Then what? Are ya gonna melt away in a rest home, sit around and watch TV and play solitaire and watch snowflakes fall till the grim reaper comes? Well let me tell you a little about getting old.

It slips up on you, you start hurting a little more in the joints, time starts going by faster, you soon start losing track of what day of the week it is and you get a little more forgetful. Suddenly you feel like you are on that long black train… and it’s pickin up speed and the destination is closer than the starting point. But you know what? Seniors can have a great time and yes, they can slow the train down and “Live”

Today I was with 20 seniors from 9 A.M. this morning to three in the afternoon. We were riding our jeeps and sidekicks and a Chevy Blazer out into the desert and mountains. We all took along some canned goods (Peas, corn, potatoes and whatever we had in the cupboard) for a little hobo stew by the lake.

Along the way we laughed, told stories, looked at and took pictures of nature in full bloom, stopped to potty in cactus groves and looked for a big rattle snake to cook on the fire. We even stopped to cut off an ear of a Prickly Pear cactus and snacked on the delicious kiwi-tasting pulp.

At our dinner site by a lake we played charades, prayed out loud that we all could make it back next year again, and had a cold beer with our stew and laughed even more.

We laugh at how often us “Old Farts” have to stop and pee… and how we have to decide on who’s getting up first from our folding chair to help the others get out of their own folding chairs.

Our 55 plus park has a miniature golf course, shuffleboards, and a community center for dancing and pot luck dinners. We all have those three wheel bicycles, go golfing, hiking, garage sales, flea markets, and even see seniors in the desert horseback riding and riding ATV’s. Sometimes a dozen or more at a time.

Some have pacemakers, have had open-heart surgery and some even have plastic bags hanging on their belt. One of our Desert Rats has had a ton of heart surgeries and has grown younger being out in the wilderness. He’s careful… but he lives and has a great time.

There are some down here in Arizona who sit and watch TV and play cards and stare out the window… but they don’t last near as long, but it seems long for them.

We have a saying from down here in God’s little waiting room: We’re here to have fun till we die… and we do!

Tom «Road» Blair
road742@aol.com
Website: www.tomroadblair.com