RVing

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Haven Closer To Water

The RM is flushing the hamlet’s water system today and there are a lot of guys on deck for that. One knocked on my door to inform me that he had located my water main!!!!!

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The valve is about 8′ into the ground. Getting water above ground is going to be a lot of work and quite costly, probably more expensive than putting in power! I need to get a backhoe in here to get down to where the valve is so that it can be replaced, and then I need the water brought up to ground level and located somewhere on my property, which will involve trenching. Wish me luck finding a plumber to give me a quote!

I learned after the fact that it was one of my neighbours down the street who asked the RM guys to find my main! He and I had talked about looking for the main for a while, yes, but I’m still impressed that he thought to put in the request for me!

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Haven With Laundry Facilities (That Guests Might Actually Want To Use)

Thanks to my trusty wheelbarrow, I was able to get my washer and dryer out of the truck and into the grainery today. Of course, I had to try them out!

I have plenty of water hose, so I just uncoupled it from the RV holding tank intake and brought the hose to the grainery, where I coupled it to my sprayer, which effectively gives me an on-off switch for the water. I then rolled an extension cord from the grainery to the exterior outlet on the motorhome (closer than the breaker box).

I don’t have a manual for the washer, but it was fairly intuitive. It’s really not that many fewer steps than using the Wonder Wash, but it does allow me to do a lot more laundry at one time since the washer has a bigger tub, plus the washer does some of the labour itself.

I’ll still want to use the Wonder Wash for small loads, like dish cloths, that need super hot water, but for clothes, I think I don’t think it will be hard to get in the habit of using my washer. 🙂

I added soap to the tub and then started adding water. I set a timer and learned that it takes about 20 minutes to fill the tub completely. I was able to put a lot more clothes in the machine than I would have expected.

You can choose how long to have the washer agitate the clothes. I picked 30 minutes since I had some really soiled clothes in the load.

Again, I set a timer, and went to do something else. When I came back, I put the washer on the ‘drain’ setting to get rid of the water and transferred the clothes to the spin dryer to wring them out. I had to do this in two batches since the dryer capacity is smaller.

I put the clothes back in the washer and filled the tub again to rinse the load. So another 20 minutes on the timer, then another 15 minutes of agitation, then another two loads in the spin dryer. Oh, and an extra 20 minutes on the fill because I forgot to shut off the drain setting! *shakes head*

The process may seem like a lot of work compared to an automatic unit, but it sure didn’t feel like it after using the Wonder Wash for so many years! I also didn’t get completely soaked, so I can do laundry in cooler weather!

It was grey and overcast and there’s rain in the forecast, so I decided not to tempt fate and instead try out my dryer. This is where I learned that the exterior outlet on the RV is on the same circuit as my office, where I had a heater plugged in and running. So I blew a breaker (oops) and had to move the extension cord to one of my new 20A outlets on its own circuit.

It took several hours to dry the load completely since it’s a 120V unit that doesn’t get as hot as a 220V unit. I definitely won’t be getting in the habit of using it, especially since clothes smell nicer coming off the line!

I am very happy with my new laundry setup. This isn’t quite the kind of washer I was hoping to find, but I really wanted a 120V dryer, so the washer is a good compromise. They are also hard to find over here, so I may be able to recoup the cost later and apply it to an automatic unit once I get the cabin wired and plumbed.

While the clothes were drying, I tried out my new weed whacker. Yes, I ran a dryer, a weed whacker, and a heater all at the same time. Having 70A available to me is pretty sweet. 🙂

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Summer Supply Run

I have been long overdue for a supply run because I am finding it increasingly difficult to stock my pantry in Assiniboia. Moreover, I found something on Kijiji that I really wanted, so a trip to Regina ASAP was in order to pick it up. Therefore, I burned the midnight oil all week to get today off.

