Author: Rae

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Global TV, Vancouver Sun Article and First Day at the Show

Brief post tonight, I’m feeling exanimate, what with the 1.25 hour drive to Burnaby today for my TV interview with Global, in addition to the eleven hour day at the show. I haven’t seen the interview, but I had about 100 people go by today to tell me that they saw me on TV this morning and that I was professional, poised, and articulate, so I’m assuming it went well and that I didn’t embarrass myself too badly. 🙂

There are two articles about me online. One is by Mike Lloyd at News 1130. We taped an interview earlier this week and he pieced it together into a 30 second spot. Haven’t heard it, but his article makes me think it was a great piece. Check it out: A woman’s love of the road with her RV.

The Vancouver Sun article blew me away. I got nearly a quarter page in the ‘A’ section with a full colour picture of myself with the rig. Check out the online version: Moving from unhappy hoarder to queen of the road.

The show went well. The first talk was okay; it felt like a tough audience. The seats were almost packed for the second and I got my second wind as I got into my topic. I came away feeling that I’d really nailed it and hit my stride.

The people I met today were from all walks of life and all ages. Some bought my ebook, others just wanted to chat, but it was wonderful to know that my story has touched so many people in so many different ways.

One of Will’s friends came by to chat at some point and grab some pictures for him, so I can show off a bit of what I was doing today! Thank you to Ron for sending me the pics!

Here I am at my booth talking with Colleen at JRFM setting up an interview that I did right after my first seminar. She was the first to ask me on record why my rig is called Miranda, because she got a kick out of the story when I answered it before the interview.

And here I am on stage near the end of my first talk. Not a bad turnout!

Two seminars down, five more to go. And one final radio interview tomorrow. I’m off to catch some much needed Zs!

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I Hope I’m Ready…

My agreement with the RV show was originally that I would speak twice a day for a set fee. When I mentioned that I had an ebook to promote they somehow worked some magic and offered me a booth in a prime location for a slight reduction in my fee (much less than what a booth would have cost me as an exhibitor). So, I’ve had to scramble around to come up with some half decent promotional material with which to decorate the space in which I will be living for 40 hours over the next four days! I know I’m going to look super amateurish compared to everyone else, so I decided to keep things as simple as possible.

I had three 18″ x 24″ glossy b&w posters made up to hang at the back of my booth. One has the detailed summary of the ebook, the second the author bios, and the last the reviews; essentially the same information provided on the Full-Time RVing in Canada website.

To this, I’m adding a printed and bound copy of the ebook for people to flip through, my personal business card, and a card offering a discount on the book for those who don’t want to buy the CDs I’m selling on site. I’m offering a 25% discount on the ebook if you enter EARLYBIRD at the checkout. This code is only good until Sunday evening! The CDs have the book in PDF format and are on sale for a the low price of $20 at the show. If you’ve been thinking about buying Full-Time RVing in Canada, this is the time to do it!

I also made sure to get a float and receipt book. There’s so much to think about; my head is about to explode! At least, it’s keeping my mind off The Talk. Then again, I’m not that worried about that part of the weekend, except for learning to use the AV equipment I’ll be provided and hoping that it’s all compatible with my Mac. I got over my fear of public speaking in high school and I did theatre for many years, so I’m reasonably confident that I won’t embarrass myself. 🙂

I was able to bring a box of supplies to my booth, but it wasn’t ready yet. The show manager told me that she’d set up my table and chair for me, but to arrive ASAP in the morning to finish setting up. The show opens at 10 tomorrow, but I doubt I’ll be back from my TV interview by then, so I’ll need to go straight from my car to the show and finish up my display. It’s going to be a big day! I decided to be unusually realistic about how much personal stuff I’ll be able and willing to do over the weekend, so I stocked up on frozen dinners for the evening and snacks for the day.

Also, I’m settled in my spot with 15A power, but was told that I need to be out of here at precisely 5PM on Sunday since I’m blocking the garage door and they need to get the RVs out! I’m welcome to go back to overflow, so I may decide to just get up early Sunday and move out before the show even opens so I can go home and crash after!

