Retired Midland couple stays active, fit through extensive traveling

DAVE SHANE

for the Daily News

Art and Crystal Prunier of Midland planned carefully for their retirement years.

They learned the best way to invest their savings, so now that they have retired, they can enjoy traveling and staying active.

You might think they have some closely guarded retirement secrets. But actually, the Pruniers are anxious to share their knowledge with other seniors.

The Pruniers volunteer to teach a six-session retirement class from a Christian perspective through New Life Vineyard Church in Midland. In the last couple years, the class has taken place online, where people from 14 states have participated.

They are hoping to help seniors get through their later years no matter what their income level was when they were working.

“We do it as volunteers. It’s a meaningful activity,” Art Prunier told the Daily News in a recent interview. “It’s important.”

Art is 68 years old and a former researcher at The Dow Chemical Co. He has a master’s degree in financial education from the American College of Financial Services in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Crystal is 65 and a retired occupational therapist with Midland Public Schools.

No matter how much money people have saved for retirement, the Pruniers are convinced that traveling the country – and world – are great ways to stay active and fit.

If you want to go it alone, that’s great. But they also recommend organized travel through a pair of nationally known services that can be found online – Road Scholar and Rick Steves. Road Scholar is a non-profit travel service designed to help travelers age 50 and over explore the world and learn about other places and cultures – from the mountains of Nepal to ancient Mayan culture to naval voyages aboard the Queen Mary 2. Their trips also involve exercise – like biking through Europe, hiking through the mountains of Utah, or kayaking through the Florida Everglades.

Rick Steves, who hosts a travel show on public television and radio, offers European trips that strive to take tourists to local places that are less traveled and less commercial, so Americans can experience a place’s true culture.

The Pruniers have traveled around both the United States and Europe and now look forward to a two- to three-week adventure every summer.

“In terms of trips with Road Scholar, we started our first one in September 2016,” Art said. “We went biking through Germany and the Czech Republic.

“We also took a biking trip through Austria and Slovenia, and in Utah we took a hiking trip.”

“On their active trips, you are either biking or hiking or kayaking or whatever,” Crystal said. “We like them because we find them affordable, and we meet interesting, active people.”

Art says his favorite trip was the one through Austria and Slovenia, where they biked between 25 and 40 miles per day along the Mur River.

“That was definitely my favorite. I would do it again,” he said.

The bike rides aren’t too strenuous, but they do require a bit of training, the couple said. It’s not like you can hop on a bike and ride for the first time that year. But the trips are

Art and Crystal Prunier pause for a picture at Arches National Park in Utah in 2018.