FREE NEWSLETTER
WHEN I WAS 24 YEARS old, I took a weekend trip to Reno, Nevada. My hostess for the visit wanted to go to a casino. I had no interest in gambling. But not wanting to be impolite, I agreed to go with her.
I was making $16,000 a year back then. I decided I could afford to lose $20. I got two rolls of quarters and sat down at a slot machine. As I was getting close to losing the last of my coins, the machine lit up and a siren on top of it began blaring. I soon discovered I was the lucky winner of $1,400.
Getting an unexpected windfall equivalent to roughly one month’s salary was quite a thrill. I spent three weeks thinking of the various ways I could spend my fortune. I don’t remember all of the items I ended up purchasing, but each was the result of many hours of contemplation.
Thirty years later, I ended up with another unexpected windfall. In 2022, I sold my home for $125,000 over the asking price. The net result was a windfall roughly 100 times the size of my first.
This time it took me two years to decide how to spend my fortune. Every idea my husband and I had for the money was contemplated—and rejected—multiple times. We considered leasing a small retail building and starting a dog training business. We thought about purchasing a small plot of land somewhere so we could escape the Phoenix summer heat. We came close to purchasing a used motorhome so we could haul our dogs around in climate-controlled comfort.
Ultimately, we settled upon a solution that combined a bit of all of our previous ideas. In May 2024, we purchased a cargo van and had it converted into a custom dog transport vehicle.
Our four dogs now ride safely in individual crates in the rear of the van. A rooftop air-conditioning unit and ventilation fan mean they’ll always stay comfortable in the heat. There’s plenty of room to store all of our dog training equipment inside the van. Road trips are simple affairs now. When the heat at home gets to be too much for us, we load the dogs up and head out. Within a three-hour drive, we can be up in the mountains, where the temperatures are typically 20 to 30 degrees cooler.
It wasn’t easy to spend my second windfall. I’ve always been a saver. My natural inclination was to hold onto the money and save it for a rainy day. But rainy days are few and far between in Phoenix.
I like the last line and the title the best!
What a joy to read this! Thank you so much!
You’re welcome! It’s hard to believe I’ve been sharing my financial journey on HD for almost eight years!
I loved that I’m now comfortable enough in the HD family that I knew this would be about — not nitrite-filled barbecue meats but — canines in A/C. What a pleasure to read! Thanks for taking this frugal HD reader along for the ride(s).
Yep. You can pretty much guarantee any HD article I write will have some mention of our dogs in it!
Speaking of dogs, maybe you could offer us other dog owners insight on pet insurance, i.e. is it worthwhile for what you pay vs. what you get?
I expect you will have great adventures in your cargo van.
In the 1960’s when I was ten my parents loaded up their five children in a Mercury station wagon with three rows of seats and we headed off on a tent camping trip to Yellowstone from Ohio for my first great travel adventure. Back in those day the tires were not of the quality they are today and we had two tires that had blowouts on the same hot summer day. We were in the middle of nowhere. It was really hot and thinking back I now guess our vehicle tires were likely over their rated weight limit. I have memories of sitting on the side of a mountain road for hours while Dad hitched hiked to a nearby town to buy a new tire and rim and return to us.
About thirty years later my wife and I replicated a similar trip with our children. As a result of my youthful trip I prepared for this trip by adding a full size tire as a spare. The spare tire was not needed but we did have an engine failure that resulted in buying a replacement car on our road trip.
Today our cell phones can provide us with the ability to reach out for help when we have vehicle problems. I am still in the habit that when I replace tires for the first time after buying a vehicle I select the best of the old tires and have it mounted on a full size rim just in case. I also now include in my vehicle a high quality battery powered electric tire pump with pressure gauge, a flashlight and jumper cables. My adult daughter recently added solid state battery jump kit in her car after a dead battery. The apple did not fall far from the tree. I will likely add a battery jumper kit in the near future and hope I never need to use it.
Happy and safe travels with your fur buddies. Best, Bill
Thanks for the lovely reply Bill! Your words reminded me of the many trips I took as a child. Some were road trips with me riding in the rear of a VW square back. When I was older, my parents purchased a Beaver motorhome and I rode up in the cab with them, sitting in between the driver and passenger seat.
I’m a big believer in being prepared on road trips. I have an emergency kit in our van that includes a battery jump kit and a battery powered tire pump. And, of course, we always have extra water and food as well. Even though every place we go is on well-traveled roads, I still like the peace of mind the emergency supplies provide.
Kristine, sounds like your dogs have a great home for their travels. But where do you stay when you reach the cooler destination?
