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Plans for the 2021 RTR: Will there be one and what will it be like?

by Bob Wells

Because of the Covid 19 Pandemic, 2020 has been like no other year. It has tremendously impacted all the work that Homes on Wheels Alliance (HOWA) wants to do to build and support the Nomadic community. 

Now it’s time to think about what will happen with RTR 2021?  To be honest, we don’t know—there remains so many questions, and the future course of the disease is so unknown, that almost anything can happen between now and then.

Even today as the country tries to reopen, we are seeing a huge increase of cases and it seems possible we could be facing a second shut down this summer. And even if that doesn’t happen, there remains a distinct possibility of a second Wave in the fall that could shut down the country then. 

On the positive side, there could be an early vaccine and things might be relatively normal by fall. There is just no way to know right now.

If we are going to have an RTR in January, we need to be planning on it right now, but at this point there is no way for us to know if we can safely or even legally hold an RTR. If we don’t have the logistics of that large a gathering in place soon, it will be impossible to hold one even if it is legally and ethically possible. 

So here are our plans as we understand them right now:

1) We are planning virtual classes and virtual gatherings in case we can’t hold a physical, in-person gathering. That will entail using Zoom webinars to host very large groups to teach the classes we usually teach. Then, we will break it down into many smaller groups for a more personal learning experience. In a way, this will be better for many of us, since you can take the class without driving to them. We plan to do this even if we hold in-person classes.

2) In hope that the pandemic subsides, we are actively planning some in-person activities for the RTRs. For example, we hope to offer in-person classes while simultaneously broadcasting them online. Assuming it’s legal and safe, another possibility is to invite the community to casually camp together on public land.  Furthermore, we are exploring possibilities for in-person venues after Quartzsite’s Big Tent RV Show.  November 1 is our absolute deadline for planning any in-person activities for the RTRs.

We know that is not very definite, but it is the best we can do right now. All we can tell you with certainty is that we will do everything possible in our power to put on a 2021 RTR that is better than any we had before!