When I bought the property last year, I wondered what a plot of land would mean for me.

The short answer is that it means the Canadian government has won.

I am exhausted by all the lies and half-truths I have to tell to be a true full-timer in this country. I especially worry about losing my health and vehicle insurance coverage.

The government demands that I have a truly fixed address, not someone’s yard or a mail forwarding service’s office, and now I’ve got it. They want me to spend the bulk of the year in one location. That’s likely going to happen now that I know the property is going to work out as an RV base.

But I did capitulate on my own terms. Most people in rural Saskatchewan have PO boxes tied to a lot number, not a street address. So no one will care that I don’t have a proper house on my lot and being a property owner will likely reduce the amount of scrutiny I might get about how much time I’m actually at my place.

I have a property that will be low maintenance and which I can improve at a slow pace, with absolutely no pressure to develop, so I can keep spending more of my money traveling.

I also have the peace of mind that if Miranda ever becomes road unworthy, I can park her on the lot, cover her with a heatable structure, and then have a paid home to retire to should I ever need to stop moving.

I don’t know if I will ever think of Haven as being ‘home.’ I don’t think I have the kind of personality to truly have a ‘home’ as per the conventional mindset. To me, ‘home’ is a place you don’t want to leave. I really don’t feel that I could ever live in one place all the time ever again and be satisfied. Therefore, I don’t believe I ever could truly have a ‘home’ outside of Miranda.

Growing up, I always had two visions for my life. In one, I was the globe-trotting nomad, in the other I was a homesteader. I thought that RVing had allowed me to find a compromise to those two visions, giving me the freedom to travel while still having a home. But I think that RVing plus a low maintenance property is doing a much better job of merging those two conflicting dreams.

I am still a full-time RVer; the land doesn’t change that in my mind. Right now, Miranda needs a few repairs that make me shy about taking her back out on the road, but they’ll happen in due time. I do think I am going to slowly start traveling less with her and that a heatable structure is going to rise up in the list of priorities.

One of the many reasons I wanted a truck was to be able to pull a lightweight trailer behind it. I think the time will come in the not so distant future where Miranda will stay behind in Saskatchewan in the winter and I will travel with just a small trailer. The expense of driving a huge ’97 motorhome is just going to keep mounting and I think Miranda is about to reach the point where she is going to get old and decrepit very fast; comfortable for living in a fixed place but worrisome to take on the road.

If any of this is a shock to anyone, you haven’t been reading the blog that closely. I had a 10-year plan for traveling with Miranda and I’m already at the half-way point in that plan. Now that I have the property, some parts of that plan are a lot easier to firm up now.

Of course, I could still meet that dashing American and get the chance to live as a true nomad in the States, but that’s not a sure bet. It’s good to have a backup plan. 🙂

I just got back from happy hours (yes, plural) at my neighbours who sold me my property. I am going to call them Caroline and Charles from now on, all though that is not anywhere near their real names. Points to those who get why I picked those names.

Caroline, Charles, and I are kindred spirits. There is just no other way to describe it. We have similar values and attitudes towards life. They actually came to Saskatchewan in horse drawn covered wagons! I am blessed to have them here. This village will feel like home thanks to them.

I enjoyed way too much homemade white wine, venison salami, and cheese as we gabbed. Another neighbour, let’s call her Laura, came over at one point to join us. I now have access to showers and washing machines. Laura works ‘in town’ and said I am welcome to grab her house key from Caroline and use her facilities during the day!!!

I was sent home with a box of giant parsnips (will share a picture when I’m on a faster connection as they are weapon-sized) and two pallets to use as a front porch. I was also invited to a horse-related event in July (that sounds fun enough to pull me away from Stettler) and warned that my handywoman skills will be put to good use later this summer when Charles and Caroline start working on their addition, so I don’t need to worry about monetarily paying them back for using anything they offer me.

Caroline told me that folks here often find graineries (I think that’s the word), skeleton buildings made of fir that folks clad with plywood and turn into sheds. Charles is going to look for one as he’s always out and about doing pest control and said that I could likely pay a bachelor with a meal and some beer in exchange for having it brought out to me. I visited one of their’s and it would be more than just a shed once finished. It would have the potential to be a sweet little cottage, exactly what I envisioned having one day on this lot.

This village, or, rather, hamlet, feels like such a different place than it was this morning. I have to return a dolly to Caroline tomorrow and was told there’s always coffee on. I am going to learn to play Canasta on Friday night at Laura’s. Suddenly, I belong.

This place truly is my Haven.

It figures that the one day in weeks if not months that I decided to not get dressed would be the day a neighbour dropped by!

This neighbour is half of the couple who sold me the lot! She’s very nice; retired from being a power engineer in Manitoba and now raising horses. I am going to their place at about 4:00 for wine and to meet her husband.

First off, I got some answers about my property purchase. They own all the vacant lots in town and paid only $100 for mine! They thought it would be the last to go because it is so small. I thought my offer of $3,500 to their request for $5,000 was a low ball, but she laughed and said that I didn’t even come close to matching the low ball offers they had gotten previously. They considered my offer fair and serious and took it since it was cash in hand, plus they thought the tiny lot would be hard to sell. She doubts they would have accepted less, though.

Now, in no particular order, here’s the scoop on services.

Mail

The lean-to attached to a private house is a proper post office and is open in the mornings. So I can mail things from there and get a PO box. No more having to run into Assiniboia for general delivery.

Water

I am on a water line and need to contact the RM (rural municipality) to find out how to get a tap. For the summer, I am welcome to go to my neighbours and fill up from their exterior tap! I can back up to it with my truck, so I am going to get a big container to fill once a week or so and then tap into that with smaller jugs. The water is NOT drinkable.

Garbage

Garbage, water, and sewer fees are about $600 a year. My neighbour says I am welcome to put a bag in with their trash this summer!

Sewer

The neighbour says that I am on a sewer line, but I’m not really. In RV parlance, their sewer is for grey water only and everyone has holding tanks for black water, which they then have pumped out. It will likely be cheaper for me to just haul my waste to a dump station. Grey water can run on the ground considering how little I use.

Power

I do indeed have a pole on my property, so I just need to have a metre put on it and then have an electrician install an outlet. Shouldn’t cost me more than $1,000 total.

Grass

My neighbour did my lawn last summer. I told her that she can come up with a number for what that was worth and I will gladly pay, either with cash or with barter. They are doing construction this summer and I let her know I’m moderately handy and available if they need help.

Gravel

The RM will deliver gravel to my property (to use as an RV pad) at a rate of so much per yard (no idea how many yards I’d need). Several neighbours with little tractors could apparently be bribed with beer to spread it around.

Supplies

Willow Bunch is only 18KM away (compared to 32km for Assiniboia) and has gas and a small grocery store. The road there is gravel, though, so thank goodness for my truck! I drove that road once in my car and swore it would never happen again.

Assiniboia has a movie theatre!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, I may have jumped the gun on my excitement since it doesn’t appear to be a proper cinema and I can’t get any information on what’s playing this weekend, but it’s a beacon of hope that I won’t miss seeing this latest Star Trek on the big screen (although with the amount of work coming in this week, I can almost justify a four-hour round trip drive to Moose Jaw to see it…).

Neighbours

I’m told most are hermits, especially the guy right next to me. As long as I’m not loud and obnoxious, no one’s going to care what I do.

So that’s the scoop! I have to get back to work. OMG, it doesn’t rain but it pours. I don’t think it will ever be enough to get me back over the hump from the last few issues AND to cover what’s upcoming, but it’s still a relief!