#PotterOnWheels has Hit the Road!
Updated: Feb 13
Hi! I’m the #PotterOnWheels, embarking on an RV Life Grand Adventure. I have been a full-time studio potter and ceramics instructor for the past 12 years. My hubby is recently retired, so I’m working out how I can continue to create in clay and teach while living the RV Life.
My other passions in life are my family, my pups (who don’t always get along), cooking, and organic gardening, so I’m also trying to work out how I can fulfill those passions while we all live our best life in 24’ of linear space with the bounty of nature just beyond our door.
My goal is to share my journey of discovery - with clay, with RV Living, and with the wide, wide world - and to inspire others to follow their dreams.
Come along for the ride and see where the journey takes me. You’ll meet Irving (our RV), Bandit and Oakley (our two pups), and my partner in everything, (Steve). Let’s go RVing, and together we will find inspiration in the great outdoors!
Susan
Some First Lessons of the Road for Successful RVing
We hit the road a week ago, and landed in Louisiana two long days later. Two important lessons came in those first two days:
Even with two drivers, twelve hours on the road in one day is about 6 hours too long! (I’ll share more about the 2/2/2, 3/3/3, and 4/4/4 rules for RV Living in a future blog post, once I’ve had time to assess how they relate to our own RV Life experience.)
When sleeping overnight in a Cracker Barrel parking lot, park as far away from the dumpsters as you can because the trucks come to empty them really, really early!
Other RV Living Lessons from Our First Week
Things have gone almost flawlessly thus far. We have one little glitch with some outlets in the RV that I’m sure we’ll figure out. We’ve learned a lot during our first week:
Already, we can agree that you probably don’t need half of what you pack because you “might” need it; but, please, remember to pack the backpack!
Sunshine and 60-70 degree days feel extra sweet in February if you’re from Pennsylvania (or, I imagine, anywhere north of Georgia)!
Give yourself time to build up to 18,000+ steps per day!
Take Oakley hiking and you’ll never get lost; she will happily retrace your steps when you tell her it’s time to go ”home,” even if you’re 2,326 steps from the site!
Nothing in this world beats fresh, wild caught Louisiana shrimp (so far, anyway)!
Louisiana has tornadoes in February! (Who says climate change isn’t real?)
There are an abundance of mosquitoes in the bayou even in February; happily, they don’t seem to like northerner blood!
Inspiration from our first week in Louisiana
Because I’m still decompressing and working out the kinks in our camp routines, I haven’t begun to tackle the numerous work projects I brought along with me. I plan to treat the first two weeks of our journey mostly as a vacation, giving me opportunity to enjoy the scenery and capture beautiful moments that I can share with you in pictures (now) and hopefully some of them in clay down the road. Here are some of the things I’ll remember forever from the past week.
The sunset over Lake Pontchartrain is magnificent! The concept of this photo is something I am eager to try to recreate in colored porcelain.
Photos cannot do a spanish moss covered live oak justice; they are breathtakingly beautiful, massive, charming, romantic and fluid. (Words don’t do them justice, either!) The structure of this tree is something I hope I can articulate in colored clay work down the road.
Saw Palmettos make the most amazing sound when the wind blows through them! I will be photographing some of my colored porcelain jewelry items in a natural setting during our travels, and I think palmettos will be a lovely backdrop for some of them.
This is my Jack Russell Terrier mix, Bandit, on one of many hikes. He may be the happiest four-legged camper that ever lived. Look at that smile! 😃
This is me and my wonderful hubby, Steve. Retirement looks great on him, don’t you think?
Stay tuned for more news from our RV Life!
I’ll post again next week, updating you on how life in the great outdoors is treating us and sharing more about how we’re making the RVLife work for us. And as I delve into carving out a work schedule and feeding my creativity in the coming weeks, I’ll share some work-in-process photos and a few videos on my YouTube channel.
Please comment below to let me know what topics you’d like me to talk about in future blog posts, or how I can help inspire you to follow your dreams. After commenting, scroll down to subscribe to my email list so you'll be notified when I post a new blog entry!