Books and Publications
NEW “RV Canada With Boo the Menopausal Van” click for more details
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$20 (CN/US) plus postage:
Mastercard … Call Barb toll free: 1-866-373-2607 |
“RV Canada On A Dime And A Dream” click for more details
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$20 (CN/US) plus postage:
Mastercard … Call Barb toll free: 1-866-373-2607 |
RV Canada With Boo the Menopausal Van
RV Canada With Boo the Menopausal Van
Have a fun working vacation
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.” The two weeks we spent exploring the west coast of Newfoundland Labrador took our breath away. Travelling up the Port au Port Peninsula from Stephenville we arrived at world famous Cape St. George rising up from the southern tip of the peninsula. We hiked up to the top of the cliffs against the wind, lungs screaming. Two hundred feet above the pounding surf, we looked across to The Boot while my stomach did flip-flops every time I peeked over the edge. Dave stepped down onto a rocky prominence to get closer as the wind tried to blow him over. I hollered in terror, “Get off there! Are you crazy?” I imagined him being blown to his death and felt chills run up my spine. “I wasn’t in danger,” he said in typical guy bravado. Grrrr! I wanted a picture of the beach down below so I dug up some courage and belly crawled with Dave to the edge peering over, nervously. Way down below in the sandy cove sat a child’s inflatable toy. I hung my camera and my heart over the rim to take pictures before crawling back away from the edge.
Around us, Newfoundland’s arctic-alpine flowers clung to the rocks. If I lived up there I’d be clinging too! Newfoundland is home to 35 species of orchids and other rare flora. The trees are so stunted even the cow parsnips are taller. Newfies call these Bonsai-like dwarfs Tuckamore.
This is but a vignette from the 240 page “RV Canada With Boo the Menopausal Van.” The people we met and memorable experiences in four months of crossing Canada will stay with us forever. It was our second working vacation. This book is filled with tips on budget travel, where to camp, sani-dumps, farmers’ markets, tourism sites,and fun historical Canadian factoids.
Order your autographed copy today:
RV Canada With Boo the Menopausal Van $20 (CN/US) plus postage:
Mastercard … Call Barb toll free: 1-866-373-2607
RV Canada on a Dime and a Dream
RV Canada On A Dime And Dream
Have a fun working holiday
Barb and Dave had a dream to RV across Canada in their “old gal” a 1977 motorhome but there was one problem …not enough money. “No problem” the ever optimistic Barb said. ” I have an idea,” which usually has Dave rolling his eyes but this time he was intrigued. Now they were making do with pensions not mill wages, it looked like a big trip like that was out of the question. But both of them are very creative so they had been making things to sell at farmer’s markets locally. It went quite well. ” We could sell our way across the country” was Barb’s idea. She believes that if you have a dream, visualize it, believe in it, put it out there and act on it, the dream will come true.
And thus the Geriatric Gypsies as their friend called them set off on the adventure of a lifetime. Leaving Powell River, BC with $300 and a load of driftwood, books, and brandied blackberry sauce, they spent 3 1/2 months selling. The result was Barb came home and wrote the book for other travellers to be inspired from.
Order your autographed copy today:
RV Canada On A Dime And A Dream $20 (CN/US) plus postage:
Mastercard … Call Barb toll free: 1-866-373-2607
The Table of Contents is as follows:
RV Canada On A Dime And A Dream
The Reason for this book
“You Are the Wind Beneath Our Wings”
Chapter 1: Up, Up and Over British Columbia
Chapter 2: Alberta IS Big Sky Country
Chapter 3: Sailing Across Saskatchewan
Chapter 4: Finding Barb’s Roots in Manitoba
Chapter 5: The Big friendly Arms of Ontario
Chapter 6: Historical Hysterical Happenings in Quebec
Chapter 7: Red Mud in New Brunswick
Chapter 8: Peaceful Prince Edward Island
Chapter 9: Pacific Meets Atlantic in Nova Scotia
Part 2: Heading Home With The Geriatric Gypsies
Poem: Geriatric Gypsies
Chapter 10: New Brunswick: Tidal Bores and Flower Pots
Chapter 11: Good bye Quebec
Chapter 12: Generous, Gregarious Ontario
Chapter 13: Manitoba’s September Cold Snap
Chapter 14: Can You See Calgary From Saskatchewan?
