CHRISTMAS in Canada - Home!

Well we made the three day trip back home to Cochrane (Calgary) Canada to spend the Christmas Holidays with our family. It was a long drive in our Honda but an enjoyable one. The weather stayed good for us with clear roads all the way!

We had to make sure that we got home in time for our Son Steven and his Beautiful Wife (Brittany) who were arriving; as they were moving back to Cochrane from the west coast. Originally the plan was that we would drive to Salt Spring Island (Canada's West Coast Gulf Islands) and pick them up on the way home but as the time approached it became clear that we wouldn't have enough room for them, their luggage and Romeo our dog. So they flew home.

Its always exciting to have a child move back closer to home! We know because two of our 3 children have moved away and though we want them to experience the world its just so good to have them back home where one can visit almost anytime. Now we will have all three back in the area for the first time in a few years!

We spent our early days back home recuperating from the long drive from Apache Junction in Arizona. We left our Motor home there in storage. It was hard to leave "Bounder" there as we are getting quite attached to her. Once home we also had to quickly do some of our Christmas shopping at least for the things that Barb didn't get in the USA.

One of the challenges when traveling for long periods of time (when you get older) is to make sure you have a long enough supply of prescription medications with you. All those will be updated and extended while at home too. We've met lots of people who get their Meds, Glasses and Dental work done in Mexico and have been doing it for  years. They say they save lots of money and they have found people who do at least as good a job as they get in the US or Canada.

In fact few years ago part of our RVing plan was to go down the west coast of Mexico and stay. down there for awhile. We know and have met lots of others who have done it numerous times. Many of them still do. I love Mexico and it's people!
As per usual most things change and so has this plan, at least for now. Personally my research has shown that only a small percentage of Mexico is violent with Drug Cartels killing each other off. In fact your more likely to get killed in the USA by a car accident or violence.
I wont bore you with all the facts. The trouble with an RV is that you have to travel through the worst areas to get to the good parts of Mexico!
Your not likely to have a problem but for now we have decided against it.

In fact I have been working with a Developer who is from South Carolina and lives/works in Playa del Carmen on the east coast of Mexico. Nothing has changed its still a very good place to go for a holiday. So for the normal vacation don't let the slanted media stories stop you. Know where you are going, be sensible and if you want - research it on the web before you go.
Similar to any big city; Don't buy drugs, don't hang out late at night and stay where the tourists and crowds are. Simple!
I just wish I could take my Motor-home with me!!!

Its December 31st now (2011) New Years eve and what a great time we have had at home with family. Its our favorite time of year spending Christmas with our children and now our Grandson (Asher) too! He has brought a whole new meaning to Christmas for us all and its just so much fun being with him and playing around!

Asher with his Grampa Jim

Shortly after we got home (3 + days later) we all met at Radium BC for a great quiet time. We had a nice two Bedroom Condo (Time Share) out there and the weather was perfect. We spent four days all together. The kids went "Hot Pooling" and some even went Snow-boarding too! We ate well, relaxed well and just had an awesome time. We love that area which is only about 2.5 hours drive from home.

It seems we have been really busy back home. One of the things on our plate was to sell one of our Investment properties (Condo) and wouldn't you know it we got an offer on it while heading back home to Canada. A few days later we finished negotiations and possession took place yesterday (Dec 30th). That's one less thing to worry about and deal with when we are away traveling. We still have one property left (besides our home) but we are keeping that one in our Nest-Egg. Who knows one day we might even downsize and move into part of it?

So we've been busy with lots to do but its all been worth it. A week from now on January 9th we will be making the trek back down to the Phoenix area. We have a placed booked until early February in Apache Junction where we will park the "Rig" and continue the adventure.

One of the many RV Parks we have stayed in so far.

Our Honda is a great car but can't be Flat Towed behind "Bounder"  - So now we need to buy a CRV or a Jeep Wrangler!

