Winter approaches...what should I do?

I had a great summer, a mix of sports, working on my house 10-12 hours a week and keeping my travel kitty intact. I was outdoors every day, under no stress and now my house is all painted and fixed up, the cash flow is good, the health is good and I have 3 choices...spend my little stored $$$ on another trip, get a real job (Arghhhh!!!) or find a part-time job. My Mom thinks that my spending of this $$$ is stealing from my future. I don't see things the same way. I chose to backpack...this time in Ecuador.

Last year at this time was the perfect scenario, kids moved on, career job about to finish, pension and travel $$$ available, health and mobility good, desire to backpack very high. This year, the only thing that has changed is the access to $$$. To answer my Mom, stealing from what??? If I stay in Halifax another year or so to try and save $$$ to travel, I am losing time and possibly health and mobility.

What is the proper balance? All I know is that of the 5 requirements to get your butt out there and backpack (Time, money, health, mobility and desire), money is the cheapest commodity. You can borrow money, but not health and mobility.

So, Ecuador it is. Actually, the whole trip is fly to New York to visit daughter Emily and mother-in-law Sara. Emily has moved to NY to try and kick-start her business career. While in NY, I will train down to Washington for the Jon Stewart (Daily Show) "Restore the Sanity" rally, spend a few days, back to New York then onward to Quito for a 30 day trip. Why Quito?? It was the farthest away I could receive on my short-wave radio when I was a teenager. It is smack in the Andes, and the plane lands at 9,000+ ft. How cool is that?

I'll get in some hiking, a lot of walking, some surfing in Manta (same place Emily and Matt went for a surfing vacation) and allow things to happen as they will.

I'll be back for Christmas. It looks like both Sophie (coming back from Korea) and Emily will be home as well.

And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death