In 2020, Vicky Ringuette and her husband Alexandre Lessard decided to make a crazy dream come true: sell their home in Saint-Clet, leave their jobs behind and hit the road in their new home: a converted school bus. Interview with the family, who have now clocked up almost 100,000 kilometers and spent over 1,000 days in their home on wheels. 

From the very first minutes of the interview, Alexandre, points out that they've been living in this rolling bungalow for exactly 1,043 days, and have covered a total of 98,700 kilometers since they left on November 3, 2020.

"When we left, we didn't have a timetable in mind, we just let life take its course. In a few weeks, we'll be back on the road for a 4th year. It's crazy when you think about it, because our youngest, Raphaël, stayed longer on the bus than he did in our house in Saint-Clet (laughs). It's quite something when you think about it," says Vicky, sitting at her swivel kitchen table alongside her partner Alexandre Lessard.

In the coming weeks, their journey will take them as far as Tennessee, Texas and even Mexico. "We're going to complete the loop we started on our previous trips. We were reluctant to go to Baja California, a Mexican state on the border with the US state of California, because of what people say about how dangerous the region is.In the end, we decided to go there and realized that it was far from what people say about the region. We really enjoyed traveling, getting over our fears and discovering a part of the world we'd never been to before," she says, as Alexandre and their eldest son Dominick, 14, look on approvingly.

A summer of discovering Quebec

In recent weeks, the family has visited the Côte-Nord, Saguenay Lac-St-Jean and Newfoundland and Labrador. "We saw icebergs in Newfoundland and it was very impressive.I never thought I'd experience that in my life. It's been an exceptional year out there. When we passed through, there were over 400 icebergs visible, which happens very rarely. We're always blessed on our trips with things like that. I think we have a lucky star watching over us" she adds.

But all was not well for the family, who had to deal with cold temperatures and even a snowstorm along the way. "In Western Canada, our heating broke and it was between 0 and 2 degrees.We walked around in our toques.In California, when we left Mexico, we were stopped for a few days by a snowstorm, because we were at altitude.Contrary to what people think, we're not on vacation. If we have a mechanical problem, we can only rely on ourselves to sort it out," explains Alexandre, who was a truck driver in his other life.Vicky agrees, citing a small village in Mexico as an example.When they arrived, the weather was mild.However, light rain turned the ground from dust to mud and clay, making it a challenge to get out of the place in one piece. 

"We're lucky nothing happens to us. That time, we slipped, but we managed to get away anyway.But we had a good scare.Otherwise, we're a lot more zen and confident now that we're on our 4th trip."

A special memory for the family was celebrating the birthdays of two of their boys 5,500 kilometers apart, in two different countries and two different environments. "For one, we were in Newfoundland with the icebergs, while for the other, we were in Mexico under the hot sun in a peninsula resembling Florida," he confides.

Opening up to the world and other cultures

In the course of their adventures, the children Dominick (14) , Gabriel (11 and 3\4) , Olivier (10 and a half) and Raphaël (7) are opening up to the world and other cultures. " They are learning English and Spanish. Our oldest has even started studying German.Before, when they went to school here, not all our children were avid readers.They had trouble reading a whole book.Now, reading is part of their daily routine. They each have a reader, and what's more, they ask us to stop off at the library when we're back in the area between two trips," Vicky says.

The same goes for food: while the boys had very specific tastes before the big departure, today they eat everything." In Mexico, they realized that there aren't as many varieties of food and flavors as there are here.We ate a lot of fruit and vegetables, and chicken only once.In every way, they're open to diversity, and I've noticed that they've developed a kindness for others and are more attentive to others," says Vicky.

After four years of sharing their space with their four children, Vicky and Alexandre aren't fed up." We're closer than ever. We're discovering the world, and the boys are confronted with the reality on the ground, which is often different from what we see when we vacation elsewhere, like in Mexico for example. They realize how lucky they are to live here in our privileged society," says the couple in chorus.

While Alexandre takes care of getting his family to their destination, Vicky turns into a teacher with the boys." I'm less intense than I was at the beginning, though.School is important, but so is the school of life.My youngest, aged 7, goes through the Bescherelle to learn his verbs, but he's also able to make us mashed avocados every morning for breakfast.I consider that they learn as much on the road as in books." 

Their conclusion after months on the road?

"We wouldn't go back to the way things were before. We realized that people here put a lot of pressure on themselves at work, but also in family life.  We're always running. We come back here and we're freaked out when we see this.It's hard to get together for a special event because we're too busy.We no longer take the time to live and spend time together, which is what's essential," they analyze.

Although the family clan will be back on the road in a few weeks' time, Alexandre and Vicky are already thinking about their next trip. For this trip, the bus may be left out of the equation, since it will take place in Europe.

"We're starting to think about it.Maybe we'll backpack.We're looking into it.For the moment, we don't know what form this project will take. But it's exciting to think about it and plan," they conclude.