Hi Folks! It’s been a while, and we’ve got lots to share in this post as we update you on our Snowbird Season Three RV adventure. But first, I offer evidence that Spring will soon be arriving in the form of wildflower and fungi photos I took over the last couple of weeks for future inspiration for my work in clay. To my friends and family back in PA - Hang in there!
I know it’s been a long, cold winter, but it’s almost over!
When we last updated you on our full-time/part-time RV life, we had just arrived at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park on the Emerald Coast of Florida. We LOVED this park! It had almost everything we could ask for in a temporary home - pristine white quartz beaches with emerald green waters, beautiful trails through pine forests and sand dunes, small ponds throughout the campground where critters filled the night with their song, lovely biking and walking paths, and a tram to hitch a ride back from the beach after sunset. We were also blessed with great weather while at Topsail, a welcome change after the bitter January temps so many of us endured across the country this year.
We went on several long hikes, took walks on the beach, and saw lots of spectacular sunsets. Our first view of the Emerald Coast was breathtaking!
Sunsets were equally breathtaking, and each night it was different.
Our close encounters with the animal kingdom included a 5’ish foot diamondback rattlesnake that was much closer than I would have liked, stranded Portuguese Man-O-Wars on the beach, and several deer who exhibited absolutely no fear of humans. I loved watching the shorebirds dance with the waves. They have so much energy in their tiny bodies!
My favorite wildlife encounter was a pod of dolphins that swam close to shore just after sunset on our last night at Topsail. I can’t seem to include the video here, but here’s a screenshot from the video (which I’ll share on my social media @SusanOHanlonPottery).
The first two campgrounds we stayed at during Snowbird Season Three were amazing! It was hard to leave Topsail, but we knew more adventures were just around the bend. Here’s an update on our travel map. We’ve got plenty of adventure ahead of us, as you can see!
We spent the next ten days at Eastbank Campground, a National Park campground that is probably better suited for a quick stopover. But we chose to stay here to get a 50% discount using Steve’s America the Beautiful Senior card to balance out the higher nightly rate we paid at Topsail Hill Preserve, and we’re happy with the choice.
Eastbank Campground was small and quiet. We met a lovely couple from Oley, PA who happened to be moving to our next campground at the same time we were. We enjoyed getting to know them better, and even went out to dinner one night with them - a rare treat for these car-less campers!
Eastbank Campground is situated on the banks of Seminole Lake, which borders Georgia and Florida. I enjoyed watching the Canadian Geese wander on the banks of Lake Seminole, where they seemed to congregate at sunset.
There’s a dam at one end of the lake. We walked the mile or so down that way several times hoping to spot the 14’ alligator named Wally who nests in that area (well away from the road). We did see some turtles and a gorgeous white pelican, but Wally was a no show. The little alcove under the base of the tree to the left of the turtles looks like a cozy place for his nest, though.
In the quiet hours at Eastbank, we did some research into work camping for Snowbird Season Four, and put some applications in for the states of Florida and Georgia (we already put an application in for Alabama while we were at Gulf State Park). Work campers generally work 24 to 40 hours per week (per couple), and help maintain the campground facilities in exchange for a free full-hook-up site. This is something that’s been on our radar for a while now, and might be just the ticket to help support our full-time/part-time RV lifestyle while still maintaining the expense of owning our home. We’ve already scored a job for the month of November, 2025 at one of Georgia’s beautiful state parks!
Two weeks ago, we moved East just a bit to Reed Bingham State Park. We love camping at Georgia state parks; sites are spacious and there are usually activities to be found as well as plenty of trails. Reed Bingham was no exception. Here, we enjoyed shorts weather most days and since we were there for an extended stay, we put up my mobile studio and I began work on some ceramic art. I had concepts that needed proving, clay colors that needed mixing, and ideas that needed exploring!
I took full advantage of 10 days in my little Clam screen room to get my hands in colored clay for the first time in far too long. It’s not always easy to make ceramic art while living on the road in an RV, but snowbirding is a way of life we love and where there’s a will, there’s a way!
The first project I played with was Poppy Bowls, inspired by a moment during our Snowbird Season Two. It was early March in the Great Southwest, and I spent some time by the side of a trail at Picacho Peak State Park where the poppies and lupines were blooming. Here, I allowed the restorative power of Mother Nature to ease an ache in my heart. It was one of many moments that, for me, has reinforced my belief in nature’s healing properties, so - naturally - I want to share the moment with others through my work in clay.
I began by mixing up some porcelain paper clay, then added colorants that will eventually allow me to create two varieties of poppy flowers. When the paper clay was ready, I test fired my colors in my microwave kiln, made adjustments, and then proceeded to mix my gradient blends. Forming the canes for petals happened over several more days, and then I sliced sample petals for test firing in the microwave kiln to see the ultimate pattern and color before moving on to building my poppy flowers bowls.
