Fun thread, so I'll add my experience.

Completed an enlistment in the Air Force in 1982 and went to San Diego State
on the GI Bill.

Naturally, it took forever (until December) to get the thing started up, so
there was no income.  My folks lived 90 miles north in Corona CA, so my wife
and kids stayed up there until Christmas.

I hopped in the '71 camper (homemade in Alaska from a Kombi and necessary
parts from a wrecked Westfalia) each Monday morning at 5:00 AM.  Slept in the
car on a side street on Monday and Tuesday night, came home Wednesday night.
Another 5:00 AM departure on Thursday, "camping" Thursday night, and back to
Corona for the weekend.

What a memory!

(P.S., also a train nut)

-Blaine