“Is Everything OK?”

We enjoyed experiencing a different “culture” in Massachusetts. Yes, we were still in the US, but I’m sure many of you have experienced the fact that cultures and traditions vary in different regions. In a diverse area such as the Bay Area in California, culture can shift quickly from one neighborhood to another.

When I say Massachusetts, I am referring specifically to northwestern Massachusetts where we spent most of our time. The area we lived in is sometimes referred to as the “hill towns”, for obvious reasons (lots of hills). The area is also known as the Berkshires. I am NOT referring to Boston, which has its own unique culture.

I know I am generalizing, but the sense I got was that people in the small towns of northwestern Massachusetts watch out for each other. Yes, people there are highly independent and individualistic as is the stereotypical cultural image of much of the US, but at the same time, you don’t feel that people are so independent as to not care about their neighbors.

One day we stopped our car on the side of the road to take a photo. Within moments, another car stopped to check on us – “Is everything okay?”, the driver called out. It was a small gesture, but something that I don’t feel happens often enough in the Bay Area where people are too busy to take the time to check on others. In fact, in the Bay Area it is more likely that one or more aggressive drivers would try to intimidate those in the stopped vehicle.

We stopped to document this road sign, which points to Long Hill Road

Similarly, on another occasion, we had spotted an interesting-looking cemetery beside the road. We stopped to walk around and see how old the gravestones were. After a few minutes of walking around, a man tending a grave on the other side of the cemetery came by and asked us if everything was okay and if we needed anything. He then proceeded to show us some of the markers that he found interesting.

It’s hard to fully capture the feeling in words, but we really felt a sense of community in the area. These stories may not sound that unusual, but sadly, in my experience in the SF Bay Area, I rarely experienced these types of uplifting interactions with strangers.

Purpose

Recently we had a rewarding evening chatting with some of our new friends. It inspired us to share some of the details of things we’ve learned about our purpose for doing what we’re doing while in the process of doing it.

One of our goals when we left our jobs and began this journey a couple of years ago was to have the opportunity – and time – to connect more with people. When we were both working full time, we were involved in our community in various ways, but it felt like we never had sufficient time to connect deeply with people. We were busy, they were busy, it was difficult to coordinate schedules, etc. We wanted to spend more time with friends and family and make new friends as well. We thought, what better way to have more time to connect with others than if we both quit our jobs and had no firm commitments on our time!

We recognize that not everyone would be interested in taking an extreme approach such as we did, and that’s okay. For example, it can be just as meaningful when someone who is very busy makes time for you, because you recognize the effort required for them to spend some of their precious time with you. But for us, we wanted to try something more radical and different.

Once we took the leap and quit our jobs, many people asked us, “What do you do all day?” Of course, there are a variety of things we do throughout the day, but mainly I’m happy to report that we feel we are succeeding in the important goal of connecting with people. Here are some examples.

We spent our first five months in Mexico. During that time, we were able to reconnect with friends and family who we hadn’t seen in many years. Especially valuable was the time we spent with elderly relatives in their 70’s and 80’s. Additionally, we helped two of Maricela’s young cousins with their English lessons for several months, while at the same time renewing ties with their extended family.

Later we also visited relatives on the East Coast and in Europe who we hadn’t seen in over 30 years (or ever in the case of our European cousins!)

Several of our house sitting gigs have ended with new friendships. Over time, our regular updates and communications with the homeowners developed into relationships that will last beyond house sitting – they have already invited us back, whether it’s to sit for them again or just to visit!

In the small town we were in in Massachusetts, we could easily have become isolated, since we were on a rural property and we didn’t know anyone. But that would defeat one of the purposes for us being there. So to combat that, we attended as many community events as we could find. We went to a dinner with the local historical society, a 250th year anniversary celebration of a neighboring town, a lavender festival, the local farmers market, and we regularly attended a local church. Through these efforts, and because of our house sitting, we got to know many people.

