1. The Beginning

How van life came to be for Bob…and later, for me.

Way back……. In 1976, Bob and his brother Dave went to Europe, ostensibly for 3 months. It serendipitously stretched to a year. This was their first time outside of North America. They flew to Amsterdam, bought a Volkswagen van on day-one and celebrated beside a canal, Heineken in hand, in awe of their first 24 hours of what was to become a life-changing year-long adventure.

They traveled around the continent for 6 months meeting lots of people and having eye-opening experiences. At one campground, they happened to park beside some Australians. This parking spot choice led to them selling the van and heading down-under to work for six months on a 25,000 acre wheat farm. (photos of the van and the farm will be added soon)

Over 30 years later, in 2012, Dave was still in Australia having settled in Sydney after some post-farmhand adventures. Bob and I visited Dave and Karen and, at their suggestion, we rented a camper van to join them on a coastal trip. They had a van and would show us the ropes.

This was a new travel experience for me, and I was very sceptical so I had a plan B ready for after week 1, in case I hated it.

Turns out the tiny minimalist life is perfect for me. I love that there are very few things and therefore very few decisions to make. I love that there is a place for everything and everything in its place. Most of those things have at least a dual purpose. A camper van is relatively stealthy compared to bigger rigs. You can pull into a regular parking spot, jump up and make lunch or tea break without leaving the vehicle.

The camper-van experience inspired me over the next years to become a minimalist traveler. The airline industry’s propensity to nickel and dime customers for baggage fees and the lack of space in overhead was motivating as well. After the Australia trip, I was traveling for work and pleasure often.

For each trip, when I got home, I would lay out my things on the floor with the things I wore or used and took a photo. I pared down with each trip and got myself down to one small bag even for a multi week trip. Then I got Bob to pare down as well. One 2-week trip to Europe with one small bag converted him to minimalist travel.

We went back to Australia to campervan again in 2014 and bantered for years about getting a van. We talked about renting vs buying; which van layout suited us best; where we wanted to go and for how long; plans for retirement for Bob and a leave from work for me. Our research included going to RV shows and walking through lots of vans and talking to lots of sales people. Bob created a big spreadsheet comparing all the vans available with pros and cons, capabilities and specifications. We narrowed it down to the Pleasureway, Lexor FL built in Saskatoon on a Dodge Ram Promaster chassis. FL stands for Front Lounge, meaning the driver and passenger seats swivel to face into the van. This makes a big difference in the living space.

We rented the van of our dreams for a week from, ironically, Canadream. They have great relocation specials that allow you to rent at a very low rate if you don’t mind a one-way rental. We flew to Halifax, picked up the van and took a week to get it back to their Toronto location. It was a great way to test drive the van. Canadream also sells off their fleet on a regular basis so we bought from them at the end of their season in 2019. Everything was falling into place:

· Bob retired as planned in January 2020 and we had a great celebration

· We had the van kitted out with bug screens, bike rack and lots of supplies.

· We found a great family to rent our house, neighbours who were renovating their house and needed a nearby residence for several months.

· We had a loose itinerary: east coast first; back to Ontario for Hayley & Justin’s wedding on August 8; then head west. Dave and Karen would fly in from Australia and join us in the west in the fall, travel with us for a bit and then Karen and I would go back to work. Bob and Dave would take off, vanning again together after more than 4 decades

And then COVID-19 happened.

March 13 was my last day in the office. We were told to leave as if we were never coming back, which seemed rather melodramatic to me. On the weekend we got word that we would be working from home for the next week or so. I thought we’d be back in a few weeks.

I was aware of the corona virus in January, it was in the news a lot, but I felt we just have to be careful with hygiene and wasn’t too worried. I remember hearing of the first case in Canada, in Vancouver and thinking oh no, now it begins

After a couple of weeks working at home it became clear this was not going to be over quickly. We touched base weekly with our renters. Their permits were waiting for approval at City Hall, but staff had been redeployed to other areas of more immediate need.

After several weeks I got an email from our renter with the subject line Good News! I was so happy to know they had permits and could go ahead with their renovations. They would move in Saturday, June 13. I went ahead with leaving work May 29 with a tentative return date of August 12, depending if travel was possible at least somewhere in Canada.

At that point it was not advisable to even travel outside your region of residence in Ontario. The Atlantic provinces had formed a bubble and travel there was not going to be an option. The west was starting to allow some travel, but Manitoba had a 14-day quarantine rule and there were stories in the media about people with out-of-province plates being harassed. The US border was closed and expected to remain closed for many months.

We chose to be optimistic and prepare the house for the renters and the van for ourselves. What were we thinking, renting it for six months and not really knowing where or if we could go anywhere in our van? We had other options, we could stay with my brother Mike, we could spend some time at the cottage, we had friends we could visit. But 6 months is a long time! It was so disappointing and worrying, after the years of planning and talking and dreaming of this retirement dream trip for Bob that now we didn’t really know what we’d do.

Some people had negative comments like “well, I guess your trip is off”. Others pointed out how lucky we were to have our health and few real worries, which was very true. We were determined to make the best of the situation and to salvage what we could. So, instead of the Canada coast-to-coast adventure we had planned, it became the Magical Mystery Tour (MMT). As a colleague pointed out, we would be pioneers of travel, among the few to travel during a pandemic. And we embraced that mindset!

The morning we left the house, I took one last slow walk around the garden and took in everything I could. When the renters arrived, things happened quickly and all of a sudden we were parked in Mike’s driveway. My sadness and anxiety went just as quickly, and I was happy to get on with things. We slept in the van for the 2 nights at Mike’s even though he offered us a very nice room and small office to use as a base, I just was so keen to sleep in the van! We went to the cottage for a couple of days which turned into a week because the weather was gorgeous, and we were still collecting our thoughts regarding the MMT. We wouldn’t have much time at the cottage this year so enjoyed it while we could. After a few days we went over to Georgian Bay to visit friends in Thornbury and to visit my twin, Noelle, near LaFontaine. In Thornbury we had dinner at a restaurant patio – the first dinner out in almost 4 months. And my visit with Noelle, was the first in 5 months.

Back at the cottage we had a major infestation of carpenter ants to deal with – the structure of the verandah supporting the roof was compromised. We supervised the exterminator and contractor, they made it safe to use for the summer and committed to come back to finish the job in the fall.

And with all that prep done, we were ready to hit the road long term and start the turtle life in the van!