We spent our first couple weeks in Manitoba relaxing and visiting with family and friends. We half-settled into a bedroom in the basement of Rachel’s parents’ house on their farm (note: they don’t actually farm anymore, but they still own a quarter-section of land including the farmyard and farmhouse; maybe we should call it an acreage). Also living at home were Rachel’s younger sister and brother, so we had a full house of six people.
We dug out a handful of treasured items from our piles of boxes, but kept the majority of our stuff packed up. Eric helped with some projects around the farm to help cover our living costs (for the month or two that we expected to be there). We talked and talked about what to do next.
Idea A – working for money
Moving somewhere to focus on making and saving up money was initially appealing. Just like we did in St. Paul, working super hard for one year could get us enough money for another leg of travelling. But, did we really want to go through the hassle of moving (and moving to another province meant changing driver’s licences, health care and so on) with the expectation of moving again after a year? It would be hard on us mentally and emotionally to become comfortable with a new city, new routines, new friends, and then immediately say goodbye. We have already done this twice, in Lethbridge and in St. Paul, and it wasn’t easy either time.
Idea B – more travels
We could continue travelling – through Ontario and Quebec and onto the Atlantic provinces – as these destinations have always been in our travel plans. However, this plan also had a few problems. Number one, we had only a couple thousand dollars in our bank account and random jobs along the road might not cover all our expenses. Number two, we were in limbo between addresses. Our licences and truck insurance were registered in Alberta, but our mail was coming to Manitoba. Before continuing our travels, we thought it would be best to get those details sorted out and perhaps save up some money as well.
Idea C – RV living
We’d had dreams of RV living-travelling since probably soon after we got married. But we quickly tossed out option 1 – buying an RV. Many people have asked us why we didn’t pursue this option, so we will try to explain our thought process.
- First of all, we couldn’t buy a trailer or fifth wheel because our little pickup can’t tow anything beyond, say, 1,000 pounds and we couldn’t afford a new truck, too. So, we looked at motor homes.
- Then we realized that living in a motor home would require a lot more space than vacationing in one, and estimated we would need at minimum a 30-foot RV. This obviously would cost more than a vacation motor home, like a VW camper van (they were ubiquitous on the west coast and very attractive to us, but not feasible).
- As well, we did a little research and discovered that, surprise, most RVs wouldn’t make it through more than one Canadian winter. RVs are generally built without vapour barrier, which means that in winter moisture freezes inside the walls and in spring, it thaws, rotting out the structure. One dealer told us that people living in RVs and working in the oilfield would buy a new RV every three years or less. Winter aside, motor homes are designed to be used maybe two months out of the year, so living in one for 12 months is like using it for six years. With this kind of wear and tear, the life of the RV’s mechanical and electrical systems is under a lot of pressure. Sure, some motor homes out there are built for year-round living, but those are in the $100,000 and up range – i.e. not our range.
- Finally, if we were going to live for a year or two or more in an RV, we wanted dedicated spaces to our respective crafts – woodworking and writing. And, we wanted to be as eco-sensitive as possible, meaning the RV had to have a reduced impact not just on the earth, but on our health (i.e. no off-gassing formaldehyde cabinets!).
Despite pursuing idea C2, we can’t avoid the need to make some money
After a couple weeks of browsing Trader magazines and classified ads, Eric started phoning school boards and discovered King Transportation in Winnipeg – a cache of school buses of every shape and size. And after Eric worked out a sweet cash deal, on August 22 we became owners of a 72-passenger Thomas bus with a 7.2 International diesel engine.
Work on the bus began immediately, beginning with the stripping of seats and windows and other such useless interior and exterior items. We also spent time drawing and redrawing plans, researching products and possibilities and looking at pictures of other bus conversions.
Unfortunately for Eric, the little bit of money we had quickly ran out and we had to think about getting a job to pay for our new home. As a journeyman carpenter, Eric could make $18 to $30 an hour, either working for someone or running his own business. Rachel, on the other hand, would be lucky to find work for $8 to $10 an hour in her field of journalism and writing. Also, we only had one vehicle and both job paths required use of a vehicle, since we lived a good eight kilometres from the nearest community (Kola) and 50 kilometres from the nearest community with services like groceries and gas (Virden, Man., to the east and Moosomin, Sask., to the west.)
So, Eric was elected to look for a job while Rachel attempted to learn more about writing, make contacts with various publications, and freelance if possible. Luckily for us, the town of Moosomin has a big project on the go, an integrated health care facility, and the construction company was looking for skilled workers. Eric was hired immediately and was delighted to find that his shift was four 10-hour days. That meant he would have three 14-hour days to work on the bus!
OK, not quite, but he sure tried to fit all those hours in.
And so we settled into a bit of a routine, unpacked a few more boxes, and adjusted to life at the Penner house.
