Heading into RV Life

I received official word today that I am to recieve all of the funds I need for the next adventure. It was a personal investment I applied to get early access to due to financial hardship. Thankfully my application was approved, so I should have the funds by Monday or Tuesday at the latest. First on the list is somewhere to live - I have been living in my VW for the past two months and as much as I enjoy driveway camping, I am ready for my own home again, where I can shut myself away for quiet time and get some real rest. Having to use somene else's house for cooking, bathroom, and laundry can get old quick for all of us. Driveway camping is noisy too, with all the traffic. My plan is to camp in free places as much as I can, as I need to keep expenses down. I am networking with others about that, and there are tons of places to camp for free, particularily in an RV that is self-sufficient like the one I want. Solar power, propane stove and fridge, and LED lights galore. I may even start a little garden so I can grown some of my own little herbs and veggies. 

I'm not sure when/if I can or will return to social work. I've decided not to rush into anything until I feel ready. I still struggle with the PTSD on a daily basis. I am looking into ways to work from home that will support my new frugal lifestyle. I'll own the RV outright, as well as Karma so will only have a phone/internet bill, gas and propane, medication, and food as ongoing expenses. I'm hoping setup won't cost too much, and a lot of that will depend on what is already done in the RV I end up buying. Not all have been converted to solar, so if it isn't I want that done asap, as well as add some extra batteries to store the energy. With keeping my expenses as low as possible, I am hoping a part-time job will be enough for now and in the meantime I'll be looking at setting up a home based business for when I want to head south to escape the cold weather or need inspiration. 

So busy times ahead, but I am so grateful that things are working out. I needed a break and someone to help me out and my broker certainly did that. I may have to send her some slippers for Christmas...

I have ssome good friends to help me choose the right RV for me. They are both knowledgeable and trustworthy which means a great deal to me. I don't want to overpay or buy someone else's nightmare. I just want a C Class RV with a separate bedroom at the back, in good shape, preferably not a FORD, and if at all possible, with a light interior, not woodgrain, however I can deal with how to cover that. Once the RV is purchased, I'll be moving right on in, and setting up house finally, after living out of a suitcase on the good graces of friends and family for the past 4 months. And directly after that I shall be adopting me a brand new kitty! I cannot wait. I have felt so lonesome without Dundee, and miss the comfort a housecat can bring. I will be keeping this kitty inside and hopefully building a catio - a small tunnel that leads to outdoor litter and caged space. It will need to be secure but also collapsible. I hope to get this cutie pie - 

Once ready to hit the road, I plan to head to Alberta to see my daughter, finally! I have seen her less than a year ago in China, but not yet in Canada. I just want to hug her. And not let go. I have missed her. She is planning to come to Victoria for Christmas so I'm excited about that. She has never been to Vancouver Island before. 

The last bit of exciting news is that I have been contacted by the BBC to submit a story about #vanlife with photos and video of Karma and my story. So I have done this and sent it along. Apparently they are doing a documentary mini-series about people living in their vans. I will keep y'all posted on where that goes. 

In health related news - I did split my head open a couple of weeks ago and required 4 staples to close it back up. I was coming up the back stairs at my friend's house and ran into the corner of a steel framed window. Bled like a stuck pig, but managed to get it slowed enough to drive myself to the hospital for treatment, after picking my housemate up at the bus stop...she was coming back from the mainland. 

So there you have it...the adventure continues...

Summer's End

I'm not sure where the summer went but we are nearly at the end of August. The kids go back to school in a week or so, depending on where they live. I don't have any little ones in school, of course, but it has always felt a little sad when the school supplies are out in stores - summer's nearly over. 

I've relocated down the street, which has turned out to be a much better driveway to camp in for the most part. It is certainly easier to park in. I'm parked in the small lot by my friend's tiny apartment building (4 units). They have two kitties to cuddle and a television :-). There is also no daycare...lol. I can stay as long as I like and I enjoy hanging out with my friends as I've known them both for years. 