Chapter 15: Celebrating with Family in Alberta
Chapter 16: 10,299 Miles Later
Chapter 17: Putting The Lessons Together
Chapter 18: What Can We Sell?
Chapter 19: Market Information
Chapter 20: Tourism Information
Chapter 21: Fun Facts and Other Useless Trivia
Sample chapter
Chapter 1
Up, Up and Over British Columbia
Smell the seas’ tangy saltiness, or the crisp mountain breeze as it invades your lungs or the toasted grain on a warm prairie day. But wait – there’s another aroma in the air. Take a deep belly breath. Notice the air filled with the sweet aroma of freedom, and we, the Geriatric Gypsies were riding high on its heady updraft.
We’d flown the coop without enough money to drive across Canada. At our age, that flies in the face of all that society expects of 57 year and 60 year olds who should know better. ‘They’ say we should settle down, and amuse ourselves with the same people playing the same games. Ever felt like you just wanted to break out of the mold? If you have, then come along with us and soar on the wings of liberation.
Our dreams smelled, and sounded like freedom. The theme song bubbling out of us, “Me and you and a dog named Hero, travelling and living off the land,” sounded pretty cheeky when we started. Our motor home was taking us on the adventure of our lives. In spite of her age, our faithful old gal was ready to help us live our dreams — then she blew her top in Québec.
There we were, English-speaking runaways in francophone land, broke and broken down. A terrified voice yelling from under the belly of our old gal, “Get out! The motor home’s on fire!” I frantically grabbed for the fire extinguisher, fumbling nervously with the clasp. But wait …I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to the beginning of this journey as we travelled on a dime and a dream.
June 21. On the longest day of 2003, with only $300 in our pockets, which our old gal could gulp down in two tanks of gas, we left home. Yet, there we were, loaded to the gills with goods and faith. If $300 seems like a puny amount to travel on, you’re right. We wanted to prove to ourselves and others that anyone could travel with little money if they were willing to work. We planned to literally work our way across this vast land of ours.
Like so many others, we’d long dreamed of RV’ ing across Canada, but our finances just weren’t there for such a huge undertaking. Dave had taken early retirement two years before with a small pension and was unemployed. I was building up my writing/speaking business, so it wasn’t bringing in much income yet. I coach others on how to make their dreams come true by taking the leap of faith. It was time I walked the talk; set the example by also taking that leap.
We’d experienced some success selling our products at local markets, so we figured we could sell elsewhere too. Remember I said that the motor home was loaded with faith? I’d put these posters up before our trip and then took them with us. They read, “Choose faith over fear, for even a little faith can move mountains” which coupled with Robert Schuller’s wisdom, “You don’t have a money problem; you have an idea problem.” We started calling any donations or support ‘gifts of abundance’ and would ask each morning, “I wonder what gifts of abundance the universe will send us today?” This outpouring of aid became more and more evident in the next 113 days.
If you’d come by our home before we left, this is what you would have seen: A 1977, 27-foot motor home with a big box built on the roof overflowing with driftwood. Another box built out back on which sat a huge driftwood root. Some said that we looked like Ma and Pa Kettle. Inside were 90 jars of brandied blackberry sauce that, at times, would be all that filled that old gal’s thirsty gas tank. People sure loved taste-testing such a ‘saucy’ treat. Packed into every nook and cranny were boxes of books, tourism information, many other products, and all the supplies for the trip.
With all this on board you can imagine that we were heavily loaded down. No wonder our old gal chugged unhappily up the mountain passes. Now add two not-so-young gypsy types running away from home with glee written all over their faces and their old dawg, who will be referred to from now on as “dawg” not dog, Hero. Hero is a Bishon-Schitzu cross that loves travelling. To merely start loading things in the motor home was enough to have him bouncing in anticipation.
Then we were off to the Saltery Bay ferry that would take us to the peninsula heading for our first farmers’ market in Gibsons the next day. But first we needed to perform a very important ritual at Davis Bay (between Sechelt and Gibsons). We needed to fill a bottle with Pacific Ocean water to spill in the Atlantic, and also take some West Coast rocks to leave on the East Coast.
Order your autographed copy today:
RV Canada On A Dime And A Dream $20 (CN/US) plus postage:
Mastercard … Call Barb toll free: 1-866-373-2607