RV Snowbird Season Four!

Welcome to Snowbird Season Four! Whether your just joining us or you’ve been with us for the trip to date, we’re happy to have you along for the ride!

TRIP UPDATE: December 22, 2025

Hello from the road … literally! As I write, we’re en route to a new (to us) campground on Florida’s Forgotten Coast, where we’ll spend four nights before heading back up to Georgia. It’s been a while since we posted, so here’s our map update for those of you following our journey.

When we posted last, we were preparing for our first month-long hosting gig at Indian Springs State Park in Georgia. I’ll have a whole blog post on our experience(s) hosting in the coming months. For this assignment, we were paired with a delightful couple from Georgia who could not have been more gracious or helpful when it came to getting our feet wet as official Campground Hosts. Jim and Peggy will forever have our gratitude, and we would happily host alongside them in the future if that’s the direction our RV adventuring takes us.

That being said, serving as Campground Hosts was a bit more than we anticipated. We worked seven days on / seven days off, which is unusual for a campground and - like most things in life - has pros and cons. It meant that we had two weeks on and two weeks off during our stay, but we worked an average of 72 hours (combined) during the weeks we were on duty. And the work was physical (for Steve, mostly) because he did the outdoor work - site and cottage turnover preparation - while I cleaned and serviced the bathhouse.

The adorable lakefront cottages at Indian Springs are nestled among tall pines and deciduous trees, and Steve had his hands full on a tight schedule to turn these over for arriving guests. Apparently, November in central Georgia is when deciduous trees drop their leaves.

Another factor that impacted the workload for me was my own perfectionistic tendencies, and I totally own that. The remaining factor I blame entirely on my mom, albeit with tons of love, respect and adoration. My mom is a lifelong camper and girl scout / leader, and she instilled in me the directive to always leave a place better than I found it. Indian Springs was already in pretty great shape, so naturally it became my mission to find and tackle things beyond the regular scope of Campground Host duties. The worst of these tasks was cleaning the drains in the showers, a thoroughly gross endeavor that Steve graciously helped me accomplish with minimal complaint. My mom will be proud to know that we left the bathrooms in the new loop at Indian Springs cleaner than our bathroom at home. :-)

We’ll be volunteering for our site for two months at General Coffee State Park in Georgia, serving as Campground Hosts in January and Laundry Hosts (for the cottages) in February. We’re holding our judgment about how big a role hosting should play in our future RV adventuring, at least until after we see what General Coffee has in store for us. Stay tuned!

We enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast including a 21 pound bird I cooked right at our campsite in three separate cooking devices.

We’re still finishing off turkey we froze, turned into soup, added to salads for dinner, mixed with gravy for open faced sandwiches … (you get the picture, right?) Next Thanksgiving, I think maybe we’ll just go out to eat!

After finishing our hosting gig, we traveled to Fort Pickens National Seashore. It’s one of my favorite parks, situated on a barrier island with the sound on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other. It’s a National Park, and we take advantage of the Senior Discount so it’s an incredibly reasonable place to stay. Even though there are no full hook-ups and the bathrooms are less than ideal, there are endless miles of pristine white sand beaches.

The park itself never disappoints, but the weather during our eight days there certainly did. One expects rain in Florida, but usually the sort that comes and goes; instead, we had near constant daytime rain for most of our time there.

We took advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves to get outside and walk the beach, watch the shore birds and relish in the solitude. Steve made art in the sand with his cane while he waited patiently for me to photograph the shore birds.

This heron stalked us for about half a mile. I guess he was lonely.

And we had only early morning rain on our last day, so were able to take one last walk on the beach where we watched the birds feast on a school of fish. I got a couple of relatively clear shots of some osprey in flight with my DSLR, which I’m still trying to master for anything more complicated than product photography. I think I’m making progress!

