Leaving Peace River, Alberta for Cranbrook, British Columbia

 Heading South for the Winter. Cranbrook, BC

Being the first summer in our RV we were able to set up our little home on wheels for the warmer weather but we figured out that minus 20 Deg C weather was not an ideal first winter for us so I took a 6 month sabbatical from working in northern Alberta so we packed up and headed south, well as far south as COVID would allow. We were originally going to stay on Vancouver Island for it's mild winters. We made a few stops along the way, as we had a few days to get to Cranbrook. It would also mean a stop for a few days at one of the bigger RV parks on the outskirts of Edmonton, Alberta.

Dimond Grove RV Park, is about 6 hours south of Peace River. it's one of those RV parks where your average rig is worth around $250.000 plus. We were greeted by a grumpy RV attendant who guided us into our site and explained ad nauseum about how to back our RV a difficult 30 feet and DON"T DRIVE ON THE GRASS!!! Seriously this guy was as condescending as hell. I figured that this asshole was just used to assisting overly cautious, over cashed retirees reverse the kids inheritance into it's spot. 

The RV site rules were somewhat draconian such as all wood for firepit's and BBQ's had to be bought from the site otherwise "fire privilege's would be rescinded. Other RV park rules were standard as you would expect, such as animals on a lead etc.     

Service with a frown

The site on a daily fee was $50.00 per night, which is the most expensive way to pay for a site but as we were there for three nights it was our only option. RVer's stay at this park. It's open all year around, just don't bring your own fire wood.

Our time in Edmonton allowed us to catchup with friends and Raewyn's family. We left for Lethbridge, AB and encountered 100Km winds which managed to partially remove some of the plastic fender. Like I said, these RV's break. I was surprised as the crosswinds didn't seem to push the RV around. We did notice that the fuel consumption did increase considerably. 

We left Edmonton for Lethbridge to stay with friends then on to Cranbrook, BC where we are going to stay for the winter.

 

Life in the Peace River region of Alberta

 Welcome to Peace River, Alberta

For the duration of our stay in the Peace region allowed us to take stock of the new RV and our new way of life as three days prior we were living in a house in Oliver, BC. Raewyn, was in the process of going back to fulltime study in business & HR management. I was working within the oil and gas sector in the Peace Region. I had already been working fir the same company for two years prior and was fly in and fly out back to Oliver.

When we arrived in Peace River, Alberta the temperatures dropped to below freezing but was a few degrees over by mid morning so our non-insulated water hose for the RV supply would partially  freeze.

As previously mentioned we were over loaded while transporting the RV over the Rockies from Oliver, we needed to continue to go through our stuff to see what we really need and can do without. For the interim and to preserve our sanity we rented a small storage unit through Rendez-Vous RV park. While the reader might think "out of site out of mind" it still allowed us some space to go through stuff over the next 6 months. One benefit of COVID was that the holiday season for Northern Alberta was relatively quiet, particularly as roads crossing into the Territories were closed for the season.

The bulk of guests at the RV park were employed within the energy sector or working in construction twinning the bridge across the Peace River and various projects around the region. Due to the extremes in climate most construction happens in the warmer months. 

Yep, people live in RV's in -40 Deg C

During our time we were hoping to take some time out to travel and explore the local area unfortunately due to the COVID restrictions that were inplace at the time and my workload traveling the area was fairly restricted. 

High Level, Alberta

We did get to relocate to High Level, Alberta which is about 3 hours North from Peace River, Alberta for a few weeks which was made easier with the bulk of our stuff in our storage unit. What can I tell you about High Level? It's a town in the middle of nowhere, it's about as far north as you can grow wheat even for that it's pretty marginal as the summer season is so short. The main income is from oil and gas and forestry with some tourism mainly hunting and fishing. Any further north and it's mainly tundra and muskeg.

How to constructively break stuff

We were soon to discover how easy it is to break stuff in the RV. Cabinets and fittings are fairly fragile not to mention keep an eye out when opening and closing slides particularly in the kitchen and under the bed as where there seems to be alot of unused space. It's amazing how well a slide can crush pots and pans!

While you can store kitchen stuff there don't close that slide!

We learnt early on on that before you open and close slides be sure to check that cupboard doors, and that crush spaces are clear of obstacles as not only do they get damaged they can cause damage to the slides themselves.

For all of the wood grained paneling there isn't a large mount that is actually made out of wood. it's mostly MDF with a plastic coating. This generally means that fixtures and fittings fall off or can be damaged through general use and while the RV is being towed down the road.