Lately, I’ve been getting to sleep around midnight and getting up at six. So you can imagine my shock this morning when I woke up and the clock said it was 9:30!!! I was expected in Regina between one and two and wanted to have lunch in Moose Jaw, so I was out of bed as though someone had lit firecrackers under the sheets!

To my dismay, it was pouring rain out and I had stuff to unload from the back of my truck, a chore I had put off all week since I was so busy typing and I’d have the whole of this morning off…

I still managed to get to Assiniboia by 10:15ish and stopped at the bakery for the first time to try their coffee. It turned out to be very expensive dishwater, so I’ll stick to the gas station for coffee emergencies from now on as theirs is tasty.

The drive to Moose Jaw was uneventful until a few klicks from the city where there was construction and we had to detour. This brought me to the wrong end of town to have sushi, but the right end to push on to Regina. I knew that I wasn’t going anywhere near the Regina sushi restaurant, that it’s very expensive, and that there’s no parking, so I decided to stick to my plan and have my sushi lunch in Moose Jaw even if it meant a couple extra crossings of town.

On the way to the restaurant, I stopped in at the Town & Country Mall, where I had my nose pierced in April. I had been told to come back around this date to have the piercing tightened, so I thought I could make an appointment for after lunch or even after Regina. But my piercer was free, so she took me right away. Was I glad to get that done! My nose healed super fast and the loose piercing has been driving me batty!

Lunch at DK Sushi was yummy, as always. The all you can eat is still good value for me, but just barely, as I get less and less each time I go. I added up what I got today and came in at about $20 if I bought à la carte, versus $17 with the all you can eat, plus you get really good chocolate ice cream with that option. 🙂 I asked for a half portion since I wasn’t able to finish a whole one last time (too rich and sweet for my new taste buds).

From lunch, I immediately headed out to Regina since my ETA was now about 1:45. Thankfully, the seller was very conveniently located near the highway and just a few blocks from Cabela’s, which was having a sale I didn’t want to miss.

The items I was picking up were a Japanese-style washer/spin dryer combo and a compact 120V dryer. I’ll do posts about those once I get them out of my truck. I couldn’t talk the seller down from $300 for the set, but I knew that was a crazy good deal, so I paid up. They are the perfect compromise between my current laundry setup (Wonder Wash and a spin dryer that really needs to be returned to its rightful owner) and full size units that would need water hookups and a 220V outlet.

These my appliances (seller photos):

Next stop was Walmart, which was conveniently located next to both a Bulk Barn and Cabela’s. I stocked up on dry goods and then went to the Bulk Barn stock up on nuts. I’m afraid to admit how much I spent on nuts because I went a little well, nuts. 😀

Cabela’s was having a sale on Keen footwear, so I picked up a good pair of sandals with covered toes for the summer (if we ever get one…). I bought a model that is good for light hiking as well as wet activities. It’s been a very, very long time since I shelled out the bucks for high quality sandals and I hope these last me! I also picked up an outback-style hat for the wagon train because I was told that I can’t show up this year without a proper horse wrangler hat and cowboy boots. I’m all set! 🙂 It was raining again by the time I got out of the store, so I wore my new hat, which offered good protection against the rain.

Next on my list was Canadian Tire or Home Depot. Neither was convenient in Regina, so I headed back to Moose Jaw to its Canadian Tire. There, I got a really good deal on an electric lawn mower.

I was going to buy a reel (manual) mower, but this electric mower was much cheaper. I didn’t want a gas mower because I didn’t want to have to deal with maintaining another engine.

To my surprise, a very nice stock clerk took the mower to the till for me, waited for me to pay, pushed it to my truck, and helped me figure out how to load it in when the appliances weren’t leaving much room. I was impressed since it’s normally impossible to get service at Canadian Tire!

I also picked up weed whacker, but failed at getting a ladder and tree limb lopper, so I’ll get those in Assiniboia next week.

