After our three month visit in Quebec and with summer coming to an end the time had come to move on with our plans and head down into the US for the fall and winter months. Through Boondockers Welcome, Hipcamp (both online alternatives to regular commercial campgrounds that offer private campsites on private land) and other resources we had carefully chosen and reserved every campground on our way south, landing us in Florida on November 7 where we had planned a month stay at an RV resort.  We were quite pleased with how we had planned everything and were excited to get going with the next chapter of our adventure.

Despite our meticulous planning and mapping and routing, the night prior to our departure was riddled with our typical thoughts of “worst case scenarios” that thwarted any attempt to sleep.  The thoughts mostly centered around; a) the exit from the park, with it’s low hanging wires and twisty turns, now all in the opposite direction and; b) crossing the border.

Getting out of the campground went well.  Julie stood on the picnic table with a 2x4 board holding the electrical wires up as I slowly inched the trailer forward until we were safely clear of them.  We then made our way towards the exit, around the twists and turns, up the little hill and under the next set of wires.  These wires seemed to have sagged a bit from the time when we arrived three months ago and threatened to snag the air conditioning unit on the roof of the trailer.  We could see that it was going to hit but the difference was that we were going forward and in that direction the air conditioning unit is nicely curved towards the back of the trailer and the wires should just slip up and over the air conditioner.  Fortunately, that’s just what they did and after another couple of tight turns we were out of the park and away!

With the exit from the park safely behind us, our worries then turned to crossing the border.  We had done our research as to what we could and couldn’t, should and shouldn’t bring across the US border from Canada but there was also a lot of grey areas where it depended on the season and, according to many online comments, the border guard you happened to be greeted by.  We cleared out of fridge of all produce that was “out of season”, made sure we had the appropriate amount of alcohol in the cupboard (that is, appropriate for crossing the border) and gave our plants away to Julie’s aunt as the soil they were in was not allowed to cross the border.  We made sure all of our dogs medical records were in order and easily accessible and that their food and treats were all in the original packaging.  We felt we were very prepared, but knew it was going to be a game of eenie-meenie-minie-moe when we reached the line.  Because we are full time living in our trailer we have every available space packed with stuff.  At times it has been much like a game of Tetris trying to get things to fit just right and the thought of a secondary inspection, complete with tearing apart our carefully packed drawers and cabinets was much like thinking of the aftermath of a category 5 hurricane resulting in catastrophic damage in which most of the area hit will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.  The fear is real, and we were hoping that they would simply send in the sniffer dog and call it a day.

As we approached the border, the stress heightened as there were several lanes to chose from, we weren’t sure if there was an RV lane or we would just go to the regular car lane, or even if we would fit in the regular car lane.  Julie spoke with her Dad, who has crossed that particular border several times, and he said to just go where the regular traffic goes and although it will be a tight fit it will be ok.  We rolled up, passports and ID in hand and met with the border guard.  He took our passports and ID and without lifting his head asked us what we did for a living.  I replied that we are both retired police officers.  He asked where we were going and how long we were staying and I told him we were heading to Florida for six months.  At that time he glanced up and said something to the effect of “I wish I was too!”  The stress level began to ebb.  He asked what kind of food we were bringing across.  I told him the only thing I had kept was a few cherry tomatoes (mainly because it was unclear if they were “in season” or “out of season”) and four kiwis.  That was it. . . no questions about the dogs, no questions about alcohol amounts or cash or guns and no hassle over the fact that I was born in Missouri and travelling on the wrong passport (as I was informed of several years ago on a flight to Kentucky).  He simply gave us our documents back and directed us to pull off into the agricultural area and a couple of officers would meet us there.  Julie stepped out of the truck and met the officers and let them into the trailer.  They went in, took the tomatoes (apparently out of season) and then chatted with Julie outside for quite a while about the present state of employment in the enforcement area.  No sniffer dog, no category 5 hurricane, just a friendly educational chat about what can and can’t cross the border and the people enforcing that.  That’s it!

Minus a few cherry tomatoes, we bid the US border officers farewell and continued south into New York State and on to the first chapter of our US adventure!

After arriving in Quebec, we made our way into Sherbrooke.  We pulled into the campground and were met by the host and it was evident that it was not going to be an easy task getting all the way back to our site on the far side of the campground.  There were a few challenges that lay ahead - narrow roads, sharp turns and low hanging electrical wires.  We were a bit concerned and, with all eyes in the campground on us, we slowly crept along with the host ahead of us in a golf cart to guide and spot for us.  We also had a couple of fellows on the ground with 2x4 boards to lift the wires to allow us to pass under.  With the assistance of a professional truck driver our rig was wiggled and maneuvered into place, the electrical wires were lifted and strategically placed between the air conditioners on the roof and we lowered our landing gear to be settled for the next three months.  We were met by a large contingent of Julie’s family, aunts and uncles and cousins, all waiting for hugs that were many years overdue.  There was also a large group that had gathered of campers, spectators and strangers to us, that had come to watch the show.  The host noticed the audience and remarked “as you can see, we don’t get a lot of units like yours in here”.  Once again, we chalked it up to being just a Toothless thing…..

