Blowhole at the waterfront of Xcaret Park near Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Toluca on December 24th!

Wednesday, February 9, 2022

How did it all begin?

Yesterday, we heard from Beth, a long time reader who says she never comments. But she sent us a very nice email instead. She had some questions about our history and how we got into this abnormal lifestyle and how we can afford to travel full time. She apologized for being nosy, but we don't mind telling the story! I did write about it once about ten years ago, but there are more details I should have included. And of course we've got a lot of readers who would have never read that particular post from so long ago.

So here is the whole story...

We brought up our kids in a bedroom community just east of Ottawa, Canada's capital city. In the 1990's I owned a small automotive collision repair shop, and Ruth worked as a sales assistant for a computer supplies company.

We always took annual holidays, and lived for the times we were able to travel. We took the kids with us on a few trips... to England, Dominican Republic, and Cuba, and we did a few trips on our own while farming the kids off to their grandparents... Antigua, Denmark, Sweden, Mexico, U.S..

Around 2000, I got myself out of the bodyshop business, and Ruth was downsized out of her company. She then worked a variety of jobs from receptionist in a fitness club, to the call center at Bank of America. I contracted my services as a consultant to a variety of car rental companies in Ottawa looking after their damaged vehicles without ever having to fix them myself. 

In July of 2007, we were living in our four bedroom townhouse where we had been for the last 10 years or so.

Our house.

But three of the four bedrooms were empty. Our daughter was living with her boyfriend (now husband) in Nova Scotia, and our son was playing baseball and going to college in the United States. I was feeling like I needed a change...maybe sell the house and move into a condo downtown or something. Ruth was in between jobs and not working at the time, but I had a job that I loved...doing contract lease return inspections for GMAC Financing.

A few years before that, we had signed up to a website called Global Freeloaders where travelers stay in other peoples houses for free. Global Freeloaders didn't last, but a similar site was started around that time called Couchsurfing and that site became more popular.

We had hosted a couple of people through Global Freeloaders and enjoyed the experience of meeting other travelers. 

You've recently heard us mention our friends Glen and Steve. They were the couple who got us started on this life of full time travel. In fact, we spent a few days with them just last month in Greece! 

We received an email in July 2007 from a British couple (Glen and Steve) who had bought a motorhome in Boston and were on a two year motorhome excursion to Canada, U.S., and Mexico. They wanted to visit Canada's capital and wondered if they could park their motorhome in our driveway for a couple of days while they took the local bus into the city to play tourist. 

We were not motorhome people. We were always tent campers. The thought of sitting in a motorhome in a campground packed in with other motorhomes sitting 10 feet away from you just didn't appeal.

But Glen and Steve explained how their motorhome was equipped with solar panels for electricity and that they rarely stayed in a campground. Of course the cost was prohibitive. Even then, the average campground was probably $25 a night... $750 a month.

They stayed with us for 4 nights, and by the time they left I was ready to sell the house and buy a motorhome!

It took a little while to talk Ruth into the idea because she was pretty happy with the house and had spent a lot of time on her garden. Also, her mother was entering the later stages of Alzheimers disease and she was hesitant about taking off during that period. But by the beginning of August 2007, we made the decision. Sell the house, and buy a motorhome!

So that's what we did. We spent the month of August 2007 getting the house ready for sale and started to sell most of our belongings. The day after labour day weekend in early September, we listed the house. We listed it privately because I don't like using real estate agents. Two weeks later, we had a firm offer, with a closing date of October 5, 2007.

Towards the end of September we had a big ass garage sale, and sold just about everything we owned. Of course in the meantime, we shopped for and purchased Sherman. Bought him in New York State and did all the importation paperwork with the government. What a busy two months we had! From the time we made the commitment until the time we took off in the motorhome was almost exactly two months!

We bought a used motorhome in August for $12,500 USD!

But the problem was money. 

