MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Summer 2019

58 MOUNTAIN HOME SPRINT TO FREEDOM Couple takes early retirement mobile words & photo :: Colin Field The idea came about in early March of 2018. And after a few Northwinds sessions, they decided; John Wharin and his wife Kim, 54 and 53 years old respectively, would sell it all. They’d lived in Nottawa for the past 12 years, raising their two kids, Max and Megan, but the kids had moved on. John and Kim had been empty-nesting for the past five years. All the while John was working in Etobicoke. “I was commuting five hours a day to the city and I just got burned out,” says John. “I just couldn’t do it anymore. So yeah, life changes.” And Kim agrees. “We just decided that we’re young enough, that we can be active and we can do all the things we want to do for the next twenty years,” says Kim. “And we wanted to get off the hamster wheel.” The avid mountain bikers put their house up for sale. It sold within two weeks. They rented a place while looking for a van and after three months they found a 2015 diesel Mercedes Sprinter high top. Outfitted by New West out of Quebec City, this four-season recreational vehicle has it all: furnace, AC, a toilet, a shower, a queen-sized bed, a microwave, a fridge and an induction cooktop. “It has a good layout, it has everything in there we need,” says Kim. “It’s got more than enough storage for us, we can do everything we want to do in there.” “We definitely do the dinner dance, skirting around each other,” says John. “We probably questioned each other a few times when we first got in there, just like, ‘This is tiny!’ But you figure it out. It all settles in.” With 400 watts of solar cells on the roof, the couple are self-sufficient and can live completely off-grid. And the diesel engine gets “ridiculously good mileage,” according to Kim. “It runs forever,” agrees John. “I burn out before we run out of fuel.” Perhaps most importantly the van came with a swing-away bike rack. And since selling it all, their mountain bike-inspired travels have taken them all over North America.