RVing

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Cusping

This is the longest time that I have lived a life, and the first time that I have gone so long without wanting a tornado to rip through that life so that I could start over. I still don’t feel that way. I love my life and I embrace all changes to it.

Talking to Donna about her and Ken starting over with a new house, I expressed how I feel that I’m going through a change, too, but couldn’t quite put my finger on how I was feeling. Donna immediately came up with the perfect word: cusping.

She’s right. I am at the cusp of my RVing life as I originally imagined it. I have seen as much of this continent as I need to, any more would be a bonus. I’m getting tired and the idea of traveling a little less is rather appealing, especially if it means being able to save up money to start traveling internationally.

I can tell my life is on a different course now that I have the property and it is working out so well, but I’m not certain yet what the course is. I just have a strong feeling that it’s going to mean winters traveling and summers staying put, unless I can afford to fly out and explore some far flung corner of the globe. But it doesn’t mean moving out of Miranda into a fixed home. I really don’t see that happening.

Going back to Kelowna, I had a meeting with the Women in Trades counsellor at Okanagan College about the RV tech program. Talking with one of the program teachers, it seemed that the demand for RV techs in Saskatchewan could work in my favour and that I could likely get a summer job with the freedom to travel in the winter. I’ve always wanted to learn a trade and RV tech is obviously a good fit for me.

The Women in Trades program also seemed like a good fit at first glance. I qualify for it and would get free tuition, books, and safety equipment. The hiccup is that I either have to live off savings or get a student loan. I cannot earn income while doing the program. I love our governments’ logic.

I always said that I would only go back to school if I could focus on it and enjoy it, so there is no way I would further put myself into debt to attend school, nor do I think it’s realistic to believe I could save up several years’ worth of living expenses. So it looks like taking the RV tech program is not the path I am meant to take.

There are more thoughts rattling around in my brain right now, but that’s all I feel like sharing at this point. I am curious to see where the next few months guide me. Right now, I’m still envisioning myself in Quartzite sometime next winter. 🙂

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Haven Without Internet

I have gotten zero access to the net since I got back to Haven, so I’ll be quiet for a bit as I have too much to catch up on to spend hours up on the hill. I have a Yagi-style antenna on order, but it’s coming from the States and I don’t expect it any time soon (I ordered it there since it was an all-in-one kit with the cable while I would have had to piece together something from a Canadian source). I am so annoyed since my phone is getting a signal with the booster, but the Mifi refuses to convert that signal into an internet connection. It was temperamental even with a strong connection, so it’s no wonder it’s misbehaving now. I’m working on a series of posts and will upload when I can.

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A Journey of 3,040 Kilometres

Whew! I made it home at 2AM this morning (Wednesday)!

I had a most excellent drive even though it was a loooooooong day. I stopped for a nice lunch in Fernie, paused in Blairmore, then had a long break in Lethbridge where I did a ton of shopping (one clever person told me the apocalypse is over, LOL). I hit up a few electronic stores for a better cell booster antenna (no luck), Walmart for dried goods, and then Canadian Tire for a few projects. I also bought a big cooler that was on special; nothing fancy but will come in handy for supply runs.

There was construction coming out of Lethbridge, so it was slow going for a bit, but Medicine Hat still came more quickly than expected. There was a lot of talk on the radio about the flooding and evacuations, but I saw no evidence of any of this. I decided that I was four hours from home, so I was going to get my grocery shopping done and finish up this trip.

When I pulled out of town, it was about 9:30, with my ETA being 2:30AM. The drive to Swift Current felt endless. I was physically tired, but not mentally since my body thought it was an hour earlier. I stopped for gas and a leg stretch, found a station playing my generation’s music, and rocked to Bryan Adams, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, and New Kids on the Block all the way to Assiniboia, a stretch that felt about a 10th shorter than it actually was. It’s nice when the last stretch flies by!

I pulled into Haven at about 1:45AM, unloaded what absolutely had to be unloaded, and climbed into bed where I was asleep by quarter to 3.

I’m feeling a little groggy today and expect it will take a few days for me to fall back into my routine. I did get the truck fully unloaded and most of my stuff put away. I don’t have internet at home right now (I’m telling you, the bloody thing is sentient), so I’m up the hill waiting for Charles and Caroline to come home so I can pick up my boy.

I have several posts to write up about the weekend, but I want to say two things right now.

1) The weather in BC was mostly miserable, as it usually is, and the mountains were damp and grey, and shrouded with fog. I am so happy to be back under the sun bleached skies of my beloved prairies. If I have to live in this cursed country, there is no place I’d rather be.

