2024 Annual Christmas Letter

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2024 Annual Christmas Letter

I hope this letter finds everyone doing well and enjoying the holiday season.  We have certainly found some great places here in Florida to celebrate Christmas.  Last weekend, we met Sue and Greg in Winter Garden for the Farmer’s Market.  They have this huge market every Saturday and it is always enjoyable walking around and checking out the vendor booths.  The main street in town reminds me of a Hallmark Movie - just the perfect street with lots of cute stores and great holiday decorations.  In addition, the town has a variety of holiday events happening every weekend.  Definitely a great place to get into the holiday spirit.

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Setting Up Our Florida Home

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Setting Up Our Florida Home

Wow, have we been busy since we arrived in Florida in late October! Our new annual site is quite spacious and deep so we have quite a bit of room. We have enjoyed being here from the first day and it feels like home. So far, we are happy with our decision to sign an annual lease and stay in one place for a period of time. We anticipate being here every year from November to early April. I guess we are now officially snowbirds, although we will travel a little bit in the summer to some of the states we have yet to visit. Still fulltime RVers, just doing it a little differently.

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Visiting a Few New Places in North Carolina

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Visiting a Few New Places in North Carolina

When we planned our trip south to Florida, we didn’t want to go south too quickly and risk needing to leave due to a hurricane. Unfortunately, fall seems to be the time of year that some pretty severe ones come through the south. So we decided to spend a few weeks in North Carolina and hopefully enjoy some beautiful fall weather.

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Five Years on the Road

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Five Years on the Road

It is hard to believe that it has been a little over 5 years since we started full time RVing. To be honest, I am not sure what date to use for this anniversary. We officially moved into the RV on Labor Day, 9/2/19 but I worked remotely for a couple more weeks and didn’t officially retire until 9/20/19. We stayed at the campground for another couple of weeks finalizing work on the RV before we started traveling on 10/8/19. So, am I a month late in celebrating or do I use the October date? Either way, in a way it seems like yesterday and in another way, it feels like we have always lived this way.

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The Waning Days of Summer

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The Waning Days of Summer

We managed to have a little fun as summer came to an end even though we were still busy with way too many medical appointments. The good news is that all turned out well with the appointments. Tim had cataract surgery in both eyes and had a good recovery. He still has issues with bright lights and will probably need to keep using sun glasses for awhile. Also, his hand was bothering him again so he ended up getting shots that seemed to have helped. Hopefully that will last all winter.

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Enjoying Summer and Family in Pennsylvania

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Enjoying Summer and Family in Pennsylvania

It is hard to believe that it is August already and summer is almost over. Before we start getting ready to head south for the winter, I thought I would update everyone on our summer this year. So far, it is much better than last year - at least no falls and broken bones! We have still had quite a few medical appointments mostly for annual checks and tests although Tim had cataract surgery on both eyes. Those appointments and the daily eye drop regimen has been keeping us fairly busy.

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Back Home for the Summer

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Back Home for the Summer

After a little over 8 months of traveling, we settled down at our seasonal site in Pennsylvania for the summer. It stills feels like we are travleing though since we are in and out of Pittsburgh a bit as well as made a trip back to Ohio since we have been here. We headed over to Shady Acres the first day back to hook up the batteries and start to de-winterize it. Well we discovered a bit of a mess. It appeared that mice and either chipmunks or squirrels had gotten in over the winter..

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Celebrating National Park Week and Our Trip Eastward

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Celebrating National Park Week and Our Trip Eastward

Usually we aren’t anywhere close to a National Park during National Park week but this year we really hit the bonanza. I got to visit Zion and Bryce the week before and then as we left Utah, we headed back to Arizona to visit two more parks during National Park Week. After a quick overnight stop in Vegas, we headed south and east to Williams, AZ for a 3 night stay.

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Visiting Magnificent Utah

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Visiting Magnificent Utah

After our time in Nevada, we headed further north to Utah to spend a week visiting our friends, Gerry and Mari. We initially met them during our first year traveling in the RV in Berea, KY. We spent a week as neighbors and have kept in touch over the years even though we were in different parts of the country. They settled in St. George, UT two years ago and we were excited that we could finally visit them since it wasn’t too far from Las Vegas.

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A Few More Stops in Arizona, Then Onto Nevada

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A Few More Stops in Arizona, Then Onto Nevada

While in Verde Valley, we considered a visit to the Grand Canyon by taking the train from Williams, AZ. I realized that it would be a very long day to do that from where we were staying, so we discussed leaving a couple days early and staying in Williams for the train ride. I kept watching the weather since it had been cold and snowing at times up in that area. As we approached our last week in Verde Valley, the weather forecast looked great. Sunny and low 60s for Williams for a couple days in a row. We quickly booked a park in Williams for 2 nights.

