A visit with the Hutterites

One of the reasons that we love to travel to different countries is that we like to see how other people live. But you don't have to travel to a far off land to experience a different culture...sometimes you can find them in your own backyard as we learned yesterday when we visited two different Hutterite colonies.

But before we get to that, we should give you some background. The Hutterites arrived in North America to escape military and religious persecution in western Russia. They arrived in three separate groups from 1874 to 1879, and all groups originally settled in the North Dakota area of the United States.

The house is a little quiet this morning

Well, I got Sherman all put back together. It took me all day yesterday. That was a big job. My knees are reminding me once again that I'm not 25 years old any more! And I have sore muscles in places where I didn't know I had any muscles.

But it's done. I still think there's a very minor exhaust leak coming from that side, and it's because the manifold itself might be a little bit warped. I probably should have replaced it.

Well, I knew that was going to be a big job...

And it was.

But, the patient is being good. It's the doctor who needs to recover! The operation isn't quite finished yet, and my sore knees and back aren't looking forward to getting back under there.

But although it was time consuming, it was fairly successful.

No flying yet this year!

When we traveled in the motorhome with our dog Whiskey, we went several years without flying anywhere. It was just easier when you have the responsibilities of being a pet owner. But when Whiskey passed away in the fall of 2011 we began flying to different countries. As much as we love traveling in the motorhome, we also love visiting different countries and experiencing different cultures.

And we've done a lot of flying over the past 5 years!

I can't believe I let that happen!

Cool day yesterday, but with the sun shining we decided to go for a short morning hike. I took the iPhone with us, and using the Motion-X GPS app, we know that we did 5.9 kms (3.7 miles) in an hour and forty minutes. Not bad. Gotta get those hiking legs in shape for Romania, so we'll be out a lot more over the next few weeks. It feels great to get back into it!

But by the time we returned, the battery in the iPhone was almost dead. I knew it was getting bad, and had already ordered the necessary parts to fix the problem.

Another camping season comes to an end...

And just like that, the summer is over.

Kids (and teachers) are back in school, farmers are working the harvest, and our campground is pretty much empty of people. There are still a lot of trailers here though. The seasonal campers have two weeks from yesterday to remove their trailers from the park, so they'll be disappearing between now and September 19th.

Free budget tracking software

Ever since we changed our lifestyle almost ten years ago, we have kept track daily of how much money we spend. Because we weren't independently wealthy, we had to know where every penny goes. And we still do it.

And we still publish our monthly expense reports here on the blog. We like to show people that you don't need a lot of money to travel...or to live, for that matter.

No Mexico this winter...

This winter will be the first time in seven years that we don't spend at least part of the season in Mexico. Originally, when we were with our traveling companion Whiskey, we were confined to North America.

But there is a whole big world out there, and we want to see it all.

So since Whisky passed away in the fall of 2011, we have tried to go to at least one different country every year. But even though we have done that, we have always returned to Mexico at least at some point in the season.

Scenery around the park

I haven't taken many photos from around the park this year. And we haven't been out for a hike at all this year. There have been too many mosquitoes out in the hills! Even slathering the bug spray on, they have been terrible.

We think that's about to change after this weekend though. Looks like the weather gods are flicking the switch, and summer is over...just like that! So, it should be too cold for the little buggers.

Booked another flight deal!

Two years ago, I wrote an article titled How to Get the Best Airfare Deal.

The very first thing that I talk about is patience.

Well, for over three months, I've been watching for one particular airfare deal. But it had to be a fairly specific deal, because we need to end up near Alicante, Spain around January 6th in order to pick up the motorhome for two months. And ideally, we would be flying from and returning to, Ottawa.

Yesterday, my patience paid off!

August Expenses

Well, another month has passed, so it must be time for another monthly expense report. We were doing okay on our expenses during August...until we saw that kayak for sale. But overall, it was still a good month.

Except that there were five Wednesdays in the month, and we do grocery shopping on Wednesdays!

The best RV holding tank treatment

Yesterday, one of our readers told me about some treatment for your black water holding tank. I had never heard of this particular product before, and it has really high reviews, so I did some research.

Appropriately, It's called "Happy Campers"!

We're going to miss National Wine Day!

So I'm doing some research on the tiny country of Moldova, the least visited country in Europe. And I see that they have a National Wine Day.

Moldova is the 22nd largest wine producer in the world, and they have over 20 million bottles in storage underground. The largest wine cellar in the world is located in Moldova where there are almost 2 million bottles. And do you know where the world's second largest wine cellar is? Yep, it's in Moldova too!

These guys just don't get it...

I was looking at the map the other day while planning our trip to Ottawa next month, and I was remembering the last time we drove across northern Ontario in the fall of 2007.

At that time, we had stopped in the towns of Kenora and Dryden, and noticed that there were "No RV Parking" signs at the Walmarts. No problem for us. Even back then, we were good at finding great free overnight spots!

Happy Birthday Sadie!

Our little granddaughter is 3 years old today!