RVing

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Thankfully, I Don’t Look Like a Mule For Everyone

I’ve had problems with anemia since the late ’90s, so I take a daily iron supplement. Every few months, I walk into a pharmacy (usually the one at Walmart) and ask for a bottle of ferrous gluconate. Said bottle is handed over each time with few other words. I’m asking for the pills by a specific identifier, not as generic ‘iron supplements’, so pharmacists assume that I know what I’m doing. I’ve thus bought my pills in Quebec, Ontario, BC, the Yukon, and even Oregon without incident for about 12 years.

And then I came to Alberta.

Tonight, I went to the Shopper’s Drugmart (I just love that name, incidentally, it makes me laugh) and nonchalantly ambled over to the prescriptions area where, after a moment’s wait, I was able to place my order.

“Have you filled a prescription here before?”
“No. I don’t have a prescription…”
“Oh, that’s fine. I just need to register the sale. Name and address, please.”

I gave the information, using Rae rather than my legal name, and Jody’s address, none of which matches any of my ID. That was fine because I wasn’t asked for any! I mustn’t have looked like a drug dealer to this person!

At least, the pills are super cheap in Alberta, $6.50 for 100 tablets! I haven’t paid a price like that since the 20th century!

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I Still Can’t Blog About Anything That’s Going on!

It’s another super busy week for me, not that I can say much about what I’m working on. Just be content in knowing that I’m not bored!

Summer is quickly reaching its end as mornings are chilly, but it’s still going to be a much longer summer than just about anyone in the rest of the country has experienced. A friend from Dawson City emailed me this week and mentioned that there’s already frost in the mornings up there. The west and east coasts have been absolutely sodden all summer, too. Albertans had nothing to complain about this summer, what with all the sun and heat!

I am a little concerned that I haven’t completed a single one of the projects I’d slated for the season. I thought I’d make a dent this weekend but, guess what, yup, I have extra transcription work to do. I’m not complaining; I couldn’t have paid for the experience I’m getting from this one fantastic client I recently picked up!

Not much of a post, I’m afraid, but at least it’s a proof of life. 😀

 

 

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A Bloggable Day

Today was one of those days that makes me wish I was one of those bloggers who posts every minute detail of their lives without considering the consequences for themselves or others. Oh, do I have a whopper of a story to not share!

Just call me a tease and know that I am very much enjoying my life and work in Lethbridge right now. There just isn’t much about it that I can post.

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At Least One Cost Keeps Going Down

Except for one practise I thought was frowned upon in developed nations (all I’m saying on that matter!), Alberta is going to be the cheapest province for driving costs.

When I hit the road in ’08, I was registered in Quebec. Yearly costs there:

-registration for Miranda: $650

-insurance for Miranda: $750

-registration for the toad: $250

-insurance for the toad: $1,500

-driver’s license: $50

Total: $3,200

I then moved to Yukon and my yearly costs there were:

-registration for Miranda: about $125

-insurance for Miranda: $750

-registration for the toad: about $70

-insurance for the toad: $1,500

-driver’s license: $5

Total: $2,450

Now, I haven’t crossed all the T’s for Alberta, but I’ve been promised that the insurance estimates are pretty firm:

-registration for Miranda: about $75

-insurance for Miranda: $750

-registration for the toad: about $75

-insurance for the toad: $630 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

-driver’s license: $17

Total: $1,547

Notice the one constant, the cost for Miranda’s insurance! The Alberta broker I’m going with thinks the amount is outrageous. I still can’t believe it’s that cheap.

As a reminder, Miranda is insured by Aviva Elite, the only entity in this country to have a product specifically tailored to full-timers. Brokers might scratch their heads when you say you live full-time in an RV, but just send them off to Aviva who will cheerfully come up with a quote that will cover your rig (and then some), your contents, and give you a good amount of liability coverage.

Toad insurance is tough (they don’t like it when you take the car out of the province…), but you can travel freely with your rig. I’m not sure I’d have the strength to push on with the other challenges if I didn’t have these understanding folks at my back. When the worst happens and you have to claim a total loss of home and possessions, or you get sued by someone who trips on your stairs, lies and half-truths just won’t cut it. Aviva allows me to be fully open in disclosing my lifestyle so that I can get the right policy. I am very grateful to them.

(Psst, Aviva, do you need a spokesperson?!)

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How I Started RVing

Croft just posted a great story about how he started RVing.

For newer readers who might not have read back to the beginning of the blog, here’s the short story of how I started RVing:

-sometime around 2005, a blog made me notice RVs for the first time and I had a revelation: hey, I could have a home AND be able to travel!

-in early 2008 I attended an RVing show;

-later that spring, I toured a friend’s Gulfstream Hurricane class A;

-on that same weekend, I slept in my mother’s pop-up camper, my first time overnighting in an RV!

-in July I bought a motorhome;

-in September I hit the road full-time.

That sums it up quite nicely. Thankfully, fortune (in the sense of life experience wealth, not monetary wealth) has favoured the foolish!