The Radio Girl

Eight More Sleeps...

We woke up to more snow on the ground this morning.

Our little Okanagan beach town has finally turned white. 

 
Snow + Cold = BAD.  

Only 8 more sleeps 'til our Mex Road Trip.  Wish we could have left earlier, like October. 

The cold weather has been a great motivator to stay inside and cross things off my "Before We Leave" list.  Important stuff like shaving My Fella's head and trying to rent out the space for advertising.

 
Just kidding.  (Unless, of course, you're interested :)

I also did some laundry and other house chores, packed a few things for the road trip, organized our clothing donations for Mexico and put a couple more items up for sale on Craigslist. 

Since our condo sold in mid-November, we've been housesitting and living out of suitcases and boxes.  This current lifestyle confirms how little we need - a fact I'm happy to discover in my 30's instead of later in life, when our amount of 'stuff' would most likely double. 

I feel so free having limited possessions.  That being said, it's also comforting having money in the bank as a safety net. 

The second phase of Project Gypsy gets under way when we hit the States on our way to Mexico.  We've found a lot of RV's for sale, privately and thru US dealers so we'll make a few stops along the way looking for a new home.

Our new fave model/floorplan is the Winnebago Sightseer 37L.  Here's one for sale in North Carolina - it's out of our price range but we love the separate living area. 

As we've discovered, the key to sharing a small space is having a place to escape  :)  

Okanagan Vs. Acapulco

It's a gorgeous sunny day in my little Okanagan beach town.

But chilly.  The high today will hit only -1C.  It's also a sunny day in Acapulco where the high will be closer to 33C.

Totally off topic, our RV research continues.  Can you believe this is the interior of a motorhome?

Que Pasa?

My Fella and I are doing all our regular 'life' things.

But in someone else's house.  We're still house-sitting a lovely rural property on the edge of our little Okanagan beach town but we're both living more 'carefully'.  

Not sure if that makes sense. 

We feel at home, but we're not doing all the things we normally do since we're surrounded by someone else's life.  But we're making excellent use of the hot tub  :)

And a buddy of ours (who conveniently lives next door) gave us the security code to his wireless internet, so we usually have access.  Unless it's really clear out or the wind is blowing from the south...

The research continues on motorhomes vs. fifth wheels.  We're still open to either but for the past few days motorhomes have been winning.  Mainly because we don't want to buy a truck. 

And of course, nothing gets in the way of my morning biz news or following the markets. At least during the first half of the trading day.  It's an unwritten rule that the markets see the most action in the first half hour and the final thirty minutes of each business day, unless big economic news is released during the day, like retail sales figures or jobs numbers.

Quick 'bar napkin math' has the portfolio in decent shape as far as November gains:

• RRSP +6.2%
• LIRA +10.8%
• non-reg +5.3%
• TFSA 0%

But tomorrow is the final trading day of the month.  If there's a big sell-off (from the Dubai news or any other negatives) my November gains could go down the tubes.

On the bright side, we'll be here in less than a month:

Kittens and Things

The new owners move in Saturday so this was our last weekend in the condo.

Kitty-sitting was fun but painful, since The Monster kept using me as a scratching post. 

Our condo is so empty now that we're hearing spooky sounds and constant echoes. 

The only pieces of furniture left are the bed-frame/mattress, our sectional and a coffee table (that are all going to a friend) and my desk and office chair.

 
The desk is only two years old with a nice finish and really comfy kidney shaped surface.  Our plan is to remove the top from the rest of the desk and trim eight inches from the back of the desktop.  Then we can install the desktop into whatever trailer we buy for a built-in desk. 

We'll also keep the rolling chair (lightweight and very well made) to complete a custom made office space in our trailer/RV.  To keep the chair from rolling around we'll attach two hooks under the desk and strap the chair in with a short bunji cord.  (Yes, I've been working on this plan for awhile  :)

And last night My Fella found a new place in Mexico that we may check out this winter -Teacapan.  I've been busy with the markets this morning but before I leave for work I wanna do a bit more research on that area. 

Hard to believe we're leaving for Mexico in just over a month.

More Project Gypsy News

Now that the condo is ready for sale, Project Gypsy is becoming very real.

Our plan to buy/live in an RV for a year is getting closer and I've been reading everything I get my hands on about full-time RV living.  We'll likely buy a little piece of rural BC land to park it on, so I can have a garden.  And maybe a chicken.

And we want to spend winters exploring the southern USA and Mexico.  

I recently set up a Google Alert to get all the latest blog posts and online stories about RV living.  The most interesting alert this weekend has been an online newspaper article about folks taking advantage of the cheap RV lifestyle and sunny Venice Beach (California) weather. 

"Amid the depressed economy, uninvited RV dwellers – long part of Venice's bohemian character – are multiplying. Their presence is testing the patience of an eclectic town renowned for tolerance.

Residents, fed up with drinking, garbage and an increase in rusty, beaten-down crash pads on wheels, are seeking to oust the vehicles from in front of homes and businesses."

You can read the entire Peter Hecht article here.  And I love the above photo taken by Jill Connelly for the Sacramento Bee - it totally captures the story, a long row of RV's in the sideview mirror.

FYI:  We have no intention of abusing the lifestyle and just parking our RV in front of someones house.  Unless of course they have a really nice garden ... and a hot tub :) 

#5 on the 99 RV Things List

You've probably noticed our list is coming together verrrrry slowly. 

