Personal

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A Not So Difficult Winter Finally Winds Down

Sunday will mark a year since I rolled into Haven. It is also very likely the day that I will be moving out of my friend Laura’s yard and back to Haven!

This winter truly wasn’t that bad and was much more comfortable than the winters I spent in British Columbia, the dry sunny cold being much more tolerable than the humid overcast warmth. I will miss my view out the office, but look forward to being able to fully open my house door!

Except for the exceptionally frigid nights that propane wouldn’t liquefy and I had to keep getting up to switch tanks, this winter was effortless in terms of RV maintenance and keeping my rig comfortable. I do not in the least feel that I ‘survived’ this winter.

SaskPower came by earlier this week to examine the work done by the electrician and deemed it satisfactory enough to schedule the installation of my meter. I was told it could take up to 10 business days. I called this morning to ask if they had a date for me and explained my situation in the hope that they would take pity on me. They did and promised that I will have power tomorrow or Monday at the latest if something comes up tomorrow! Once the meter is in, I will have power immediately, no waiting for them to flip a switch.

I’m still swamped with work, but hope to start prepping Miranda tomorrow afternoon. I don’t have that much exterior work to do beyond putting away the skirting and charging the house battery, but I will admit that the interior is a bit of a disaster. Getting out of here will mean a lot of jockeying back and forth and tight turns, so I am doing a full pack even though I’ll just be going around the block.

I eventually need to empty out Laura’s garage as well and I can’t believe how much stuff is in there! Where the heck did I used to put it?!

I asked the RM the turn on the water at the hydrant I used last summer, but have not received a reply from them. I will call tomorrow to ask if they have an idea of when that will happen. More than anything, even power, I want running water! I have spent so many winters since 2003 without running water and I am beyond done with that!

Warm weather appears to be holding tenuously and we have several beautiful days ahead, so I look forward to continuing work on cleaning up my property. I have received compliments for my efforts from total strangers, which makes me feel quite proud!

Folks who have met me in the last few years would probably not recognize me this spring, so bright eyed, slim, and energetic. I think my physical state speaks volumes to my mental state and that I am not lying when I say that while I might not have had the winter I wanted, I had the winter I needed.

My year in Saskatchewan has done me a world of good and allowed me to decide on what I want to do next. It’s almost sacrilegious to talk about next winter, but the wheels have already been set in motion for the next great big adventure of my life. It’ll come into focus in late July or August, but I’m already talking about it with some folks like it’s a done deal. Last time I did that, I wound up on a beach in Texas, so the chances are good this is going to happen. 🙂

Well, I’d better get back to work as I have a late deadline tonight and an early Skype meeting with a client in the morning. Hopefully, my next post will be of pictures showing Miranda parked at Haven!

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Gambles

The late winter and early spring of 2004 has been on my mind lately. It was the time that I was turning 25, a bigger milestone for me than 20 had been. 35 is coming up fast and it feels more significant to me than 30 did.

2004 was the late winter/early spring that I gravely injured my right hand, had a bad car accident (again, not even remotely my fault), learned that I was going to be an aunt for the first time, and took what was probably the biggest gamble of my life up to that point.

I was working at what I still think was my dream job as the “office administrator/whatever they needed me to do because I was trained for absolutely everything including the outdoor jobs” for a private company managing the recreational services of a national park.

No two days were ever the same. I could be balancing the books one day and the next be on snowshoes marking a new trail through the wilderness.

The problem was that I was overworked, unappreciated, and really underpaid. Any one of those alone I could have handled, but combined I knew that it was time to get out of there get a ‘grown up’ job, ie. one that I didn’t like much but which would pay well.

So I had started to apply for jobs with the federal government. It was sometime in late February or early March of 2004 that I was asked to interview for a position I had applied for nearly a year before.

The initial testing went well and then came an interview that took most of a day and involved role playing. I was a timid creature back then with zero self esteem and yet the minute I picked up the first fake call I knew I had the job.

It took weeks for the confirmation to come through, to set a start date, and to have an idea of when the first paycheque would come, but before any of that gelled, I took a gamble.

I was driving a beat up old car (that was even worse for wear after the accident) and I decided to buy myself a brand new car for my 25th birthday, my first Hyundai Accent (which I liked more than my second even if it was an odd looking thing).

To this day, I have no idea how I got the financing on it because there was absolutely no way I could afford the payments! But the first payment on it would be mid-May, around the time that I would get a first paycheque from the government job… if I got the job, of course.

Everything fell into place, the way it does when it’s meant to be, and I never had any trouble making payments on that sweet little car.

