Housecarers.com

Thursday 13 March 2014

Upcoming story of another adventurous Canadian couple

Olas Altas Beach with son, Tim.


I will be writing more later about the Canadian couple, Jen and Steve, who I have found on www.housecarers.com, who will be my house/dog-sitters for the month of May.  I chose them over others because of their story.  Here is what I know so far:

They live(d) in Barrie, Ontario and recently sold their house and stored their belongings with a new life plan to retire and travel the world doing house-sitting.  Their first stop will be Mazatlan.  They have never been to Mexico. They don't speak any Spanish.  I admire their moxie, and am happy I can help like-minded adventurers get started on what will surely be an eventful and memorable time of their lives!

After a visit with their son in Edmonton, Alberta, they plan to fly down here in April, ahead of starting the house-sit for me so that I can spend some time familiarizing them to Mazatlan and my dogs.  They are very excited!

My plans are to fly to Houston on May 1st and meet up with Mike there when he returns from this last stint of two months in Kuwait.  From there we plan to drive our Canadian-plated Versa up to Las Vegas for an industry conference from the 5th to the 9th of May.  After that, Mike will fly back to Houston and possibly back to Kuwait again (we aren't sure of the length of time he will be in Houston this time) and I will carry on up to Calgary to return the Versa to it's legal home in Alberta.  I will have to find a parking spot for it but that shouldn't be a big problem.

I may also be spending some time there looking at possible house or apartment rentals again.  It is possible that after this contract ends in July, Mike will be taking a contract in Calgary for six months or more.  We are weighing all the pros and cons on this because Chevron has verbally stated they expect to keep him on after July until at least the end of 2014.  But will they guarantee that with a contract? That remains to be seen.

In the meantime, Mike has a contract offer in hand from July to December in Calgary.  Its a good feeling to have that much security.

After some time in Calgary, I will fly back to Houston and pick up a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee we bought recently from a friend and drive it back to Mazatlan.  I hope Mike will be around to drive with me, but if not, I have great instructions and recommendations for the drive through Mexico.  Many people do it frequently without a problem and with the new highway from Durango to Mazatlan, the trip time has been cut dramatically and made safer too.  There are places along the way I am tempted to stop and explore.

Road trip in Mexico anyone?