Penny and Mike's Excellent Adventure (Apologies to Bill and Ted)

 

  Up there? That's us. Penny's on the right. This photo was taken in November 2022 during our last adventure, backcountry hiking in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Earlier that year we had embarked on another Great Adventure, sailing to Antarctica. For both of those trips our traveling companions, Ben and Sandra, accompanied us and shared in all the fun. Now it's time for a new, different kind of adventure -- house sitting.

  But first, some background. For those of you who don't know us well, we LOVE to travel.

  At the outset of our relationship, back in 1982, we were still in university... and very broke. With a two week break between semesters and needing some R&R, I asked my on again/off again girlfriend (Penny) if she would like to drive to Florida. She agreed the idea sounded attractive but, she asked, how can we do it if we're both poor? Short story, I lied to my parents about needing money to eat or pay rent or some such boring thing and we piled into my borrowed car and off we went.

  It was a wonderful trip filled with sunny beach days, much drinking and delicious restaurant meals while we slept in her aunt and uncle's condo near the beach. It was such a great trip that we both kind of arrived at the idea of getting married over margaritas and guacamole at El Gordo's on the beach at Clearwater. Four months later it was a fait accompli and we embarked on a life of many adventures.

  Like many newlyweds our immediate concerns were money, home and family, all of which we took care of in short order. Three years later, with two little girls in tow, we moved into our new house. We loved that house. It was new, had all new furniture and appliances and sat in a sea of mud. It was heaven. For six months.

  Before I go further it's important to know my wife describes herself as a "travel slut". I prefer to think of her as a "travel junkie" so I guess that makes me her enabler. Whenever she needs a travel fix we meet behind the high school and I deal her the next hit.

  Early in 1986 I came home after reading a job posting at the office. "How do you feel about moving to Australia for two years?", I asked semi-seriously, expecting a resounding "NO!" only six months after moving into our new home. Her response? "When do we leave?" This pattern would be repeated many times in the future.

  Now, back to present day and I happen to read an article about house sitting. It seems to tick all the boxes we look for like, free housing while we travel the world. Oh, did I say "boxes"? I meant "box"... a BIG box. The free housing usually requires pet care as part of the bargain. Penny and I have spent almost our entire adult lives with animals of one sort or another while our kids grew up so we're ok with that. After that it might entail cutting the grass, cleaning the house, bringing in the mail; no problem with any of that. So, once all this was explained to her Penny responded with, "when do we leave?"

  Since we have no idea if we'll like this house sitting thing we figured it would be best if we minimized cost and risk. Therefore, we've selected sits in North America, specifically, Arizona, California, British Columbia and Minnesota. That allows us to drive everywhere and avoid air fares, visas and language barriers. We'll drive our car in a big circle for three and a half months and, by the time we return to Toronto mid-September, we should know if we like it.

  The adventure begins May 29. Until then you won't hear from us as we'll be busy packing a 2,500 sq ft house into a 200 sq ft storage unit. Stay tuned.