Happy New Year and welcome back to the road! Our third Snowbird Season is under way, and we’re so glad to have you along with us for the ride! It looks as though we left Pennsylvania just in the knick of time, as a significant snowfall is in the forecast back home in the coming week. To those we left behind, I won’t tell you what the high today was in Orange Beach, AL (although if you’re a glutton for punishment, you can look it up.)
So where are we off to this year? Here’s the overview of our trip. Every few weeks, I’ll post an update sharing info about the place(s) we’ve stayed, the sights we’ve seen, and the adventures we’ve encountered. Be sure to subscribe to my blog to get updates delivered right to your inbox.
Before we get into the fun stuff, I need to apologize to our regular blog readers. If you follow our annual journeys, you probably noticed that we sort of dropped off the face of the earth in March, 2024 as we began heading back East from our second snowbird season in the Great Southwest. We cut our trip short because of some escalating medical issues my mom was having, and facilitating her care and rehabilitation since then has been our primary focus. We had to put the blog (and camping) on hold for a bit.
As we made our way south on this trip, I reminisced on the last few weeks of our second snowbird season as I began drafting this post. Following are some of the highlights from the last legs of that trip, since we never really closed out that chapter.
The campgrounds we stayed at during this time were not the ones we had originally planned, because we made some last-minute changes to our pre-scheduled route to avoid the Smokehouse Fire in Texas. While perhaps not as picturesque as the spots I had chosen, there is beauty to be found in all places and in all things, so I do have some lovely moments to share with you.
Let’s start where we left off shortly after our arrival at Bottomless Lakes State Park in Roswell, New Mexico.
From New Mexico, we traveled to Possum Kingdom State Park near Cado, Texas. After 16+ weeks in the desert southwest, we were so excited to see green grass and real trees again! We welcomed Spring with the bees and the butterflies as we hiked up the hill that overlooks the campground.
Wildflowers were plentiful on our hike, and I photographed several for potential candidates to replicate in clay. Here are a few:
And although it was dry at the time of our hike, I enjoyed imagining the critters that would enjoy the pools of water nestled in this interesting rock formation in the heat of summer.
The last stop on our detour around the fire was Lake Murray State Park in western Oklahoma, where we were one of only a few campers in the campground overlooking a large lake. It was nice to have the place to ourselves!
The colors in this sunset picture are exactly as my iPhone camera took them, and if memory serves it was the evening after our first (and thankfully, only) tornado warning when we were forced to take shelter in the concrete block shower facilities, an interesting experience with both dogs together in the same room. Oakley wore her muzzle, of course, because I’m sure both dogs picked up on our stress levels and we weren’t about to take any chances! All was well, though, and we returned to our beloved (and thankfully, intact) Irving in short order.
Over the next few days, calmer winds and fair weather blessed us with opportunity to explore this large park, where I was tickled pink to find stations with loaner life vests in a variety of children’s sizes at the designated swimming areas.
It was while we were staying at Lake Murray that we decided to forfeit the rest of our planned season, which included a site in the path of totality for the total eclipse. I had spoken to my mom earlier that day and knew something was off, so the decision was an easy heartbreak to berra. Once again, Steve didn’t hesitate when I said I thought we had to return home.
The morning of our departure, as Steve showered, I sat by the lake to watch the sun rise and warm the mist that had settled over the lake overnight.
I took a short video to capture the peace and serenity of the moment, anticipating that the days ahead would be challenging. Later that day, my mom was transferred from the rehab where she had almost fully recovered from pneumonia to the hospital, where it was determined she had suffered a stroke. Just watching this video brings me a sense of inner peace, and I hope it transports you to a place of magic and wonder as well!
We spent three days driving almost non-stop from Western Oklahoma back to our home in Southeastern PA. At a rest stop in Tennessee, when my heart was heavy with worry and anxiety about my mom’s prognosis, we came upon a beautiful patch of wildflowers.