Well, I need to be on the road for no later than 6:30 tomorrow (dang GVR traffic!) and I need to prepare my clothes and do a final run through of The Talk. Catch me on Twitter this weekend; I doubt I’ll have much time, or energy to blog!

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Feeling Smug, Like I Know a Great Secret

As we approach the opening of the Early Bird RV Show (24.5 hours to go!) I am struck by the number of people who don’t get my lifestyle.

-I’ve been asked if I would be staying ‘in the RV’ for the week;
-the radio announcer interviewing me this morning said that he liked how I called the RV my home;
-the reporter for the Vancouver Sun said that she likes how I call my RV ‘my rig’;
-this morning I went to the Tradex admin office to get details on my move to a site with power and was greeted by someone who was very concerned and holding a printed copy of Donna’s post announcing my departure from Osoyoos, worried that she had announced to the world that I’d left my house empty for the weekend

I feel like the keeper of the greatest secret in the universe! I think that if more people with wanderlust or a desire to be more mobile (example snowbirds who own a home in a warmer clime or mobile workers) understood that an RV can be a very comfortable and luxurious home on wheels, our nation’s highways would be choked with innumerable rigs!

Today is my last down day for a bit. I need to hit the road early tomorrow to get to Burnaby for my 8:20 interview with Global morning news, then race back to get set up up for the show. My talk ‘Travels With Miranda: Two Years of Full-Time RVing Pre-Retirement’ will premiere at 3PM tomorrow and I will be doing it all over again at 7. Then twice a day again Friday and Saturday, and once Sunday. I will be on site all day, every day. This is the moment I’ve been working for for two and a half years and I plan to savour every moment of it!

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All Over the Lower Mainland

Today, I had to go into Surrey to pick up an order of CDs of Full-Time RVing in Canada. I have to do a shout out to Precision Disc. Their quote was several hundred dollars less than the competition and they were the only ones who could squeeze my order into their standard time frame rather than putting it through as a rush. They also printed some posters for me with no notice whatsoever. And their site is so comprehensive that the order process was painless. Great folks all around and really took a load off my mind.

I then had a bunch of stuff to get at Staples, so being in the Willowbrook area, which is very commercial, I figured that would be easy. Well, that Staples is on my black list. I’ve noticed that about one third of Staples are like this one, where the staff literally runs away when you try to get their attention. I was exhausted by this point and had no patience left to deal with idiots, so I left and drove to the one in Delta. It was a big detour but worth it since that store gave me a quantity discount on my CD sleeves.

I got in around five and started to put together my show materials, then remembered that the laptop is dead from several hours of graphic designing this morning. So, I packed up again and schlepped over to the nearest Starbucks, which is where I am now. I’m going to stretch my drink out as long as I can, but I know I won’t have a full charge tonight. That’s okay, I have 500 CDs to insert into sleeves!

The house batteries are doing great! I’m still at 12.5 volts, which is pretty much a full charge. It helps that we had full sun today, so I probably got back a couple of amp hours. I really should do some math on that solar panel and see what it really gives me. 😀

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Out of the Fishbowl

What a difference this morning…

I didn’t want to blog too much about this when I was at Nk’Mip, but the long term residents there were nosy and gossipy. At first, I thought it was just me, being a young single woman with Yukon plates, but others experienced the same thing. I couldn’t do anything without someone in the park commenting on it. When I opened my blinds in the front room to paint, someone knocked on the door to comment that the yellow would affect my resale value! When I had all pallets and the mattress down in the library, someone knocked to find out why I was making such a mess! My water management strategy was always under scrutiny, and when someone saw me watering my batteries he made sure to come over and treat me like I’m an idiot. Couple that with the lackadaisical management and I have no intention of returning there. It’s a shame because it’s a truly lovely park in a good setting and reasonable prices.

Tradex, located at the Abbotsford Airport, has thus far proved to be surprisingly quiet. I awoke to sun and minus 4, so, being out in the middle of a big open field, I was able to open the curtains to let some of the golden rays in. Looks like we’re supposed to climb to plus five today and keep climbing. Yaaaaaay.