Once we are done in Apache I'm not sure where we will head next? We have a few ideas on the table including Quartzite on the California border. This place is something to see. Its in the middle of the desert and is famous for a number of things including; 1. Dry Camping, 2. Rock Collectors, and in January it explodes to a Bazillion RVers who come for all of the above. So we thought we might stop in and check her out. We've driven through and stopped for an hour once but I'm sure its nothing compared to staying there!

Another idea is to go straight south down to Yuma. We have heard mixed stories and have driven through there before too. So we thought we would find out for ourselves. Its located in the SW corner of AZ on the Mexico & California borders. Its a bit warmer for the most part and a lot of RVers go there for their winters. One story I've heard is the city and surrounding area have over 800 RV Parks! I'm told though it might be hard to get in at the time of year that we will be there so it might become another Wal-Mart Resort ?

Eventually we suspect we will head over to the San Diego area as well. If you haven't been there you must. We truly believe its one of the most beautiful cities in the USA. The weather is usually mild and about the same all year around. There is lots to see and do there as well. Old town, the US Navy Yards as well as Sea World - just some of the other things to do. The countryside is beautiful as well. We stayed in Escondido just outside of San Diego last Feb/March and really enjoyed it there!

Our Resort in Escondido - We love it in San Diego!

Just a little note about next years adventure. We expect that we will not be coming home for Christmas. Two of our three children will be doing Christmas with their Spouses side of the family and we are hoping Hailey will come down to where we are and do Christmas with us under a Palm Tree somewhere.

We also plan on leaving a bit earlier; probably early September to travel across Canada. If we can fit it in we want to visit places like Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador. Hopefully we can pull that all off! Once done there we will travel down the east coast of the USA through New England and down to Florida. Hopefully we will miss the Hurricane Season or at least work around it. Then we will spend the winter months in the southern states once again - No plans - Wherever the winds blow us!

We've done a lot of research on RVing.
Reading about and meeting a lot of "Full Timers" who live in their coaches full time all year around. We've met some that travel each year between the Yukon and Arizona, Others from the cold Northern States and so on. I still don't think that's what we will end up doing (Year round full time). Neither one of us wants to sell our "Home Base" here in the Calgary area although I do see us downsizing. We are finding that now the children are gone its a big home and half of it never gets used anymore. So while we are "Full Timers" during the winter months; we will be back home in the summers.

Expense Update:
For those of you wondering if this is something for you? So far it hasn't been that bad for expenses. You have to live and sleep somewhere and of course the worst part is buying the "Rig."
As you know we bought ours used (in like new condition) in the USA and we would do it again if the economics stay the same. That saved a lot of money! Although it took a lot of time.

After that the next biggest expense is fuel and/or rent.
If your driving a lot expect to pay for heavy fuel usage. I don't care what anyone tells you our experience has been between 8 and 10 miles per US gallon. That's not like driving our Honda Accord that gets 40 on the highway (Canadian Gallons). I haven't figured out what 8 or 10 US gallons is in Canadian gallons but its a bit better as the US Gallon is about 3.8 Litres and ours is 4.54 Liters.

As far as rent goes; well you can make it as cheap as you want. We watch our budget because we aren't rich and if we are having an expensive period you will see us Boon-Docking (living off the land somewhere), Dry Camping (no hookups) in campgrounds or the odd Wal-Mart which might be funny to some but it works! Its all part of the adventure and it saves a lot of money!

One of the many Wal-Mart Resorts! Perfect for one nighter's while traveling!

A monthly place in a decent RV park is between $500 and $750 USD a month. It depends on how extravagant you want to go. Its cheaper in most small towns and its cheaper down by Tucson & Yuma than it is in Phoenix. Do you need a pool and all the 5 Star amenities or a nice simple clean park or just something in between? The State Campgrounds here are very well looked after and quite affordable although we've recently heard that the fees are going up quite a bit in the spring (2012) and most of them you cant stay past 2 weeks.

Staying somewhere longer is cheaper. The RV Parks all offer cheaper rates by the month and if you book 3 or 4 months its even cheaper yet. We are still in the exploratory stage of our travelling times so we haven't taken advantage of that yet. To be honest I don't know if we want to sit in the same place for 4 or 6 months but as we age I expect that may be the way to go. We still like to travel!