Spotting this particular wildflower at this particular time in my life felt like a gift just for me from the universe. In it, was a reminder that in all things (and in all situations), there is beauty. I felt so touched by these wildflowers that I created a small collection of new beads, jewelry and ceramic pieces based on this flower in the stolen hours in my studio during the first two months while my mom was an inpatient at a rehab facility.
Looking back, our amazing Second Snowbird Season in the Southwest was filled with lessons for us - about how to live in a very small space harmoniously when it’s too cold (or wet, or windy) to be outside, about how to cope with COVID in a campground without compromising the health of our fellow campers, and about how to let go of responsibilities I had inherently thought of as mine alone as my mom’s only daughter.
You see, my mom navigated several health challenges starting only days after our departure in November. As her primary “person” for many years, it was difficult for me to be away during that time. But as one of three siblings who live near her, being physically unavailable helped me realize that I could lean more heavily on my brothers to ensure my mom’s well-being while we travel.
My brothers and their families took incredible care of our mom, and she ultimately decided to move from her apartment into my brother’s house permanently while we were away. This opened up a world of possibilities for Steve and I to travel more extensively, and we began dreaming about a larger unit, full-timing the RV life for a few years, and more. As you read on, you’ll see that one of those dreams is now a reality; others are on indefinite hold. But learning that I can lean more on my brothers with regard to my mom’s well-being was a lesson I really needed to learn, because in May, she moved in with Steve and me so we could provide for her care and help her through rehabilitation in our home. It was an all hands on deck sort of situation, and I couldn’t have done it alone. It’s not exactly how we planned to spend the beginning of Steve’s retirement, but when life throws you lemons, right?
Being my mom’s full-time caregiver for the past nine months has taught me many things! Chief among them is that I can never be too grateful for my incredible husband, who didn’t hesitate when it became apparent that my mom would need some pretty intensive rehabilitation following her stroke, care that I didn’t feel comfortable entrusting to an institution. Steve and I have both invested a lot of time and energy over these last nine months to help my mom achieve as much independence as possible, with help from my brothers as well. And as the time to depart for our pre-planned Third Snowbird Season approached, I leaned even more heavily on my brothers and their families to turn her care needs over to them.
We compromised on our departure date so Steve and I could remain hands-on with her as she finished her outpatient stroke rehabilitation program, then moved my mom back in with my brother. When we return, she’ll come back to our care; when we travel, she’ll return to my brother’s. It’s not what we planned, but it is what it is, and being able to provide a loving home for our mom is a blessing in so many ways. Doing it cooperatively with my brothers’ help is an even bigger blessing!
Aside from a few local weekend respite camping trips over the past several months, that’s been the extent of our camping adventures since March, 2024. We didn’t know it at the time, but our Second Snowbird Season would also be Irving’s last extended journey with us, because over the summer we upsized just a bit into a Winnebago Vista 31 BE, giving us a bit more length and a lot more width with a full driver’s side slide on our new (to us) unit.
We absolutely loved Irving, and he took us to so many wonderful places and shared so many fabulous experiences with us. So we were surprised when handing off his keys to his new owner was a joy-filled moment. But Irving’s new caretaker, Jillian, is a wonderful person who will fill him with joy and song and laughter as he transports her and her friends to music festivals. We couldn’t be happier with Irving’s new home!
Oakley and Bandit, our adventure loving pups, enjoy the extra room in our new unit at least as much as we do. Oakley loves having plenty of room to spread out on her bed on the bottom bunk, where she rides safely behind a retractable, mesh fabric gate we installed for her. The bunk above will hold my tables, tent and inventory for art shows going forward, so I can exhibit my work on our travels.
And Bandit gets tethered to the couch for travel so he can be comfortable and warm while we’re rolling down the highway.