2) I LOVED camping in the truck. It was the perfect compromise between car and hoteling it or taking a cumbersome gigantic rig out. I’m going to write more about that, but I really saw on this trip that my gas guzzler wasn’t a stupid buy at all. I didn’t have a lick of trouble with her and she is soooooo comfortable. My clutch leg isn’t even sore today, as it would be with half the distance traveled yesterday traveled in my Accent. It took a year to really use the truck the way I intended to use it and now that I have, I am fully at peace with the compromises I have made.

I’m off to shop online for another antenna and plan to pay big bucks for fast shipping. Wish I’d known I wouldn’t find anything in stores and had ordered earlier.

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Monday At the RV Owners Lifestyle Seminar

I awoke to rain and dampness in the back of the truck. Still, I was up a little later than the other mornings and had to hoof it to my first seminar of the day. The one I wanted to attend, about water quality, was cancelled so I went to boondocking, which was the only seminar of the weekend that was really disappointing.

After coffee break, I debated whether to go to the seminar in Baja or to the one about summarizing and sanitizing your holding tanks. I decided that I really have no special desire to go to Baja and that I did want to see one of Sanidumps John’s seminars, so I went there. I got some good tips out of that one! But I missed the first few minutes of it for a meeting with campus faculty. I’ll elaborate on that once I’m home as the meeting is only a tiny part of some thoughts running through my brain right now.

The final seminar of the weekend was about generator maintenance. That one alone was worth the trip! I found out the likely reason that my genset failed and that if I can’t get it going myself after doing a few things the instructor suggested, then I might as well get another one. There is nothing a service tech could do that I couldn’t (seeing as I’m moderately handy). I’ll blog more about that later also.

We had a brief wrap up session and that was it! I HAVE to fit this seminar into my schedule for next summer! I had so much fun and it is so well organized. Really, anyone going north to Alaska or into the Rockies in June should attend!

I left Kelowna around 3:30 on highway 33. Jody was heading west on highway 3 and our schedules were so well matched that our itineraries would likely intersect at the junction of the two highways at almost the exact same time, which they did!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately, her plans had changed and she needed to get closer to Vancouver tonight. So we had a good chat, I got my mail, and then we continued on, with me taking the road she had just traveled, highway 3 eastbound.

There is no cell service along most of highway 3, so I decided to drive to Castlegar, where I would arrive around 9pm, with enough light to find a place to camp for the night. And that’s where I am now. 🙂

There was a torrential downpour between Grand Fork and here, so bad that I would start hydro planing if I went too fast. I hope it wasn’t that bad further east as the highway is apparently badly damaged around Fernie, with only one or two lanes open. It was fairly clear when I arrived in Castlegar, but it’s now raining lightly.

I decided against making a cannonball run to home tomorrow as that would stupidly keep me from doing a much needed stock up of supplies. I’ll see how far I feel like going tomorrow, will stop in Swift Current or Moose Jaw for stuff Wednesday morning, and will be home by mid-afternoon Wednesday. Provided I can get past flooded Medicine Hat…

Another upcoming post: a review of what it’s been like to camp in my truck!

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Sunday At the RV Owners Lifestyle Seminar

Whew, another FULL day!

I started with an informative seminar on Mexico.

Then, it was time for mine. There were so many people we were scrambling for chairs. I think it went well and I got a lot of positive feedback.

A nice couple asked me to share their light picnic for lunch so we could talk about how I support myself. I’m living out of the truck and pretty much subsisting on nuts and apples, so the veggies were a treat. Last night, I was invited by one of the organizers to share his pizza and was also handed a much appreciated beer!

The afternoon was heavy. I did drivetrain maintenance, which was all about belts and hoses and routine maintenance, etc. It went way over time and I didn’t care it was that good. The teacher knows little about RVs so he asked the audience for input about whether an RV has a whatever compared to a truck and only one person in the room interjected, especially in the bit about batteries…

Up next was RV tires, same teacher, also went over length, and also padded with info by yours truly. I felt really obnoxious but was assured that I most certainly was not as I actually knew what I was talking about and was answering questions. I can’t believe how much tech and industry knowledge I’ve picked up over the years. The format of the seminars really do open themselves to discuss, though. They’re not lectures.

We then had a gourmet buffet dinner. I was very impressed by the spread, especially the tomato salad and the apple streudel. Everyone got a door prize. I was hoping for a tube of Dicor, but got a bookmark. 🙂 I donated an ebook as a door prize.

I have one or two more seminars tomorrow and then a meeting about something I’ve been thinking if doing that could, yet again, spin my life in a different direction… Whatever time I finish, I went to get some mileage under me. Highway 3 is open, so I am heading home. Jody and Gary are going west, so our paths may intersect. I should be home late Tuesday and can’t wait to see my cat and my bed!