We met an elderly widower who is passionate about music. Even though he has difficulty walking, he finds the stamina to drive himself all around the area to attend music festivals and “music in the park” types of events. Once we met up with him for one event, he wanted us to join him three or four times a week for various events. And we did join him as often as we could. Additionally, Richard spent a couple of weeks building a wheelchair ramp for him. We’ll never know just how much actual difference we made in his life, but we know he appreciated our company and the fact that we showed an interest in him and his life.

Others who we met invited us to yoga classes, swimming in local lakes, a graduation party – our efforts to reach out and get to know people where we’ve visited have been rewarded by locals responding in kind and helping us to feel at home.

I hope these stories reveal a little about why we left our jobs, for a life “on the road”, and at the same time they provide you with a little glimpse into what we do all day.

We Saw a Bear!

Having grown up in the suburbs of Southern California and raising our children in the suburbs of Northern California, spotting random wildlife during our daily routine was not a common occurrence for us. In Southern California, the only animals I ever encountered were cats, dogs, and occasionally birds; we didn’t even have squirrels climbing the backyard fences. In Northern California, we did see squirrels, and occasionally birds such as geese, herons, and wild turkeys, but nothing more exotic than that.

We were advised ahead of time that western Massachusetts would be different. The hills contain a diversity of wildlife. As noted in my previous post, we certainly experienced that diversity, seeing porcupines, beavers, snakes and more, all either on our property or within a short walk.

We were told a couple of times that bears are among that diversity here. We were also told that these are not like bears in some other areas, i.e., they are not large nor aggressive toward humans. As we spoke more with locals, we learned that bear sightings are fairly common. While I did not want an “encounter” with a bear, I was interested in spotting one. Spotting a bear somehow seems more exotic to me than many other animals one might come across.

I’m happy to report that we finally did spot a bear! We were driving on one of the local roads a mile or two from the house and a bear ran across the road about 50 yards ahead of us. The bear was larger than I expected, and it was running surprisingly fast. After seeing it I was very happy to not have encountered it while hiking through the woods!

I wasn’t able to snap a photo, so you’ll have to take my word for it. It was an exciting moment!

Wildlife

There is an amazing diversity of wildlife here in the western hills of Massachusetts. There is a family of foxes on our property and we have been watching their four little kits grow up. We have also seen wild turkeys, porcupines, deer, snakes, newts, spiders, ticks and beavers. Apparently bears are frequently spotted in the area as well, but we haven’t seen any ourselves.

Many of the animals are hard to capture with the camera, but here are a few images:

A yellow spider with arms stretched out like a crab

A porcupine scurrying off the side of the road

We’ve seen many garter snakes.
This one was trying to catch some morning sun to warm up.

Another garter snake. They are not venomous, but they can be a startling sight when we go out for a hike.

House Sit Flexibility

Most of the homeowners who we’ve done house sits for have been pretty flexible with us. That is, they are willing to work with us on the timing of our arrival and departure, when and whether we do a visit in advance of the start date, discussing the expectations of the sit, etc. Our sit in Massachusetts was almost five months long, and the homeowners were even more flexible, making it a great experience for us.

For example, we asked if we could do a summer vegetable garden in the side area of their yard. They had no problem with us setting it up, so we collected some branches from the forest and put together a makeshift fence, in order to keep out the many deer in the area. When our sit was complete, we checked with the homeowners and they said we could leave the garden as is, and they would enjoy the late summer produce.

We kept the garden off to the side of the yard

Our maturing garden, with its makeshift fence

Another example was that we were interested in having chickens. We’re mostly city people and didn’t have much experience with chickens, but we saw that they had an old coop out in the meadow that was in need of some repairs. We had been thinking about giving chickens a try anyway, so we checked and these homeowners were fine with us repairing the coop and bringing in a few chickens. That gave us a great opportunity to try it out without too much expense or commitment. Since we only had a few months, we purchased adult chickens from a local hobby farmer. It took the chickens a few weeks to adjust to their new surroundings, then they began producing eggs for us.

We selected Cochin chickens. We found them to have beautiful coloration. Additionally, the rooster did very little crowing.

