In a shameless plug, for some fellow Canadians Ray and Ann are full time RVer’s. They have been at it much longer than us and through their YouTube channel we learned a lot about some of the challenges that we would face. Check them out on Facebook or YouTube!
Well Friday afternoon ended with much less trauma, and we were able to finally catch up with Ray from “Love Your RV”, Ray produced one of the YouTube channels that we followed for more than two years previous to our starting this life style. What made them one of our favourites was the fact that they had the same time restrictions that we have, limited by the time we are allowed to stay in the United States, also having the border to cross on a regular occurrence. They spend their summers on Vancouver Island in British Columbia in a very beautiful spot and similar to us they spend much of their time in the south living on BLM land through California and Arizona moving from spot to spot, chasing the same 70f or 20c degrees that we are.
Ray does the videos and the blog, while Ann is a great photographer and operates her own business while on the road. What I always liked about Ray and his videos were his down to earth approach, and his ability to be a true do it yourselfer. He unlike so many YouTubers wouldn’t review a product unless he could see a real value in it, and if it didn’t live up to his expectations he would do an update to explain where it failed, and why he felt its downside must be brought to light.
They live full time in a 28’ Cougar fifth wheel that they tow with a 3500 Dodge Ram powered by a Cummins Diesel, some of Rays most popular videos are his “mod” videos, these are the ones where he explains what modifications he has made to make their home better, as he explains there are many different items that could be designed just a little better to enhance full time living. It is when you become full timers that you realize how many things in our RVs that are obvious designed for short term usage. None of the manufacturers built any of the units to be lived in full time, in fact most say you void your manufacturer warranty if you live in it full time…not a big deal because most of their warranties where not worth much more than the paper they were written on…just saying. But once that warranty period is over you can start improving your RV to meet your personal requirements.
We had a chance to just chat about this life style that we have chosen, and the many different approaches, from those who need and want full hookups and the other extreme that just want to be self sufficient out in their little corner of the desert. We talked about health coverage, insurance, time away from our domicile province, and some of our favourite spots in the southern states. We talked about our travels and plans for the future, upgrades that were being planned, some of the best newest gadgets, of course connectivity was discussed as it’s always a difficult and expensive item for full timers. It was just a couple of hours that was like sitting talking to a friend that we had known for years. It is a funny feeling meeting someone that you have watched for a number of years, as the time gets near, you almost feel like a stalker…they have opened up their lives to be very public but they have no idea who they are about to meet…imagine their shock to meet the Buchanan’s…just saying.
The Buchanan's Rolling Down The Road 