My following stop was M&M Meatshop to stock up on chicken breasts. I wish I had had room in the truck to pick up a small deep freeze since the chicken breasts were on sale. I took a chance on four packages fitting in the freezer, what with everything else I had in there already. Spoiler: I ran out of room and decided to pull out the ground chicken to make chicken burgers tomorrow. 🙂

Then, it was time to get groceries. I was pretty beat when I got to the checkout, but I had bought enough to get 10 cents off a litre, so I decided to get fuel before heading home. To my delight, there’s a ‘we serve’ pump at the Safeway gas bar, so I didn’t have to do it myself and my fuel was ‘just’ $1.19.

BTW, fuel was $1.39 in Regina and $1.29 in Moose Jaw and Assiniboia/Willow Bunch today. I’m always surprised that I’m not paying a ‘rural location surcharge’ for my gas out here!

It was close to seven by the time I headed home and I was getting the hunger shakes, so I decided to stop for a meal instead of just snacking on the way home. There was a Boston Pizza right at my last turn before leaving the city and I love their pulled pork sandwich, so it was an easy decision. I had it with a salad rather than fries and I only ate half the bun, so the meal felt quite reasonable and didn’t put me to sleep on the drive home!

It was still raining when I came in, so I just unloaded the food. I now need to get to bed because I have a big typing weekend ahead of me. I wasn’t supposed to have much work so I could clean the yard, but it’s going to rain both days so I might as well type.

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Promenade Interruptus

I was heading out for an evening stroll before getting cracking on my last file of the day, when I stopped dead in my tracks upon seeing C&C’s flatbed trailer parked in front of my property. That could mean only one thing, an invitation to load it up with the huge amount of branches leftover from Charles cutting down my trees this spring.

I spent, oh, maybe a half hour hauling all the branches to the trailer and filling it. Of course, the biggest and heaviest branches were under the little ones, so I filled the trailer in reverse logical order. I hope nothing falls off, but at least the trailer is just going around the block!

This is perfect timing because I am going to Regina on Friday (hence why I am again burning the midnight oil; I am trying to get ahead in my work queue). I aim to come back with a lawn mower, weed whacker, and tree limb lopper so that I can make an attempt at taming Haven’s badly neglected eastern perimeter.

Charles, wonderful neighbour that he is, mowed my lawn last night with his tractor, but it’s high time for me to be self-sufficient about that! I was going to get a reel (push) mower, but may talk myself into a gas model. It’ll depend on prices, features, and what’s on sale.

The RM emailed today to ask if I still wanted more gravel this year, stemming back from an early winter discussion. I am impressed with their powers of retention and/or note taking system! I was going to get gravel to put under the buildings, but it’s too late for that. I did order a load (25 cubic yards) to go from the front of the RV pad to as close to the sidewalk as possible.

I requested the cheap stuff that’s mostly sand and stone, since the last load has turned out to be much more satisfactory than expected. For one thing, it’s not muddy even in heavy rain!

I don’t know when the load will be delivered, but I do hope my neighbour will be again available to spread it out, otherwise I will have a lot of shoveling to do before my friend L gets here in just a couple of weeks!

Haven is just that these days, a lovely, idyllic place where the soundtrack of my day is the melodious call of the mourning dove.

I love having a reasonably weather tight building in which to store things, meaning my yard looks neat. And I might have lost my winter view of the hills, but I’ve gained the amusing sight of a gopher circus.

Summer is already racing ahead much, much, much too quickly, and I look forward to L’s arrival and my second wagon train vacation, days that will hopefully slow down time just a little.

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Moving Forward

I thought I’d give a status update, an indication of where my head is in terms of Haven and future travel plans in response to some comments I’ve received.

Let’s start with Haven. My goal with this property is to develop it slowly over time so that when Miranda is no longer liveable, I will have a paid for home to move into. So converting the grainery into a liveable house is a long-term plan for me, but there are immediate things that need to be done to ensure that the structure does not deteriorate.

