COVID-19 And The Canada/US Border

The border closure could extend well into 2021. From the Canadian Snowbirds Association:

As was reported last week, the Canada/U.S. land border will remain closed to all non-essential travel until at least November 21, 2020. Canadian Snowbirds Association representatives continue to discuss the issue of the border closure with government officials and agencies on both sides of the border. Ultimately, based on these discussions, the current travel restrictions at the land border crossings could possibly extend well into 2021. At this time, the only way in which Canadian citizens are permitted to travel to the United States is by air. As many members are inquiring, the reason that this loophole exists is that the U.S. Government only applied the border restrictions to land and ferry crossings while the Canadian Government applied the restriction to all modes of travel.

Based on what I have read and from all of the credible sources I have contacted there is no chance the border reopens this year.

We still had hope that perhaps some form of travel exemption would be considered for Canadian Snowbirds that live full-time in motorhomes. Obviously those hopes are dashed.

Thankfully we had made our plans for storing our coach and finding a nice place to live for the winter months. We did all of that work back in August. We structured our lease agreement such that we could give our notice within 30 days should the border reopen. It turned out to be a good decision on our part to secure storage and housing. Very difficult to find suitable arrangements in this part of Ontario.

Many of our Canadian friends that full-time have elected to remain in Canada either renting a place or heading out west.

Canada is a very hostile place for full-time RVers in the winter. The full-time RV lifestyle up here only makes sense if we can travel south.

Pandemics will pass. Eventually.

But if border closures and lockdowns are going to continue for several years, we may explore different options for how we spend this part of our lives in retirement. We have already been forced off the road this year due to COVID-19. I don’t want to repeat this highly disruptive process again and again.

We will wait and see what happens in the new year before we make any firm decisions.

Time now to go and buy a winter coat, winter gloves, winter boots and a toque. Snow and frigid cold is arriving tomorrow.

The winter apocalypse cometh.