Rikki and Chris are the travelers behind Traveling 12 Feet, a soon-to-be Canadian couple who have spent much of the last two years tooling around America in a 36-ft Class C Dutchmen RV with their cat, Spencer, and dog, Fox.
The equation is: 2 guys + 1 dog + 1 cat = 12 Feet.
Committed to one another in the face of Phillippine citizen Rikki’s expiring work visa, they’re now hunkered down in Washington State, waiting for the next stage of their lives to begin — one in which they can stay together forever.
They both love their furry family, traveling and photography…but only Chris does the driving.
TWT: Where did each of you grow up? Was travel a part of your respective childhoods?
Chris: I was born and raised in Northern California, in the Bay Area. My uncle was a commercial fisherman and my dad loved fishing with a passion. So, every weekend my family and I were off to lakes, rivers, streams, sloughs, ponds or the ocean, all over California and Nevada.
Rikki: I was born and raised in the Philippines, and always longed to explore the thousands of islands there. I did make it to some; a memorable trip was to Taal, a volcano within a lake within a larger volcano.
TWT: When, where and how did you two meet?
Rikki: We met at a Halloween party in San Francisco in 2004. We were the only two people not wearing costumes.
Chris: From the beginning, we seemed to fit each other like hand and glove. My family adores Rikki, as do my friends and colleagues.
We’re rarely apart, but when we are, it’s not difficult or lonely, really…it just seems part of me is missing. Rikki is my confidant, my best friend, my lover, heart and soul.
TWT: When and how did Spencer, your cat, and Fox, your dog, come into your lives?
Chris: In 2003, my then 20 year-old cat, Ollie, suddenly lost his much younger feline companion, Phoebe. After a few months, I noticed how lonely Ollie seemed, and went to the Berkeley Animal Shelter to find him a new companion; I came home with Spencer, who was just a kitten. Thankfully, Spencer and Ollie were immediately inseparable, and Ollie lasted another happy and healthy three years.
Rikki: I adopted Fox and his two siblings in 1999 in the Philippines; soon after, Fox’s brother and sister died of rabies from a bite by a neighborhood dog. When I moved to the States in 2001, I brought Fox with me. Spencer and Fox hit it off from the start, and have been loving companions now for ten years. Fox actually moved in with Chris a full year before I did — but really, I was there most of the time anyway!
TWT: What prompted two city boys to purchase an RV and hit the road?
Rikki: My work visa will run out in 2010 and the U.S. will not renew it for another three years. In addition, the U.S. government as a whole won’t recognize our relationship as legitimate, and most states won’t recognize a same sex marriage. The fact is, if we want to stay together we have to leave the U.S.
Based on our research, there are seven countries that legalize same-sex marriages and fifteen that accept same-sex unions. We picked Canada in general (and Vancouver in particular) not only for it’s proximity to our original home, but also for its beauty and similarity to San Francisco and the Bay Area.
Chris: We put our house on the market, purchased our RV and decided to find work, but also travel as much of the American West as possible while we await the processing of our immigration. This process generally takes about three years, and we’re just now entering year three. We decided to make the most of our situation – and even have a lot of fun – until we can make Vancouver our official home.
TWT: What sort of paperwork have you all needed to gather/hoops have you had to jump through in order to become dual citizens?
Rikki: We were required to dig as far back as the last fifteen years of everything we did and everyone we met, including where, when, and how; every job we held; every letter we sent each other; every movie or play or event we went to together; even photos of these events and letters from family and friends saying how well they know us.
TWT: What careers have you left behind? Will you be able to continue with the same work you’ve done in California?
Chris: While we wait for our immigration approval, we’ve moved near the US-Canada border in Washington State, and are busy building a future life for ourselves in Vancouver.
In Berkeley, I was a Program Director for Geriatrics and Medical Psychiatry at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. I’m now picking up where I left off, doing clinical work.
Rikki: I was a Restaurant Manager before joining Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco as a Senior Marketing and Sales Associate. I’m now continuing to improve my artistic portfolio of stock, travel, editorial, and fashion photography, video (like the ones we’ve done for Lonely Planet) and graphic design. My online portfolio is JuliusReque.com.
TWT: How did you get involved with Lonely Planet?
Rikki: I posted an online travel video which caught the attention of one of the producers at Lonely Planet TV. She got in touch with me to acquire the video for their collection. I continued making videos while on the road, and soon, Lonely Planet was commissioning me to cover places and events surrounding our travels. You can check them out here.
TWT: While on the road, has traveling in an RV all together ever become too close for comfort?
Rikki: No, we’ve always been really close, physically as well as emotionally. We like being in the same room even when we’re in a big house, so it hasn’t been an issue. If we were the type that argue, then it would likely cause problems; we would caution any couple who bicker or pout to think twice before living in a motorhome.
