10 years ago today we began the lifestyle of our dreams. And still enjoy every minute of it

Where are we today ?

Rock Glen Resort
clic on a pic to enlarge it

      It was 10 years ago today August 18th 2006 that the sale of our house closed and we were officially living in our coach full time. A lot of people thought we were crazy, wanted to know how long for and where would we live afterwards?  I had just turned 57 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 free camping on the beach 2006
Mustang Island Texas

sunset on the beach 2010
Stone Island,
Mexica Mexico

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 10 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.

where we park in Plattsville

       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 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 love boondocking in the desert
this is in Quartzsite Arizona

         We have been wanting to travel across Canada for a long time and looked like the fall of 2015 would be the year.  It did not work out, still plan to do this in the future. 

         So now entering into year 11 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 17 years old) and our car (14 years old).  Our coach had 35k miles on it in 2006 now 126k miles (we have travelled 91k miles in 10 years) and still runs great. The 2002 saturn had 21k miles on it now 140k miles on the odometer plus towed another 91k miles so 231k 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.

a campfire with friends last night
one of many over the years

     Today we again have no plans just let the day unfold. After a few early morning walkabouts headed into Forest about 8:30 am pick up a few things and fuel the car (.87.9 cents a litre and home before 10. Just puttered a couple more walkabouts then a light lunch. And then what we like to do in the afternoon if nothing on the agenda. Read a bit, walkabout, read some some more, fitness centre, read some more, nice hot shower, read some more the time to whip up supper. You get the picture. At one point a nice lady here stopped by to give us some fresh veggies out of her garden, she has more that she can consume (sorry we can't remember her name). Thanks so much , nothing quite like fresh veggies right out of the garden ! 

      I had marinated a couple of bone in pork chops all day so just add to a salad and some musk melon (also know as Cantaloupe).

      Even got to read for a while this afternoon then fire up our Weber Q. To grill a couple of very tender pork chops that I marinated oh so tender and tasty.

sure did hit the spot .

This is where we are today

         After another wonderful summer day and great supper we headed down to the clubhouse for darts. Always lotsa fun  from 7pm till 9 pm, Costs us 5 bucks to play and my team came in 2nd place so won 2 bucks. Not bad for a couple hours of fun and socializing all 18 of us. Then home to call it a night and begin year number 11 of enjoying this amazing lifestyle.

Suzie has a good form

          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. And the fact that we have to be in Ontario Canada for 5 months to maintain of health insurance and we can only be in the USA for 6 months a year, the warm winter months os what we want.
          Hope you had a great day too!

Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this summer