Holiday Potpourri

Definition of potpourri – 1: a mixture of flowers, herbs, and spices that is usually kept in a jar and used for scent. 2: a miscellaneous collection. The second definition above pretty much describes today’s blog, a collection of miscellaneous thoughts and info that I’m sharing because I really don’t have anything else to talk about today.

***

Thank you to everybody who was so patient while we were trying to sort out the malware problems with the blog. It took a lot of time spent on the phone arguing with the people at Go Daddy, a good-sized chunk of money, and more aggravation than I ever need to deal with again, we are back on track once more.

***

I’ve been getting emails from people who are spending their first year on the road as fulltime RVers or as RV snowbirds asking what RVers do for Christmas if they’re far away from family. It all depends on you and what you want to do. I’ve never been at an RV park that didn’t have some kind of potluck dinner for Christmas. Quite often the park furnishes turkey or ham and guests bring a pass around plate. It’s a good way to meet other people, have fun, and enjoy Christmas dinner at the same time. Others choose to have a quiet dinner at home in their RV, sometimes with another couple or two at the RV park. And there are many who prefer to go out to dinner and leave the cooking and the cleanup to somebody else. We did that quite often. There was a small informal group of us who used to winter at the Orlando Thousand Trails Resort, and we would all go to a big Chinese buffet for Christmas dinner. Or maybe you’d like to give something back this Christmas. Just about every town and city in this country has free Christmas meals for the homeless, seniors, and those in need. We know many RVers who volunteer to help out with things like that. Like everything in life, especially the RV life, there is no one-size-fits-all. Do whatever makes you happy.

***

I’ve also been hearing from people who plan to leave their RV at a park somewhere in the sunbelt and either fly or drive home to spend Christmas with family. These are mostly new RVers who have never left their rig set up someplace before, and are not sure how best to do it. First and foremost, tell the people in the RV park office what your plans are. Most RV parks don’t want units sitting empty, but they will often make exceptions during the holidays. If they know you’re going to be gone they will keep an eye on it to the best of their ability. We seldom spent time away from our motorhome like that, but when we did we would try to leave it in a park where we knew other people and would ask one of them to go by and check it out if we were going to be gone for a while. Other than that, put away lawn chairs, barbecues, and things like that, pull in your slides and big awning and secure it, turn off the water, and go have fun.

***

Someone emailed me the other day, very disappointed that they can’t find any sites available at RV parks in the Florida Keys, where they had hoped to spend Christmas. He said he knew that they filled up fast, but really felt that RV parks should leave a few sites open for people like him and his wife who just want to drop in and not be subject to reservations and schedules and things like that. I have heard this complaint before and I think it’s pretty silly. If I owned an RV park and I had people standing in line wanting to get a site, why in the world would I do that? Because somebody might show up? That implies that they might not show up, too. It’s the old saying about a bird in the hand being better than two the bush. If you want to spend time in places that are in demand, you need to plan ahead. And that could mean making reservations a year or more in advance in high demand areas. It’s that simple.

***

And finally, some readers have asked what our plans are for the holidays. We don’t really have any. Terry gets her final Medtronics implant at noon today at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. By the time the procedure is done it will be late enough in the day that we will not want to drive home, so we will spend the night there. Depending on how she feels by Christmas, we might have a simple meal at home or we might find a good Chinese restaurant that is open on Christmas Day. Either way, as long as we’re together, we’re happy.

Congratulations Terry Brooks, winner of our drawing for an audiobook of my friend Ken Rossignol’s Pirate Trials: Famous Murderous Pirates. We had 34 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon.

Thought For The Day – I was in a serious relationship once. We never even smiled.