While the rain may have hindered our outdoor adventures, our meals were fabulous! We picked up some fresh seafood at Joe Patti’s and celebrated Steve’s birthday with scallops wrapped in bacon and bruschetta made from the last of the green tomatoes I picked from the garden before we left. We made Thai Curry Grouper and Shrimp & Bacon Burritas (both NYT Cooking recipes that I love - almost as much as I love their Garlicky Shrimp Tacos, which is on the menu for next week as we’ll be making another stop for shrimp before leaving the Gulf Coast).

Life inside Maggie was not without entertainment while it rained. In Georgia, we were plagued by Asian lady beetles from early afternoon til evening (so from about the time we finished our work until it became too cold to be outside). These pesky little creatures swarmed me constantly while I attempted a product photo shoot during two of our days off at Indian Springs. They crawl all over you, get inside your clothes and get caught in your hair. They don’t bite (exactly), but they do “scratch” your skin. (The feeling is nothing like a back scratch, sadly.)

Anyway, I digress. These pests managed to infiltrated our camper in Georgia before we realized we couldn’t open any windows between noon and 6pm, and then had the audacity to hitch a ride with us to Fort Pickens! They’re already invasive throughout the South (and I’ve seen them at home as well). Thank goodness, because I would not want to be responsible for THAT! Here’s how you can spot the difference.

At first I attempted to capture and release these bugs, which are adorable because they look like orange ladybugs. But the sheer volume of them became intolerable quickly, leading me to Google. When I learned how invasive they are, our DustBuster became the BugBuster, and is hereby dedicated as such because Asian Lady Beetles secrete a sticky, resin-like fluid that stinks when cornered or killed (and gets all over curtains, windows, clothes, walls and more). Plus, they compete for food with our favorite garden helper, the legitimate ladybug.

Twenty-two days after leaving Georgia, these pesky critters are still plaguing us, although their numbers do seem to finally be diminishing. They tend to get stirred up on travel days, and so I BugBust them from the windshield as Steve drives down the highway at 60 mph … a sometimes tricky business, but good for core strength and balance! We’re one hour into this journey, and we’ve only captured about 25 of them. An hour into our first commute from Georgia, I BugBusted them almost continuously. (Note to fellow RVers: always check your slide(s) before bringing them in, because I’m convinced that’s how the majority of them managed to hitch a ride with us.)

The inopportune weather at Fort Pickens also gave me opportunity to focus on my new website, which is coming along. A tech person I am not, but I’m plodding away and hope to have my new website up and running in January. I’ll be asking for volunteers to test it for me and provide feedback soon. If that’s something you’d be willing to do for me, please either respond here in the blog or send me a text or email.

From Fort Pickens, we headed over to another of my favorite locations for incredible sunsets: Topsail Hill Preserve State Park near Destin, FL. It was chilly for several days at first, but then rain moved in for one day and following that we enjoyed eight days of glorious weather.

Throughout the campground, campsites were decorated for the holidays and it felt quite festive! Our neighbors had lights that they reconfigured every night, some campers had lights shining up into the sky that shimmered like fairy dust on palms and trees, and several had blow up lawn decorations, including a giant one of Santa’s eight reindeer at a feeding trough that was motorized. (Bandit was not a fan of blow-up reindeer that moved.)

The sky bookended our stay with these gorgeous sunsets, one on our first full day in the campground and the second on our last.

And another from in between because I am and forever will be a sucker for nature’s beauty, especially when painted over water and sky.

The more we got out to explore, the more symptomatic Steve’s hip became (he’s scheduled for a hip replacement in early April). Our super kind camping neighbors let us borrow one of their e-bikes to test out, and we realized that Steve could ride one on full throttle mode without pain. Game Changer! E-bikes were in our budget for next year, so we decided to bump up the date (it’s just a month ‘til 2026, right?) we purchased ourselves a set of e-bikes.