It’s hard to reconcile how much I’ve done and seen with the smallness of time that has passed since that spring, with the only tangible evidence of it being the hard little knot of scar tissue on the pad of my right ring finger that is finally starting to soften a little.

But in that span of time I moved to a second government job, bought a house, lost my dad, quit the government, took off on the adventure of a lifetime, and saw more of the continent than that bitter girl of 25 ever dared dreamed she’d see.

I wish I could go back and tell that angry girl I used to be just how brave she was as she accepted the keys to her new car. Little did she know they were the keys that would open up her world and bring her to the life she’d always wanted but was convinced she did not deserve.

I’ve taken a lot of gambles since then, and each one gets easier and is less breathtaking. The first plunge is always the hardest and the real gamble I took in 2004 wasn’t buying the car. It was daring to see a future that was more open than the confines of the present. That’s a lesson that has obviously stayed with me.

But I’m not contemplating any gambles on this cold second day of spring of 2014. My life is plugging along just the way I want it to and I feel a confidence in my future that used to elude me.

Power is going into Haven in the next week or two, if the weather will just cooperate (earlier than expected, but it’s what works best for the electrician), so provided I can get the gravel smoothed out quickly, I could be back on my property within three weeks (!).

I’m casually shopping for a new-to-me RV (tiny bumper pull trailer), exploring both RV and non-RV travel options for next winter, planning summer trips, and working insane hours at a business that went from struggling to thriving in the span of a winter.

I definitely don’t need to be taking any gambles right now.

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A Moment of Clarity

Unlike most full-time RVers, I am not living off retirement income and must still earn a living. So unlike most full-time RVers who are living their retirements, I am dreaming of mine.

When I talked to my financial planner in 2008 about the idea of going full-time, he told me that I could afford several years of wild abandon with no concern about my future, but if I wanted to be able to retire, I’d have to buckle down within five to ten years in terms of retirement contributions and, ideally, acquire a little real estate.

In a perfect world, I could wander for the rest of my life and die grinning on a tropical beach in a far flung corner of the globe, but the reverse could also be true. I could find myself sick and forced to stop my wandering ways. Property and a nest egg would provide peace of mind in future travels because I’d have the assurance that I could take care of myself if the worst happened.

So we put together a five to ten year plan that had me living in my RV, traveling the continent, and hopefully building a business. Some parts of the project turned out better than others, especially the most important one: seeing the continent.

I’ve seen enough to accept something I’ve known since the fall and which I’ve shared with a few people since then: Miranda is likely never going back on the road. It’s five years sooner than expected, but here is the reasoning behind that:

-She needs about $6,000 worth of work to pass the mechanical inspection that would allow her to be plated in Saskatchewan.

-With my income, spending that kind of money on a depreciating asset at my age is an unsound financial decision.

-Because of the damage from the 2012 accident, I was warned by my insurance company that another collision would likely result in Miranda being a write-off. The idea of spending $6,000 and having her be destroyed is terrifying. The house part of her is in excellent shape and I’d be an idiot to risk it when she is parked somewhere she doesn’t have to move (much). The thought of moving to a new residence is unappealing me because I am so comfortable here. I therefore want Miranda to continue being my primary residence for as long as possible.

-$6,000 would go a long way towards developing my property and giving me a place to retire to at a time in the future when living in Miranda will no longer be sensible.

-I have absolutely no pleasure driving a big RV anymore and the thought of never again taking to the roads in a 60′ rig fills me with relief.

-Finally, winters are getting increasingly erratic and cannonball runs south and north in the spring just don’t seem worth the effort or the expense when southern U.S. winter conditions aren’t that great anyway.

That said, my traveling days are most certainly NOT done! And, really, if $10,000 were to fall into my lap right now, I’d get Miranda back on the road. It’s something I want, but not badly enough to put myself into a pickle for it.

Now, here comes the moment of clarity that I had a few weeks ago.

I have seen a lot of this continent, but I’m always rushing through this middle section, especially on the U.S side. Much like my year in Alberta let me see a really significant part of that province, my time here could allow me to see quite a bit of the Plains.

There are so many things I want to see in the U.S. that are just a day’s drive away, like the Black Hills and Yellowstone National Park. These are things to see in summer not winter, spring, or fall, the times I’m normally traveling to this area. Now, I am perfectly positioned to go explore these places in the summer!

Not having been to the U.S. this past winter and if I don’t go there next winter for an extended trip, I would be free to take a long weekend or two this summer to explore more of Montana and the Dakotas. For next summer, I could even plan a longer trip into Wyoming!

