Author: Rae

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Four Years As a Full-Time Canadian RVer

Having finished a marathon transcription weekend this evening, I find myself with time now to reflect on my four years as a full-time RVer.

I have reached this anniversary a little weary and jaded, but after analysing my feelings, I am relieved to realise that I still very much love RVIng and it is still the right lifestyle for me. It is the context in which I live my life that has grown tiresome. In short, after four years of full-time RVing in Canada, I can say without reserve that I have had enough of full-time RVing in Canada. And let me say that having seen as much of it as I have, having done everything I could to twist myself dream to fit the legislation, and having spent so much time and energy trying to understand my country, I have earned the right to say that I am sick of it!

When I started RVing, there were no resources for young Canadians starting out on the road. And so, I left with an American vision that is not sustainable in Canada. Our legislation unequivocally denounces the transient lifestyle and makes it impossible to legally have health coverage, insurance, a driver’s license, and a duly registered vehicle.

And let’s not get into the vast different of philosophy about the management of public lands, with the Americans offering all the free long-term spots a boondocker could want while Canada charges upwards of $40 or $50 a night to dry camp on a concrete slab in a national park.

The Canadian climate means that unless you are willing to endure six months of grey dampness in the most expensive regions of our country, you will have to take a chance at an international border crossing. You will have to take several days (and spend hundreds of dollars in fuel) to out race snow to a warm locale in the fall and back north in the spring because, at best, you can only have six months south of the border and our winters are longer than that with their shoulder seasons.

If I was an American, I would be living a very different life on the road. Two of my four Canadian winters literally bled me dry financially and I have not been able to recover from them. The biggest mistake I made on the road was the first major one I encountered: where to spend my first winter. I should have gone south right then. But I thought I’d be able to work through the winter. Ha.

That’s another mistake I made, thinking I could support myself American-style through camphosting and other jobs that target RVers. No. There is no such industry in Canada. The only way to make a self-sustaining living on the road in Canada is to be self-employed. That’s the second mistake I made. I should have focused on building a business right from the start instead of slaving away at jobs that paid minimum wage or slightly better.

I know I sound terribly negative about my life, but it’s not so. In my old age, I will look back on my first Klondike Summer, the friendships I have made, the incredible Canadian scenery that made me weep with awe, and the satisfaction that all I have experienced enabled me to write an important ebook. These memories will make the bitter memories fade away like frost under the first spring sun. I will only remember that I made choices that set me free, opened up my horizons, and left me feeling profoundly satisfied.

I like where I am right now on the eve of my fourth anniversary of full-time RVing. My rig is in great shape, my business is finally taking off, I have a couple of successful border crossings under my belt, and I really think this will be the winter where I will sit on a beach by the Gulf of Mexico and drink wonderful rum-based drinks out of coconuts. Really, this is it!

So the negative things I’ve enumerated above only serve to drive me to make changes in how I approach my life on the road and to shape my future in the way I want it to be, not the way the Canadian government says it must be. I am not one of those bloggers who likes to lay out her maybes for commenters to pick apart, but rather one who prefers to present faits accomplis, things that are done. I will just say that the wheels are churning and the last four years have given me the courage to face a new challenge. The only hint I will give is that when you are as sick of your country as I am of mine, maybe it’s time to see how other people live so you can gain a little perspective.

It may be too soon for this radical change in direction or exactly the right time. I won’t know until I get south of the border this fall. But the research and planning and discussions are making me come back to life again the way I did emerging from my first winter as I headed north on the Alaska Highway.

Sometimes you don’t know when you’re taking the first step through a door until you’re already inside. Ann Voskamp

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Working Hard

There hasn’t been much to report in the last few days. I’ve been continuing training to work remotely for a new client.

The most challenging part is not learning the job itself, but learning to work with Windows 7. I do have a bit of experience with Windows XP, but the last time I really worked with Windows day in and day out was on version 98. Windows 7 does have a lot of similarities with OS X, but they are mostly cosmetic. I don’t want to start a Windows vs. OS X debate in the comments, so that’s all I have to say about my experience with Windows.

Today, I set up my new printer. The physical setup was a breeze thanks to videos integrated in the control panel of the printer showing everything from how to install the duplexer to how to size the paper trays.