We also try to be as flexible as possible, such as adjusting our schedule in order to meet the homeowners’ needs. In addition, we always do our best to be respectful of the homes where we stay. That’s why we’re sure to get approval in advance of doing things like this. We also want to leave a place as good or better than when we arrived. As for the chickens, we not only got approval to leave the chickens behind, but we also made a backup plan with a neighbor to adopt the chickens in case the homeowner was no longer interested.

Massachusetts House Sit

Following a little over two weeks of leisure travel, we drove to our next house sit, in the Berkshires area of northwestern Massachusetts, also referred to as part of the “hill towns”. People ask us if we like to visit Boston, but we’re nearly as far as you can get from Boston while still remaining in Massachusetts. We are north, almost to the Vermont border, and we are west, almost to the New York state border. Needless to say, we’ve only driven in to Boston a couple of times. That makes for a very different experience than if we were in Boston or another nearby coastal town.

Instead, we are in a small, rural town in the hills. It is remote, yet it has an active, welcoming community which helps us feel right at home. This region was developed many years ago, with some of the nearby towns being established as early as the late 1600’s. Our town was incorporated in 1785. It currently has a population of around 700 people.

House sitting through TrustedHousesitters.com almost always involves taking care of one or more pets as well, since people cannot leave their pets alone while they travel. Sometimes the homeowners have other special requests. For example, on our Kentucky sit, the homeowner had a setup that required monitoring the pipes during the winter to prevent them from freezing. In our new sit in Massachusetts, there is a pet and there is also a small job that we will be responsible for. Read on…

This house sit is on a 100+ acre maple farm. The family actively taps the maple trees and produces maple syrup for sale. They have multiple channels to sell the syrup, one of which is a roadside stand. The stand relies on the honor system – we label the prices on the bottles of syrup and put out a fresh supply in the morning; then in the afternoon we stop by to pick up the cash and checks that have been deposited in the lockbox. This only requires a few minutes of our time, and the stand is open for business only on the weekends.

Since we are house sitting during the summer, we are not involved in the rest of the maple producing business. During the summer, the trees are simply doing their own thing, absorbing sunlight, growing, and stocking up on sap for the next season. The trees are tapped in the late winter, the sap is immediately processed into syrup and then bottled. All of those steps were complete by the time we arrived.

If you are interested in ordering some maple syrup, or just learning more about the farm where we stayed, check out the various links on their web site at: https://www.berkshiresweetgold.com/ We highly recommend the syrup!

Having this “job” of operating the roadside stand is really enriching our house sitting experience. Of course we are learning a lot about the actual process of maple syrup production, and that makes the history of the area come alive (for example, we learned that in earlier times, sheep production was a significant industry in the area). It also gives us the opportunity to interact and become more engaged with the community. This is an experience that we never would have had otherwise.

For anyone who might be interested in looking into this type of house sitting, the website we go through is TrustedHousesitters.com. There is an annual fee to join and to be able to see the full listings, although it does allow non-members to preview some information. The last time I checked, the fee was $119 per year. If anyone is interested, use the following link for a 25% discount: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF123171/

Our Budget

We retired in July 2017 and have been traveling ever since. One of our reasons for retiring early was that we felt there were ways we could live significantly cheaper than we had been while employed.

Initially, this meant moving to Mexico. We have a house available to us in Mexico where we can live rent-free*. It’s not a completely free living arrangement, since there are the other usual expenses associated with living anywhere, primarily utilities, but these expenses are lower in Mexico than they are in the US. The house is not in a tourist area, so food costs and other living expenses are not inflated. Aside from the cost of traveling to Mexico, the actual cost of living there is very reasonable – at least it is for someone who has savings and pension income in dollars; it’s not as easy for locals who earn pesos.

After almost five months in Mexico we discovered another living arrangement that would allow us to continue to live at very low cost and NOT limit us to living in Mexico, and that is house sitting. Our experience house sitting is described in more detail in other posts.

Now that we have nearly a year of experience, we have some expense data that we can share. We have been tracking every expense for eight months; we did not track our first two months, as we were traveling across the US and then in transition mode and we didn’t feel that period would be representative of ongoing expenses.

Our expense tracking begins with our first full month in Mexico, September 2017, and continues through April 2018. Our average monthly living cost, with just a few exceptions**, is $1,880/month. This includes four months in Mexico and four months in the US, and it includes everyday living expenses as well as travel costs.

