Christmas Letter 2025

Our RV christmas tree with a campground under it instead of a village

2025 has been a wonderful year for us - busy and full of change. If you have been following the blog this year, you are aware that we have had some changes. We are no longer full time RVers, and won’t be traveling quite as much. Now we are snowbirds. We purchased a 1 bedroom condo in the Pittsburgh area where we will stay in the summer and are staying in our fifth wheel in Wildwood, FL for the winter or so we thought.

Plans have to change to meet life’s necessities so we are heading back to Pittsburgh after holidays for a little while for me to have surgery. While we are not looking forward to being back north in the cold and snowy weather, it will be good to be with family. Especially this winter since both Katie and I are having surgery. Tim is going to be busy in January and February taking care of us.

We are hoping to return to Florida in March and spend a couple more months in sunny Florida. Perhaps when we return south, we will get out and do a little touring and find some new places to check out. In the meantime, we have been enjoying the warm Florida weather and spending time with friends and family here.

out to dinner with our friends Jenny and Gary

We visit Aunt Tish twice a week and get to see Tim’s sister Sue and her husband Greg at least once a week. In between, we are enjoying the RV park life and spending time with friends during this holiday season. I have definitely taken advantage of the daily exercise program at the park and try to get in a walk or two every day with Trent. Being in warmer temperatures definitely lets us be outdoors more. We are planning on attending the park’s holiday dinner on 12/22 and campfire with caroling on Christmas Eve. Of course, we will be cooking Christmas dinner at Aunt Tish’s house. We are so blessed to be able to spend time with her for the holidays.

my homemade decorations on the refrigerator

Of course I have also decorated the RV for the holidays even though I have to take it all down right after Christmas. I love looking at the little Christmas tree every evening. Even in a small space, you can find room for decorations. Ours are simple little touches in the living area of the fifth wheel. Hopefully you enjoy the pictures.

the shelf above the tv provides the best place for the nativity

I had to have a snowman corner and it was a great place to highlight the christmas card Katie and rosie sent us.

Even though we won’t be traveling as much, we still want to do some exploring especially to the states we didn’t get to yet; after all, we are still exploring our tomorrows. So far, our RV travels have taken us to 33 states which is a bit shy of our goal to see the lower 48. 15 more states to go so how do we plan to do that?

Well we certainly can’t do it with the fifth wheel without needing to pay someone to move it for us. So we have to think outside the box and look at alternatives. Initially we thought we would stay in motels and still get in a trip spring and fall as we travel between Pennsylvania and Florida. We also discussed a possible train trip but both of those options are a lot more expensive than RV travel. So without buying another trailer, what can we do?

Tim has been talking for a couple of years now about a project that he wanted to do - building out a van as a camper van. He watches van conversion videos frequently on YouTube and shops for vans every once in a while. Well, after traveling south to Florida this year and realizing how much hotels cost, we starting discussing this idea more seriously.

Yes, you guessed it. We bit the bullet and bought a van. You knew that we couldn’t go too long without buying another vehicle!!! We found a 2017 GMC Savannah with low mileage that was already built as a camper van. Welcome Sharkey, the latest addition to the Senko fleet. Yes this van came already named!

our first look at sharkey - we traveled to vero beach to see him! I guess sharkey is a male name, right?

the senko fleet. Do you think we have enough vehicles?

The build in Sharkey is fairly basic and some of the electrical stuff wasn’t working so we got a good buy and it gives Tim the project he wants without a full build needed. We have had the van for a little over a week now and Tim has been working on it non-stop. The first thing he discovered was that the battery in the van that should run the 12 volt electric was dead. Luckily, we had some extra equipment in the fifth wheel that we didn’t really need since we aren’t traveling in it. He was able to take one of the lithium batteries from it as well as an extra inverter he had to use in the van.

We had also purchased a Bluetti power supply to use in the motorhome that we never installed. So the plan is to use that in the van also. This should give us enough power to run everything we will need in the van. It will still retain a simple build with a bed, small kitchen area with a sink and a couple electric pots for cooking, and a toilet for use when on the road. The van is not a high top so neither of us can stand in it so it is mostly for sleeping while traveling. Sort of like tent camping - we will need to cook, eat and relax outdoors.

Our plan will be to stay at state parks, Core of Engineer parks or boondock at Cracker Barrel while traveling with the van for a few days; then have some hotel stays as well for more comfort. This way we can still travel in the spring and fall and hopefully eventually get to all of those states that we haven’t visited yet. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that there aren’t any more health problems that delay our travel!

So 2026 should bring more exploring for us! I told you we weren’t finished Exploring Tomorrows! Look for more travel posts in 2026. In the meantime, we hope that all of you have a wonderful holiday season with your families.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Deb and Tim