By Mike Tighe

La Crosse Tribune

Mike and Diane Holliday, who now live in Austin, logged roughly 178,500 miles — give or take a few kilometers — during nearly three decades of spousal carpooling from their La Crescent home to their jobs at the same hospital in La Crosse.

The Hollidays are set to travel thousands — perhaps hundreds of thousands — more in their new RV on an extended holiday after retiring from Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare earlier this month.

Retiring on the same day was Mike’s idea, after researching options for the past year.

“I found the RV I wanted, and she said OK, so that set things in motion,” said the 62-year-old Mike, who has worked at the hospital and its predecessors for 27 years, mostly in surgery inventory control.

Diane, who sets her age as “a few years younger” than Mike, has worked there 28 years, first in linen service and more recently in the mailroom.

The couple sold their house in July and moved to Austin to be close to their four grandsons.

Living in the RV since selling their home, the Hollidays will become Arizona-bound snowbirds in October because Diane detests winter, despite living most of her life in La Crescent.

“I never liked winter — the cold and the snow,” she said.

But both liked their jobs — through hectic periods and all.

Delivering the mail “can be hectic, with all the new doctors coming in. You have to know people’s names and their departments,” Diane said. “I liked not sitting behind a desk. I was always up and about and seeing people.”

Similarly, Mike mentions “the challenges on a daily basis — keeping the surgeons happy and supplied with what they want when they want it.”

The economy has complicated things in recent years, he said, “with the back orders on medical supplies. You’ve got to order enough when you find supplies so they are there when there’s a need.”

The snowbirds will flock back in the spring, to live in Austin as well as traveling to visit their two granddaughters in Waukesha, Wis., and relatives and friends in the Coulee Region.

Mike and Diane say they aren’t worried about having too much togetherness in the 37-foot RV, after 40 years of marriage, decades of carpooling, lunchtimes together most days and a variety of cruises and vacations — in warmer climates.

“We’ve always gotten along well,” Mike said, to Diane’s agreement, with a smiling confession about “an occasional spat.”

They share common interests, with Diane saying, “I love to read, walk and hike,” and Mike noting, “I like walking and biking — not the reading so much.”

“I still see us as being busy,” Diane said. “We’re both active and we want to stay active. We want to see our granddaughters at dance classes and dance recitals — things we couldn’t do before.”

Mike agreed, adding, “We’ll have football games to see” with the grandsons playing, and “I’ll probably still get up at 6.”

Their winter base of operations will be Flagstaff, with forays into California, Washington state, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and other places they haven’t been able to see until their metamorphosis into free spirits.

“We’ll be thinking of you when it’s 30 below zero up here,” he said, laughing.

“We do plan next year to go to Alaska,” Mike said.

“Maybe,” Diane interjected cautiously. “We haven’t decided yet.”

Acknowledging that the 49th state isn’t always cold, she said, “It would have to be during the summer.”

 —Distributed by MCT Information Services