Personal

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Why Did I Become a Full-Timer

The question came up on an RVing forum I belong to as to why members of the group became full-timers and how our expectations have changed. Here is an expanded version of my reply:

I decided to become a full-timer because life as I was expected to live it did not work for me. I had tried to have a house and a career and a family and none of that fulfilled me completely. The richer I became materially, the more I felt convinced that something was seriously missing in my life and I finally accepted that the absolute only time that I’m happy is when I’m traveling.

However, I do like to have a ‘home’, so RVing seemed like the natural choice for combining both needs and also allowed me to have my cats with me. Moreover, I wanted to see my country, and eventually more of the US, at my own pace, as a local rather than a tourist.

A year into full-timing, I’ve discovered that I don’t like being on the go every day. I’m very happy to spend three or four months in one location, then spend two to four weeks traveling to another location. I figured this out very early on, actually, so I haven’t done nearly as much exploring in the past year as I would have expected. That said, I know some towns better than I ever expected I would and I would never in a million years have fallen in love with Vancouver had I not spent four months there.

Also, working on the road isn’t easy. Oh, work can be found for the willing just about anywhere, but it’s very hard to generate a stable source of income. Until I do, I will have to spend long periods of time in one place before I can move on to another. For a few months in late 2008 and early 2009 I thought that the blog was going to become a steady source of income, enough to make a dent in my budget, but that well has dried up completely. I’ve made the decision that I can no longer afford to treat the blog as a business and that I need to put my energy elsewhere for the time being. This won’t affect readers as I will continue to post as I always have, but there will be a lot less going on behind the scenes. (update on July 22, 2010: it’s amazing how quickly things can change if you’re persistent!)

Besides that, I think that the biggest expectation I’ve had to let go of is that I will roam freely. This won’t happen for several years. Right now, I need the security of a ‘homebase’ with a good job to return to for a good chunk of the year and to winter some place warmer where I can work. So, that means that I will spend the next few years learning every route between Dawson City and southern BC. But I’m okay with that, at least my home has wheels and I decide when I pull up the stakes.

Becoming a full-timer was without a doubt the only good decision I ever made in my life even if it was planned poorly and it has enabled me to fulfill many other dreams. It is the life I’m meant to lead.

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A Useful Item to Pack for a Summer North of ’60

Coming north for a summer? Buy a sleep mask!

Night is slowly returning to the north, sneaking in through smoke and adding just a drop of darkness at a time to the day. I’ve needed to turn on a light to read in bed for about a week now and I’ve finally been able to put away the sleep mask I bought in Whitehorse.

I think that a sleep mask is a must-have item for anyone visiting the north who cannot sleep when there is light out. I bought mine at Walmart, figuring that it would be easier to get used to wearing the mask than to try to jury-rig curtains at my cousin’s. The mask was also useful on the Chilkoot seeing as it never really gets dark in a tent.

Unlike some people, I didn’t go crazy trying to darken my home this summer, just blocking off the overcab area, but leaving the rest of the rig as is. The mask was more than sufficient to block out light and I noticed that my sleep improved considerably. It didn’t take long for me to get used to wearing it.

Now that I know I like using a sleep mask, I’m going to look for a better model made of a breathable fabric. A nylon mask on a hot night did not stay on long. 🙂

I’m going to miss the sun, but it’s good to see the moon and stars again.

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Trying to Become a Yukoner

I’ve been trying for a month now to get my residency transferred from Quebec to Yukon. First step was vehicle-related since health care wouldn’t kick in here until September.

So far, it’s been a nightmare.

Insurance here works like in Quebec, so that seemed easy enough at first glance. I contacted a few insurance companies and only one got back to me regarding my request for a quote. They wanted experience letters from my current insurers as well as a driver’s abstract. I knew how to get the claims letters, but the driver’s abstract was new to me. I was told that it’s something the SAAQ (Quebec ‘DMV’) would be able to send them directly because ‘that’s what all the other provinces do.’