Karma was repainted and redesigned and I think she looks great! 

Karmma took us camping this past weekend. We went up island to the west coast and camped at Kennnedy Lake, the largest lake on Vancouver Island I'm told. Tofino and Uclulet are close by so we checked out Tofino the day we left. Due to campground policy that campers must provide a credit card    and refuse to take cash as payment for camping, I told them I'll just take my business elsewhere. Stupid policy. Since when did it become to expensive and exclusionary to camp in Canada? What has happened to our country? Greed. So to hell with them, we went to "Redneck Beach" instead which is at the end of a logging road that took us to Kennedy Lake. The free beach is hard pack sand so people can drive and camp down on the beach next to the lake as you can see above. While the facilities were pretty much nil as it is an unofficial campground, it was clean and plenty of nice camping sites with firepits. There were some folks that were clearly living on the beach in their camper/tent/truck/car. .We met one old gent who was collecting recyclable deposit items and tidied up the garbage. He can't remember how long he has been living there...Nice enough fellow.. We also met a young couple down the beach who were swimming in the lake with their pet duck. Yess, pet duck. They were a young hippy couple. They stood on a large rock in the lake, her with a parasol and swimsuit, and him stark naked with it all hanging out, throwing his duck into the water to teach him how to fly...there were also many surfers there as well who likely camp all summer while they surf the beaches from Tofino to Uclulet. 

We did have a few challenges on the return trip back home on Sunday. When we were leaving the Tofino area to climb the mountain pass, fully loaded with four people and all our gear. We had been following a car and an RV, with the RV taking it real slow, and refusing to pull out as is the law when you have 5 or more vehicles slowed down behind you. I should have known better and just pulled off myself so I didn't end up behind him on the mountain. There were 7 of us behind him. The first bit of steep incline, he dropped his speed to 10kms an hour and crept up. Of course, I'm driving a manual transmission and there was no way I could climb up the hill with our load at 10kms an hour. So of course I lost power and momentum and then Karma stalled in the confusion. Karma has been shitting herself this summer, each time I stall out or turn the van off and try to start her back up again right away. She needs at least 10-15 minutes to rest for some reason. We have a theory - when I turn her off, the gasoline is still vapor and needs to transform back into liquid before I can start that chemical reaction again as she starts without fail once she is ready. The battery is fine, no probs there. So there I was, stalled on the mountain pass right at the worst windy bendy steep part and no shoulder AT ALL! I knew when I was able to start her again, I would not be able to even begin to climb up from that angle with all four of us in the van, nor would she do it empty I don't think, so we decided to back her down to a tiny portion of the highway that had a bit of a shoulder so I could turn around and drive down the mountain again and take another run at her. It was scary as hell as my friends were trying to warn traffic of the stall out before slamming into us around the corner. Most were very sympathetic and offered to help but all I needed at that moment was time for Karma to start again and then the skill/calm to back her downhill on a crooked road...not my strength at all! However, with teamwork and time, we successfully backed Karma down the hill, loaded everyone in and made another run at the mountain without issue. THANK GAWD. The challenges were not over though as we also stalled on the Malahat mountain pass in heavy traffic, but we were on a level, just needed to wait a 15 min for her to start again and then we were off, crawling through forever. All in all it was a fabulous weekend, great weather, bneautiful scenery.

