Lou, you need to get yourself an old airstream trailer, fix it up, and hit the road. (First stop: Yellowstone.) Its perfect for you. You might find this blog to be interesting: http://tour.airstreamlife.com/weblog (you might even find a picture of me there ;-) this is a friend of mine who sold their house and have been living full time in their airstream for the last couple of years. He's often written about the "ball and chain" that is a house, and more particularly, the "stuff" that goes with it. They live a much more frugal, yet fuller life this way. now, certainly, this isn't for everyone...and its a rather "extreme" end of the spectrum, but it illustrates that it can be done. I'm not suggesting that you go so far as to sell your house and all your stuff and move into one of these things; that would be just too much for BB, I'm sure. BUT, I bet you could work a compromise. My friends need to earn a living and are raising a young D...you are "able" to quit working altogether. why not take some extended trips? I say "fix up an older one" only because you've expressed a frugal nature, and you're a fix-it guy. I'm sure you'd get a lot of satisfaction out of such a project. But, heck, for all I know, you've got the wearwithall to just buy a new one...whatever. The main point is to take the time for yourself to do and see some of the stuff you've always wanted to, and this is a great way to do it.
fwiw, if you're in MT, and within 100 miles of yellowstone, you must not be far from Bozeman. The airstream club is having its annual national convention there next summer. If nothing else, its neat to see 1000+ shiny campers all together in one place. http://www.wbcci.org
