Retirement planning

Labor Day was beautiful day, less humid, and less hot than recent weather and there was even a good breeze blowing at home this morning. I obviously wanted to go for a hike and because I had the day off, I didn't necessarily need to just drive up the road to the familiar trails at Pleasant Grove. I love the fact that Pleasant Grove offers so many miles of trails with a number of different starting points within minutes of home, but I had time today to go someplace further afield. 

I had been to Preddy Creek Trails Park back in February, 2022, with a German Shepherd Dog foster named Zippy. The trails were great and I really enjoyed it but hadn't been back since, until today. 

I took Bailey, of course, she's my full-time hiking companion now. She is willing, able, and eager to go any where, any time, and she certainly was today. She is great on daily walks and doesn't mind going the same route every day because her primary interest is looking for moving objects such as squirrels, bunnies, deer, and even birds. She had a new level of excitement as soon as we started down the trail today, however, because she knew that it was completely new territory for her. 

It being a beautiful day on a holiday weekend, there were quite a few people there, of course, but we headed to the section of trails on the far side of the creek which I suspected would have less traffic. We encountered very few people on our seven mile hike but we did spot a few deer, as well as some squirrels, which made Bailey happy. She was good when we did pass other people, I kept her close to me and we kept moving. We also met horseback riders, one solo and one group of three. I think that was Bailey's first meeting of horses on the trail, although she has seen some up at Pleasant Grove. We stepped well off the trail to allow them to pass and I held her close, but she didn't react badly at all.

What's all this got to do with retirement planning? Some readers may know that I'm planning to retire in March, 2025. People often ask what I'm planning to do, and this is it. I'd like to be able to do longer getaway walks like we did today, not every day, but not only on federal holidays, maybe three times a week at least, with the leeway to go when the weather is good without being tied to work. That may not sound like a particularly ambitious retirement plan, but it's a good start. Today was wonderful and I look forward to doing it again soon.

We practiced Bailey's "up" command on many of the benches we passed on the trails.

Here's one of the deer we spotted, it's the only one gave me a photo opportunity.

These mushrooms were popping up all over due to the recent rains.

This is commonly called "running cedar" and we see it around here as well, but it was really prolific in the forest at Preddy Creek.

There was no loose leash walking today. Bailey kept us moving and we both got a lot of exercise.

This is a suspension bridge across the creek.

Our route took us through Gordonsville so we stopped in on the way home.

Bailey was pleasantly surprised to find Clay working behind the bar.

I had one beer and we both left shortly thereafter.