As someone said its like a house in a tornado/earthquake for the duration of the trip.

There is a reason for the materials used in the construction of an RV that is weight. The RV has to be built to be within the weight that the axles are rated to and ofcourse the towing capacity of the vehicle and license restrictions that may apply. A basic tool kit and some items such as screws, plumbing fittings and glue will come in handy. Most of the repairs we have had to do since we bought the 5th wheel have been fairly basic such as replacing broken plumbing fittings due to a few cold and frosty mornings, remounting cabinet doors and anything else likely to fall off.

 

Traveling from Oliver, British Columbia to Peace River, Alberta

Oliver, British Columbia to Peace River, Alberta.

We left Oliver in mid April 2020, with the aim of staying overnight in Jasper just over the border in Alberta in the Rockies. The journey involved heading north through the Okanagan, British Columbia. So it was a good test with the RV loaded, being a 5th wheel I found it easier to pull than a travel trailer with more even weight distribution on the front and rear axles on the Ford. This journey was the first time we pulled the trailer with all our worldly possessions. The trip took us over a few mountain passes with about 10 hours in total, allowing for a few stops to take the odd photo, coffee and to check wheels and tyres. When you're towing it pays to plan your trip with plenty of time to complete your journey as bouncing down your typical Alberta road you're going to end up with broken plates and your stuff bouncing everywhere. 

The route we took through the Okanagan and the Rockies to Jasper, BC. When we arrived in Jasper, as we were just there for the night we found some off-street parking and opened the bedroom slide.

Fortunately when all slides are in you can still access the bathroom, the stovetop and the bed. One disadvantage we found with the RV is that the 12 volt batteries that power the lights, slides, leveling jacks and the furnace are only charged when the RV is plugged into the towing vehicle. When we were checking all the functions on the RV we found that the single 12 volt battery was pretty much discharged after extending the slides and setting the auto-leveler, which lowers the four stands and levels the RV. So while on the road we couldn't afford to flatten the battery so we only extended the bedroom slide for the night. Later in Peace River we would eventually add a trickle charger to the battery however this would only charge the battery when plugged into a mains power outlet or connected to a generator.

Trickle charger maintains battery charge

We found that running the lights, furnace would discharge the battery to about fifty percent during the day and recharge overnight. Something that needs to be corrected this coming spring in 2021 is to add an additional battery and solar panel on the roof. While this will not be enough to run the air conditioner it will be sufficient for lights slides and furnace. 

When we reached Jasper  for our overnight stay the temperatures were around 2-3 deg C and out first night of sleeping in the RV. As we didn't unhook the Ford it was just a matter of retracting the bedroom slide a quick coffee and we were on our way. The day's travel we would continue our drive through Rockies to Hinton in Alberta where we would then head North through to Grande Prairie, Alberta.

The route levels out once you are close to Hinton, Alberta. As you head north to Grande Cache, Alberta the terrain changes to rolling undulating hills and rough secondary roads. Grande Prairie was the main stop along the way for a break before the final leg of the journey. 

We had to arrive at the RV park by 8 in the evening to check in and to allow time for RV site staff to show us where the sight that we booked was located. As Peace river is located fairly North that it was daylight until 10pm so setting up late in the evening wasn't going to be an issue. We arrived just after 8pm after going via Rycroft and Grimshaw.

Due to COVID the park was relatively empty when we arrived in March. there are 2 sections to the park the northern side being the newest has smaller wind brakes but is closer to the council park and trout pond. The RV park was mainly inhabited by people working on the new Peace River bridge. While we were there a few families stopped at the park but numbers were down through the peak holiday season. You know people RV here in the winter? Indeed, even with the regions' minus 40 degC winters. People actually do stay here over the winter in Peace River and this park is open all year around but we didn't want to try this for our first winter in our RV.

Yep, that pond is stocked in spring. The layout of the RV park and council park means that this RV park was ideal for pets

One thing we did learn while setting the 5th wheel up was that it can be completed in a relatively short time. Once we backed the trailer into the site set the legs and stabilizer legs, extended the slides, connected power, water and waste water  we were pretty much setup within one hour and we learnt that once you have stopped once inside use caution when opening kitchen cupboards as everything had moved around, thanks Alberta roads.

Home sweet home for the summer at least.

If you're in the Peace River area the Rendez-Vous RV Park is worth a look. 950 Woods Rd, Peace River, AB T8S 1Y9 Phone: (780) 618-1345.

