Just like clockwork
Here are tales from three couples that have fully embraced the snowbird within
Mike and Bernice New, Rheal and Patricia Chiasson and Richard and Jeanette Fichter have at least three things in common. They are all retired. They like warm weather. They snowbird.
Get into the swing of things
Mike and Bernice New have two reasons to snowbird—the warm weather and the golf. During the summer months, the News are residents of Cranbrook, B.C., but for the past three years they have wintered in Arizona, with stops in Nevada, Utah, Oregon and California. The couple said that learning to drive their 25-foot Topaz fifth wheel was a little nerve-racking but once they got the hang of it, their journey has been nothing but smooth sailing.
“We hadn’t been RVing previously,” said Bernice. “We used to go camping and RVing was just a dream. The first winter we went down to Castle Rock, just north of Parker, Arizona. Then we went to Ajo, Arizona—it is only about 70 miles from the Mexican border and we spent a month there. Then we spent some time in Wellton, which is 29 miles away from Yuma.”
The News spend the majority of their time golfing in Arizona and taking in the sights with their dog, Gizmo. They have met many friends along the way, some of whom Mike and Bernice have met up with every year since. The News have also acquired new interests since becoming snowbirds and Mike is now quite an avid rockhound.
“(I like going into) the desert and picking up agates and stuff,” said Mike. “I keep the best ones and bring them home and polish them.”
Pick one and stick to it
Rheal and Pat Chiasson are originally from New Brunswick but three years ago they became part-time snowbirds and moved to Hill Spring, Alberta. In New Brunswick, Rheal was a teacher and a physical education consultant for the province of New Brunswick. However, he decided that he wanted to spend more time with his wife, Pat, so the Chiassons put their house on the market and purchased a Sandpiper fifth wheel. Since the Chiassons had never been RVing before, they decided to take it for a test drive to make sure the kinks were all worked out before they crossed over.
“We went down to a park right across the street from the RV dealership for three weeks,” said Rheal. “We wanted to make sure that everything was working and if something wasn’t working I wanted to find out how to fix it.”
After the couple’s experiment, they decided to brave driving the distance to Arizona. They had heard from friends that Arizona was a great place to snowbird so they had Arizona marked as their final destination.
“After the first year, once we got to Benson from Phoenix, my wife said that we were not going anywhere else,” said Rheal. “She enjoyed the people there . . . We had been travelling for six months, so we decided to stay.”
This year, the Chiassons will be driving to Oliver, B.C., before crossing the border. In Washington they will pick up a friend that they met in Arizona.
“We have a friend in Washington who was in the campground with us,” said Rheal. “Her husband passed away just a week after we left Benson last spring. She would like to go back to Benson but she can’t drive her fifth wheel. So we said, ‘OK, we will drive down to B.C. and go down to Washington. We will pick you up with your trailer and I will drive yours and Pat will drive our trailer and we will all go down to Benson together.”
Rheal and Pat both love the lifestyle that being a snowbird allows and Rheal said he was amazed at how many people want to RV as well. Whenever he and Pat talk about their lifestyle, the response is always “how much they have been dreaming of just that,” Rheal said.
Second generation snowbirds
Richard and Jeanette Fichter were grain farmers in Lampman, Saskatchewan, until they retired and passed on the business to their sons. For the past four years, they have been snowbirds, just like Richard’s parents.
“The reason we go down south mainly is because my mom and dad have been going down south since the 1970s,” said Richard.
Richard said another reason he and his wife enjoy snowbirding is because of the people they meet while on vacation. In fact, the Fichters became good friends with Bernice and Mike New while in Arizona.
“We enjoy the people that we meet down there too—like Mike and Bernice,” said Richard. “People are different when you go away. They are more relaxed and it is a totally different atmosphere.”
The Fichters’ favourite state to visit is Arizona and one day they may visit Texas. But for now, all they know is that they both like getting away from the Canadian winter.
“It is so nice and warm down there,” said Richard. “All you have to do is look at the weather forecast up there in Saskatchewan when it is 40 below and say, ‘We are staying another week.’ ”
Take the plunge
So for those that have been dreaming about exploring the road less travelled, for those that say, ‘Wow, I’ve always wanted to do that’, now is the time to stop dreaming and hit the road. Take it from these three couples—it’s worth it.