Serghei at RideIt Bikes in Santa Rosa Beach hooked us up with some really sweet foldable Veloctric e-bikes and exceptional, knowledgeable service. Maggie (our RV, for those of you who are new here) is supposed to be our Christmas gift to one another for the rest of our lives, but we said Merry Christmas to each other anyway as we drove off with our new bikes folded up snugly inside Max (our car). We love them, and we are so glad we made the decision to purchase them now when we not only got a great deal, but it will make such a difference in the way we experience our remaining months on the road this trip.

We explored the campground the first day we brought our bikes home (I named mine Sunshine and Steve’s is The White Shadow, after his 1984 Chevette that just wouldn’t quit). On Day Two, we took a 22-mile (round trip) ride down the Route 30A bike path. We stopped at a few beach access areas along the way, and turned around at Grayton Beach State Park after getting a look-see at a future camping spot. (Beautiful beach, small but lovely park, nice bathhouse, a select number of sites where we’d fit due to height. The verdict? Definitely worth visiting in the future if we can find a spot that works!)

Steve rode in full throttle mode the entire way, and his thumb burned a lot of calories, so we stopped for ice cream on the way back.

Had we only known about the Cruise Control feature of our bikes at the time, his thumb exercises may not have created such an overwhelming need for sustenance … Oh, who am I kidding? We saw the word “Creamery” and we immediately tagged Blue Mountain Beach Creamery for a pitstop on our way back! I had Oatmeal Cookie and Rum Raisin, and Steve had Peanut Butter Brownie and Chocolate - both were delicious!

We’ll be spending Christmas at Ochlocknee River State Park on Florida’s Forgotten Coast, which is where we’re heading now (as I continue to whip out the BugBuster … were closer to 60 now - still better than our last commute but not out of the woods yet, I think!). The weather forecast looks ideal. I’ll be taking the next week off from website design and product listings so we can enjoy the great outdoors, biking, and - if the cloud cover cooperates - sunrise on a nearby beach and stargazing in the wee hours because the area has minimal light pollution. I’ll include photos in the next blog update from Georgia, probably in late January.

For me, Christmas without the kiddos is the hardest part of our full-time (part-time) RV life, but since we’re presently limited to traveling at this time of year, we choose to focus on being grateful for this relatively carefree time away together, and that we live in the age of FaceTime.

Wherever you are, and however you celebrate the season, we wish each and every one of you endless joy, happiness and love this holiday season and in the coming year. As always, thank you for sharing our journey with us!

Susan and Steve

Photo taken at the entrance to Indian Springs State Park (before Steve’s haircut). And as I look back through photos, I notice that he wears this shirt a lot. (He has multiples of this same shirt, fyi, and he knows red is my favorite color.)

ORIGINAL BLOG POST - October, 2025

Welcome to Snowbird Season Four! We are on the road again, and so happy to have you along for the ride! Before we begin, I want to point out that we’ll be sharing our Snowbird Season Four a little differently this year. Rather than posting monthly about our travels, I’ll be adding content to this blog post so all the information from Season Four is in one place. You can check back whenever you’d like for updates, and follow me on Facebook and Instagram (@SusanOHanlonPottery) for announcements of new blog content.

At the same time, I’ll be creating some blog content specific to RV Living for RV’ers who might benefit from our experience but are not personally invested in our travel adventures. Content in these posts will include:

• in-depth campground reviews,

• RV modifications to optimize space and functionality,

• our experiences and impressions of camp hosting and work camping,

• healthful eating on the road,

• fueling creativity through RV adventures,

• RV trip planning tips using RVLifePro,

• RV modifications for warmth and comfort,

• and so much more!

If you’re looking for the type of content mentioned above, you’ll find it in other entries on our blog. Be sure to subscribe so you’ll get notifications when I post new content.

Click Here to Subscribe!

For now, our followers are anxious for news on the beginning of Snowbird Season Four.

So …  let’s buckle up and get started!

As you can see from the map above, Snowbird Season Four will take us southeast, where we’ll revisit some of our favorite spots and explore some new campgrounds as well. If all goes according to plan, we’ll be on the road for about 5-1/2 months.