I won’t deny that we are cautious about our expenses, e.g., we are not traveling first class, but at the same time we honestly do not feel deprived. The $1,880 monthly average includes a three-week driving trip from Mexico to California to Kentucky, a week-long side trip with family members who visited us in Kentucky, and another three-week trip from Kentucky to New York City to Massachusetts. It includes lodging, eating out, gasoline, tourist activities. We don’t dine at expensive restaurants, but we do eat out on the road, as well as frequenting coffee shops. Then when we are in whatever location we currently call home, we mostly cook at home, enjoying whatever we desire made with good quality ingredients.

One thing missing from this analysis is what we spent when we were both working before we retired. Unfortunately, we did not track our expenses back then. However, I know we were spending everything we were earning, and not putting any more funds into savings than we are now.

The bottom line is, we are living very contentedly, seeing more places than we would have imagined, and spending less money than we expected!

*A note for those who don’t have a rent-free house available to them: in the town where we live, a small, bare bones, older apartment could be rented for as little as $20 per month. A more realistic living arrangement, but still below what most Americans are accustomed to, can be had for $150-$200 per month. Prices go up from there, and if you want to live in American-style comfort in a location frequented by tourists, it will cost significantly more, approaching American prices.

**While I consider the $1,880 monthly expense number to include “all” of our spending, there are a couple of things left out of this number:
• The mortgage on our house (primary residence) along with other expenses associated with homeownership. The reasoning for this is the house is rented out and the rent covers these costs. That’s a separate budget as I see it.
• Some of the remodel costs for the house in Mexico. I considered these as optional, one-time expenses, not ongoing living expenses.
• Tuition and living expenses for our kids in college. I consider these as temporary, and also not representative of our regular living expenses.
• We set aside some money into savings each month for large future expenses, such as when the car needs to be replaced. The amount set aside varies, and instead of including the amount of the savings in our budget, we would reflect the actual cost of any such expenses when they occur.

Goodbye Kentucky

During our last couple of days in Kentucky we received one of our heaviest snows yet, probably around 4 inches. Apparently this is what’s common for the area, and it melts off quickly. Heavy snowfall beyond 6 inches or so is uncommon.

Our house sit in Kentucky is complete and we will miss the lovely home we stayed in and the friendly dog. We will miss the peaceful quiet by the lake, and the pleasant walks around the forest and pastures. We had a great experience and made some new friends in the process.

We had never experienced a “real” winter before, besides visiting the snow occasionally for a day or two. In Kentucky we got to live out the winter for two months, which gave us a much better idea of what real winter is like. Snow was never much of an issue, since we didn’t have anywhere that we had to be. The house was always comfortable due to the type of radiant heat in the floors. The only times we were uncomfortable were when we had to go out somewhere and the air was bitter cold (to us that’s anything under about 35 degrees!) Overall we actually enjoyed winter in Kentucky – maybe because we know we can return to California any time.

We had to drive through heavy snowfall on our way out of Kentucky. For three or four hours we were driving through falling snow on slushy roads in Kentucky and Ohio. The slush was very wet and had accumulated at least 3-4 inches on the road. That’s not what this Californian is used to driving in, but we took it slow and made it safely to our destination.

We undertook this journey to meet new people, visit new places, and have new experiences. Our stay in Kentucky more than accomplished all of these goals!

Kentucky

We are spending two months house- and pet-sitting in central Kentucky. We are in a rural part of the state near Lexington. The house is a 250-year old log house, which was recently remodeled. The interior has been fully modernized, and the exterior is well maintained.

The house sits about 50 feet from a lake, on a large property with few neighbors.

The pet is a 6-year old English Springer Spaniel, with a very easygoing personality.

Even though it’s winter, the weather is often pleasant enough to sit out by the lake.

All in all, we’re having a great time on our first long-term sit!

Life on the Lake

Our first long-term sit is at a house on a lake in rural, central Kentucky. The house is about half a mile off a main road, and about 50 feet from the lake. We are in a 250-year old log house. We have a dog to look after while we are here, and we need to keep a watch on the pipes to ensure they don’t freeze during the winter.

