Thursday October 29th 2020

So this morning I open Facebook and this pops up on my memories from three years ago …

… and I think to myself, who would ever of thought how things could change so much and in so many ways?

So the park closed at five o’clock Tuesday with the actual last stragglers pulling out at 5:29, it was a crappy cold rainy day, not a great day to end to what has been a very difficult season. I know that a lot of people found the park to be their escape from the craziness that this pandemic has and continues to create.

As countries around the world are starting to lock down and close businesses to try to control the pandemic, the theme is consistent we just got too careless, we started to act like it was normal, quit wearing our masks, started to get together with too many people, and now we are being forced to back up to previous restrictions.

Here in Ontario the high risk areas are being restricted, no indoor dining, and restrictions on many other services, our case load is 800 to 1000 per day. And we still have the fools that won’t wear a mask, let’s just refer to them as special, you will hear them berating some employee for trying to enforce the stores rules, or saying how their rights are being infringed on … my suggestion would be that they are not nearly as special as they think.

In Canada we just surpassed 10,000 deaths from the coronavirus, that is a lot of people to have their lives cut short because of this pandemic, but unless we quite being so darn special, I’m afraid it’s going to be a long winter for a lot of people. It has always amazed me just how special so many people think they are, Ontario just had a few days with more than a thousand cases, amazing just about two weeks after our Canadian thanksgiving … this was the thanksgiving that our politicians asked us not to gather with friends and family. Then we have our special politician that attended a family event with more than forty people standing shoulder to shoulder for a photo, and just to show us all how special he is, he decided to post it on Facebook … now that’s real special … just saying

Wednesday – my my it was beautiful here yesterday with lots of sunshine but with sub freezing temperatures forecast in just a few days we had to winterize the whole park, north side, south side, laundry, washrooms, pool and pump room, which made for a very long, very busy day, with lots of walking as every tap on the park had to be turned on and off at least twice and even more in some areas, today will be the completion of winterizing, with items like the honey wagon, power washer and the like, then we can start into our fall projects, tree trimming, electric panels, and lots more weather permitting.

This is normally the week we head south for the winter, but obviously that is not happening this year, but I was so glad to hear that the States has turned the corner on the pandemic and are only finding sixty to seventy thousand new cases a day. Now that may seem like a lot to people like me but I was assured it was only because of the high volume of tests being performed. And as one very special person said if there wasn’t so much testing there wouldn’t be as many cases … I’m obviously not special enough to totally understand all the complexity of the coronavirus, but according to many people on Facebook these people were going to die anyway so to blame all these deaths on the coronavirus are just the liberals over exaggerating the failure of the present administration.

This is why I love Facebook, what ever you want to hear or read can be found an any given day, in fact it’s so smart it starts just bringing you information that is catered to your wants and desires … don’t think so just look for something you would never look for, a good example I looked up some items for the park, now I’m getting lots of ads and articles for those items … the thing that most don’t realize, any body can post whatever they want on the internet, it doesn’t have to be correct or true, so if reading anything on the internet try to keep this in mind.

But I do enjoy Facebook for the memories that pop up, we use the platform to keep family and friends informed, to share photos and information, and of course I love the entertainment of reading such special things that people repeat at facts … just saying.

To our Canadian friends hope for a mild winter…

And to our American friends get out and vote so maybe we can come south next winter…

Monday October 26th, 2020

Well hello winter in Canada! Eh!

It has been decided, this will be our first winter in Canada in a while … let’s just say this was not our first choice, nor our second, or third, but if it has to happen it will be what it is. So here we are fall time in Ontario, nights are starting to get chilly, and our prime minister just announced that the border will remain closed until the United States gets control of the coronavirus, so there doesn’t look like any chance that the border will open to the States any time soon!

Oh we understand why, there has been little or no effort in the United States to curb the Spread of this on going pandemic, in fact some of the people in charge are still saying it will just go away …

We also know that with any politician they have only one objective, get elected and then stay elected … you see it’s all about power. So they tell whoever what ever they want to hear so they will vote for said politician. It’s really that simple, so they promise anything they want to whoever they want to, and when they are asked why they didn’t do what they promised, they just deflect, give an answer that makes themselves feel or sound good, in most cases it has no relationship to the question they were asked. Or one of my favourite politician answer is to blame the previous administration … for not doing whatever they promised they would.

