Prologue

PROLOGUE

MAY 28, 2004

After two and a half years of planning and preparation, we are three weeks away from the beginning of a new chapter in our lives, as vagabonds. Escapees ! Explorers !

Escapees is the name of the U.S. based RV club we joined a year and a half ago, upon the recommendation of Sue Filiatrault, a sales manager for the Iams Pet Food Company whose parents have been Escapees, and full time RV travellers, for over ten years. Escapees, based in Livingston, Texas, is dedicated to supporting RV living and travelling.

Explorers is the name of the Canadian RV club we joined last September when we bought our "rig" ; a thirty foot fifth wheel trailer ( named Harvey ) and a one ton turbo-diesel "dually" 4 x 4 truck ( named Dee Dee ).

The businesses are sold ! The house is sold ! Most of our possessions are sold ! This weekend we will be attending a Flea Market in Rockland to sell as much as we can of our remaining possessions. Joanne has recently been poked, prodded, squeezed, squished, scooped, smeared, and who knows what else, to ensure that she is currently cancer free to begin this adventure.

We will leave Ottawa on June 18 for Kingston. The Maple Leaf Chapter of Escapees will be holding their 2004 Spring Rally near Kingston from June 22 to 25. We will arrive in Kingston a few days early, to visit and say farewell to some old friends who live there.

Then on to the Explorers RV Club 2004 National Rally near Windsor.

But ... I'm getting ahead of myself ...