Once again, both dogs settled with ease into the routine of the road for four straight days of travel with overnights in Cracker Barrel parking lots. While they can both agree that they love life on the road, they still can’t agree to get along with each other (sigh…), so our new unit will give them much more room to co-exist in comfort on opposite sides of a second retractable gate we installed between the kitchen and living areas.
As we packed into our new unit, everything seemed to fit perfectly in an organized fashion that made sense for the way we live on the road. Honestly, it felt as if she had been made just for us! We’ve made a few modifications, and I’ll share them in our next post. Overall, we couldn’t be happier with our new unit, except for one thing: she doesn’t have a name!
Yes, our new unit feels female, but settling on a name for her has been an elusive quest. We’re hoping our blog readers can help us with that! We’ve floated several names, including: Mack, Allie, Ethel, Sophie, Esme, Maxine, and Frea. Please comment below to let us know what name you like best, or to recommend another name. As my way of saying thank you for helping us give our new girl a name, on January 31, 2025, I will pick one person at random who votes or recommends a name in the comments below to receive this pair of my colored porcelain earrings.
These earrings are part of my Red Rocks Collection made in Sedona on our Second Snowbird Season trip to the Great Southwest. Keep them for yourself or gift them to someone you love, and be sure to keep reading the blog to see if we pick your favorite name for our new RV!
On New Year’s Day, after four days of travel, we arrived at Gulf State Park Campground, situated on the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, we stopped overnight near Chattanooga and were able to visit with my cousin, Carrie and her husband, Chad.
We caught up over a shared dinner in the Ooltewah WalMart parking lot, and I sent Carrie home with some of my sourdough starter so she can begin her own journey in sourdough baking. Chad almost took me up on my offer of a SCOBY … maybe next time we come through he’ll begin his own journey in kombucha brewing!
Steve and I couldn’t be more ready to unwind, spend time together and in nature, and give ourselves and each other the care we’ve been neglecting as we focused on my mom’s recovery.
We’re excited to spend the month of January at Gulf State Park Campground. The park offers 28 miles of hiking and biking trails, a heated pool, easy access to the beach, and all sorts of amenities. Here’s a photo of the site we’ll be calling home for the month of January. We get mostly sun in the morning, and shade in the afternoon, so it’s the perfect combination!
And here’s the view from my “office” in the new unit. The Gulf of Mexico is just on the other side of the lake, and is only a 15-minute walk from our site.
I’m gifting myself a week or two to decompress before setting up my mobile studio (aka screen room) and getting my hands back in clay. I have a new, RV-sized wheel with me on this trip, and so many ideas that have been bouncing around in my mind over the past nine months! I can’t wait to get started, but first, I want to take some time to settle into our new unit and the “away” routine again.
I’ll post again in a few weeks about our adventures here, and hopefully share some amazing sunrise and sunset photos. Until our next post, we want to wish each of you a healthy, joy-filled 2025!
Thank you for joining us on our journey! Please share a comment below (and include your name) so I know you’re following along with us!
Steve & Susan
How much fun. Sounds like a dream.
A name that popped into my head was Clayton (get it?) It is not feminine though.
I loved reading about your journey, personal ( you mom) and your travels down south.
I am new to your site and hope to see you again as a collector of your beautiful work.
I am choosing the name Ivy in keeping with the "I" in Irving because Ivy is a classic name with a botanical touch. It comes from the Old English word ifig, meaning "climbing vine plant".
And much if not all of your work is about the beauty of nature.
So glad you are safely arrived and already in a warm southern clime! No snow here in Massachusetts but cold. Thanks for your suggestion, Vi, honoring m mom... and my dad did call her Allie. My selection amongst those names floated is Frea.
After all this time, I'm finally officially following!
Enjoy your decompressing in such beauty.
Happy New Year you two!! it's nice to see you are back on the road again. Enjoyed the read and looking forward to future blogs. love the sunsets and sunrises pictures and the morning video. You are the only couple I know who rv it and write about their experiences. Can't wait till your next post.
Mike and Peggy