Julie and her family took a quick trip to Montreal to enjoy her step-brother, Marc’s wedding at a beautiful vineyard in the outskirts of Montreal.  The wedding had initially been planned for 2020, but thanks to COVID plans changed.  What is a bit funny is that at that time, before our crazy idea of selling the farm, before deciding that life needed to be simplified for us, before adventure’s calling, I had suggested to Julie that we could drive back to Quebec for the wedding.  Her reply to that was basically “there’s no way we’re driving across Canada again!”.  Little did she know and as fate would have it, we were going to do just that!

In 1990 Julie and her mom, Dolores, left Quebec in a little Mercury Lynx hatchback with a U-Haul tote on the top, stuffed with their belongings and heading west.  They didn’t have a real idea of where they were going, just knew it would be British Columbia, somewhere.  They eventually settled in Penticton in the Okanagan and life began anew for the two of them.  Shortly afterwards Julie’s brother, Joce, also made his way west and joined them in Penticton.  Julie’s mom established herself as one of the most sought-after hairdressers in Penticton and Julie eventually went on to join the RCMP and embark on her career path as a Mountie.  In the fall of 2020 Dolores became ill, eventually being diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Julie took leave from the RCMP and went and cared for her mom in Penticton until her passing in July of 2021.  Death has a way of making one re-evaluate life, what is important, what we wish we could have done differently, what we still could do and how we want to live.  This was perhaps one of the main catalysts that sparked our decision to make some changes.  We realized that we had become slaves to our assets.  We were working to have the things we had, but in order to keep those things we were working too much to enjoy them.  Julie’s mom hadn’t retired prior to her death and worked up until her last days. She didn’t take the time to exhale.  We decided that was not going to be us and so this crazy adventure began.

What was so special about this first leg of our trip is that Julie’s mom came with us.  It was her wishes to be laid to rest with her family in their plot in Sherbrooke.  After 32 years, life had come full circle.  We packed up our belongings (as well as a few of Dolores’) and headed east, once again driving across Canada back to Quebec with Julie’s mom’s ashes to bring her home.

The next three months were spent visiting old friends, spending time with family and enjoying all that the Eastern Township of Quebec had to offer.  We were loaned a car for the three month visit by Julie's friend, Lynda, so we didn't have to drive Toothless around more than we had to.  Initially we spent a lot of time driving to Montreal for follow-up appointments at the vet for our little old Bandicoot and her eye injury.  We purchased some great Rex-Specs goggles for her to protect her eyes, she wore her “cone of shame” 24/7 like a trooper and we diligently stuck to her schedule of various eye-drops and medications.  The end result was that she was able to keep her eye without any further surgery, but she is now permanently blind in it and requires drops for the rest of her life.  But, she is learning to manage her battle scars, which, I’m sure, affect us more than her.  She’s our little warrior and everyday we have with her is a gift.

We spent time kayaking in a few of the many, many rivers that snake their way through the various suburbs, towns and cities.  We took the dogs out to enjoy some free time running in the dog park, and even went for a couple of hikes in The Coaticook Gorge, rewarded with a Coaticook ice cream cone at the end!  We joined a few of Julie’s aunts for Bingo evenings at the campground and even learned to play “Jeu de Poches” (bean bag toss or Cornhole in English).  For the next three months this was as close to home as we were going to have for a while.

Slowly the nights started to get longer, the daily temperatures started to drop, the rains began to last longer and longer as we drew nearer and nearer to the autumnal equinox and thus, the beginning of fall.  Quebec is fondly referred to La Belle Province for a reason. The Eastern Canadian fall colours are an amazing sight to see and are quite spectacular.  The Maple trees’ distinctively shaped leaves turn from green to yellow to orange to the deepest fiery red and all shades in between.  The color of the leaves is dictated partly by genetics and partly due to the amount of glucose in the leaves at the end of photosynthesis which is converted into anthocyanins in a process that is best left for someone other than myself to explain.  Suffice it to say that the result is a most enchanting scene full of vibrant, fiery colours painted on the landscape by Mother Nature in the art gallery we call Earth.

The coming of Fall also meant that it was time for us to bring up our landing gear once again, hook Toothless up to our tiny home and start heading South before the first snowfall.  We said goodbye to family and friends and with a toot of the air horn we bid farewell to Canada and headed for the border.

Fall is approaching and with it comes a change in weather.  Rainy days are more frequent and when you live in an RV occupying your time can be a challenge.  The dogs sleep more and dream of brighter days and we decided that it was time to renovate a bit.  

We have always disliked the fact that there is carpet in the trailer.  It's only in the dining area but, although we vacuum regularly the carpet traps dirt and dust and hair (yes, with six dogs we tend to have a lot of hair!).  Bandicoot is getting quite old and with that comes some cognitive difficulties, one of which is the ability to know what is outside and what is inside when it comes to having a full bladder.  Apparently carpet feels a lot like grass to tiny old Tenterfield feet.  We have a small portable carpet steam cleaner to spot clean when she does have an accident but we were finding we were spot cleaning all the time.  We decided the carpet had to go.  

We chose a nice vinyl flooring and got busy with ripping out the carpet.  Grand Design obviously holds shares in some staple company somewhere because they spared no expense in stapling the carpet down!!  There were about 2 million staples in an area of about 30 square feet!  Once we were rid of all the staples, we laid the vinyl flooring, put a nice rubber trim on the edge to cover the gap of the slide and called it a day.  It is a bit cooler on the feet now but we are pleased with how it looks.  The bonus is, Bandicoot's old brain, once again, tells her inside is not outside.