All the other stuff we did
In between converting the bus and dreaming about motoring around in the finished product, we found time for a few other fun activities. We attended the last day of the folk festival in Brandon (a city of about 32,000 about 120 kilometres east of the farm) and decided to buy two raffle tickets for a few dollars – why not, the money was going to a good cause. About five or so prizes were being given away, including crafts from local artists, tickets for next year’s festival, and the grand prize of 15 CDs from artists who performed that weekend. By prize number four, we realized our chance of winning was slim to none, so Rachel headed to the nearest port-a-potty for a quick visit before driving back home. Imagine her astonishment when, busy zipping up, she heard Eric’s name being called for the grand prize. Eric, after hearing his name, got out of his chair and started to wander dazed and confused toward the stage, which wasn’t actually where he was supposed to go to collect the prize. Eventually he got things sorted out and we have been enjoying some great music since!
Thanks to the bus renovations and to Rachel’s handy dad, Eric learned how to weld and use the John Deere tractor; yes the bus conversion needed the power and ability of a tractor! Rachel finally learned how to make bread and will never buy store-bought stuff again so long as she retains this skill. She also attended a “paint a picture in a day” workshop led by a “certified Bob Ross instructor.” Although each step was prescribed (everyone painted the same thing, but each picture turned out differently), the class did provide an introduction to various painting techniques. Although she’s never painted before, Rachel did managed to bring home a decent landscape (see our photos).
We celebrated Eric’s 25th birthday in August, four days after he almost ripped his leg off in a grinder accident while working on the bus. And we went to a family reunion (Rachel’s mom’s side, the Pletts), a first for Eric. A ping-pong tournament was the highlight of the weekend and Eric even managed to win the bronze medal!
We tamed a kitten that Dad rescued from his workplace at the local feed mill. And we watched the fireworks at a nearby community’s homecoming. We agreed the fireworks were some of the best we’d ever seen – and we were able to snag a prime viewing location, about 50 feet from where they were being lit.
We drove into Winnipeg a few times (three hours east) to visit friends and family, help Rachel’s sister move, and go to the spa to enjoy the hammam. We also celebrated our fifth anniversary in October and enjoyed the Manitoba Museum, a show at the planetarium, and the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
Finally, we sweated a lot over the hassle of a) changing our surname and b) becoming “permanent residents” of the province of Manitoba and c) doing these things at the same time. Once we decided to go with option C2, with the goal of being travellers for a few years to come, we decided to make Rachel’s parents’ farm our permanent home. Manitoba is a central location, the farm has lots of room for us, and the likelihood that Mom and Dad will be there in five years is decent. As to our name, well this blog is getting pretty long already, so we’ll keep it short. In the past couple years we gained knowledge about gender inequality, marriage, relationships, and life that required us to take action. In the end, we each took both our last names. The result - Penner de Waal - is a handful, but the best we could do at this point in time.
September turns into December
When we arrived in Manitoba in July, we hadn’t expected to stay on the farm for more than two or three months. But the months slowly slipped by and still we remained.
First, it was convenient/easy. All our worldly possessions were already there, even if they were boxed and taped up. Also, now that we were converting a bus, we needed to be on the farm – Dad had a welder, various tools, equipment, and lots of space. Staying on the farm meant we didn’t need to hassle with moving – hooking up utilities, unpacking, etc.
Second, it was cheap. Yes, we were paying rent, but with one monthly payment this covered our food and utilities and other random expenses, like all those rolls of toilet paper we went through.
Third, we were waiting. Rachel had been waiting to try for an internship at The Walrus (her favourite magazine, based in Toronto) for over a year. The application deadlines were April and October for July and January intakes. First, we decided to go travelling at the beginning of 2007, so that January didn’t work out. Then, because our backpacking was relatively unplanned and we didn’t know when we would be finished, we decided trying for the July intake wasn’t the best idea either. So once we got to Manitoba, Rachel set about applying for the January 2008 intake. The deadline was October 15, so she applied early and expected to find out by the end of October whether she was accepted. A few weeks after mailing her application, she read an update on the magazine’s website and discovered that several things had changed with the internship. It was no longer paid and no longer full-time and no longer six months long. As well, the application deadline had been bumped up to November 1. Altogether, this meant we only found out at the end of November that she didn’t make the cut.
Fourth, we were concerned about Rachel’s grandpa. Grandma and Grandpa were living in an assisted living complex in Brandon, so we were able to visit them occasionally. But in mid-October, Grandpa had been admitted to the hospital for tests. He was finally released at the end of October, only to be immediately re-admitted because he was ill (likely because he caught something in the hospital). Grandpa Penner was 89 and had been living without the use of his legs since April 2005, so any illness was difficult to cope with. Once back in the hospital he slowly deteriorated and was eventually moved into palliative care. During this time, we made many trips into Brandon to see him. Grandpa passed away on November 29 and the funeral was on December 5.
And after the busyness of the funeral had passed, it was almost Christmas, which meant preparing for another voyage across half of Canada. Eric had a week and half off work and it was an odd-numbered year, which meant we would spend Christmas with his family.
And so it happened that we lived with Rachel’s family until Christmas 2007 – five months in total.