When we first decided to move ahead with Project Gypsy, I knew there was a limit on what we could carry around in the RV because of the teeny living space.  My Fella and I decided that we would have only 99 'joint' items on the list. 

But I've since learned that it's not just about space limitations.  Weight matters too.

For insurance related reasons, every RV has weight restrictions.  If your fifth wheel is too heavy for the truck that's towing it, you:

• waste gas

• have a problem towing uphill, and braking when traveling downhill

• will be denied insurance coverage if you crash

I've probably over-simplified this, but that's how I understand it.

Anyway, back to the 99 RV Things list.  It's clear we won't have a problem staying below our weight allowance since I have only been able to come up with 5 items so far:

#1 - The Glue That Holds Us Together on road trips.  A.k.a. our GPS system.

#2 Spanish crib board (the game was actually born English, but we count in Spanish) 

#3 - rice cooker.  We eat a lot of brown rice which is tough to cook on the stovetop.  Mi amigo Calypso has tried to convince me that I don't need a rice cooker.  If he ever tastes my rice, he'll realize that not only do I need it, I should never leave home without it  :)

#4 - Our slow cooker.  Heavy but energy efficent.  It will replace several pots.

#5 - My Fellas rolling desk/computer cart.  He got this for Christmas one year (we're very practical in our gift giving) because he needed a rollaway computer area.  This has turned out to be so handy - it looks good, it's lightweight and rolls anywhere.  

Not sure why I'm sitting here, smugly clutching my little list.  It's been 3 months and I'm only up to item #5. 

Latest RV Search

We went on another Okanagan Valley RV tour yesterday afternoon.

We stopped at five or six different dealers in the Kelowna/Westbank area.  Nothing really caught our eye but there were some gorgeous new fifth wheels out there, in the $55,000 to $59,000 range.  Those are allegedly sale prices, so I wonder how much the dealers are willing to negotiate down. 

We've also been considering a Class A motorhome, the ones that look like a bus.  We definitely can't afford a new one though.  The Class A units we saw yesterday were $130,000 and up. 

Class A motorhomes are generally thought of as top of the line among RVs, but the prices we saw were ridiculous, going all the way up to $750,000 bucks.  Three quarters of a million dollars FOR A MOTORHOME! 

They were similar to the basic models, but with higher end finishing - more granite, mahogany, etc.  But the units weren't much bigger so it's really hard to believe that a higher end finish justifies an extra $600,000.  Who buys these things?

Extreme Spring Cleaning

Spring Cleaning is when you tidy up and toss out after a long cold winter.

Extreme Spring Cleaning is when you have insane thoughts of moving into an RV (see Project Gypsy under Categories) and you have to get down to the bare minimum.  Today I finished going through the kitchen cupboards in search of more victims things we don't use.

Herb pots, a Coke serving tray, a steel wine rack, Mexican pottery - all cool things we haven't touched for more than 18 months.  Easy to get rid of.

It was a lot harder going through all my cds.  Working in radio for half my life resulted in a huge cd collection.  I have given away hundreds of cds over the years, but somehow I kept accumulating more.  I'm down to just over a 150 and have burned all my favorite tunes onto my laptop.  Ten is the maximum number of cd's I'm keeping (my all time faves) and the rest will find new homes at the radio station or at the public library.

Kitchen Stuff

Have you peeked in your kitchen cupboards lately?

I mean ALL your kitchen cupboards.  Even the really high ones that you need a stool to reach.  And the low ones where you shoved all those extra dishes/pots/pans that you never use.

A few months ago I read that most Canadians use only one third of all the stuff in our kitchens.  One third.  And we only use 15% of the items regularly, or every day.

Pondering Project Gypsy (buying/living in an RV for a year) has forced My Fella and I to go through everything we own and really decide if we need it.  And when I say need it, I mean use it.

We are one of the most streamlined couples I know (I wish I was talking about our physiques :)  but we still have stuff that we just don't use.  So I was able to put together a few more boxes of kitchen stuff that we can give to a local homeless shelter.

If you're tired of extra kitchen stuff taking up space in your place, a local shelter or mission could probably use it.  And most shelters gladly accept blankets, linens and small appliances too.

The RV Lifestyle

My Fella and I spent yesterday browsing around several RV dealerships.

It was a sunny, Okanagan day and the RV lots were hopping. 

We still don't know exactly what we want but we're leaning towards a fifth wheel, which we'd tow behind a truck.  I had my heart set on a C Class motorhome (a self-contained RV that you actually drive) until my buddy BoxCar Okie pointed out that RV mechanics and those big tow trucks cost a lot more than truck mechanics.  Plus fifth wheels are substantially cheaper than motorhomes. 

Newer motorhomes range from $69,000 all the way up to $200,000 and beyond.  The brand new fifth wheels we saw yesterday started at $27,000 - but the ones that caught our eye were priced between $39,000 and $50,000, all of them 2008 models. 

And that's just the sticker price.  Experienced RVers have been telling us that because of the current economy, dealers are very willing to deal down to get rid of units.

The exteriors looked all the same to me, but there were some beautiful interiors:

These aren't the RV's you grew up camping in... Some have two bathrooms, an extra bedroom, leather recliners, fireplaces, ceiling fans and washer/dryer hook-ups.

Can't wait til next Saturday when we have time to wander more lots.