We had a some equity in the house, so we got a little payout from that. We used some of that cash to pay for a used motorhome. But neither one of us had ever had high paying jobs, and we had no job related government or company sponsored pension plans to rely on in future years. Anything we have ever done, we worked for it ourselves. And we had brought up a family and we were still partially paying for our son's education.

We were only 45 years old at the time and didn't have a lot of savings. Too young to fully retire.

We had a two year plan. We would travel North America by motorhome for a couple of years, and then re-evaluate. Worse case scenario, we would have to settle down and get jobs. 

The two years came and went, and we didn't want to stop. So somehow, we made it work. The first thing we learned was that it's not how much you make, it's how much you spend. And if you don't spend much, you don't have to make much.

So for several years from 2011 to 2018 we came back to Canada and worked most summers. Working for five months, and then traveling for seven months. We always earned more than we spent so were able to sock some away. This website also became popular enough to warrant installing advertising, so just by reading this you are helping us to continue traveling. Thank you! And, we also earn online through a Facebook group that we run, and of course we are able to do it from anywhere in the world. 

So somehow, we made it all work financially. 

We often wonder where we would be had we not had that chance meeting with Glen and Steve!

What does the future hold? Well, provided we are healthy enough we will just continue doing what we're doing!

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And in Canada...


20 comments:

  1. I've been reading about your travels everyday now, all through Greece and now Turkey and I'm really enjoying it.
    I was a traveler before I met my husband [we met in the Sinai Desert while both traveling] We married, worked, house, 3 kids and 40 years flew by.
    My husband passed away nearly 2 years ago. I'm finding my traveling wings again, it's like I've come full circle. Last summer I drove from Toronto area out west by myself and camped along the way and loved it so much! I just wish I was a few years younger, but off to Mexico for a month next week!
    Safe travels to you both.
    Rose

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    1. We are so glad to hear that you are enjoying our travels over here in Europe and in Turkey, we are certainly enjoying ourselves and all the things that we have been seeing and doing.

      So sorry for the loss of your husband, we would imagine that it must have been very difficult for you but it is nice to hear that you are starting to get back into the travel mode. There are a lot of women and men out there that travel alone and we are sure that it wouldn't be the same as traveling with a partner/husband/wife but at least you/they are traveling and it also gives you a chance to meet many new people along the way, so really you are never "alone" unless you want to be.

      Enjoy your month is Mexico, it is our most favourite country so far, we absolutely love it there! :-)

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  2. thank you so much for the biography. karen and i are 2 months away from full time; actually 'any time' a completely new life adventure! we bought a 2018 tiffin 36la and put her in storage for the winter. the house sold within a week. we close 2/24. and will rent back until the snow kinda goes away, then pack up and go. thanx again, bill (the retired) bartender

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    1. Congratulations on the sale of your house and the fact that you are about to set off on a new chapter in your life. We hope that you enjoy this new and different lifestyle as much as we have.

      And, thank you for following along on our crazy adventures! :-)

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  3. Hello Ruth and Kevin.mYournstory is so similar to ours. We lived I Thornhill in a townhouse. Both worked for the same company then I had an accident and had to leave work. My hubby soon left and we decided to do exactly as you and Ruth...two-year plan while I could still travel. Well that lasted ten years, we work camped in BC at a provincial park, my hubby picked up consulting work, he even drove truck 2 summers while we were back in Ontario. We spent winters in Florida or Arizona...then Covd hit. Now we are in New Brunswick tucked away in a little cabin in the woods. The motor home is sitting nice and snug in a garage for the winter. Wish I was as brave as you two, if I was we would be traveling in Europe as well. Praying for things to get back to normal and hopefully Arizona will be back in my future for next year. In the meantime I will keep reading your post and enjoying your trip! Cheers for now.

