We Never Left
March 2020. We left Florida early to return to Canada due to the pandemic. We did not know it would be our last trip in our motorcoach.
We struggled through the next year trying to hold on to our dreams to travel in our coach during our retirement years. And it became evident, at least as Canadians, that we could not hold on.
The price of housing in our province climbed to unimaginable levels. Government policies, specifically carbon taxes, were being enacted to put a high price on pollution and to bring the fossil fuel age to an end. This will have significant implications on running a diesel bus over the next five to ten years. And to get back into housing could become prohibitive if we waited much longer.
We made the difficult decision to sell the coach, buy a condo and wait to return to our dreams of travelling whenever the government restored our mobility rights.
All sort of factors had prevented us from travelling for the past two years. The Canadian government had set travel advisory levels that invalidated our out-of-country insurance. Because we delayed taking a vaccine, we were literally imprisoned in our own province, unable to take a plane, a train or a ferry inside or outside the country. We were denied entry into restaurants, theatres and sporting events.
However, the tide seems to be finally turning. After two long years, border restrictions have eased. Lorraine and I are now fully vaccinated and we have regained our mobility rights.
We have travel plans. In May we will be travelling down to the Great Smoky Mountains — a favourite vacation spot for the family. In June we will be in Maryland for our son’s wedding. And in November we will return to Port Charlotte, Florida.
We have booked some nice homes in Riverwood not too far from where we spent our winters at Myakka Motorcoach Resort. We will be there November through end of January and back in April. We’ve not had much luck finding a spot for February and March in that area so we just might head to the southwest US for a couple of months.
I cannot tell you how life changing it is to be able to resume our travels.
We won’t be RV Castaways but we will be snowbirds again and we will update this blog with our travels once they resume in May.
Hope some of you will follow along.
Nice to hear from you guy’s. Margaret and I have talked about you 2 several times. Glad to read that you are doing well and getting back to normal. Will follow your post and talk to you soon.
.
Wonderful to hear from you. Hope all is well!
Richard
Hi Richard & Lorraine,
I’m so happy to have this update. It was October when we last spoke at Tim Horton’s. I’m happy to hear that the wedding is moving forward and I wish you much joy as you celebrate Matthew’s marriage in June.
I’m surprised to hear that you’re fully vaccinated! That’ll be an interesting topic when we next visit! Will you be driving when you next head south, so that your lovely dog accompanies you? Is her name Tabby? Will you sublet your condo in Barrie while you’re away? So much to talk about!
Thank you again for your update. Happy Easter to you & your family.
Much love,
Sandy
Good to hear from you Sandy!
We have to be fully vaccinated to attend the wedding — that should explain the change of heart 😉
We chose a condo specifically to make it easier to travel. Lock the door and go. We won’t sublet as our condo board does not allow any short-term rentals (thankfully). Tabby will either be with us as she is now for some of our travels or she will bunk with one of the kids depending on where and how we are travelling.
Hope all is well! Happy Easter!
SO excited for you guys!! Cannot wait to see you both and sweet Tabby again this fall. We’ve missed you all! ☺️
Richard and Lorraine
Thank you for the update. We have been wondering how you all were doing and we sure miss you at Myakka.
It’s wonderful news to hear you will be in neighborhood this next season and we look forward to catch-up with you.
Have a great summer, and safe travels.
Jim & Tris.
Oh we have a new furry companion in our family. A yellow lap pup, now one year old named “Pearl”. Our dear Ivy joined the angles last year, and we are certain she helped Pearl select us as you new family.