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When I begin to realize I won't be with my family and grandkids next year for the holidays I get a little teary eyed and start thinking what am I doing? Any hints, suggestions to help me? We leave in Sept 2020 and will be snowbirds out west until April.
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Bill & Karen
2020 Georgetown G5 34H5 38' 3 slides
2010 Honda CRV - toad
Going to be Western snowbirds starting October 2020!!
Park the RV somewhere safe, winterize if necessary, fly “home,” rent a car and motel room etc.
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Winnebago TT 2101DS & 2020 Silverado LTZ Z71. 300 watts WindyNation solar w/MPPT, 2 Trojan T-125s. TALL flag pole. Prefer USFS, COE, BLM, USF&WS, NPS, TVA, state/county camps. 14 year Army vet-11B40 then 11A - old MOS 1542 & 1560.
When I begin to realize I won't be with my family and grandkids next year for the holidays I get a little teary eyed and start thinking what am I doing? Any hints, suggestions to help me? We leave in Sept 2020 and will be snowbirds out west until April.
Yeah, that would be a bummer. We are fortunate because we’re from San Antonio so we travel to escape the summer heat, which puts us at “home” in winter, for the holidays. Looks like you’ve gotten some good suggestions to work around your issue. Best wishes for you to have a great holiday season.
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Ron and Janice
2016 Ford F350, King Ranch, DRW, 4x4, CC, 6.7 PS Diesel, remote control air lift system
2017 Durango Gold 381REF, Lambright furniture, MCD shades, morRYDE IS, 8K Disc brakes, GY G114 LR H Tires, 27,320 lbs CGVW
As full-timers, this will be our third Christmas away from our family. I will admit the first year on the road was difficult at Christmas since we always hosted a huge Christmas Eve dinner for our family. But, through the use of technology (FaceTime) we are able to be with our kids and grandkids when they open presents on Christmas. Admittedly, it’s not quite the same as being there, but it’s still fun and we get to see all of the excitement that goes along with opening gifts. We also go out for a nice dinner on Christmas Eve - or - make something special in the rig. We decorate the rig inside and out and we have now made new traditions for ourselves. This year we will be having Christmas Eve dinner with extended family (in-laws) here in Arizona - we are from Illinois. And on Christmas Day we will be joining fellow campers here in the RV park for dinner. Lots of people go home for the holidays - but we prefer not to do so. This year we will be heading back to Illinois in February for a visit - just to get a reminder of how much we love the warmer weather of the south.
Take care - and whatever you do - enjoy your holidays.
Barb
-- Edited by Barb and Frank on Wednesday 18th of December 2019 11:14:39 AM
Something else you might think about, depending on the size of the family, is having them come and stay in the RV for a few days over the holiday. My wife and I have given this some thought, (we aren't on the road just yet) and have pretty much decided that we will try and spend Christmas with family and Thanksgiving elsewhere. Of course, this is subject to change. It's harder for some that it is for others but life is always changing, hopefully for the better.
We've found video calls to be helpful in keeping away the blues during holidays or any other time we want to check in with our kids, grandkids, and great grandkids.
We have good friends who took an overseas job and figured out all the ways to do video calls to the US, especially since they don't have anything Apple and thus can't use Facetime. They bought a separate webcam that they mounted to the top of their big TV and use a cable to hook the laptop to the TV.
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Bill Joyce, 40' 2004 Dutch Star DP towing an AWD 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid Journal at http://www.sacnoth.com Full-timing since July 2003
At the resort we stay at during the winter the place gets pretty empty about now with people gone visiting family. They either drive or fly, get hotels or stay with family and then come back after the holidays and complain how darn cold it was wherever they went LOL!! Us, we stay where it's warm and see people in the summer months.
You need to convince some of your family to take a job across the country. That way there won't be one place that is "home" and you will have to choose where to go for the holidays.
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Bill Joyce, 40' 2004 Dutch Star DP towing an AWD 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid Journal at http://www.sacnoth.com Full-timing since July 2003
I feel the Same! This will be the first Christmas without family, and I feel out of sorts. The last 2 years we flew home for Christmas, but this year the funds aren't there. We will be face timing the family. Thank goodness for technology!!😍
Expensive? At least for me that’s why I saved my money!
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Winnebago TT 2101DS & 2020 Silverado LTZ Z71. 300 watts WindyNation solar w/MPPT, 2 Trojan T-125s. TALL flag pole. Prefer USFS, COE, BLM, USF&WS, NPS, TVA, state/county camps. 14 year Army vet-11B40 then 11A - old MOS 1542 & 1560.