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    1. Sorry about your accident but it sounds like it was a blessing in disguise in that it got you into a lifestyle that worked for you. We have always found that if you want to make something work you will find a way. Work camping is definitely a good way to make the RV lifestyle work when you need to make some extra money. You work for the summer and then get to travel for the winter. Also picking up odd jobs here and there make a difference. Our fingers are crossed that you will be able to head south next winter and continue on your adventure. By the way, RVing over in Europe really is all that different from doing it back home. Just a suggestion but you could always rent a motorhome or van over in Europe for a month or so just to give it a try, you may just like it! :-)

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  4. Thanks so much for all the detail and satisfying my curiosity. I still can't believe you started so young. This will probably be my only comment for now; I'll just start lurking again. Always know that I will faithfully be reading of your adventures every day.

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    1. You are welcome Beth and thank you for asking about our beginnings, it looks like it wasn't just you that was curious.

      We are so glad that we started so young because that is the one thing we hear from people who end up living this lifestyle is that they wished they started earlier.

      Thank you so much for following along on our adventures. :-)

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  5. Never too young to start. I was 40 and Steve 42 and we sometimes comment that we didn't start soon enough as there is so much of the world to see. We think it's brave of people to stick with convention and work ! There are always ways to fund travel IF you really want to. Kevin and Ruth are perfect examples.

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    1. You are absolutely right and we are now seeing so many younger people and families out there making this lifestyle work for them. We can't thank you both enough for getting us started on this wonderful adventure. And yes, you are correct there is always a way to make it work if you really want to make it work, we are proof of that. :-)

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  6. "Big ass garage sale". Funniest thing I've ever read on here!! I knew the general path you took, but I started reading in 2014, so I appreciate you filling in the gaps. You and Ruth are the same age as dh and me and as our circumstances are wildly different, I truly enjoy reading about your exploits.

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    1. Even when we had our garage sale way back then, Kevin used the same term, lol!

      Boy, you sure have been reading about our adventures for a long time, thank you so much for following along with us for all that time.

      Everyone's circumstances are different and not everyone wants to live this type of lifestyle. The most important thing is to the life you want, whatever it may be. :-)

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  7. Enjoyed reading your history, even though I knew some of it from being a long-term blog reader, but not all. Thank you and so glad you are able to continue to live your lifestyle and share it with others!

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    1. We are glad that you enjoyed the read, I am sure it filled in a few gaps that we may have left out previously. Thank you for following along with us all these years and we are looking forward to bringing you a more cool adventures ahead. :-)

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  8. Wow!! I forgot you worked summer jobs! I've been reading your blog since your grandkids were babies or maybe before....time flys. Yep, if you set your mind to do something, do it even if you think it might fail. At least you tried...right? I read RVSue and Crew too and she did it...alone with two dogs (she no longer blogs). May you travel for many more years and I get to tag along :-)

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    1. Yep, we worked seven different summers in order to keep us living this nomadic lifestyle. And, yes you and been following us for a very long time now, we are glad that you have been enjoying our adventures.Many of the bloggers that we followed from the beginning and stopped blogging or have moved on to a different world, so much happens over those years.

      You are correct, if you want to do something different then you have to find a way to make it work because if you don't at least you tried, otherwise you just may end up regretting it for the rest of your life.

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  9. Trying to remember the first time we met. I think it was your first year in Mexico?

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    1. It was actually our second winter in Mexico that we met you back in March of 2009 but we didn't get to met Juan then, he was off working somewhere at the time. https://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2009/03/allende-just-outside-of-monterrey.html We sure are glad that we took you up on that offer of a place to park Sherman because we have had such a wonderful friendship with you and Juan ever since. :-)

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  10. You were a huge push for us to start travelling in Mexico. Thank you for that and we still have lots of exploring to do here. Our style of being in Mexico is certainly different from your style but like I always say, different strokes for different folks. Thanks again for the confidence you gave us to just do it!!! Safe travels

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    1. We are so glad to hear that we are more or less the reason that you decided to head down to Mexico. I bet you are so happy that you did that because we know that you are really enjoying your time there. We understand that not everyone does things the way we do, everyone has to find what works for them and if this is the way that you enjoy Mexico then that is all that matters but we do hope that you might try to do a little more exploring in Mexico because you never know you might just find somewhere that you like even more than where you are now. :-)

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