TWT: Do Spencer and Fox travel as well as you two?
Chris: Well, Spencer doesn’t like traveling inside a crate, and every once in a while reminds us that he dislikes his “moving house” with a scowl and a loud meow.
Rikki: Fox loves traveling, but generally hates long walks (though he did survive a four-mile hike at the Devil’s Postpile National Monument). His favorite walk is to the car.
TWT: RVing has, sometimes erroneously, earned a reputation as the travel choice of conservative America. Have you found any other gay couples RVing out there on the roads? If yes, did you make a connection? If not, what’s that been like for you?
Rikki: We feel comfortable most of the time, but there have been a few small towns where we find ourselves looking over our shoulders and being hyper-vigilant. Not often, but it does occur.
We’ve met straight people and gay people on the road. We actually identify ourselves as partners, sons, brothers, friends, professionals, etc. more than being “gay people.” We certainly are gay, and we don’t hide this aspect of ourselves, but it’s not our primary identity.
On the road, we don’t specifically seek out other gay people; we’ll as likely make friends with other photographers, travelers, etc.
TWT: Like Adam and me, you’ve fallen in love with Portland, Oregon. So far, what have been your other favorite places?
Rikki: Wow, that’s a tough one! But all of these places delivered way more than we expected:
- California’s Eastern Sierra: Rugged, magnificent, stark, dry, unique
- Utah’s Bryce Canyon and Lake Powell: Fantastic places with awesome RV camping
- Telluride, Colorado: Hot springs hopping!
- Nevada’s Ruby Mountains
- North Fork John Day Wilderness in northeastern Oregon
- Santa Fe, New Mexico
- NE California’s Warner Mountains and Surprise Valley
TWT: What has been your least favorite place?
Rikki: Hmm…well, we don’t want to offend anyone, but Seattle was a letdown for us.
It has all of the elements of a wonderful city – water, mountains, cityscape – but it’s awkwardly laid out and unlike, say, Vancouver and San Francisco, it just didn’t wow us.
We also found the streets, both tourist and residential, quite dirty and littered. One Sunday afternoon, walking around Pike Place Market, we were surprised to find the streets strewn with cigarette butts – and there were no trash cans to be found anywhere. People just seem to carelessly throw butts around even when there are cigarette receptacles outside the restaurants and bars.
Next time you’re walking around downtown Seattle, try looking down!
TWT: What has been your funniest travel moment?
Rikki: When we’re RVing, we tow our SUV, an Xterra, along with us. One late night, we were looking for a place to camp inside a park, and noticed a suspicious – yet familiar – car pass by.
Chris said, “Look at that Xterra…it looks just like ours.”
I replied, “Oh my God, it is ours!”
The tow gear had somehow broken apart, and the car whizzed past us, bumping hard into a wood post. No damage, no injuries…just a heart attack.
The thought that gives us shudders, really, is that that same day we were towing everything all around Yosemite National Park, including the infamously steep Tioga Pass at an elevation of almost 10,000 feet; we traveled 200 miles of winding mountain highways before getting to that campground. Losing the Xterra along that drive wouldn’t have been quite as funny!
TWT: Once you become Canadian citizens, do you two plan to get married and take a honeymoon?
Rikki: We’re domestic partners and we consider ourselves a family unit (however unconventional). We do someday see ourselves getting married, but with our present changes and stresses right now – relocating, leaving family behind, changing jobs, experiencing harsh weather, social isolation due to travel, etc. – we want to wait for things to settle down a bit. What’s important is that we remain as a unit as we weather these obstacles. We’re not in a hurry. Since we already have our cake, the “big day” would just be the icing.
In the meantime, we’ve taken each other’s last names as our middle names. I’m now Julius Foley Reque (Rikki is a nickname based on my last name) and Chris is Christopher Reque Foley.
As for a honeymoon, every trip is a honeymoon…just like every day is Saturday when you RV!
TWT: When might you once again hit the road? Where would you love to go next?
Rikki: In the next month or so, we’re planning to take the RV on a ferry to go explore the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound, off the coast of Washington.
Lately, Chris’ hectic work schedule, the unfortunate U.S. housing market and bad economy has diminished our traveling lifestyle; as a result, we’ve been neglecting our travel blog. But we’re experiencing a different kind of journey now, one that’s more internal.
As for a more physical travel experience, we would love to travel throughout Canada and Alaska.
When people ask why we travel in the RV, we say it’s the only way we can bring our family (Fox and Spencer, and once in a while some two-legged members, too!) while we travel and vacation. And that’s what families do, right?
When people ask what we do, we say: ”We’re stay-at-home travelers.”
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Visit Traveling 12 Feet to see where Rikki and Chris have been
Visit JuliusReque.com to see Rikki’s gorgeous online portfolio
March 11, 2010 update:
