9 years ago today we hit the road fulltime.

Where are we today ?

Plattsville Ontatio

      It was 9 years ago today August 18th 2006 that the sale of our house closed and we were officially living in our coach fulltime. A lot of people thought we were crazy, wanted to know how long for and where would we live afterwards?  I had just turned 56 and Suzie 49 and more people said we are too young to retire especially with no pensions. But we had been planning this for years and had a few bucks tucked away and have lived a pretty frugal lifestyle.  So on this day we were excited about to embark on our a new journey of adventure and exploring and see what we can see. 
       We purchased this house below in Plattsville in 1992 and renovated it over the years inside and out, until it was just the way we wanted it. But renting the house was not an option, we wanted to be free, so sold it we did, more capital to invest and live off the proceeds. I have had rental properties over the years and can be a headache.

this was our house in 1992

this same house we sold in 2006
our last day here

we are ready to hit the road

        Purchased our coach in May 2006 (from Larry Vanstone at Sicard Rv) and at that point pretty well decided we needed to quit working, sell the house and hit the road. We began the process in June quitting work in July, purged the house contents and moved into our house on wheels.
        We hung around Ontario until October visiting family etc and crossed the border mid October, we are only allowed 6 months in the USA and we wanted them to be in warmer weather than here.
         Sept 16th we had a retirement party for us and celebrated Suzie's 50th birthday at the same time lotsa of family and friends were there to wish us well on our adventures.

      What a celebration it was and great send off for our new lifestyle.

Our first night on the beach
Mustang Island Texas

Sea of Cortez Mexico when we spent 3 months in Mexico
2009 and 10

This is a rough map of our travels
 over the last 9 years

         We have seen so many places and met so many amazing people in our travels and made a lot of new friends.

         I began blogging in 2006 just new to blogging and took me until 2010 to get to doing some regular  postings that I was happy with, but at least we have a record of most places we went to and a few hundred thousand digital photos to look back on.

       This is were we are today in Plattsville 2 blocks from where our old house is located. I have lived in this village since 1982, ran my restaurant in town for 10 years, active member in the Plattsville Bright Optimist club for 18 years so I knew and still do know a lot of people in the area. Suzie's family is close by as is my mother and daughter number 2 and 2 grands so is a very convenient place to park for a week or 2.

        The way we like to live is constantly change scenery every week or 2, tried staying in some places for a month but not what we want to do yet. Of all the places we have been we love the south west the most. Just something about the desert that keeps calling us back.

         We have been wanting to travel across Canada for a long time and this looks like it is the year, so in a couple weeks (Sept.4th if all goes well) we will hit the road to the west coast, heading south down the coast  exploring and visiting along the way. Nothing carved in stone, will travel as we usually do, just play it by ear. With our campground memberships this lifestyle is very affordable and gives us freedom.

         So now entering into year 10 on the road, and still loving every day of this exciting life together. We have had a few issues, but nothing real major, regular maintenance and repairs on our coach (now 16 years old) and our car (13 years old).  Our coach had 35k miles on it in 2006 now 119k miles (we have travelled 84k miles in 9 years) and still runs great. The 2002 saturn had 21k miles on it now 131k miles on the odometer plus towed another 84k miles so 215k miles on the chassis.

         Now we are looking forward to many more years of this lifestyle, and for as long as we can. The only thing that will slow us down will most likely be health issues and so far we doing awesome! But being fairly active keeps us young and feeling alive.

         Looking forward to seeing new places and new faces, as well as running into people we have met over the years in our travels.

        Thanks for following along with us in our lifestyle. Everyday is a new one that unfolds differently. The only regret is that we should have started sooner.

       Today we enjoyed some wonderful weather, supposed to have thunderstorms all day but did not happen, also supposed to be very hot and humid (not) so I got a bit of the lawns mowed today. About noon we had friend Debbie stop by for a very nice visit. A local gal have known here for many years, Thanks for stopping in Debbie nice to catch up again.

         Even got to read for a while this afternoon then fire up our Weber Q. A pork loin roast and twice baked potatoes.  To celebrate our  9 year anniversary and use up the 2 taters we had. Before we cross the border on thursday for a week, gotta keep moving ya know.

very foggy morning it was

the Weber Q sure does the job

now that was a celebration meal

       Hope you had a great day too!

Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this Spring and Summer.