Well, that should have sounded warning bells, but it didn’t. I contacted the SAAQ and learned that they would only MAIL an abstract to my registered address and it would take ten days. If I wanted to change my address, then it would take ten days to process that and then another ten to get the abstract at the new address. I had the abstract mailed to my PO box in Gatineau. After a week, I emailed the guys at the UPS store and asked them to check if the letter was there and, if so, to please fax it to the insurance company. This was something I had never asked of them and I didn’t know if they would do it. They emailed me back within an hour with confirmation that the fax went through. Those guys rock!

Two weeks went by, which was much longer than I would have liked, but getting to a phone during business hours isn’t easy here. I finally got hold of the insurance company this morning and the lady had issues with the fact that I won’t spend the full year in the Yukon. She just did not understand what the full-timing lifestyle is, so this was a chance for me to educate her. After I did so, she seemed much more confident that she would be able to get me a quote for the motorhome because, as it turns out, the company that does my insurance in Quebec also does business in Yukon. She said she would check with them if they could sell me an equivalent policy here.

Also problematic was that I don’t have my Yukon driver’s licence yet. The reason for this is that I want to do both transfers at the same time since the SAAQ would see my change of licence as a change of address and possibly nullify my vehicle registrations since I’m no longer a resident of the province

I finally received quotes through email this afternoon. The motorhome was exactly the same amount as for last year and the car was about a hundred dollars less. That said, I will have to pay a hefty surcharge for the time I am in BC this winter. It’s a problem that the motorhome is going to leave the territory! Isn’t that what an RV is for, traveling?! To quote my hero, MacGyver, some people are scared of anyone who runs free.

So, Monday I should be able to get the necessary papers through the fax to go to the Yukon licencing bureau and get my new driver’s licence and vehicle registration papers. And then I can start to work on getting Yukon health care.

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Thoughts on Dawson City

Dawson is a town that attracts those with a ‘past’ who are in search of a new beginning.

So many people here are ex-cons, druggies, alcoholics, and gamblers needing a fresh start. I can’t imagine any other place in Canada being so welcoming of these kinds of people. If you come to Dawson with a willingness to work hard, you will be accepted. It is also easy to live on the fringes of society here; just move to a cabin in the wilderness and choose a solitary profession like mining.

This is also a town that appeals to those who are attracted to the romantic idea of the Yukon, of a hard life lived on the land where every action matters. There are people who live here without running water or electricity, something that is surprisingly common throughout the Yukon. When I often did without running water during frigid spells in the Gatineau Hills, I was pitied whereas here the melting of snow and hauling of drinking water from the village spring would be quite normal.

I lived in a small village in Quebec for four years and rarely ran into anyone I knew when I was running errands. I would enter a restaurant and be met with suspicious whispering. I was an interloper disrupting the the quiet sameness of the community. Dawson, however, was built by outsiders and it knows that this is where its strength lies. Dawson depends on outsiders for labour, for entertainment, for supplies. Soon as someone knows you, you are met like a best friend on the street or greeted as one on the phone.

I am someone who has always thought of herself as being something of a loner. I enjoy interacting with people, especially through the safety net of the ‘web, but I’ve always needed a lot of ‘alone’ time. Dawson has changed me into something I can barely recognize. Two months ago, I would never have imagined that I would ever go ‘into town’ after a long work shift and be happy to have my alone time on a bench by the Yukon with an ice cream cone be interrupted by an acquaintance wanting to catch up on gossip.

Dawson is changing me in ways so profound that I am almost regretting not spending the winter here. I think I will be more open to that idea next year….

I was once told that you shouldn’t have to travel to the end of the world to find yourself, but in my case this has proven itself to be false.

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RV Caravans

A large RV caravan rolled in here tonight convincing me once and for all that I would never want to join one!!! I would hate to be stuck on a schedule and to have to play follow-the-leader. The only exception I would make would be to go into Mexico, but I would only follow one or two other RVers who are experienced at Mexico rather than go with an organized group. I’m a solo RVer through and through!