Getting the printer and scanner to actually work was a little more challenging until some research told me that the OS X drivers that come on the CD, and all accompanying software updates, are for Snow Leopard. So once I found, downloaded, and installed the Lion drivers, everything went smoothly. I even set up ePrint to work with my iPad!

I received a massive transcription project for the weekend (30 hours of work due 11PM Monday), the first serious transcription project in almost a month. I am rather relieved! It’ll be a busy weekend, but it’ll be nice to spend so much time on a non-frustrating computer. Okay, so that wasn’t all I had to say about working with Windows! 🙂

The weekend will be broken up tomorrow afternoon with the celebration of my niece’s second birthday. She has been visiting all week and I have really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with her. My eldest nephew spent a few days here, too, happily playing games on my mother’s spare laptop while she and I worked side by side. I’ll be babysitting him and his brother next week for the first time.

Tonight, I’m doing a serious cleanup of my Mac. It has been running a little sluggishly and inefficiently since I upgraded to Lion. I installed more RAM a couple of days ago (going from 4GB to 8GB) and the difference has been phenomenal! I didn’t expect to notice a difference, but it was $90 (including shipping) very well spent.

Now that the computer is running more smoothly, I decided it was time to start cleaning up folders and managing files more efficiently. I am test running Hazel, an app that creates automated processes for OS X. I am fairly certain I will be buying the app as it will save me tons of work. My next project is to master my inbox. I have been working with Apple Mail for nearly 10 years now and I still don’t use it efficiently.

Needless to say, if I have moved on to virtual organizing, my home must be running smoothly. Indeed!!! Tuesday, I did the first really big and proper grocery since the accident (yes, in four months) and I have been cooking nice dinners and experimenting with new recipes. This week, I mastered sushi rice! Will I start making sushi at home now? Hmm…

The battery bank project will hopefully happen next weekend. I really don’t want to delay it much more than that.

As for my leak, it has been raining something fierce the last few days and it looks like my leak repair is holding at last! Miranda is looking really, really good.

I can’t believe that tomorrow is September 1st. This is the last month that I can count on decent weather for exterior projects. I am hoping to be here through October to get in as much work training as possible and delay crossing the border, so the count down to departure isn’t on yet, but I am thinking about it.

As proof, look what came in the mail the other day:

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I Love Me a Nice Wall

Eagle-eyed reader Vicki noticed some plywood behind the arm chair in the living room.

Colour me crazy, but while I love living in an RV, I don’t love having a steering wheel in my living room. I also don’t love that my Tabitha decided to relieve herself on a seat in the cab. I cleaned that up, but once a cat has marked its territory, only blocking the access can guarantee there won’t be a repeat performance. Add to this that I’d like more insulation between the cab and the living area of the rig and that I like to have privacy from the windshield that is controllable from inside rather than relying on the windshield cover. Finally, even an RVer loves having a dark hole to stash a bin of stuff when impromptu visitors are incoming!

In the last four years, I experimented with curtains and paneling to block the cab from the rig, but still keep it accessible. I concluded that a proper wall would be the only way to achieve the desired division.

So my mother had me buy a sheet of plywood that we had cut by BMR (a québécois chain of home stores) into three panels. The two of the panels on the ends would be fixed and the middle one would be a door, like so:

There's still work to be done, obviously. We will be putting some trim around the door to close the gaps as well as handles on both sides to make it easier to move. And I will, of course, be painting the whole thing yellow, like the rest of the room.

There’s still work to be done, obviously. We will be putting some trim around the door to close the gaps as well as handles on both sides to make it easier to move. And I will, of course, be painting the whole thing yellow, like the rest of the room.

I need to move some of that to the basement. :) The greenish yellow garbage bin is a shoe storage container that will live between the cab seats from now on.

I need to move some of that to the basement. 🙂 The greenish yellow garbage bin is a shoe storage container that will live between the cab seats from now on.

The door was originally going to be on hinges, but having it be a removable panel gives it a slimmer profile.

This project was bigger than it seemed at first glance because of the limited amount of room we had to manoeuvre behind the seats. The driver’s side panel was particularly tricky. We had to remove the ladder and bookcase and then reattach them. My prototype ladder was sawed in half and thrown out. I know the area looks much better now, but I’m a little sad to lose all that hard work. 🙂

It is darker in the rig with the cab blocked off, but I have the option of leaving the door open during the day. The benefits of the wall definitely outweigh the negatives!