Having just completed a round trip drive from Texas to California and back with our 16 yoa dog, I quickly learned that finding dog friendly hotels narrows your choices quite a bit!
There are many options these days. The Hilton and Marriott apps allow you to search but most charge $50 plus.
I recently heard about the Kimpton hotels being the most pet friendly chain. Indeed, some of them appear to have no limit to the number, or size, of dogs you can have in your room.
Dog friendly hotels are few and far between for sure. And virtually all of them have restrictions–some allow just one dog. Some allow two dogs but they have to be 30 pounds or less. Finding a hotel to accept four dogs (all over 40 pounds in weight), is pretty much impossible.
The good news is that our van is set up so the dogs can stay in the van–it has an AC unit and roof fan (along with a ton of insulation) that keeps it at a comfortable temperature. That said, we would never leave them in it if the outdoor temperatures were unacceptably high!
Kristine,
Thank you so much for taking the time to write and post this wonderful and insightful article!
It’s thoughtful pieces like this on people’s “money journeys” that make HD such a delightful place to read and learn.
Thank you for this thoughtful comment! Have a lovely day.
Sounds like you’re going to get your money’s worth of great experiences while escaping the summer heat. You’ll have some great night sky’s up in the mountains. Here’s a free site that’ll help keep you aware of what’s going on in the night sky: EarthSky | Updates on your cosmos and world
Just last night I told my husband we needed to plan a trip to Flagstaff for some star gazing!
I’ll bet your hostess was rather dismayed that you didn’t sit back down at the slots and blow your windfall 🙂 Seriously, in life, there are times to save, and times to splurge. It sounds like you got it in the right order, and for the right reasons, good for you! It’s an important lesson for all of us.
I love this comment (for many reasons). My trip to Reno was the first–and last–time I ever gambled. I assumed I’d never be so lucky again.
Shortly after I got divorced, I spent five years living well below my means. It allowed me to save a large percentage of my salary and build up my retirement nest egg. The sacrifices I made back then are paying off nicely now. All those years of saving every penny I could lead me to where I am today. I feel comfortable (or as comfortable as an obsessive saver can feel) about splurging every now and then.
Congratulations, sounds like a great decision. Are you camping?
Thanks Kathy! We love the van. No camping yet, but maybe someday. We purposely purchased a van that’s capable of towing a small trailer in case we decide to go that route in the future.
My tendency would have been to stick into investments and forget about it. Chris would have encouraged me to become a better grandpa by making gifts to the kids. I probably would have compromised by sticking it into investments for my grandkids. That’s just me.
My hat is off to you for carefully selecting something that made you truly happy.
Thanks Dan. For two years the money sat in a savings account that, at one point, was earning 5.5% interest. So in that sense, I did have it invested for a short time.
Kristine, thanks for an enjoyable article. Sounds like a good solution. I re gently visited with some recently retired friends who live on the Atlantic coast of Florida. The husband told me that the summer heat had become unbearable for him. Their solution was a very nice Class C motorhome. They headed north to New England for a few months. They only have one 60 lb dog, who seemed quite comfortable in his mobile palace. They are planning many more road trips next July. Enjoy your trips.
Thanks Rick. We’ve already made a couple of day trips and a couple of overnight outings in our van. So far we couldn’t be happier with our decision.
The dogs enjoy hitting the road and visiting new locations. All of them have been travelers since they were puppies, so they happily load up into their crates, lay down and promptly fall asleep the whole time we are driving.
Sounds like you made the right decision for you and your circumstances! Nice! I particularly like how you waited to spend the windfall. Not only did it solidify a best choice, it also gave you that feeling of anticipation (delayed gratification).
I admit I’m a bit of an expert when it comes to delayed gratification. I’m probably the least impulsive person anyone could ever meet.
I remember your article about the decision to not open a commercial dog training business. I’m glad you and your husband found the outlet you needed and wanted.
Yep–I’m still thankful we ditched the business idea. If we’d followed through on it, we’d just be starting the third year of a three year lease right now. Honestly though, I think we would have already closed the business by now. While I love training dogs, I’m not so fond of running a business.
Kristine, I imagine my choice would be as different from yours as Georgia is from Arizona, but it sounds just right for you. Enjoy your trips!
Thanks Edmund. We’ve already put almost 5000 miles on our van.
Living where we do, I often get glimpses into how other people spend their own windfalls and it always makes me smile. Some folks have convertibles. Many people in our neighborhood have RV’s and boats. Other folks have motorcycles and ATV’s. It’s lovely to see the variety of things that make different people happy!
This is great, Kristine. Chris
Thanks Chris. We think we made the right decision for us. We’ve already taken three trips in our van and both the humans and the dogs approve.