Traveling Through Europe

Most people associate traveling through Europe with heavy expenses and often talk themselves out of going for this very reason. However, it does not have to be as costly as you have been led to believe, as you can use coupons for target.com to save money on a number of different expenses and take advantage of various other special occasions. For additional tips on traveling through Europe on a budget, read on to learn more!

Boondocking night #10...the plan didn't come together

Before we left Perryton, Texas yesterday morning, we stopped in at a nice new little laundromat and did a couple of loads. Then at the gas station for some cheap fuel. Almost all of the stations in town were charging $2.19 USD a gallon, but two of them were at $1.89 USD a gallon. Pretty easy choice for us!

At $1.89 USD a gallon, that's $0.66 CAD per litre. That's some pretty cheap gas! Sherman is a happy camper with a full tank of that stuff!

Boondocking night #9...better than Walmart

It must be the route that we are taking, but we haven't come across a whole lot of nice free boondocking spots the last couple of days. Unless you like parking beside corn fields!

Quite a few of the towns have free and cheap campgrounds, but that's not really what we're looking for. They tend to be not very well kept, and are usually close to busy roads or noisy railway tracks. Sure, they have hookups, but that usually means nothing to us. We only need somewhere to dump our tanks and refill our water once a week.

Boondocking night #8...Lake Scott State Park

We had some internet work to do yesterday morning, so we left the free city RV park at McCook, Nebraska and headed for their local library. They had a nice parking area there and even though the library was closed when we arrived, the wi-fi internet signal was on and unsecured.

Last year we bought the Bear Extender long range wi-fi antenna, and it works really well. It enables us to sit in the comfort of our motorhome and use our laptops while connecting to a sometimes distant wifi signal such as a library, coffee shop, hotel or McDonalds or many other fast food places. Also, most Home Depot locations have an unsecured signal available.

Boondocking night #7...not our style.

Many of the little towns in the mid west offer a municipal campground. Most are very inexpensive, and some are even free. It's a great way for the city or town to entice people to stay for a few days and spend some time exploring and contributing to the local economy.

And so we headed for McCook, Nebraska where we had read about a free campground that even had a washroom and shower building.

Boondocking night #6...does it get any better?

A bit of a longer drive yesterday, at 179 miles (286 kms). It was hot, in fact we saw thermometer signs in two different towns...one said 89F (32C) and one said 91F (33C). Definitely shorts and t-shirts weather!

We purposely planned a longer driving day in order to get ahead of ourselves a bit. Hopefully this afternoon (Sunday) we will make it to the town of McCook, Nebraska where we have read that they have a very nice free city RV park that has showers and all the amenities. Only 7 sites, so hopefully there's a vacant one for us! Anyhow, we're due for a day off so if everything works out, we'll take a break from driving on Monday and just explore the town and relax.

Boondocking night #5...Toadstool Geologic Park

After our internet stop at Custer, South Dakota yesterday, we headed for Wind Cave National Park. We like caves, and thought about doing one of their tours. But at $12 USD ($16 CAD) per person we decided instead to do a hike. For free. :-)

Wind Cave National Park has highway 385 running right through it. There are a lot of bison in the park, and so you have to watch for them!

Boondocking night #4...near Mt. Rushmore!

We know now why we usually take a full month to go from the Canadian border to the Mexican border. There is simply too much to see, and we feel a bit rushed doing it in two weeks.

For those of you new here, there are two reasons we're doing it quickly this time around. One, the current strength of the U.S. dollar means that anything we buy in the United States costs 35% more than it should. It will be much cheaper for us in Mexico.

Boondocking night #3...quiet as can be!

An overcast day yesterday, but warm enough and we never did see any rain. We did 133 miles (213 kms), which is still slightly lower than we need to be doing on average.

But...we made it into South Dakota, a new state for us! And, we're kind of excited that we're headed for Mount Rushmore this afternoon. Always wanted to see that.

Boondocking night #2...better!

We only did 94 miles (150 kms) yesterday. It was a beautiful day and we wanted to get out for a hike. Made it to the north section of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Really pretty area!

We actually thought about staying in the park since we have a National Parks pass that we had bought in the spring. We stopped in at the visitor's center which was right by our highway so we didn't have to go off route.

Boondocking night #1 complete...into the U.S....

We left Wendy and Phil in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada at around 1:00pm. We had a plan to get across the U.S. border and into North Dakota so we wanted to get going right away. We don't drive any faster than 55 mph (90 km/h) unless we're going downhill with a tailwind, so we needed to get some miles done or we wouldn't make it across the border that evening.

We stopped in the little town of Wilcox, SK (where the Canadian TV series Corner Gas was filmed) for a late lunch and that was pretty much the last time we would be on the internet for the day.

Border to border boondocking challenge

Had a simply fantastic long weekend away in Ottawa area. It was too short of course, and next time we'll plan a little more time to be able to spend with family and friends. But overall, we did what we planned to do and now we can get back to our RV trip to Mexico.

This morning, we flew from Ottawa to Regina with a connection in Toronto.

Our last day with the family.

Yesterday was our last day with the family.

Kevin had made arrangements with Lindsey and Justin to meet with them just after lunchtime to view a couple of houses they were interested in buying. One of them has been on their mind since the very beginning and is quite a bit cheaper than most of the houses but it is a very small house that is outdated and will require a fair amount of work but it is in the price range that they would like to be in.