The latest on what is next - well I am still in limbo of sorts, waiting for word on my pension withdrawal. They keep coming back for more paperwork again and again, delaying the decision. I'm hoping that is a good thing, but the waiting is killing me. I can't really plan for much until I know if they will release the funds or not. My intention is to buy an RV out of the money and live in it full-time, work part time if I can, and set up some kind of home based businesses. My PTSD is still quite bothersome so I am just not sure when or if I can work anytime soon. I have anxiety pretty near every day, and panic attacks nearly every day, nightmares that awaken me as I yelp or scream, and the thought of starting at a new office/agency terrifies me like never before. In the meantime, I have been living on the good graces of friends and family, and trying to ensure I always have enough food to eat. For some reason I am driven to spend what little I have on food and stockpile, so that is what I have done. I am hoping for a decision this week or next and if it is good news and they release my pension funds (LIRA) I will be buying and RV, moving in, setting up house and then heading to Alberta to see my daughter and catch up with friends and family in the Edmonton area while also setting up my home based businesses. I'm considering becoming a travel agent, as well as selling my wares (sewing, knitting, photos, art, etc). I plan to head back to Victoria at the end of September and settle in for the fall and winter in Victoria. I'm looking for work in Victoria and have applied for a couple of positions that interested me. If the news is bad - I will continue to live in Karma, which is fine, and find work asap. Of course, I am hoping I will get good news. Think Positive! 

The last bit of news is that I may be interviewed about living in my van by BBC for a documentary series. I responded to a post that was looking for people who lived in their vans as a tiny home. They are meant to call me this week for the interview. So that's cool. #vanlife.

I'm off to visit a friend for a bit and this afternoon I'm going crab fishing...apparently people can buy a personal fishing license to catch crab? I don't eat it but I want to go anyway. Sounds like fun!

Surviving Camp

Well, I haven't been to youth camp or anything like it in many years, but this past week my sister invited me up to visit her in northern BC while she was medic at youth camp. This week was teen camp, so youth from 13-16. My three nephews were also there. My youngest came with my sis as a volunteer support staff, so he did chores as directed. My eldest nephew was support staff so did all sorts of things and stayed in the dorm rooms with other staff, and my middle nephew was a camper so stayed in the cabins with his team - "Italy" as each cabin represented a country. There were 50 teen campers and about 20-30 more support staff and leaders. I first bunked in a double room with my sis, but my bed was next to the door which had an automatic door closer that slammed each time they went in and out as my youngest nephew was also staying in the room. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep. As well, the head of the bed was up against an uneven wall, so had an 8 inch gap where my pillows kept falling...thankfully I only had a couple of nights there and the last three nights in my very own room with a window and no automatic door closer. It was divine. We shaared the bathrooms as they were group style, not suite style, which was just fine with me. Just like a hostel really. The dining hall was large and we ate with the youth each meal, after they had all been through the lineup. There was no real choice for meals, and for the most part they were okay but portions in the first couple of days were very small until they realized that teen eat WAY more than their younger campers. Some of the boys were as big as grown men. My eldest nephew has a moustache!! The dining hall was an experience...it was fun on the first day, albeit somewhat overwhelming with yelling out of songs and pounding of the tables, antics and so on, and each cabin trying to outdo the next. By the end of the week my ears were ringing and those silly camp songs were stuck in my head - "Get your elbows off the table, this is not a horses stable, its a first class dining table!" And so on...and on, and on...until they reached 5 per meal. Thankfully there was a limit. At least once a day youth would choose O Canada or God Save the Queen so we would all have to stand up. 

The site was gorgeous, so green, lots of forest, lots of open green space, beautiful lake, lovely docks, canoes, kayaks, paddle boards, etc I thought about going for a paddle but would have to go alone as my sis needed to be immediately accessible. Then I worried my hands would not cooperate and I'd be out there stranded like a dumbass waiting for someone to rescue me. So in the end I chose not to...as much as I would have like to paddle around. The only design flaw in the building is that the sleeping quarters were directly below the dining hall and chapel, which were very noisy places at times, often all evening long. 

We went for a big hike on Thursday to the top of Barrett Hat, which was both a bit of a challenge, and very scenic. The view from the top was stellar! 

It was a nice relaxing hike with my sis as we lagged toward the back of the pack and enjoyed nature while chatting away and hooting for the bears - one must always make noise in the bush to let the bears know we are there as they do not like surprises. We saw enough fresh bear scat to confirm that we were def initely in bear country! Now I am heading back to Victoria...