Most of the US States have Government land that you can camp on. There are designated areas of beautiful wilderness where you can buy passes for up to "two week" stays. Once your two weeks is up you move on to another one and then you can come back after being gone 14 days. We haven't tried this yet but probably will at some point. Its cheap but you have to be self contained! We are self contained but when we dry camp (no hookups) we have to be careful about water usage - it goes pretty quick! We know we can go about 5 days on water with daily showers & without changing lifestyle too much. We have a generator so if the batteries run low (TV and movies etc) then we can with a click of a switch re-charge them by firing up the Gen Set.

Another good thing to consider is "Solar Power." We only have a Solar Trickle Charger but adding a full Solar System is a good idea if one dry-camps a lot. Its not cheap ($3500 and up) for a decent system but it sure would be handy!

I cant recall if I shared this yet but just before we left Apache to come home to Canada we "Re-Learned" another valuable lesson! I'll set the stage for you....

It was our last morning and we had to have the Motor home over to the storage facility at 11am. So we were feverishly packing up as we were out for dinner with friends the night before and didn't get anything done!
Finally everything was packed up and the last chore (Always Jim's chore as Barb won't do it - hahaha) is to turn off the water and empty the "Black" holding tank. Now they call this tank "Black" for a reason as it is a very dark job. They could call it the "Brown" tank but that just wouldn't be proper...
So as it goes and like many times over the years I decide to get started.

The first thing you must do is put on rubber latex type gloves. I carry the disposable type so they are clean each time. Next one hooks up the hose to the "Black" tank's drain system and you pop the other end into the supplied sewer hole in the ground.
The next part is where I forgot to use common sense and was in a bit of a rush to get done.

Now imagine a Fire Fighter holding a 3.5 inch fire-hose and the energy produced when it is first turned on. Well, its almost exactly the same with a 3.5 inch sewer hose.
As I pulled on the lever to let the waste (all 58 gallons of it) rush out of the tank and into the sewer it became clear I was not going to have a great day. If you've ever seen the movie "RV" with Robin Williams you will be able to visualize what happened next.

As you watch the pressure and the bulge move down the hose towards the sewer its almost a feeling of power for some to know you are in control of that much (What I would call) "Nuclear Waste." As the bulge hit the end of the hose (where it sits at a 90 degree angle into the hole in the ground for the sewer system) is when it all went bad!

As compared to previous years and careers in my life I live a pretty sedentary lifestyle. Its not often that I get scared anymore. I got scared, no I really got scared!

It was too late! Before you can think.... the sewer hose blew out of the sewer hole in the ground and was rapidly accelerating in a vertical direction. I remember seeing it at about 3 feet in the air at about the same time I was approaching the shut off valve. I also remember seeing things come out of the hose that had nothing much to do with the color "Black" I will leave that part to your imagination!

I will tell you that "Thankfully" I wasn't hit by any projectiles. It was only by the "Grace of God" and I thank Him for that! However the surrounding area of the RV Park wasn't so lucky!

Too make a longer story shorter lets just say I was worried someone would call the Fire Department's "Haz-Mat Team!" So again.... I will leave the rest to your imagination and will say this, we finally got out of there just a few minutes behind schedule.

TIP of the DAY: When RVing like we are always make sure to pack and carry your sense of humour with you! Oh... and always put a rock or something on top of the sewer hose before draining it!

So with all that "babble" I'll save you from anymore stories until after we get back down to Arizona.

If you are considering RVing or Snow-Birding down in the USA feel free to send us any questions by email.  The thing we have found most helpful is that the people we meet are all so willing to offer help and suggestions. We've learned a lot and there is more to learn!

"A Bad Day Snow-Birding is Still Better Than a Good Day at Work!"

We leave home on January 9th and expect to arrive in Apache Junction on the evening of the 12th. In the meantime we want to wish all our wonderful family, friends & reader's all the best for a Happy New Year and a GREAT 2012!