An aussie a kiwi and a 5th wheel

If you take a kiwi and an aussie

This blog is about an Aussie and a Kiwi couple who lived and worked in Australia, migrated to Canada in 2015 and are now living the RV life in Canada. It is not a "how to" or a "guide" for living the RV life. It is just the thoughts and experiences of a couple who never thought that their house would have wheels and the transformation and changes that led to the RV life. You can draw from this blog what you will and , I would hope it will give a view into the mindset that if you apply yourself you can achieve your goals . Life is not a destination it's a journey.

Just to bring you up to speed

Raewyn had lived and schooled in Pukekohe, New Zealand. After finishing schooling in NZ, Raewyn scrimped and saved to holiday and "to see what would happen" in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. Up to this point I had lived my life in Adelaide, Australia managing wool harvesting operations.

Raewyn and I met online 12 years later in a Microsoft "IT" chat room when I was working on a mixed farming operation in Eastern Victoria. After various share house accommodation situations in Adelaide and Melbourne. Chasing cows, sheep and planting crops wasn't all it's cracked up to be so I went back university to study project management and software development in Adelaide. We moved to Melbourne and rented in Brunswick the Goth capital of the world.

We were both living the cosmopolitan lifestyle in Brunswick and working in the trendy parts of Melbourne. Our story does not finish here. Australia we bought a place in the Yarra Valley in Eastern Victoria, Australia 

Raewyn and I were living in the beautiful Yarra Valley in Victoria, Australia. We purchased a property nestled in a temperate rainforest that forms part of the Melbourne rainwater catchment area. The Yarra Valley had all the benefits of living the country life with being within a commutable distance from the CBD of Melbourne, that is if you didn't mind making public transport or your car a second place of residence.

Raewyn on her way to the platform at Lilydale on the outskirts of Melbourne, Victoria prior to working in eastern Melbourne. You know the 7:15am train was full three stops later at Croydon and it still had six stops to go as an express service. I guess I could insert a sardine can comment here. All was worth it considering we had this to come home to. 

Raewyn was a contract administrator for a division of Goodyear based in Bayswater on the eastern edge of the Melbourne CBD which is a handy commute via automobile. While I was working as a network admin (InfoSec) for Lloyds Register based in Docklands, Melbourne. We were living the DINK (double income, no kids) lifestyle indeed.

As previously stated the daily commute was inhumane, I eventually moved into viticulture and was working at a local winery called Yarra Burn just a leisurely 20 minute commute in the trusty Toyota Land Cruiser.

How we ended up in Canada

The year was 2014 and the Australian economy was beginning to very much look like a recession.

Raewyn was retrenched from Goodyear which was eventually bought out by German interests. After a few temp positions it was suggested that Raewyn could find better work in Edmonton Alberta, Canada. She missed her bud's in Edmonton anyway, so why not. So she packed her bags on a six month jaunt to the northern hemisphere. The plan was to reassess the situation in six months. It was at this point it was suggested that I should apply for permanent residency. So I made the application and started the renovations required to get the fortress of solitude in the Yarra Valley on the market. 

Vancouver, BC shares similarities with Melbourne, Australia. 

Meanwhile Raewyn was working to ATCO in Edmonton. I landed in Vancouver (pronounced Vangcoova) and processed my permanent residency then proceeded to miss my flight to Edmonton, a 12 hour long-haul flight does wonders for the soul. As a suggestion, fly Air Canada as they are more liberal with the booze.

We moved to Lethbridge in Alberta where I worked for a precision farming company running commercial sprayers and Raewyn was cooking the books for a local realestate company. We relocated to Oliver in the Okanagan, British Columbia for better quality booze and the chance to get some plonk on the cheap. We resided in Oliver for two years enjoying the mild winters and hot summers where it was so hot that you could fry an egg on a shovel in less then three minutes. Okanagan is the upper reaches of the Sonoran Desert, which extends through California and Mexico. Oliver, is an awesome place to be in Summer that is unless you have a fan to sleep under and yere, it's hot by Australian standards. It's an awesome place for water sports with close proximity to multiple lakes nestled in the Southern Canadian Rockies.

While Raewyn and I don't have an "expert palate" we do know what a good wine should taste like. After all we lived in one of the best wine growing regions in Australia, where a shiraz slaps you in the face and says. "Hey! I'm I'm a shiraz!". The Okanagan is a much younger wine growing region did you know they actually make wine in Canada? Hell yere, sure were going to grow as many varieties as possible and were going to grow it in rocks and sand!

This means that wine in the Okanagan needs to stand out, which it does however the pallet is going to be more subtle and refined you need to get in quick post harvest or you will miss out.