What Is She Up To Now?

Here we are in August already and I haven't posted at all in July. I've been busy for sure, so I'll spend a little time here outlining what the current plan is (yes, it has changed) and what adventures there have been thus far. 

July - Well before July came in, I left the east coast behind and headed for San Francisco to meet with my soul sister, A. We have been to more concerts together than anyone else I've ever gone with. This  time we went to see the Grateful Dead on their 50th anniversary and very last tour. This was their last show in San Francisco. I met up with A. at the airport where she was waiting at my gate and we headed directly to our hotel with a guy who had absolutely no idea where he was going. He was lost and we had to show him how to get there, so he did't get as much as he wanted for the fare. I shorted him by $10 because he was an idiot and lied to us when he said he knew where it was. He didn't argue when I told him that. Bad news is that my luggage did not arrive when I did - wonderful. So off to Target we went for something for me to change into after travelling across the country. We also picked up some beers to bring back to the hotel before the show. My luggage showed up before we left so I was able to change into what I wanted to wear to the concert. And what a concert it was. Imagine 75,000 people at a stadium listening to the Grateful Dead...it was just awesome. The venue was great, the seats were just fine, and we had a blast. Then  we spent a couple of days in San Francisco hanging out at the Haight and Golden Gate Park. The weather was awesome and we just loved ouer time there but we were both anxious to get back to Victoria to get on with summer plans. We flew  back to Canada on Canada Day and I slept the first night in the Karma van but I hadn't picked up my camping foam for the top yet, so it was awful and hard. I went for the foam the very next day....

Victorian life - So after being ripped off by the stupid insurance company because I had not had insurance in Canada for the past 4 years, and they treated me as a new driver which is absolutely fucking unacceptable when I have 30+ years of driving experience and only ONE accident. I wass super pissed, so will be cancelling with them before too long. I have claims letters from Australia but I was told I had to pay $20 more dollars to have them added to my file and considered for the discount of 40%. Jerks. Hate the bastards - necessary evil. However once Karma was reinsured again, I took her for a few drives to get a bit of essential shopping done so I could set up house in her for the summer and beyond. I'm parked in the driveway out the back of my friend's house, and plugged in. It's under the shade of a tree, however first morning sun is super hot and then it is in the shade. I've settled into the van though and with the 4 inch foam like I had before, it is quite a comfy cosy bed. The photos below are of Karma as she evolves with her new paint job and I settle into life in her. The blue box is one my dad built many years ago and he used to store our slide projector and slides in it however they were lost in the fire as they were in a bookcase and I had left the box behind at my Aunt's house with some other things that were brought up later from Grand Bruit. I got it back this year and gave it a new paint job and now it is being used as my food box as I don't want my food in the cupboards as there seems to be a mouse problem at the house, so I just lock it all in the box. Two of the photos are of the van when it's packed up for travel. Note my dad's wooden and sinew snowshoes...I can't wait to try them out in the mountains if I can find any snow this winter. Karma is also getting a new paint job. She was peeling pretty bad and I felt a little ridiculous with how it looked now, so cleaned her up and got to work. Then I ran out of paint, so have to get her done when I get back to Victoria. I'm keeping it more simple and sleek this time, but will add some more color to the black front, and possibly a few designs on the rear and maybe on the sides -possibly a logo that I design, I'm undecided as of yet. 

Karma went on her first camping trip this year to Englishman River Falls which is on the northern part of the island. It was quite beautiful and so nice to camp in the forest again. I missed my Canadian forest...the falls were also quite spectacular as well but the water was COLD! There was about 20 of us so a nice crew to chill with for a long weekend. The weather was just lovely and the bugs were not too bad although there were many wasps. One of my friends was bitten on the thigh and it swelled something fierce. It was good to get Karma on the highway again and I had forgotten (well not really) how much attention it garnered in transit due to my over the top paint job, in particular, her big red lips and heavily made up eyes. I'm not too sad to see that go though. It just looked gaudy at this point. Karma did well on the highway with no issues. She held her own on the Malahat mountain pass which was good. 

