RVs Are Expensive

 Let's forget the daily tribulations of politics and crony economy for a while and let's talk RVs.

Unless you are owning a 25yr. old wreck of an RV you would know that RVs are expensive. And maybe that's just why you know they are expensive. 

Buying an RV will set you back thousands of hard-earned dollars. I know what I am talking about. I have done it way too often. And it's like I am never learning, I did it again in January when I bought another one - this time in Michigan. OK, it was used, a coupla years old, but looking like new. 

Like a few years ago, it's a travel trailer again. 32ft long and quite spacious. Unfortunately, our tow vehicle had stage 4 cancer. My mechanic shot me a warning eye, when I mentioned pulling a 7500pound trailer with the vehicle. The cancer had eaten parts of the frame and one of the rear shocks was just barely hanging on. 

But I had already signed the purchase contract for a trailer located in Michigan, so what to do? 

Challenges of this kind tend to find solutions with me. I went online and found a new tow vehicle. It's a 1t. Chevy Express van. Looks like a younger brother of the old one. If you have read this blog for a while you will remember that I was in Houston for the purpose of picking it up.

Enough said, the plan was to enjoy the warm sun of a desert winter again. Alas, as we all know, nCovid-19 appeared and shut down everything. 

In fact, while I was hastening along the highway in February the virus had already found it's first victims.

Shortly after getting home, the border to Canada was closed. 

So I felt kinda f**ked for a while. Another challenge, began occupying my mind: what to do with the trailer?

From time to time we had talked about renting out parts of our house in the summer, but never really did anything about it.

Now we had a house and a trailer. 2 households! And therein was the solution. We could rent out the trailer and recoup parts of our investment, or we could rent out the house and spend the summer in the trailer. We decided to stay in the house and run the trailer as a rental. The plan ripened quickly and we registered with AirBnB. Of course, the closed border would prevent Americans from renting the trailer, but maybe we could find interested Canadians?

Shortly after becoming AirBnB hosts, we received the first inquiries and then....reservations began pouring in. 

We were floored.

Since June 15 we have been swamped with people wanting to come and enjoy this ever so beautiful place on the fringe of Canada. New Brunswick has a population of  about 776,000 only, but this summer many of those good New Brunswickers came to explore this island. Of course, our tour business was wiped out, but our trailer is rented as we speak.

Why am I writing about this? Well, I know that RVers are out there and some might have the same opportunity as we have. Some might be without an income or even have to make payments on the RV parked in the driveway. You might be able to attract renters for your rig.

You stretch an extension cord from your house to plug in your rig. You fill up the fresh water tank and you are in business. You say you have no dump on the property? Not a major problem. Assuming you have a toilet in your house, you also can dump the waste water. It might be a bit messy, but alternatively. you might also have a public park with a dump station in your neighbourhood. Some gas stations also have dump stations. We use the dump at our nearby Prov. Park.  So once you have figured out the basics you can start equipping your rig for renters. Think "hotel" or "motel" when you do that. If you don't have a breakfast restaurant in your neighbourhood you should make it possible for your guests to prepare a breakfast in your rig. Have Coffe maker, toaster and hot-water boiler for tea. Propane tanks must be filled up and Air Condition and heater should be working. Get 2 sets of bedding so you can change the beds quickly, while the used set is in the washer. 

It's really not very complicated to start your own mini motel. AirBnB is widely accepted and sought after and you will never have a marketing problem. They send your money either by direct deposit or you will receive a cheque in the mail. Direct deposit is the way to go though. It's fast and your bank will appreciate the extra flow of money into your account.

Being that busy this summer with Canadians only, we can just start to imagine next year if Americans can come back to Canada.

So why not try it