.

We moved from that house with so many memories to start the next chapter in our lives. We already had a plan, we just needed to execute it. The plan was to save up as much as we could, sell everything we got and hit the road. The reason I bring this up is twofold; one is that there are a lot of people out there who are thinking about doing the same thing and probably having the same thoughts and doubts that we had. Can we afford it? Is this a mistake? Should we wait another 2 years, 4 years, 5 years? My answer to you is to do it as soon as you can. Life is too short to wait another year or three. Do it while you can. 

The second reason is that a former co-worker and friend of mine passed away unexpectedly last week at the age of 67. Way too young. He had worked 45 years at my former employer and had just retired in January of last year. I am not going to pretend that we were great friends, I had not talked to him since I left but he was someone I thought of frequently and respected a lot. He will be dearly missed by his friends and family. 

Too many people I know worked so hard all their lives and pass away while still working or shortly after retiring with unfulfilled dreams. I don’t know if this was the case in this instance, but my point is, if you have a dream you want to fulfill, do it as soon as you can. Don’t get caught in the trap… “if I wait 2 more years I will get $xxx more in my pension, 401k or social security.” Do it now while you are still healthy and able to, who knows what tomorrow will bring. 

We have been retired for over 6 years and although we have had some tight times, we have no regrets at all. We have seen a lot of wonderful places, made some great memories/friends and I think we see our kids more now than we would have had we kept working. 

Speaking of kids, this week was Barb’s turn to go fishing with Forrest. Barb's chance to out-fish me. The infamous comeback from me out-fishing her the previous week. And..... She (well neither of them actually) caught a fish so technically she cannot even out-fish me when I am not even there. They came back with every excuse in the book; Forrest had to show a house before they fished and that took an hour longer than expected, the river was running too fast, it rained, it hailed were among the excuses they laid out when they got home. None of it changes the fact that I can basically be home on the couch and she cannot out-fish me! Poor Barb.

Later that week we all went camping at Willow Lake in the wilderness between Klamath Falls and Medford. The campground has about 60 sites, most are small only fitting rigs under 30'. There were only a handful of campers there when we arrived on Wednesday afternoon. Little did we know how that would change come the weekend!

We practically had the campground to ourselves!

We took advantage of the nice weather to swim, play beanbag toss, checkers and maybe had a beer or three. 

Lily swimming with Mt. McLoughlin in the background

Somer and Forrest playing checkers 

Willow Lake itself is on the smaller side but boasts great fishing for rainbow trout, bass, perch and crappie. Our first full day there was great and Forrest and I spent the majority of the day kayaking around the lake throwing spoons, spinners as well as wet and dry flies. We managed to catch a few perch and bass but the rainbows proved to be elusive. 

Forrest trying to catch the big one!

A little bass

I paddled near a couple of fisherman who looked like they had fished the lake before and both said “Gotta use Powerbait, that’s all the rainbows bite on”. We did not have powerbait so we were content in throwing our spoons and flies. 

Lily got in on the action during one of our outings. Forrest just ties her kayak to the back of his and drags her around the lake. It is so cute seeing the two of them fishing together, making memories that would last a lifetime. She even caught a few fish but I was too far away to get any pictures. 

That night the rain came and stayed throughout the night and into the next day. It would go from hard rain to drizzling to a light mist throughout the day. During the hard rains we would all pack into the camper. It was surprisingly comfortable have 4 adults, 1 eight year old and 3 dogs in there. Lily and I would be up on the bed playing cards, Forrest and Somer at the table and Barb was usually cooking something. 

When it was just misting we would go back outside and go for walks. Except Daisy, she was content just to stay inside where it was warm and dry....

Daisy, all tucked in trying to stay warm

Barb went for a walk around the lake and got some great shots of the area.  

Come Friday night, the weekenders started showing up! It has been a long time since we have camped in a campground like this. I cannot actually remember the last time we stayed in an actual campground that was this packed. Now that I do put some thought into it... it was the winter before last when we were in Florida. 

Including us there are 10 campers in this picture

They had us packed in there like sardines with every kind of setup imaginable in sight. Travel trailers, pop ups, pick up campers and a lot of tents. Kids running everywhere, generators running and adults getting drunk and talking way too loud too late into the night. The rain did not even seem to deter them. Many had portable outdoor patios set up to stay dry. We packed up Saturday morning and headed back to Klamath leaving the weekenders to do their thing. 

With the announcement that the U.S./Canadian border being closed until at least late July our dream to go to Alaska this year is going to remain just that. At least for another year.  Instead we have implemented “Plan B”. What that entails still has totally yet to be determined but we know it involves the Oregon Coast, fishing in both Idaho and Montana before we head back home to South Dakota to regroup, repack and head off again. 

In the meantime we still have 10 or so days left here at Forrest’s to put some finishing touches on our remodeling project and getting as much quality time we can with Forrest, Somer and Lily!