Reality a politician looks out for him or herself, period. If something they want or need just happens to benefit you, you just plain and simply got lucky. Here in Ontario we have had just over 3000 deaths from the coronavirus, that’s with a population of 14,734,000, so comparison sake let’s look at Texas which has almost double the population at 29,000,000 people but the coronavirus death count is 17,500. So in the simplest of terms twice the population but nearly six times the deaths … just stop and really think about that … the United States of American, one of the most advanced countries in the world, and they are failing so badly at controlling the coronavirus that one of their largest trading partners won’t even open the border to allow travel. Canada’s total population third quarter of 2020, 38,005,000 and the total of coronavirus deaths are 9,746 as of October 17th and a total of 196,321 cases. The States total population 328,239,523 total coronavirus virus deaths 224,283 as of October 17th and a total of 8,343,140 cases, these are crazy numbers but the one number that really matters is the death rate and to make it even here are the death rates rates per million of population Canada 258/1 million compared to the United States 676/1 million. And the last number that made us stop and weigh the odds México 665/1 million better than the States but more than double the rate from Canada, so the decision has been made.

Note: the numbers above are from the worldometer website that pulls information from close to thirty different sites to make comparisons.

Ontario is not an inexpensive place to rent a house or an apartment, and this is just a short term rental, five months, and oh yea we need it furnished. Most places beyond an air bnb are looking for a one year lease, monthly rental plus utilities. So the hunt begins, taking into all accounts, Laurie’s family, my family, friends, and of course the whole social bubble thing, so where are we best to settle in for the winter, as the park closes our social bubble will change as well, so with the right precautions we should be able to visit all our family and most of our friends over the five months with the proper social distancing and time in between each encounter, and this will be a chance to catch up and tie up lots of projects both on the coach and our business endeavours.

So we start looking at what our costs will be, this winter would have consisted of driving to Arizona, staying on LTVA land, a Beaver rally in Quartzsite, a caravan to Baja Mexico, and a return drive to Ontario … so in quick numbers Quartzsite is 3600 km (2200 miles) so with average fuel cost there and back $1900 Cdn 5 months camping on LTVA $180 US or $250 Cdn, the Beaver Rally $150 Cdn, the Mexican caravan $3600 Cdn, plus extra fuel cost for the caravan of approximately $600 Cdn. That’s a quick $6500 Cdn now add to that hopefully a refund we will get for our medical insurance (that we are not going to need) that’s a total saving of around $8000, that is the kind of number we are looking to manage to get five months housing and expenses for here in Ontario. Food, clothing, supplies will still be an ongoing expense where ever we are as they would be for anyone, we just won’t get tagged with the 35% on money exchange rate this winter … just saying.

So here is what Miss Laurie found us, right here in Goderich, on Ontario’s west coast, a little two bedroom house within walking distance of the town square. Fully furnished, heat, and hydro included for $1200 a month all in. So for five months $6000 the only expense not included is an internet connection, now this means keeping the snow cleared from the drive, but with a southern exposure, that shouldn’t be too bad, hell its even got a garage. So the coach can stay at the park only 10 kms (6 miles) away so close enough that I will be able to be work on the renovation, on the warmer days, while not either our plan A or B it is better than what we feared at this short of notice so we get possession on the 15th of November thru the 15th of April, it just doesn’t get much better than that from a timing point of view.

If there is one thing we have learned in the past three years on the road it is the ability of being able to stop, pivot, and change directions with little or no notice. I know a lot of people will be glad to see the end of 2020, but I fear that 2021 may be even more difficult as the coronavirus is not even close to being under control in so many countries, and so many people have just become so accepting of the deaths that could have been prevented. As I watched the news last evening and seen Trump threatening the governor of Michigan again because she is trying to save lives, and laughs about the plot to kidnap or kill her, it is a reminder of just how low a human being can stoop. And the crowd at his rally, cheering him on, and his daughter in law shrugging it off as to him making a joke … I’m afraid there was a joke there all right, but the joke was the fool making the speech, I fear history will not be kind to this administration as it leaves a legacy of destruction and hate.

Well we have a couple of busy weeks a head of us, but should be seeing the end of a number of projects, and cleaning up for winter. Miss Laurie has started to pull the freezable items from the coach, as we prepare to winterize, so many more things to do on the coach as we prepare. Little things like draining the windshield washers, and adding antifreeze, winterizing the power washer, it’s a long list with motors, generators and the like, the sun is starting to brighten the horizon, but sunrise is still almost an hour away … have I mentioned lately how much I hate winter?

Stay well, wear your mask, and vote! My American friends.