Day 13 – Friday Sept. 13th 2013.

Well, we are still sitting here in the area with nothing but rain. 

In fact it’s so cold we turned on the furnace this morning while having our coffee. Barb’s watching TV and I decided it was time to catch up on the Blog.

Yesterday in Bath we were able to get an oil change and service done on the motorhome at Camping World. Two hours later we hit the road for one of the longest trips of our life! 

45 minutes later we arrived at Wal-Mart in Horse Head, NY.

Some of you may recognize the name of a nearby town (Watkins Glen), as it is where the famous racetrack by the same name is located.

We are boon-docking in a huge shopping area with a nice and fairly new huge Wal-Mart our favorite "on the road" camp spot. 

Thanks again to Sam Walton! 

Yesterday we got some supplies including a nice frozen pizza, which Barb cooked up in the oven. We rented a movie and watched it last night.

One thing about the pouring rain it makes you relax! I never sleep better than when its raining out like this. Something about the pitter-patter of the raindrops and the fresh air just make one almost want to sleep all day long!

We have decided to stay here another day as they say it will clear up. We are hoping to see the “Finger Lakes” and perhaps camp there if it does.

Last night we activated our US cell phone. If you want or need the number (same as last year) just email me atL JGMessner@Gmail.com 

We were able to finally check our home phone and my Canadian cell phone for messages last night. Please do not text us on the US cell as its expensive on our end for text.

One thing that struck me on this trip as it does on every trip down to the US is how patriotic they are. Again this year we drive through cities and towns going through the neighbourhoods and so many people are flying their countries flag off the front porch. Why do we not do this? 

I think I will talk to our neighbours back home and see if we can start the trend. A small pole at 45 degrees off the front porch with our flag! Why is it that on Canada day some of us fly our flags then take them down afterwards? Are we only patriotic about our country one day a year? 

We should be proud of Canada just as the Americans are proud of their country! Lets do it!

Our camp ground here at Wal-Mart has two other rigs parked here and they are still here this morning. One is a big Diesel Pusher from New Hampshire. The other a smaller Class C motor home from Ohio. 

This morning I had a nice conversation with the man from Ohio. They are out here visiting friends and a cousin. He was telling me that after he retired he got a job delivering travel trailers for a manufacturer.

Many of you won’t know, that after I retired the first time I came up with the same idea with a small difference. I thought it might be fun to deliver new motor homes for a manufacturer. I applied and got the job!

It’s probably the shortest job I ever had. 

After going through the application process of showing my license and abstract etc. I sat down and did the math. Once I added up my travel and personal expenses it didn’t make sense. The only attraction was travelling. 

As you have figured out by now we love to travel and hit the highways and so does my new friend from Ohio. At any rate I decided to not take that job. My friend from Ohio only delivered trailers for a short time as well.

Being able to travel on your own terms and schedule is more what we love. Sure it would be nice to have someone else paying the bills and I wish I could figure out how to do that when I see my fuel bills after our first 2500 miles of this trip. But, it’s all worth it. If you love to travel as we do I highly recommend this way of life!

Many people do this full time. They sell their homes and buy a nice rig and hit the road for 12 months a year. I’m not sure I recommend all of that. I only say that because I think it would be prudent to hold onto some form of real estate if you were to go full time. 

For the most part real estate is the one thing over time that appreciates in value so it is a good investment. The other thing is that if you have been out of the real estate market for a while you may find it hard to get back in as the prices will rise while you are gone from it and make it more expensive for you to get back in should you want to buy a home again later on.

So if full time RVing is for you, keep some form of real estate. Rent it out or keep it as your primary residence. Either way even in times of recession holding on over the long run is usually a winning means of protecting your savings.

Many do not realize that there are also implications with taxes, health care and government when full timing in a RV. You can do it but you need to know the rules and how to work within them. You may also need to prove to the Customs Agents that you have ties to your country when full timing. 

They want to know when you cross the border that at some point you will leave. From a health care perspective it depends on which province you have health care insurance with. On average such as in Alberta you can only be out of your province for 6 months at a time or your insurance becomes void. Even if you are located in Canada in another province for longer than 6 months you may run into issues if they find out. 

The bottom line; whether you are from Canada or the USA make sure that you know the rules that apply to you and your particular circumstances.

In our case we are only gone 6 months a year. There are certain rules and things that we have to know and abide by as well. Such as drug prescriptions. We need to have permission to get a supply for the time we are away. The reason for this is the health care providers do not want to pay all that money up front, all at once. They will in most cases but you need to get their permission first. 

Another thing if crossing borders internationally it’s a good idea to bring copies of utility bills from your home with you. If challenged it helps to prove you have closer ties to your home country than anywhere else.

Now that I have put you to sleep with all that!

I won't bore you with any more blah today other than to say I got our umbilical cord fixed the other night so the lights all seem to be working on our Toad now. Here’s another educational minute for you. Toads (the vehicle towed behind a motor home) are also sometimes called Dinghy’s! Ha ha. Share that with your friends at work over coffee and you will look real smart!

I assume the Dinghy name came from sailing. Many times you will see sail boats towing a small boat behind them or have one mounted on the stern of their boats. Those are called Dinghy’s.

Ok, I wont bore you anymore today than to say the tops of the small mountains here are covered by the clouds and we are hoping this will lift so that we can get back to seeing the sights and perhaps camp up in the Finger Lakes region. 

We are behind on our schedule as we initially thought we would just be a few days (less than a week) in the USA before going into the Maritime Provinces. On Sunday we will have been on the road for two weeks and we are still 3 states away from going back up into Canada’s Maritimes.

By the way; If you find that I am repeating myself on any of this Blog, feel free to email me and remind me that I am getting old! J

Oh well; Retired, no job, no schedule, no worry!

UPDATE: 545pm EST.

We did some touring today and went up to Watkins Glen. We had lunch there and toured around and even saw one of the Finger Lakes. After that we went over to Watkins Glen International Speedway. As it turned out they were practicing for this weekends events (SCCA racing) and we were allowed in for free. We were the only ones there watching!

Its still cold. I would call it blustery,with the winds, low clouds covering the hill tops and rain on-off it's not all that nice.

I think we have now decided to pull out from our Five Star resort (Wal-Mart) in the morning and continue on. We will let you know!

I see Calgary is warm today, I hope the rest of you are having a nice day too! :)