The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Welcoming in 2013

We went with Chris to Sahuayo yesterday morning. Had to pick up some minor grocery items for last night's New Years Eve party, as well as some wiring and special nuts and bolts to fasten Chris and Juan's solar panel to the roof of their trailer.

But it was a rare cloudy, overcast day here. We got started on the solar panel installation with help from Croft, Jerry, and Keeble. Got the brackets installed on the panel itself, as well as the cabling and figured out how to run the wires from the roof into the trailer.

Doing a solar installation for Chris and Juan.

Then, at about 3:00pm, it started to rain.

It's not normal to have rain here at this time of year, especially a storm system that lasts more than an hour or so. This one started out as drizzle, but soon became a steady rain. In fact, it was still raining when we went to bed after midnight!

Calling for rain for most of the day today, but tomorrow should be nicer.

We're thinking of putting off our departure for a day. We were going to leave here tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, but now we think we'll leave here Thursday. I still want to change the oil in the little blue car, and Ruth has laundry to do and we really don't want to be packing up during the rain today. And we can't finish Chris's solar installation in the rain! We'll see how today goes and play it by ear.

We all gathered in the camper room around 8:00pm for a pot luck appetizer New Years Eve party. Everybody brought something to eat and as is usual with these types of events, there was a lot of food! We had a good time and only two couples called it quits before midnight! We played a few games and there was music and dancing.

Lots of food and beverages.

You know the party is getting good when Sal starts dancing with a bottle of tequila on his head! (Sorry for the fuzzy picture!)

It was one of the best New Years Eve parties we've been to in a long time. In fact, we haven't stayed up past midnight on New Years Eve for quite a while.

Reflecting back on 2012, it was a pretty good year for us. Not great financially, but it's only money...we can make some more in 2013. Good thing we don't spend very much. In fact, our total expenses for the year came to only $16,367 ($1,363 per month average). When you consider that we were in 13 different airports and 8 different countries this past year, that's pretty darn good.

What will 2013 bring? Well, we never know for sure. In the short term, we're going off to explore more of Mexico for the next two months as well as a possible trip into Guatemala. Then we're going to head north on route that will take us through some of the United States that we've never been to before on our way to working for the summer in either British Columbia or Alberta. What will happen in the fall? Who knows...we can never seem to see that far in advance. Either way, we're going to be having fun. Life is too short not to!

Received an email yesterday saying the Travel with Kevin and Ruth has been nominated for a blog award. Guess we'll find out at the end of January who the winners are. Thanks to everyone for your support and interaction over the last year! We love telling you what we're up to and hope to keep you entertained for many years to come!

Happy New Year!

2012 Canadian Weblog Awards nominee

23 comments:

  1. Happy New Year sounds like a great party!

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  2. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Happy New Year!

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  3. Happy New Year. We sure didn't make it to midnight. Looking forward to following along with you on your adventures in 2013. Oh, the places we will go.

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  4. Congratulations on your blog award nomination!
    Can't wait to get on the road again with ya - safe travels!
    Happy 2013 to you both!!!

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    1. Thank you Connie and Barry. We are looking forward to getting back on the road and to some new adventures. Hope you had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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  5. Happy New Year! Cool beans on the nomination. Maybe you'll win. Cash would be good.

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    1. Thanks Bob! Cash would be nice but I don't think that's the prize. Just knowing we were nominated is pretty cool!

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  6. Looks like a great party. Might even have kept me up for the midnight hour. Maybe! :-))

    That's an amazing total finance number for the 2012 you two had with all the non RV travel. I clearly have more lessons to learn from you two.

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    1. Yep, it was a great party and we were happy to still be awake at midnight!

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  7. That Sal must be quite a guy! Dancing with tequila is a new one for me. LOL Must have been a pretty good party though.

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    1. I think it is a party thing for Sal. We have now seen him dancing with the bottle on his head at least 4 different times. Not sure how he does it?

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  8. Happy New Year. Sorry about the rain, we got it also. Congrats on the nomination.

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    1. Hope you enjoyed your New Year's too! It is still raining here, very unusual for this time of year oh well, at least we aren't shovelling it!

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  9. butterbean carpenterJanuary 1, 2013 at 1:36 PM

    Howdy R&K,
    Thank y'all, for the wonderful travels of 2012, we really enjoyed everything 'we' did!!! The European trip was the BEST, even if we did have all of that hiking to do!!! Looking forward to seeing the Canadian country this summer; as nearly all of the other CA snowbird blogs only mention it in passing!!!
    We wish y'all a wonderful, healthy & happy 2013!!!

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    1. Thank you Butterbean, we enjoyed telling you about everything we did, including all that hiking. Happy New Year.

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  10. You've got my vote! Now, where do I cast it?

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    1. Thanks Paul and Marti but these awards are judged by a jury and not by popular vote so there is no public vote. We will just have to wait and see if we make it to the next round.

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  11. Great news on the nomination! We can attest to what an inspiration you guys have been to us and many of our family and friends. Heck, sometimes my own sister even reads your blog before ours! Happy New Year!

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    1. Thanks Doug and Nancy! Hope we get a chance to see you this winter.

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  12. If you guys are coming to BC this summer we'll find you!
    Thanks for a great year of blogging, we will keep reading.

    Happy 2013!

    Cheers, Peter and Shelagh.

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  13. I hope the weather clears tomorrow. If not, another time. We appreciate the help on our solar. We can't wait to see it working. Thanks again.

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