So life in Victoria is going well. I have decided after talking to my daughter that I really don't want to live in Edmonton. It's too damn cold! And too much SNOW! So she was perfectly fine with me not moving there and I am just going for a visit instead next month for about a month and then I'll return to Victoria for the rest of the year. I've decided to look for work in Victoria part-time, but not sure what I'll be doing. I know what I WON'T be doing - child protection. Someone stab me in the eye with a fork if I even come close...I am so happy about living in Victoria as I do not like Edmonton, but I do love my girl, so she may come for Christmas as she has never been to Vancouver Island. With me on the west coast and her in Edmonton, we are not far apart at all. A short flight to Vancouver for each of us, or I can pick her up at the Ferry Terminal at Swartz Bay (Sidney) as it is a quick bus or train ride from the Van airport to the Tsawwassen Terminal as it's just a few kms away. 

The other big decision I made is to forgoe the bus conversion at this point. I feel too overwhelmed to even consider a conversion and my hands are just not up for the task at all. The carpal tunnel syndrome is pretty bad in both hands, so I have to limit what I use them for as they're pretty important! Spray painting the van was hard enough. So instead I am on the hunt for a Class C RV which I had actually been considering long before I bought Karma. They are big enough for a tiny home, have everything I need, and most of the work is already done. I want to upgrade/renovate to my own tastes, and then I will have my very own portable home. I hope never to pack up my life anytime soon. I am so tired of giving up my nice bedding, housewares, sofa, etc. Just when I get comfortable, I'm packing up again. I haven't quite worked out where I can park my camper as I don't want to stay at an RV park unless they offern great winter rates. I'm going to put an ad on Kijiji to see if anyone will rent me space in their driveway or on their property to park. I won't need to plug in anywhere as I plan to convert it all to solar and everything else will be propane. The older C class RV's are pretty cheap - I should be able to pick one up for about $3-5,000. I'm still working on the funding at this point as I have two pensions I'm trying to withdraw from, one here in Canada and one in Australia. Either or both would be awesome and more than enough to pimp my RV something fierce! Stay tuned for more on that front.

Now I'm visiting my sister in Houston (BC) and we have come to camp for the week. She is the First Aid/Nurse here for the week as she is a paramedic in real life and can bring me as a guest. I can use the facilities, the canoes/kayaks. beach, campfire, etc so it should be awesome. We have our own room in staff quarters and the building is quite nice. We are just a few kms from town so I can go back to town anytime I want, though my sis has to stay as first aid. All three nephews will be here this week too so I'll get to spend more time with them. The oldest is a volunteer staff, the middle is a camper this week, and the youngest is here in our room as a helper when needed. His week as camper was last week. The lake looks gorgeous, so I hope I get to swim this week! I return to Victoria on the 8th, and thankfully it takes just a few hours of flight time. It takes long to drive to and from the airport in Prince George. 

So that's the current situation. My PTSD is still active, but I am managing for the most part. I found out very bluntly that I cannot miss even a single day of my anxiety medication as it throws me into a minefield of mood swings and strips all ability to cope with any stress. I'm still dealing with Oz and the work cover claim that my former employer stuffed up. They don't owe me any money as my employer paid me out instead of the insurance company thinking they would simply deal with it after I left but now I am drawn back into the mess and had a conference call last week that was very stressful for me. I just want to forget the whole bloody mess and move on but it doesn't seem likely just yet. Apparently the employer may come after me for the $11,000 if the insurance company doesn't pay up...I say good luck - I have NOTHING...I have about $350 to my name at the moment...

I hope to blog a bit more once I'm settled into an RV and sort out some mobile internet for it. Stay tuned....