As for the property itself, I want it to be very, very low maintenance. I intend to be away from Haven during the winter months from now on and eventually take even longer trips that could see me away for years and do not want my neighbours to be stuck with the sight of a neglected property, nor responsible for doing my maintenance (it’s not like I can hire a landscaping company out here!)

So I am researching xeriscaping and beginning to collect hardscaping materials so that I can start pulling weeds and sod and replace them with plants that won’t grow out of control and/or inorganic materials.

I’m therefore spending a lot of money, time, and effort on Haven this summer because I am going away soon, and for a long while, and I don’t want to be overwhelmed when I get back.

Going away?

I had a thought for last winter that was too late to pull together after Neelix died unexpectedly. That thought was to drive to Mexico in my truck and rent an apartment for the winter.

I’ve come to realise that the only big bucket list item right now that is overwhelming anything else is the wish to live in another country for a while, one where the main language is something other than English or French, and with a different culture. Mexico is within reach right now and would definitely satisfy that itch.

RVing to Mexico is just too daunting a prospect, what with two vehicles and two borders. Plus, staying in RV parks wouldn’t really be living in another country, but rather living with a group of like-minded ex-pats. Renting an apartment in Mexico in a Mexican community is much more what I have in mind.

A few weeks ago, a blog reader sent me some information on apartment rentals in an area she goes to every winter, as well as leads on what would be the perfect apartment for me. I’m not quite ready to contact the owner of the place yet and make arrangements to rent (the size of the apartment being so small that there’s little fear of it disappearing), but I’ve started my research and am committed to leaving for Mexico in October!!!

So the cat’s out of the bag and you can all breathe easy now that you know that my nomadic tendencies are alive and well. 😉

There is a lot to think about, especially banking and internet matters.

I know that Scotia Bank exists in Mexico, so I will go to a branch in Moose Jaw and Regina to see about opening up a secondary account with them so that I don’t have all my money in one bank and so I can get help locally if needed.

Internet is going to be extra important now that I have my new amazing client that requires tons and tons and tons and tons of bandwidth a month. So I have to make sure that I can get in Mexico the 40 to 60GB of bandwidth a month I will need, reliably and without going bankrupt. And, please, no suggesting that I find a place with a WiFi hotspot I can tap into as I am not a thief. 😉

I am so excited about the winter ahead, even if the thought of leaving Miranda behind for eight months is more than a little daunting! But she has taken me where I needed to go and it’s time to continue my traveling adventures with Moya. I am so looking forward to an easy drive straight south through Wyoming and Colorado without worrying about taking a huge rig through all those mountain passes.

Eight months? Thereabouts. I’d like to tag a month in the States on both sides of the trip. There’s no problem taking my truck out of the province that long and a letter to SK Health will ensure continuity of my health coverage. I’ll have been in Haven eighteen months when I leave in October. I don’t think an eight month absence will be excessive, but rather a much needed mental health break. 🙂

So all that to say, I’m pretty sure my travels with Miranda are over. I want to continue blogging, but I don’t know yet if it will still be on this blog or if I’m going to start a new one. I’m not in a rush to make that decision since I am still living in an RV and will continue to write about RV life.

Right now, I’m about five years ahead of where I thought I would be today, but in an even better place than expected. Having a property I own outright never factored into the new life plan I put together in 2008. How secure this place makes me feel is incalculable. It makes me comfortable taking risks, making big plans, and continuing to live as I am determined to. This place is true financial security.

That my RV travels lasted five years instead of ten does not feel like a failure to me, but more like a triumph and a reminder that when I set goals, I move forward doggedly, obstacles be damned. And I’m most definitely in the market for a little travel trailer. Probably not this year, but likely the next. Maybe it’ll be the Miranda II. With me, who knows? 🙂

There’s lots of good stuff coming down the pipeline. So just remember that every post that has me expending energy into my property is a reminder that I am thinking of pulling out, not that I am getting rooted. Much as I love this place, and I do, it is a port of call, not a final destination.