Jim @ Route To Retire

Free Nights – We’ve Had 5 at Hilton Hotels Recently

Free Nights – We’ve Had 5 at Hilton Hotels Recently

8 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Road Trip, Spending / /

Getting free stays at a hotel can be such a winning feeling. But free nights at various Hilton Hotels makes it even nicer! Our recent 40-day road trip took us through a lot of the country. On leg one and leg two of the trip, we didn’t really need a hotel to stay at. We spent time camping, staying with friends and family, and even had a few nights sleeping in the car (including once in a Cracker Barrel parking […]

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To Truly Reach for the Stars, Challenge Herd Mentality

To Truly Reach for the Stars, Challenge Herd Mentality

24 Comments / Motivation, General Thoughts, Kids / /

I had a little bit of a strange realization the other day. We tell our kids, friends, and other family members that we support their dreams. We tell them to reach for the stars and they can be or do anything they want to in life. But guess what – those are just some empty words. Even though we say to reach for the stars, those words can be meaningless due to our actions. We push our kids to chase

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Here's Why I'm Liking… RV Parky

Here’s Why I’m Liking… RV Parky

12 Comments / Here's Why I'm Liking..., Product and Service Reviews, Road Trip, Travel and Vacation / /

I recently started a new series called “Here’s Why I’m Liking…” to help showcase awesome products, services, and apps I come across. Today I’m going to tell you about a cool website/app I started using called RV Parky. For those of you following along, we recently completed a big ol’ road trip. When done, it ended up covering 5,863 miles over 40 days. It was a wonderful time and we’re blessed to be able to just pick up and go

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An Overnight at Cracker Barrel and 5,863 Miles Logged

An Overnight at Cracker Barrel and 5,863 Miles Logged

14 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Life in Early Retirement, Road Trip, Spending / /

It’s hard to believe that our road trip is now over and we’re back in Ohio. It’s crazier to think that our first night of the last leg of our trip involved sleeping in a Cracker Barrel parking lot! We’ve been across a large part of this country on this journey and have had a ton of fun in the process. It’s been a good way to end the summer and have some fun while waiting and hoping we can

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El Paso, Tucson, Viva Las Vegas!! – Road Trip Leg 2

El Paso, Tucson, Viva Las Vegas!! – Road Trip Leg 2

23 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Life in Early Retirement, Road Trip / /

The second leg of our road trip was an absolute blast and ended with some time in Sin City… viva Las Vegas! Ok, there wasn’t much gambling and drinking since we have our ten-year-old with us, but we had one of our most fun times there regardless. We didn’t spend a ton of money but it was still just a great time all around. And before we got to Vegas, we spent a night in the desert trying to make

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Three Weeks in Texas – A Big Stop on the Road Trip

Three Weeks in Texas – A Big Stop on the Road Trip

12 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Life in Early Retirement, Road Trip / /

I’m typing this in the car while back on the road and heading out of Texas. Don’t worry, I’m not the one driving! We spent three weeks in the state and now it’s time for us to move on. For those of you following along, we started our road trip out of Ohio on August 10 and made our way to Texas on August 14. My brother and sister-in-law live just outside of Austin and we spent the past few

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Well... We Booked a Flight Back to Panama!

Well… We Booked a Flight Back to Panama!

26 Comments / Panama, Life in Early Retirement, Travel and Vacation / /

And just like that, everything changed in an instant. That glimmer of hope is now sparkling so… we booked a flight to Panama! Booked a flight??? What the heck are you talking about, Jim?! Just last week you talked about what it’s looking like to move back to the U.S. for the long-term. 100% true. And it was looking like it would be inevitable that we’d be putting that plan into motion over the next month or so. I ended

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The Financial Impact of Moving Back to the U.S.

The Financial Impact of Moving Back to the U.S.

33 Comments / Geoarbitrage, Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE), Life in Early Retirement, Panama / /

2020 has been one helluva year, hasn’t it? For us, this pandemic could be the sole catalyst in our possibly moving back to the U.S. from Panama. Not only did our first year there get severely hindered by this mess, but it might also be the reason we don’t go back for a second year. That’s a tough enough pill to swallow considering how much we were enjoying our time there. But life happens and you just gotta adapt accordingly.

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Tennessee and Arkansas - Leg 1 of the 2020 Road Trip!

Tennessee and Arkansas – Leg 1 of the 2020 Road Trip!

17 Comments / Travel and Vacation, Life in Early Retirement, Road Trip / /

From Opryland and hot chicken sandwiches in Nashville, Tennessee to camping and hot springs in Arkansas. It’s been a fun start to our road trip and it’s only just begun! We decided on our method of transportation, loaded up, and took off. This leg of the trip wasn’t exactly slow travel but we’ve made some headway across the country. We’ve gone from Ohio to Tennessee, to Arkansas, and now we’re in Texas. We’ll be planting ourselves here in Texas for

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Is It a Smart Idea to Pay Off the Rental Property?

Is It a Smart Idea to Pay Off the Rental Property?

36 Comments / Real Estate, Debt, Investments / /

I’ve been salivating over these insanely low mortgage rates out there right now. But I never even thought that another option might be to just pay off the rental property. Today I want to tell you about how I went from unsuccessfully trying to refinance to considering that maybe I just pay off the rental property. It even involves a discussion with the one and only Clark Howard! There’s always discussion in the real estate world about whether it makes

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