Free wi-fi internet access

Good news for motorhome travellers!

There are 14,000 McDonalds restaurants in the U.S., and 11,000 of them offer wi-fi internet access.

Starting in mid-January, internet access will be FREE. Canada is following the American's lead, however the rollout to Canadian locations will be sporadic, apparently starting with Metro Vancouver.

Buying an RV in the United States and bringing it back to Canada

We bought Sherman (our motorhome...he drives like a tank!) in New York State.

When we started shopping, I quickly noticed that prices in the U.S. were much lower than prices in Canada. How much lower? Well it depends somewhat on how much money you're planning on spending, but I'll use our experience with Sherman to give you a real life example.

How did we become motorhomers?!

In July 2007, we had never been in a motorhome. By October 2007 we were living and travelling in one!

How did all that happen? Here's the story...

Restaurant food

We don't eat out very often. The main reason for that is that I can't justify the cost, however we also happen to like our own cooking. Far too often, we have had a restaurant meal out, have paid the bill, and said to each other, "well, that was just okay...".

If we're in the mood for something different, or it's a special occasion, we would much rather buy something we don't usually buy in the grocery store, and cook it ourselves. Usually, this would be a good rib steak on the barbeque!

I smell a rat!

The house that we are sitting does have a clothes dryer in the basement, but Ruth prefers to hang the clothes to dry. We never had a dryer at home, and they are expensive to operate. Anyhow, one day a couple of weeks back, Ruth noticed that a sock had disappeared from the lower drying rack. She found it around the corner behind some boxes. She kind of shook her head, but didn't think anything more of it.

Canada - Part 2

Despite the fact that I don't want to live here, I do agree that Canada does have some fantastic natural scenery, and for that reason it would be a nice destination to come on vacation. Here are some of our favourite places, coast to coast...

Canada

I've got it figured that Canada is NOT such a great country. And it's possible that I'm thinking this way because of the rotten weather the last two days...but in general comparison to most other countries, they are better. And please don't bring up our "free" health care...that is a subject better left to other forums.

We have terrible weather for 5 months of the year, and no where in Canada to go to avoid it. Don't talk to me about Victoria...their winter weather sucks too! Canadians have nowhere to go but south...and of course many do.

Snow

Well, there's a big snowstorm happening in Eastern Ontario today, so we are missing the warmth of Mexico and we were reminiscing a bit. Last year at this time, we were parked in a farmers field among the palm trees.

We don't watch TV

At least not much. Occasionally we do tune in to Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!

However we do watch a lot of movies. When we settled the motorhome into the Kingston KOA last May, we signed up at http://www.zip.ca/

This is an online movie rental service available anywhere there is mail delivery in Canada. We find it so convenient! You make a list of movies you'd like to see from their 74,000 online titles.

Sunday afternoon drive

We went for a nice drive Sunday afternoon. I was born in Belleville, Ontario but my parents moved to Ottawa when I was two, so I don't have any memories of it. And, we wanted to do the Loyalist Parkway from Kingston to Belleville, and go across the Glenora-Picton ferry. This would be a very nice drive in the spring and summer, with lots of choice spots to stop for a walk or a picnic along the way.

Couchsurfing

Last night, we went to a pot luck dinner. We didn't know anybody there, but the event was hosted in a private home through a website all the attendees were members of. There were 18 of us there...people from Australia, Sweden, Ireland, and some from other parts of Canada.

What have we been up to...

We stopped writing our last blog because it was a trip journal...and our 18 month long motorhome trip was over. You can still view it here:

http://www.mytripjournal.com/kevin_ruth

So we decided to settle in Kingston, Ontario for the time being. Ruth got a part time job at the Kingston KOA, so that's where we lived in Sherman the motorhome.

Last Minute Travel from Canada

We haven't done a last minute trip for quite a while, but whenever we need a quick week or two away, we like to book at the last minute. The main benefit is that you can get a great price. For example, today you can book an all-inclusive trip to Varadero, Cuba from Toronto for $435 CAN per person and that's TAX INCLUDED. That's your airfare, meals, hotel, and drinks...all included!

You book today...and leave tomorrow. How great would that be?!

Welcome to our new cyber home!

We'll be posting here every day...even when we're not travelling. If there's something going on in the world, we're probably going to comment on it. You may not always agree with us, but that's what makes the world an interesting place. Sometimes, Ruth and I don't agree with each other! And feel free to leave a comment or send us an email...we love hearing from the people who follow our travels.

Staying in Kingston for the winter

I apologize for not posting for a while, and we appreciate the concern from all who have sent us notes.

Ruth's Mom had been suffering from Alzheimers for the last couple of years and we didn't expect that she would make it through the winter. So we made plans to stick close to home for this winter. We've been lucky enough to come across a nice house sitting opportunity in Kingston, so will be spending the winter here. Unfortunately, Ruth's Mom passed away a couple of weeks ago, but now that we've made the plans we're going to follow through and stay here. Sherman will be parked for the winter.

The bright side to this plan is that we hope to head to Yukon and Alaska in May of 2010, and spend the summer exploring the north!

Oh, and we've been living in the motorhome full time for 2 years, as of this week. And, loving it...