Cool McCool's Garage

“What are you going to do with your time when you retire?”, was a question I heard over, and over, and OVER from my co-workers and friends before I retired, 12 days ago.

What indeed?

So far, there hasn’t been a dull moment.  I literally now do not have time for a job.  The first project was starting a storage building, a 24 x 40 foot pole building with 12 foot eves that we can store our Spartan trailer in.  My pal and fellow retiree Butch Starner, a builder in his working career, is helping.  Actually, I’m the helper, since he’s the one who knows what he’s doing.  I am good at handing him tools and following directions.  We’ve got the poles set and most of the framing done, waiting now on the trusses to be delivered and the snow and cold (which arrived early yesterday).

It’ll be great to get the Spartan in under cover, there’s room for a couple of cars and the lawn equipment, we’ve wanted this for a long time.

Speaking of cars, there’s been a big change in our car collection as well.  Just before I retired, I laid awake at 3 AM and thought, “What do I need the roadster for?”  I got up and put an ad on the H.A.M.B. classifieds, and had a deal on the car by 8 AM.  That one ultimately fell through (a funny story in itself), but one of the guys who was interested came through, and bought the car.

We delivered it to him last weekend, to Lexington Kentucky, and made it our first “retirement trip.”  I had loaded the car in the trailer as soon as the guy bought it, we hitched up the Diamond T and headed south.  We had a great weekend, the guy is super happy with the car, and is building a ‘glass bodied ’34 5 window, so our car has a great home and stablemate.

We did some bourbon tasting, touring Woodford Reserve distillery…

…we drank some bourbon…

…we did some driving…

…we did some dining out, which I don’t have a photo of.  You get the idea though.

Knowing that my ’06 Mercury Milan is on it’s last legs, I also was thinking that I was going to have to buy another car.  We’d (well, I) had been shopping for a late ’40’s through late 50’s wagon to replace the recently deceased ’51 Pontiac.  That was getting to frustrating, everything I found was too much money, too far away, too original or didn’t appeal to Kim.

I ended up buying a wrecked (lightly but still totaled) 2019 Dodge Ram 4×4.  It had been rear ended, bending the rear bumper, tailgate, and last foot or so of the frame horns.  Go-Go Auto Parts had a section frame, box, bumper and tailgate for it, and the price was right.  In addition, it has only been driven 5,000 miles and still smells brand new.

I was hooked.

Yesterday I pulled the bent bumper and box, sectioned the frame and got the “new” frame section tack welded in.  It’s going fine so far, and I found I can heat the shop with the new pellet stove (another retirement present to myself) enough to paint.  Which is good because all the parts are different colors.

The truck will be a good investment for us.  I paid exactly 1/3 the retail price, which I priced on the Dodge website, so it was affordable.   Back when I was rebuilding wrecks, I figured getting in a current or one year old car for half or retail was good deal.  Since I’d just sold the ’34, I was able to buy it without getting into our “cushion” money or financing it.  We can pull the Spartan comfortably.  It drives great, and with the 400 HP Hemi under the hood, it’s fun and fast.  Stupid fast. I don’t really care for the black wheels, but since it has chrome otherwise anywhere, it does make a statement.  I had a ’94 Ram pickup that I bought new, so it’s a bit nostalgic in that way too.

So, retirement thus far has been a blur of activity.  One of my friends pointed out that I don’t have to get everything done in the first week, a good reminder.  I’m enjoying myself so far, and looking forward to being able to relax sometime in the next 20 or 25 years.