Author: The Buchanans Rolling Down The Road

What can be said, about a crusty old curmudgeon, with no fixed address … not much I guess.

Love Your RV .com

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.

Miss Laurie painted a Lake Huron rock as a little gift for Ray & Ann

Where have all the barbers gone?

February 7th 2020

It just had to be done…Mr. Buchanan needed a hair cut! There was no doubt about it…there was no putting it off any longer (no pun intended) so you google “barber shop near me” and what comes up two barber shops in Blythe CA and one in Parker AZ then a bunch in Phoenix. As we start into our third year on the road finding a good barber shop is a difficult task…so let’s start with what are my expectations of a good barber shop and stupid or not I like my barber to have hair, I expect the shop to take walk-ins, I like my barber to cut my hair with scissors, if they use electric clippers it’s just to trim but I prefer a straight edge for the trim, I would like the shop to offer shaves as well as a shampoo, and a new one as of today the shop must have mirrors so I can see what the hell is going on…just saying

So I went to Parker today for a hair cut, and that is what I got…it’s not the worst hair cut I have ever had but it’s certainly not the best. I guess I’m fairly lucky to have a full head of hair, some in my family are not as blessed, but it is not always a blessing as it seem to grow faster in the warm weather, I know it doesn’t but it’s my story. I mean my hair issues go way back, back far enough that as a kid my mom cut all of the kids with a electric hair clipper kit that she got with reward stamps at the Dominion food store. Now it is almost as bad as it sounds because George my dad had his mother cut his hair like for ever…and looking back on it my grandmother Bessie did a pretty good job, so every couple of months there would be a kitchen chair moved out side in the sun and there would be a hair cutting secession grampa Bert and George would get their hair cut, but the kids would be more of a bowl cut if you know what I’m talking about…so our mom thought he boys would look better with brush cuts, and I think she was probably right, so came the clipper kit with the attachment to get an almost perfect #2 brush cut.

And by the number of old pictures with me sporting a brush cut it must have been a few years worth of them. But I grew up in an era where long hair and hair products were just starting, Brylcreem was the in thing and their catch phrase “was a little dab will do you” and all the kool kids had parted hair cuts with a gob of this white greasy stuff holding it in place…lol

So as I was nearing the end of public school and had to look cool to go to high school I rebelled and started getting store bought hair cuts, the first experience was not the best as my grandfather John took me to his barber and let’s just leave it as when I left I was definitely not one of the cool kids…but it grew out a bit and with a little Brylcreem I wasn’t the biggest goof at the beginning of the school year. But it wasn’t long until I found “my barber” Tony’s Barber Shop, with a barber shop post and every thing, he was located in the Springbank Plaza in Woodstock just a couple of blocks from the high school, oh Tony wasn’t my barber he was too busy especially at lunch time…no Tony had a large clientele, and some guys would wait over an hour to get their hair cut…no no my barber was Tony’s apprentice Al, now Al was just a couple of years older than me, he was still learning the ropes, but fresh enough that none of the regulars would let Al cut their hair. So you see I now had my guy, the kind of barber that on you second visit in his chair he remembered how I liked my hair cut…that was a relationship that went on for about forty years. You see Tony retired, Al took over the shop, Al moved to the window chair, he hired help, he got so busy you had to book a time for a hair cut, he got so busy, he had helpers to shampoo your hair, the shop moved took on the hair dresser image, but it was always like a visit home…a coffee, some great discussions, but I never had to say how I wanted my hair cut…it just happened with the same quality that I had just grown accustom to. Then the news hit Al was going to retire! My world was turned upside down, the search was on for a new barber but they were few and far between, then the chains came in, and they were terrible, in fact worse than terrible. Every time I found a real barber a year or two in he would retire…until here we are with the world on the verge of total chaos…I’m still bouncing from barber to barber…lol