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Family Vacation in Cottonwood AZ

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Family Vacation in Cottonwood AZ

When we purchased our Thousand Trails membership, it included a free week at a Getaway Cabin once a year for five years. Since we are always traveling in the RV, this was a perk that we didn’t anticipate using. Our daughter Katie has taken advantage of our free cabin the past 2 years. This year, she booked the cabin at Verde Valley for the first week we were there. 

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From Sea to Shining Sea

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From Sea to Shining Sea

We did it! We have completed a full cross country trip. In the past year, we saw the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico while staying in Florida and now we saw the Pacific Ocean in California. I love that our lifestyle is able to take us to so many beautiful places. When we initially planned our winter travels, we were going to spend the winter in Arizona, with 3 months in Tucson and we didn’t think we would make it to California on this trip.

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Moving On From Tucson

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Moving On From Tucson

We headed a bit further west last week to Yuma, AZ and have now been here for a week. Unfortunately, I started getting a head cold the day we got here and after having it for a week, I am feeling better but Tim now has it. I had to share, right? With both of us being sick, we haven’t done very much yet in Yuma, but we did enjoy our last couple of weeks in Tucson and had a nice stop in Why, AZ on our way here.

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So Much to Do, So Little Time

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So Much to Do, So Little Time

It is hard to believe that a 2 month visit to Tucson, AZ is not enough to see and do everything that this area has to offer but it is true. We have found many great places to visit in the area and in the city. I suppose that most cities provide many things to do and areas to explore although I feel that often what we find is similar to other cities. So I don’t always feel that we need to do everything that I have read or heard about in the area. This time, my list of what I don’t want to miss keeps growing and I suppose it is because of the abundance of nature and beautiful settings in this area as well as the abundance of history in the area.

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Enjoying Tucson Arizona

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Enjoying Tucson Arizona

We have now been at Mission View RV Resort for 4 weeks and are enjoying the park. One of the nicest features is our site that backs up to the desert. We have a wonderful spot to view the sunsets and mother nature puts on a show for us most evenings. It is best on partly cloudy days especially when the clouds reflect the colors.

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Our First Stops in Arizona

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Our First Stops in Arizona

Its Christmas Eve and we are enjoying desert views and much appreciated sunshine. While we miss being with family, we are able to enjoy the holidays, especially being able to spend it in such a beautiful place. Today I felt privileged to be able to attend morning Mass in one of the most beautiful missions I have seen.

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Our Last Stop in New Mexico, Part 5

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Our Last Stop in New Mexico, Part 5

When I was planning our trip, I ended up with a month to book between our stay in Alamogordo, NM and our planned 3 month stay in Tucson, AZ for the winter. We had a choice of traveling around Arizona a little bit before settling in Tucson or staying a little longer in New Mexico. I went to work researching our options and checked our various memberships for discounts.

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Visiting Alamogordo and White Sands National Park, New Mexico Part 4

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Visiting Alamogordo and White Sands National Park, New Mexico Part 4

Since we were touring New Mexico, I had to book where we could visit White Sands National Park. I remember the very first time I came west many years ago, I expected to see a sandy desert. I was very surprised to see how much vegetation there is and never saw the big sand dunes that I expected. Needless to say White Sands was a bucket list spot to see a true sand desert.

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2023 Annual Christmas Letter

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2023 Annual Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas! I went to the Lighted Christmas Parade in Deming, NM on Saturday evening.  It was a very cute parade with lots of homemade lighted floats and Christmas music that just put me in the mood for the holidays.  I love this Season of Joy especially seeing the children’s eyes light up at the parade.  Tim had mentioned that we need to get our Christmas letter written and the parade put me in the mood to do just that so here goes!

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Visiting Elephant Butte and Truth or Consequences, New Mexico Part 3

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Visiting Elephant Butte and Truth or Consequences, New Mexico Part 3

After leaving Santa Fe, we headed south on I25 towards Elephant Butte. It was a spectacular drive, especially leaving the Santa Fe area and descending over the buttes; at least that is what I think these rocky ridges are called. It seemed at one point like the earth was opening up to my right with these rocky drop offs to the valley below and mountains in the distance. I couldn’t get any pictures because I was driving the RV but I can still visualize it.

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