T-79: Securing Our Stuff

The last few days have been all about securing our stuff.  Not only have we been amassing what seems an impossibly big pile of clothing, equipment, and gear to take on the trip, we also have been dealing with the need to make sure our homes, assets, and responsibilities are ready for us to be on the road for six months. 

The 1st Step:

The pile o' stuff to go on the bike.

Wes and I spent a few anxious hours last Saturday making sure that he has appropriately filed for his retirement.  This was very nerve wracking because it was easy to do it wrong.  The website was far from friendly and we were faced with difficult decisions about medical insurance, survivor benefits, and long-term care.  We decided to switch to Blue Cross Blue Shield from our much loved

HAP because of its portability.  We decided to put me on 50% survivor plan, which was a balancing act between making sure we received the largest possible payment on Wes’ pension and the need to make sure I on had some income if Wes should pre-decease me.  Let me tell you, talking with your husband about who is most likely to die first is one of those not-to-be missed husband and wife interactions.    We decided not to purchase long care insurance…with trepidation.  One of the realities of entering the third third of your life is seeing families torn asunder, including our own, by the difficulties, expense, and heart break of long term care.  I am still not completely easy with this decision because our choices need to be shaped by the fact that we do not have children, but this decision was deferred to another day.

We have also been back to our lawyer, dealing with other end of life questions. 

At the lawyer's

Wes and I dealt with the will and completed the papers to set up a trust to receive our properties a couple of years ago.  However, we actually did not do the work of transferring the ownership of anything into the trust.  In other words, it was all talk and no action.   This morning, we transferred the ownership of our house to the trust, and filled out the papers to do the same on the cabin.  But the same has to be done with all our assets, so there a many more steps, and many more papers to be filled out.

Boy, is this a difference from the trips we have taken in the past.  Did we even consider these issues?  I am pretty sure we had no medical insurance when we went on the British Isles trip (though we could have use the socialized medicine there). I know we weren’t insured when we cycling into the Great Yellowstone Fire in 1988.  I don’t think we even considered it.

As for assets, we laugh.  For most of our life, our assets were whatever we had managed to save from our jobs.   But we are in a different phase now, having just spent the last twenty years doing the middle thing.  We have been securing our place in the world, easing our elders through their transitions, and helping the young ones get ready to be in charge.  My goodness, but this middle phase generates a lot of stuff.

Looking at the pile we plan to carry on the bikes, it is astounding to think how much more complicated, and risk aversive this planning has become.  The children who would jump on a bike and leave to float free in the world seem pretty distant from the thoughtful, worried elders who must first do no harm before they set themselves free.