work commute, competing plans

For the past 4 years I have lived about an hour away from work by choice.  I make city salary and enjoy rural quiet.

There is a decent chance my boss’ boss’ boss will want me to be on-call 24/7 near work.  If that happens I will have to move closer, something I’d been thinking about already.  I’d be FT in the van, stealthing in cooler months and renting an RV lot or something during the warmer months.  All I really need is a 15A hookup.

Or I could transfer to the Big Bend or El Paso area and finish out my time there.  It’d almost certainl be a pay cut but:

• I’d be out of the FREAKING humidity,

• which means I could use a swamp cooler

• which means I could have my dogs with me off grid in the Texas summer

I’ve been playing with the idea of working another 3.5 years, then living off 401K/457 until SS early retirement.  Living on that until my pension kicks in.

But if I was FT in the van in a low-humidity area I think it would not be a hardship.  And my pension will be based on the 3 highest years salary anyhow, so if I take a pay cut it won’t affect the pension.

I really hate humidity.  I hate it. Humidity oppresses me.