So let me recap, at this point Raewyn is now a fry chief at a local bank and yours truly is implementing a spray program for Burrowing Owl.

Now enter COVID and the downturn in the British Columbia economy. Raewyn is retrenched from the financial institution and takes a role at Hidden Chapel Wines in Oliver. Great! more opportunity for cheap plonk.

At this point the author moves to a oil and gas company in Peace River, Alberta for some extra spending money. The full effects of COVID are felt in the Okanagan with the closures of "non essential services" (which means cellar door sales). Meanwhile we come up with the idea of living in a 5th wheel. Well actually we met a few families that are already doing the "5th wheel thing" and were enjoying the lifestyle. Some seemed to be more stationary than mobile While this seemed to be a option for some people we felt that if our house is going to have wheels were going to make them turn.

It seems that there are a few categories that people who chose to live in an RV fall into.

You have the retirees in the $200,000 plus 5th wheel or Class A motorhome (usually a Prevost) who are spending the kids inheritance while they take a 12 month sabbatical around Canada and the States.   

The Prevost, big bucks.

The next category would have to go to the RV that hasn't moved in the last few years and wont for the foreseeable. When you find yourself in the Okanagan, British Columbia why would you move. I mean it's credited as having the mildest winters by Canadian standards and hot during the summer even by an Aussie's who has a tolerance to the baking Central Australian temperatures. 

Seasonal workers and the semi-retired who winter down in Arizona and Texas. Due to COVID and the border closures winter options are Vancouver Island, which as of October 2020 is currently at critical mass with Snow Birds who couldn't make the trip south. The more determined are having their RV shipped south of the border then are flying to the states to continue on with their winter escape to the south.  I'm sure this was frowned upon by inhabitants within the US however, apparently it works both ways as American RV'ers were found to be having a lovely little holiday in Canada whilst on their way to Alaska. Taking in the sights of the Banff and Jasper national parks.

The next category that we find is the seasonal worker, Summers in the Northern Canada working in the energy sector and South to warmer climates taking on various roles in southern Canada, typically British Columbia. Raewyn and I seem to fit into this category When British Columbia government deemed cellar door sales as a "non essential service" we picked up a Keystone Cougar.

  

How to make it all fit

The next issue was how to fit the contents of a one bedroom with study, kitchen with large entertaining/dining and make it fit into a 34 foot 5th wheel. First of all we had to go through everything and determine what we needed, then reassess what we actually needed. I mean, the RV looked fairly roomy with all the slides out minus any possessions onboard. At least we had the summer ahead to continue to figure out what works and doesn't within the confines of the RV as the issue is not only the ability of being able to live and work from the RV but the axle weight.

A 34 foot Keystone Cougar as a dry weight of 5,500 Kg which leaves a meager 600Kg for personal belongings. The vehicle that was to pull our new tenant on wheels has a towing capacity of 9,500Kg. 

Looks spacious enough when it's empty, we were able to include a study for Raewyn. 

The advantages of a 5th wheel is the high ceiling particularly in winter as heat rises and heats the bedroom as the front of the RV is over the 5th wheel hitch.

We managed to make most of the important fit. We started with the kitchen and quickly discovered that you can't store multiple of the same item. The advantage of a 5th wheel over a travel trailer (like a caravan in Australia and Europe for that matter) is additional storage space under the bedroom.

We found that the range and the oven is considerably smaller than a residential stove. The oven is 15 by15 inches so most of our baking pans needed to be replaced. No problem, after all it's just the two of us living in the RV.  It's a small kitchen with a maximum occupancy of one person but everything is within arms reach.

We found that in the warmer weather seemed to spend alot more time outside than compared when living in our house. So cooking on BBQ's is a regular occurrence. The dining table only comfortably sits two anyway. I have to admit that that oven has the most accurate thermostat in RV history. We did need to place a pizza stone on top of the heat diffuser to prevent food from getting too hot at the base.

 Rendes Vous RV park in Peace River, Alberta. A new park adjacent council parks and a fully stocked trout pond. Peace River, great from mid spring till mid fall. Minus 40C in winter.

The bedroom is roomy enough considering it's an RV, just don't get out of bed too quick otherwise you will hit your head on the top of the slide. The wardrobe in generous in size even for winter and summer clothes

With most of the storage aside. Yes, when we left Oliver, British Columbia the combined weight of the RV and towing vehicle was 10, 500 Kg, a clear 1,000 Kg overweight and left for the Peace Region, Alberta.