What the other half is doing!

(Written by Ruth)

Well it sounds like Kevin is having a really good time with his friends at their boy's getaway weekend at the beautiful cottage in the country and I am really happy for them. Having said that we haven't been sitting around here either and we have had a house full of people and a ton of laughs, especially last night!

Ready for the weekend!

Had a nice breakfast yesterday morning with friends Kimberley and Bruce. They had some questions about our lifestyle and how we do things because they're both around our age and from the conversation, they're obviously looking for something different at this stage in their lives.

So, they asked all the right questions and hopefully we were able to help them with their decision.

Family time

When we landed at Ottawa airport yesterday around 1:00pm, our daughter Lindsey was there to meet us, along wth our grandkids Cameron and Sadie!

Great to see them again!

We drove from the airport to my Mom's apartment where we visited with her for a couple of hours.

Made it to Ontario!

Writing this from Toronto airport waiting for our flight to Ottawa.

We enjoyed our first drive in the motorhome yesterday to Moose Jaw. A little late leaving, we were shooting for 9:00am, but didn't get out of the park until around 10:00am. We made a quick stop in Cabri to drop off the keys, and then hit the road.

That's it...we're outta here!

In a couple of hours. Still a couple of things to finish up here this morning because we simply ran out of time (and energy) yesterday. It was almost 7:30pm when we called it quits for the day! Hmph. Gonna have to be more organized next year!

So...what's the plan?

I had to do a double take...!

Last day of work today. Yay!

Most people, on their last day of work, would be relaxing and not getting anything done. That is not the situation here at the park. A lot of last minute stuff happening here today.

So...a neat story to tell you from yesterday evening.

Moving into the motorhome...and supermoon photos!

Getting Sherman all cleaned up yesterday and transferring things over because today is moving day!

It's amazing how dusty it was inside after five months of sitting. Sure, we were in and out of there a few times and I did some minor work in there, but still...it was dusty! Everything had to be wiped down. But, better to move into a clean house, right? Ruth did the stove and oven, and the fridge, and the bathroom and we got the fresh water tank filled and the waste holding tanks flushed.

We're going to sleep the next two nights in the motorhome, and then we're off!

Flyboarding! Now on our list of things to try!

City Chase is billed as Canada's largest urban adventure. Where teams of two compete in a variety of physical and mental challenges and race on foot or by public transport from one event to the next event.

It's become pretty popular in this country, and there were five regional races this year...in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Toronto. Each race had over 300 teams competing, and our son Alex and his friend Matt finished 2nd in their regional event. This gave them a spot in the National Finals which took place yesterday.

Wow...what a day!

Four more sleeps

Until we're out of here and on the road (and in the air) again! It'll go by pretty fast because we've still got a lot to do.

Yesterday, I moved Sherman (our motorhome) down to the campsite nearest our house trailer so that we could start getting him cleaned up and ready to live in again. Over the next two days we'll transfer everything over to him, and then by Monday night we'll be sleeping in the motorhome again. Yay!

Whenever I work under the motorhome, I think of my grandmother...

So yesterday I changed the fan clutch on our motorhome.

I had read a few stories online of other people who have done them, and it was described as a "knuckle busting operation". It's really quite simple on most vehicles because you can access the area. On a motorhome...it's not so simple.

What a day...

Yesterday was our last day this season for going into town. We did one last bottle recycling return for the park, and had to pick  up a few more jugs of plumbing antifreeze for the washroom buildings. And some latches and locks for the doors on the newly renovated washroom.

And our last grocery run, although this time we had to include a bunch of things that we have a hard time getting in Mexico. So there was a bit of stocking up to be done.

I like the way they do things here!

I sure do like the way they do things with vehicle and insurance registration here in Saskatchewan. Compared to Ontario, it's a breath of fresh air!

Today when we go into town, I will get the new licence plate and insurance for Sherman, our motorhome. He has been registered in Ontario, but because he's been sitting since we arrived here last April I just hadn't bothered to switch the registration over yet.

The only downside was the mandatory vehicle inspection. But with that done...everything else is a piece of cake.

An enjoyable day off

We decided to go for a drive to another Saskatchewan Regional Park.

There are over 70 of these parks in Saskatchewan, in addition to the Provincial Park system. We worked the one summer at Sturgeon Lake Regional Park, and of course two summers here at Cabri Regional Park. But we've never been to any of the other Regional Parks.

So yesterday, we took a drive over to Clearwater Lake Regional Park.

We're taking a day off!

Well, the place is just about empty. Today is the last day for our seasonal campers, so there are only about five trailers left in the park. And those should be gone by the end of the day today.

We don't get very much opportunity to explore this part of Saskatchewan, despite the fact that we spend the whole summer here. So today, we're going to hop in the little blue car and go for a drive to another regional park. Just to have a look and see how they do things and hopefully go for a hike.

Travel medical insurance - stuff you should know!!

I saw two posts on two separate forums yesterday that made me want to write about this, because there is so much misinformation out there. And it amazes me how many people travel and don't know the rules.

The first post made me shake my head...

I understood that if you got sick in Mexico (hospitalized) and had all your receipts BC Medical would reimburse you. This was not how it worked in my case - got $630.00 back from $3,000.00. Can anyone explain this to me...? 

Yep. I can.