Many Snowbirds have Already Fled South
But we’re still here – at home in Ontario, Canada, waiting. But why? We do have a winter RVing plan. Unfortunately, it won’t kick in for a few months yet. In fact, by the time we start heading south, we may pass some of you already returning north!
California Plan
We’re planning to repeat a trip we did five years ago, when we traveled throughout southern California for six months. Because California includes both desert and mountains, this requires being there in multiple seasons. As Canadians, we’re not supposed to be in The States more than 6 months at a time so we will leave home in March and return in September.
We Plan to Burn!
We’ll be” book-ending” this trip with a couple of neat experiences. We’ve registered to attend one of our favorite rallies again, Escapade in Tucson, at the beginning of the trip and, if we can get tickets, we hope to take in our first Burning Man in Nevada in August. In between, we’ll be retracing the routes in my California guides and I’ll be updating them as we travel.
Are there are any experienced “Burners” among you? Our decision to go to Burning Man came after a recent recommendation from friends. If, like many of our friends, you’ve heard of Burning Man but not sure what it is, you need to check out their web site. It’s described as:
“One of the most iconic festivals in the world. With 65,000+ attendees creating their very own ‘Black Rock City’ in the heart of the Nevada desert, it is a phenomenon like no other.”
If you’ve been, we’d love to hear from you below. Not that we don’t trust our friends’ recommendation but it’s always good to compare opinions and advice from several sources.
Some of the photos and videos online made us question whether we are “young enough and weird enough” to enjoy the event. Our friends reassured us that we are! Really? Actually, they mostly reassured us that there are all ages and all types of people. A major experience in diversity. They also told us there’s so much to learn (seminars and classes), to see, and to participate in (entertainment, music, dance) that we cannot hope to take it all in over the course of the week-long event. It cannot come close to being fully described or depicted online.
A Long Winter to get Through First
We registered for Escapade and are anxiously waiting to hear when 2017 Burning Man ticket sales go on sale. Apparently, they go quite fast. But there’s a long winter between now and March. To help us get through it, we’re looking for somewhere tropical to fly to for a week in January. You may recall we didn’t RV last winter. We experimented with a different type of holiday; we rented a house in Costa Rica for two months. We loved it and intend to go back and look for other opportunities for what we’ll call, “Frugal Immersive Travel” more often – but not this year. To maintain our provincial health care coverage, we can only be out of province 7 months of the year so we cannot get a long enough similar trip in because we’re going to California.
I do have a few projects on the go to combat the winter blues. At least one of them is interesting and fun enough to dedicate a whole blog post to explain it to you. If you’re stuck at home, without a winter RV plan, you may be interested to try something similar. I’ll keep you in suspense for now but promise to tell you about it very soon…..
Stop by the “Information and Lost and Found Booth” at the Escapade and say “Hi”. Bill and I will be on staff for the Escapade and manning the booth.
Thanks Jan. We’ll make a point of looking for you. I should have mentioned we’ll be at Escapade with our own booth – representing Boondockers Welcome and my Frugal Shunpiker’s Guides so you can always come by and say hi there, too.
Have you considered certification to teach English as a foreign language? I completed the certification about 18 months ago. It will allow me to stay in other countries and work as a teacher. I have not applied anywhere to teach yet. I just wanted to have it under my belt.
Hi Kevin,
We have not considered it but it’s certainly a great idea for immersive travel. At this point in our lives, however, I think we have enough on our plates – we want to live like a local, not necessarily work like one. We’re hoping to do it without the extra income or time commitment.
Burning Man! Have fun! I went in 1999 and co-hosted a very organized camp. We slept in tents on the ground, and the sound of that music from all the different camps rumbling and co-mingling across the playa all night long was unforgettable. Nighttime is best for walking around and seeing everything, less heat to endure, stunning light shows, etc. Be forewarned: DUST will permeate everything! Playa dust is alkaline and not good on bare feet (or any other body parts, really). Keep masks and goggles handy for sudden & treacherous dust storms! Despite the discomfort, It’s the best art show you’ll ever see anywhere. Living art, creativity unbounded, and a very organized city (with services) that appears and disappears in just over a weeks’ span out in the middle of nowhere. I’d say it’s a success in community-building. Lots of micro communities working together to pull off all the amazing individual camps, plus the over-arching BM community organizers who keep the infrastructure rolling. Quite amazing, really. I think doing it in the creature comforts of an RV would be awesome, especially being able to shower. 🙂 Pace yourself, there is a LOT of intense energy there, easy to get burned out.