So where I stand now is that the budget for this summer will be focused on the cabin, with a little going to tourism on the side, just enough to keep me from going crazy.

Because I am already committed to spending another winter not traveling in an RV, I am going start looking early for a job for the winter, ideally somewhere I’ve never been, and take temporary accommodation if that pans out. Can anyone help me get a job on a cruise ship?! 😀

Another thought if business continues to pick up is to drive to Mexico with just my truck and rent an apartment there for the winter. In short, there are lots of possibilities!

I am also going to be watching the classifieds on both sides of the border for a small lightweight bumper hitch trailer, similar to the Casita my friend L has, that could be towed by my truck. So my RVing days are most certainly not done, they are just in a process of reorganization!

What’s important for me is to be on the move and to see new things. I’m grateful that my travels with Miranda have enabled me to find the perfect place for me to pause for a bit while I get things in order for the next phase of this wonderful life of mine. I am really enjoying my Saskatchewan interlude, but this is not the end of the road for me, just a breather.

Even though I’m not convinced that I’ll be traveling much, if at all, with Miranda from now on, I am going to continue this blog and suspect that now that all these thoughts have finally be committed to pixels, I’ll want to start writing more regularly again. After all, I am still living in an RV and I still have lots of RV living experience to share!

Thank you again to those who are as committed to my journey as I am, wherever it leads me.

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Enough

Happy 2014 to all my readers!

I just wanted to check in to say that spending the winter in Saskatchewan in an RV continues to feel like one of the smarter decisions I’ve made in the past five years!

L is back on the beach in Texas and it’s apparently ‘freezing’, and the weather in New Orleans and Alabama where Croft and Norma are isn’t much better. New Mexico and Arizona aren’t having stellar winters either. Really, I’m better off plugged into shore power here, working like crazy, and falling into a reasonably predictable budget. I wouldn’t want another spring like last year, stuck below an unrelenting line of bad weather.

The thing that I’ve figured out in the last five years is when something is enough. I have seen so much of this continent in half a decade. It is just so cool to be able to say ‘when I was in Tuktoyaktuk’ or ‘the weather in Florida was dreadful last year when I was there.’ That’s enough for now.

I know I’ll start traveling again soon, but I have accumulated so many memories since 2008 that they can nourish me a while longer. I can finally savour being ‘here’ because I’m not dreaming of being ‘there.’ That is the curse of the nomad, to always be looking ahead to the next stop, which can sometimes make it difficult to enjoy the present.

Memories of travel do more to lighten my mood than anything else. The other night, a cousin emailed to ask me about my trip to Scotland in ’98. Followed a half hour of reminiscing that made my day. Even though by this summer it will have been 16 years since that trip, I was transported back there by my cousin’s questions. I was back on that parapet of Stirling castle at sunset munching on a snack as I journaled. I found myself walking around in circles in Glasgow looking for food my first night there. The smell of the Culloden battlefield wafted over me. I even turned green remembering the choppy North Sea crossing to the Orkney Islands.

My travel memories are my wealth and my coffers are full. If you cannot understand how important they are to me, how they enrich my existence, I cannot make you understand. But they are what matter most to me.

There will come a day in short order when my existing memories will no longer be enough and I will find myself plotting a new journey. For right now, they are all I need to sustain me through a bitter, yet beautiful, winter, because here was also part of the dream, life on the prairie in all seasons. I know that I will one day find myself in Cairo or any other warm and bustling city and reminiscing fondly of my cold and contemplative winter on the Saskatchewan plains.

But as I sit here today, to quote a line from my favourite movie of 2012, “This is enough. This is… it’s more than enough for now.”

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I’m Really Okay!

After some recent comments and emails, I want to go on record to say that, yes, it’s bloody cold but I am more comfortable in Miranda in these temps than I ever was during a warmer BC winter!

The winter here has been very dry. I’m not struggling with humidity and condensation and the cold hasn’t seeped into my bones. I have no trouble whatsoever focusing on work. At night, I use my electric blanket to keep toasty and except for the few nights where I’ve had to switch propane tanks, I’ve been sleeping very soundly.

It’s been very cold all over the continent the last week or so. If I had been down south, I would have been facing unexpected propane expenses and RV park fees and would not have been able to do the kind of work hours I’m doing now to make up for any of that.

I can honestly say that I’d rather be here right now where I’m toasty, well situated, surrounded by friends,  able to work overtime, and able to budget to a point than to be in another country facing a very long trip through erratic weather while short on funds as one calamity piles onto another like it was this past spring.

So I appreciate the concern everyone has expressed but I’m not just putting on a brave face. I’m really okay!