From warm & sunny Arizona

December 25th, 2021

The Buchanan’s are feeling very lucky this Christmas season, although we may have truly been tested over this past year, we have survived and feel we are even stronger because of it, I will not be doing the regular review of the past year, for a number of reasons. But, the main reason is that I have spent the last twelve months reviewing our first few nomadic years.

No, this is about acknowledging all the people that have touched our lives and that have helped to kept us sane, during these very trying times, and trying to find a way to humbly say thank-you to everyone of you at this glorious time of the year.

So where do I start? Well first and foremost is my wife and life partner Miss Laurie who has for years been my rock, even more so over the last few years. I couldn’t imagine the first few months of 2021 without the support and partnership of Laurie, who allowed to stay busy by cooking some dinners, in between reading books and playing with our new drone while she worked at the local Walmart. The winter was long and we did felt very isolated with only actual visits from Bob & Irena and Rich & Bonnie. Miss Laurie arranged multiple “zoom” calls with friends and while wonderful they just left us wanting more and missing our nomadic lifestyle even more.

The end of what seemed to us like the never ending winter, was when we were able to move back into our coach, it was like moving home after a five month stay at your great grandmothers house. The furniture in the house we rented was nearly as old as I was, and the furnace had been installed before Miss Laurie was even born, and while it served a purpose, it was not an adventure that we want to relive any time soon.

Just after we moved back into the coach we both had the feeling it was time, to fire up Thunder and move on, as it had been close to a year since we had been on the road. And as lucky as we knew we were to have Lake Huron Resort to keep us busy, we were ready to pack up and go. And had it not been for the friendship of Rich & Bonnie, we may have done just that.

To say this past year has seemed long, is a bit of an understatement, and even as we tried to plan our travel for the fall, the restrictions of the pandemic still lingered even as we planned. The camping season at LHR was unlike any of the previous seasons as we decided that we would let some people into our private lives, we normally have kept a distance from the park guests, to avoid any bad feelings if a difficult situation were to arise or if anyone decided to try to take advantage of our friendship and as much as we knew it would most likely never happen, because of the people involved, this year we have made many true friends and connections that will last a lifetime.

This year we were treated to some amazing dinners, wonderful adventures, and many evenings of genuine conversation, where we heard some amazing stories, and enjoyed laughter that filled our souls with joy and happiness. Oh this year also had some dark days, a Sunday comes to mind when we lost four trailers in a fire, and that same day I was called a bum, by one of the resort guests, because I was discriminating against old white people! Yes as hard as it may be to believe we were often berated by guests, who didn’t think the rules should pertained to them, sometimes it would be expected from one of the regular park fools, and other times it would catch us off guard, coming from usually nice guests. Some would apologize latter, while others would just gloat, but by year end all the trash normally gets taken out, as it’s shelf live meets it’s expiration date.

As fall was quickly closing in we were working on multiple plans, we were going south, we just didn’t know how we were getting there. The border was our only obstacle, we could have the coach driven over by a commercial driver then fly over to meet it for a few thousand dollars, or we could just wait and hope for the border opening. And after the American announcement came of an early November opening we now knew which plan, oh this plan still had a few wrinkles, but nothing that couldn’t be ironed out. So with a little luck and just a little bit of tinkering we’re back to our nomadic lifestyle style, and as far away as we may physically be from many of you … it is all those very special, precious, moments that we have collected that will keep you close in our minds and hearts ♥️ during this holiday season.

Merry Christmas from the Buchanan’s