Reflections on RVing--Home for the Holidays

As we began thinking about the full-time RV lifestyle and traveling for months at a time rather than the typical 2-week vacation, we realized we had to make accommodations for several things.  We started out with a fairly long list, but finally whittled it down to just a few--annual doctor’s visits (including dentists), registration and tag renewal for the truck, annual maintenance on the 5th wheel, and the all important family and friends.

We are each from families which are pretty close knit and have certain things which have become “family traditions”.  As we looked at the yearly events, we came to the conclusion that the time we most wanted to spend with family and friends was the November/December holiday season.  Since family and friends take the number one priority spot in our life, we made the decision in the beginning to arrange annual doctor and maintenance items around the winter holiday months.  That took a few years to get everything lined up to occur in November and December, but we “got ‘er done”.

The phrase “home for the holidays” takes on a whole new meaning for us now.  In early September we start scheduling medical appointments for early November--annual physicals, mammograms, dermatologists, dentists; every other year I get a bone density, and there is the colonoscopy from time to time.  November turned out to be a very busy month at RV service departments.  We have to call almost as far in advance for that as for our physicals.  Of course, we can and have gotten service done at other dealerships around the country, but we are familiar with the folks at Cullum and Maxey and have been happy with their service.  The first year we switched our truck registration from April to December was quite a hassle.  It was very difficult to make the clerk understand what we wanted to do and why.  After a lengthy discussion, she finally got it and the first year was prorated since we were already paid through April.

This schedule has also worked great for family and friend activities.  The majority of our friends are members of the hiking club.  After the heat of the summer, the cool days of fall are popular for hikes.  We like to take advantage of those group outings and we get to see far more of our friends that way than if we tried to get together individually.  The club also has a great holiday party in December which we always enjoy.

Like most families, we get together for Thanksgiving and Christmas meals together.  With so many different families involved, sometimes it takes several days to get that accomplished.  That just means we have that many more opportunities to stuff ourselves.  It’s a good thing those annual physicals are earlier than the holidays.

Even though these are very busy months for us, sitting in one spot for 8-10 weeks is not our style.  Hitch itch sets in after about 4 weeks.  Having come home early this year will make that even more difficult to deal with.  The week spent in Spartanburg and the Smokies really helped in that respect and we were actually anxious to get back to Nashville yesterday.  We’ll remember the effects of a single short trip away in the future and try to schedule doctor and maintenance appointments accordingly.

“Home for the holidays” is more than just gift exchange and good eats; it’s a very busy time for us.  However, we are very happy with our decision to spend this time of year getting all those chores done that require us to be in Nashville.

So....with that said--let the fun times begin!!