There are a few big changes for us this year:

1 - We’ll be volunteering in exchange for campsite accommodations for three months of our journey. We’re excited to serve the community of campers that we love, and hoping to foster new friendships among our fellow volunteers along the way.

2 - Maggie (our RV) and Max (our car) are hitched! We are finally set up for flat towing, and I’m especially excited to have wheels for interim grocery runs, exploring beyond the campgrounds we stay in, and driving the photographer to the photo shoot.

Snowbird Season Four started one day later than expected, because packing takes sooooo long! We left four weeks ago and made our first stop was the Shady Maple parking lot (huge and empty on a Sunday) to get more familiar with flat towing and turning radiuses. We battled fierce winds and decided to call it a day once we cleared Harrisburg (about 1.5 hours from our home … LOL … but at least we were en route!). The lovely folks at Cracker Barrel in Carlisle, PA rolled out the RV red carpet and we parked there for the night, starting out early the next day and driving through more extreme wind to call that day done at a Cracker Barrel in Virginia. Later than we planned but still within our reservation window, we arrived at Lake Powhatan Recreation Area, just south of Asheville, NC.

Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains and just a few minutes from the parkway, the park was beautiful and the surrounding area stunning. We took full advantage of our tow vehicle, driving the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway in both directions and seeing some amazing vistas. Naturally, I tried to time these excursions for sunset.

Sunset view over the Blue Ridge Mountains

Rock Face along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Sunset View from the Blue Ridge Parkway

Sunset View from the Blue Ridge Parkway

Sunrise along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Sunrise along the Blue Ridge Parkway

We ventured out one evening to a microbrewery for a Beatles sing-along. The finale, Hey Jude, brought back memories of when Steve and I were gifted tickets (shout out to Bea!) to see Paul McCartney perform live. Paul closed out that fabulous night with “Hey Jude” and, way up there in the nosebleed section of Veterans’ Stadium, we felt the reverberation of thousands of voices singing in unison as cigarette lighters swayed in time to the music.

Always up for adventure, Steve and I hiked seven hundred feet up a mountain trail to an observation tower on one of the tallest peaks in the area to witness the sun setting over the Blue Ridge Mountains in 360 degrees of utter glory. It was bitterly cold and extremely windy, but neither of us really wanted to venture higher up the rickety observation tower, so we snuggled on a landing about halfway up while we bid farewell to a beautiful day - and then hustled back down the mountain path before full dark set in because neither of us had thought to bring a flashlight and our phones were nearly dead.

As we drove the Blue Ridge Parkway, we witnessed some of the destruction caused in this area just one year ago. A mountain of felled trees caught my eye as we drove into the city, and it reminded me of the mountains of rusted automobiles at the “car eater” in South Philadelphia from my childhood. Then, my brothers and I would glue ourselves to the window of our family’s 1963 Volkswagen Bug, filled with the thrill of victory if we were fortunate enough to witness the car compactor in action.

As we passed this mountain of felled trees, I felt utterly bereft by the scope of loss these trees represented for the environment, as well as the devastation they represented for members of the Asheville community. I would soon learn (from a lovely couple who shared a sunrise along the Blue Ridge Parkway with me on their 50th wedding anniversary) that every community in the area has it’s own massive pile of felled trees from the disaster, and that one nearby town’s pile had spontaneously combusted just a week or so before our visit. So much hardship these communities have endured!

Asheville is home to a thriving arts community, and The River Arts District was particularly hard hit in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. One of my favorite toolmakers (shout out to Michael Sherrill and Mud Tools for their amazing ribs, sponges, and more!) lost almost everything in this catastrophe, and I’ve followed their first-hand account of the devastation on social media, as well as their progress towards rebuilding.

While it nearly broke my heart to witness this level of devastation first hand, even a year after the event, we were also encouraged by evidence of how these communities have pulled together to rebuild from the devastating flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. They’ve overcome personal and ideological differences to recognize the humanity in everyone, banding together for the common good. I wish society as a whole could do that without a natural disaster (or a disaster of another kind) as the impetus.