See link below for a 1-minute video of the lake.

Use the following link for a 25% discount when signing up for TrustedHousesitters: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF123171/

House Sitting

I heard an interview on a podcast a couple of years ago, of a guest who had spent several years traveling the world inexpensively by house sitting for others who were temporarily away from their homes. That led Maricela and me to look into it further.

We found there are several websites that connect house sitters with those needing the service. In about 99% of cases, the homeowner has one or more pets, which is the primary reason they need someone to stay at their house while they are away. A house itself can usually be left alone, but not so for pets that aren’t able to travel with their owners. The ability for the pet to stay at home in familiar surroundings is a much better experience for the pet than to leave them in a dog kennel, for example.

We also found there are a wide variety of sits available – short term (a weekend), long term (some are 6 months or even a year), domestic, international (Europe and Australia are popular), dogs, cats, even some with farm animals.

Maricela and I signed up on a website while we were still in California, and did a couple of house sits while we were working, to try it out. We wanted to get a feel for it while we were close to home.

Once we were in Mexico, we checked the listings occasionally. There aren’t as many listings in Mexico, but eventually we found one in Mexico City, about four hours away from where we were staying. So we traveled to Mexico City for ten days. While there we were responsible for taking care of three dogs and two cats. They could be left alone for several hours during the daytime, giving us ample time to explore the city. It worked out great for both us and the home/pet owners and the pets, and it reaffirmed the experience we had in California.

As mentioned in another post, we checked to see if there were any interesting listings in the US, since we had to leave Mexico at least briefly to renew our visas. We liked one we found in Kentucky, and that’s where we are currently.

The website we go through is TrustedHousesitters.com. There is an annual fee to join and to be able to see the full listings, although it does allow non-members to see some information. The last time I checked, the fee was $119 per year. If anyone is interested, use the following link for a 25% discount: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF123171/

Let us know if you try it out!

A Detour

Last summer we left Pleasanton to move to Mexico. Not necessarily permanently, but for several years at least. As a friend of ours put it, we’re not moving permanently, but we’re also not purchasing a return ticket.

Our first stint in Mexico lasted almost five months. Since we’re on a tourist visa, we are required to leave Mexico within 180 days. And since we drove, our vehicle also must cross the border within the same time frame. We can re-enter Mexico at any time, even the same day, and have another 180 days. The point is that we knew we were going to have to drive out of Mexico at some point within the first six months, we just had to figure out exactly when we would exit as well as when we would return.

As I’ve said to many people, our time in Mexico has been better than expected. We visit people often, we have plenty of time to spend with each other and by ourselves, we enjoy the slower pace, the food is amazing – the list goes on. However, as we started planning our trip to cross the border, we started considering other experiences we might pursue. One thing we had tried previously in both the US and Mexico is house/pet sitting. We said to each other, we don’t have any permanent commitments yet in Mexico – no chickens or goats, no gardens to take care of, etc. – so let’s see if there are any house sitting opportunities that sound interesting.

We looked toward the central US – our kids are on opposite coasts, and we’ve never spent time any further east than Colorado. The most interesting sit that came up was in Kentucky. We’ve never been there, so why not give it a try? We applied for the sit and were selected. Due to the needs of the home/pet owners, it meant we needed to return from Mexico a few weeks earlier than originally planned. We took care of affairs in Mexico, headed to California to visit family and friends, then drove on to Kentucky.

US-Mexico map with overview of our travels

We have not abandoned our plans to return to Mexico but, as the title of this post suggests, we are taking a detour before returning again. We want to make the most of our newfound freedom and explore other places. We are blessed by good health, and we are able to keep our expenses low, both of which help make this possible.

One anecdote about our travels – on our way to Kentucky we drove through the Petrified Forest National Park. As we were enjoying the winding roads and the amazing scenery, Maricela summed up our situation by saying, “Or, we could return to cubicle life!” Our minimalist lifestyle that makes our travels possible is not for everyone, but for us, it’s much more satisfying than the alternative!

Traveling Photographer

Documenting our Adventures

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