I had hoped to close off the back of the ladder and turn it into a vacuum closet, but the space is just a little too narrow. I think that is for the best as the open space looks nice and airy. And besides, the new shelving allowed me to repurpose the over fridge cabinet into storage space for the shop vac!

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A Wine Crate Inspired Dresser

My wonderful new dresser is finished! Using wine crates for inspiration, plywood, cheap paneling, pine 1x2s, some leftover cloth-backed vinyl, stains, wax, and a bit of hardware, my mother was able to build me the exact item envisioned for the area next to my shower in the dressing room:

While I did post a sneak peek of the dresser, I thought I’d show off its details now that it’s done.

The new, made to measure, dresser stands proudly next to the shower, occupying perfectly otherwise empty space. It is raised a few inches off the floor to make it possible for the furnace vent under the unit to be used again.

The new, made to measure, dresser stands proudly next to the shower, occupying perfectly otherwise empty space. It is raised a few inches off the floor to make it possible for the furnace vent under the unit to be used again.

Coming into the dressing room from the kitchen, you can now see a unit that fits perfectly against the existing motorhome trim as though it was built in. The previous, temporary, dresser extended at least three inches into the doorway. The extra space to pass is wonderful!

Coming into the dressing room from the kitchen, you can now see a unit that fits perfectly against the existing motorhome trim as though it was built in. The previous, temporary, dresser extended at least three inches into the doorway. The extra space to pass is wonderful!

The shower side of the dresser is only visible in the shower. I stained it with brou de noix (a natural walnut stain) to make it look more finished. The colour isn't as red as the vinyl, but the effect is satisfactory.

The shower side of the dresser is only visible in the shower. I stained it with brou de noix (a natural walnut stain) to make it look more finished. The colour isn’t as red as the vinyl, but the effect is satisfactory.

We had to make so many adjustments to the dresser to get it to fit in the rig that some of the measurements ended up being a little off, including the width of the door. I just stained and waxed the apparent edge to make this mistake less noticeable. The door stays shut thanks to a hook and matching screw.

We had to make so many adjustments to the dresser to get it to fit in the rig that some of the measurements ended up being a little off, including the width of the door. I just stained and waxed the apparent edge to make this mistake less noticeable. The door stays shut thanks to a hook and matching screw.

I used Martha Stewart chalkboard labels from Staples to identify the contents of my drawers (which are actually repurposed wine crates). The names have rubbed off a little from use, but I don't mind since the labels are erasable/reusable and the look matches the style of the dresser.

I used Martha Stewart chalkboard labels from Staples to identify the contents of my drawers (which are actually repurposed wine crates). The names have rubbed off a little from use, but I don’t mind since the labels are erasable/reusable and the look matches the style of the dresser.

The vinyl was applied to thin cardboard-like paneling. We used the brou de noix to stain the back of the inserts for a more finished look.

The vinyl was applied to thin cardboard-like paneling. We used the brou de noix to stain the back of the inserts for a more finished look.

The dresser is secured with two toggle bolts that go from the back of the unit into the wall between the dressing room and kitchen that holds the pocket door.

The dresser is secured with two toggle bolts that go from the back of the unit into the wall between the dressing room and kitchen that holds the pocket door.

There are no words to express how much I love my new dresser and just how giddy I get when it’s time to put away laundry or get dressed!

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A Feline Homecoming

I just moved Tabitha and Neelix back into the rig. They have been living in the garage since the middle of June!

It’s hard to believe we have only been separated for about 10 weeks. It feels like a lot longer than that.

This was the first time since I adopted Tabitha in late 2000 that I have not had cats in my home. I missed my boos so much, but I did appreciate how much easier it was to keep the rig clean and sweet smelling.

After coming in, my gang wandered around. Bitha mewed until I was back into the rig and then she went to her favourite lounging spot, right by me in the study:

As for Nee, he didn’t seem too sure about where to settle for a wash, so I plopped him on the arm chair in the living room and he happily staked his claim:

(There is something notable in one of these two photos; would anyone care to guess what?)