Third time's a charm?

I'm hesitant to write any of this down - my brother Rob likes to say "you make plans - God laughs". Not that he's especially religious, but in two previous attempts our planned trips have been postponed or cancelled outright due to my health. The first time in 2006 - open heart surgery, and again in 2009 - the stroke. I hope that this time there won't be anything in the way.

I walked the furthest I've gone since the stroke (some sixteen months ago) to the library and back for a total of 6.8km. I know this isn't much, but compared to the 3km at Christmas time, it's monumental for me. On the walk home, for no reason, I got inspired to think about what Laura and I should do next. A couple of posts ago, I kicked around the boat idea. If I really think about it though, owning another boat would likely cause all kinds of unintended stress - financial and otherwise. It also complicates things like owning a house, a trailer, and a truck. Two of them would have to go. During the walk I thought about what we could do with the time we've got and the stuff we already own. There are a few considerations:

• Laura finishes school the end of June.
• Laura needs to get in 500 hours of teaching ECE before she gets certified..
• The truck has another year of after market warranty available to us.
• The USA is a big place with lots of places in the sun for the winter. 

So, here's the plan - subject to change of course:

• Laura finishes up her school for the end of June.
• I work on three projects in the interim - an ECE blog, this personal blog, and a book.
• We put plates back on the truck May 15th - just in time for a Deception Pass trip May 19th.
• Laura gets work for July-October to get her 500 hours.
• Cable TV gets cut June 1st - the summer is reruns anyways.
• This summer, I spend time in the Airstream getting it ready for a big trip. This involves batteries, solar panels, water and cellphone/Intenet access while on the road. WiFi in trailer parks is normally pretty bad, and we plan on spending a large amount of time boondocking (one way to see the world and cut some costs). 
• We leave for six months starting either October or November.
• Dave comes home in November, and can look after the house.
• We come home in March or April, and Laura looks for a job (until October, when we do it all again?).

I would normally qualify for EI starting November this year, and this trip would mean that I would forgo the government money in exchange for some freedom. I think the trade off is a good one. The winters here in Vancouver are too hard on me, and being anywhere in Canada for those cold, rainy (snow) days holds no attraction.