I went on two solo expeditions along the Blue Ridge Parkway with my tripod and DSLR camera in search of sunrise vistas each day, too.

We also spent some time relaxing, organizing the supplies that had been hastily stashed for our departure, and - of course - feeding the pups’ love for adventurous walks in the great outdoors. Since Steve is in need of a new hip, we’re sticking mostly to the roads, but the pups don’t seem to mind. Oakley and Bandit are both likely about twelve now and are starting to slow down a bit (to which we say, “It’s about time!”). Bandit will still go for miles if there are trails involved, but he’s equally content to chill in Maggie, especially if there’s a chill in the air outside.

Our second stop was at a relatively new park in North Carolina. It’s name (Gorges State Park) refers to the river gorges in the area, but is aptly pronounced as gorgeous because everything about this park was beyond gorgeous!

The vistas of the Smoky Mountains were devine, and I found a few spots to take photos within the campground at sunrise and sunset.

We enjoyed an adventurous hike and tested out our new hiking poles en route to Rainbow Falls, which was well worth the effort to get there! Along this challenging hike, I met photographer John Chester setting up for a shoot. I commended him on his dedication, because he had hiked quite a ways with some hefty equipment to get the shots he was after. He smiled, and said “Great photos don’t come to photographer!”

Because John was 100% correct, and because we could (yay for a tow vehicle!), we took a day trip to see more waterfalls in the vicinity. On this excursion, I took my DSLR and got some amazing shots. Many still need to be reviewed and edited, but I included a few of my DSLR photos below. The first one, of Silver Run Falls, is my favorite picture of the day.

As I often do, I offered to take photos of couples and families struggling with selfies at various stops along the way. At Dry Falls, where viewers can walk behind the waterfall, a young couple asked me to take their photo. When the young man handed me his phone, he pointed out that it was in video mode and asked me to keep it rolling. He nodded nervously when I asked if there was a reason and, after faking a selfie, got down on one knee and proposed to his lovely partner. She said yes and showed off her ring as I hastened to wipe the tears from my eyes. It was only as we got into our car that I realized I had gotten their names, but let’s all take a moment to wish the happy young (nameless) couple many years of joy as they embark on their new life together!

Feeling celebratory following this experience, we drove through the Highlands area and found an ice cream shop with fabulous reviews. There, we enjoyed a delectable concoction unlike anything I’ve encountered in my quest for discovering the world’s finest ice cream. Kate at Crossroads Custard in Cashier, NC did not disappoint!

This delectable concoction starts with exceptional soft serve custard in either chocolate or vanilla. One of a host of flavorings are mixed into the custard, which is then extruded a second time into a waffle cone or bowl so freshly made it’s still warm in your hand. I had coconut flavor added to chocolate custard, topped with dark chocolate and served in a waffle bowl. It was divine!

Following our stay at Gorges State Park, we headed South to Indian Springs State Park, where we are currently serving our first of three months as volunteers for the Georgia State Parks. We are paired with a lovely couple from the region and share responsibility as Camp Hosts for a new loop in this beautiful park. Our first few days on the job have been enlightening, but we’re getting into the groove. (You’ll be able to read all about our experiences as Camp Hosts in a future blog post.) While the dogs aren’t thrilled that the majority of our steps every day are not in service of their love for long walks, we’re enjoying the experience and the freedom to call this beautiful park home for an entire month.

When we depart here, we’ll head down to the panhandle of Florida for the R&R portion of our adventure, and then return to volunteer at another park in Georgia for January and February before starting our journey home.

Next up is Florida’s Emerald Coast! I’ll be sharing new content and photos in this post in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. I hope this new format serves everyone well, and I welcome your feedback as we continue our journey.

As always, it’s so great to have you along for the ride with us. Thanks for joining us for Snowbird Season Four!

Susan and Steve

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