When I fire test pieces in my microwave kiln, I’m just trying to get the clay to bisque temperature (1200-ish) so I can dip a small sample into water. This reveals (roughly) the color and pattern that will emerge once my piece is glazed and glaze fired back in my home studio. I’m pleased with my progress thus far on this project. Soon, I’ll be able to move on to the next step of the process: creating a concept bowl with clearer detail in the petals and observing how the bowl comes together. I chose paper clay for this project because I’ll be asking a lot of my clay in terms of cooperation from construction of the bowl through surviving until firing when we return home, and adding pulp to my clay makes it a bit less persnickety mistress than porcelain without the pulp.
Beyond waiting for fairer weather and our travel schedule to intersect, there’s a lot of waiting in between steps when working with colored clay. I wait for the dry stains to fully incorporate into the clay as I mix each base color, then for each color test sample to completely dry before firing in the microwave kiln (often repeating the above process to tweak my clay for color or value). Before creating my gradient blends, each piece of clay should be near the same consistency, so I wrap all my colors in a damp cloth for several hours or overnight before I begin the blending process. I’m often adding moisture while creating my gradient blend, as clay worked outside dries faster than clay in my basement studio. Each time water is introduced, I wait just a bit for it to seep into the clay. My cane designs are often complex, and I’m handling the clay quite a bit as I build them. My hands suck the moisture from the clay (and vice versa!), so I’m often gradually adding moisture back and letting the clay relax and homogonize at several intervals throughout the processes of reducing, elongating and combining the component designs. Finally, once a complex cane is finished, it’s wrapped in a damp towel where it stays for anywhere from 12 hours to 4 weeks before it’s fully relaxed, homogenous, and ready to become what I envision.
These stages of working and resting are akin to the natural rhythms found in nature. While that thought is comforting, I find it frustrating to wait when I only has a limited amount of time in the mobile studio to execute these steps. I fill these moments with prep work for other ideas floating around in my head, enabling me to take full advantage of my in-studio (aka, in-tent) days on the road. By doing much of the prep work for multiple concepts in one extended stay, I can set myself up to have smaller parts of various projects ready to work on a smaller space, like on a picnic table. That’s exactly what I did during my 10-day stint. I set myself up for two (or three) future projects. One is a replica of a magical starry night we experienced at during Snowbird Season One.
The third (and fourth?) project I worked on were sunset blends. If you’re a regular blog reader, you know how I love watching the sun paint the sky when it rises and sets. These are some of the most humbling and spectacular moments I spend in nature, so - of course - I want to share them in my work!
So the third (and fourth) projects I’ve set myself up for are sunsets, and I’m taking artistic license to blend aspects of several moments in time into one design, because I’ve seen quite a few awe-inspiring sunsets and sunrises on our travels, and I want my work in clay to convey my feelings in a place and time as well as the visuals.
In an upcoming blog post, I’ll share the steps I took to replicate these moments in clay as well. I’m hoping parts of each of these new ceramic art collections will make their debut on the Chester County Studio Tour on May 17 and 18. This year, LynnMarie Whitt will be returning to share her jewelry and wire sculptural work at my studio, and I’m welcoming three other artists: Jessica Greet, a fellow potter who makes wonderful functional pottery, as well as Robert Siliani and Jessa Hunter, both of whom are painters. If you’re local, I hope you can stop by to meet my guest artists and (fingers crossed) see some of my new creations!
Even though I was working in the studio every day (and into the evenings), our stay at Reed Bingham wasn’t all work and no play. We got out on the trails quite a bit during those times when I was waiting on my clay.
We watched the sun set over the nearby lake on several evenings, and saw the planetary alignment from the same spot.
And we had our first campfire of Snowbird Season Three! Topsail Hill and Gulf State Park both require above ground campfire pits which we don’t have, and there was little wood available for foraging at Eastbank. We improvised with brownies for our s’mores, and they were wonderful!
While at Reed Bingham, we witnessed our first prescribed burn. We’ve seen plenty of evidence of these forestry management techniques on our hikes, we’ve never been on site during the burn. It was eerie to walk among burning brush, even knowing it was managed by qualified firefighters; just the thought of a wildfire sent chills down our spines and made our hearts ache all the more for victims of wildfire tragedies like those we’ve seen lately in the news.
The fires burned during the early part of our 14-day stay at Reed Bingham; by the time we took our last walk there, Mother Nature had already begun reclaiming her realm. The tall pines were healing over, and new growth was clearly visible on the ground.
We are currently camping at Laura S. Walker State Park. From here, we’ll head east across the state, stopping at two additional Georgia state parks before turning north to celebrate our grandson’s 21st birthday with him near Hilton Head, SC in early April. It’s hard to believe our trip is more than half over already!
I’ll likely be posting two more updates on our adventure blog before it’s all over, as well as campground reviews in the interim. Keep an eye on your inbox for an update on our travels in about three weeks. If you haven’t already subscribed to the blog, you can do so (and see previous posts on our journeys) by clicking the button below.
Until then, it’s so nice to have you all along for the ride! Thanks for joining us, and for being part of our journey!
Be well,
Susan & Steve
Breathtaking views, very descriptive commentary...I enjoyed it very much.
Be safe....love you!
what wonderful adventures! Except for the snake,,, Stay safe and happy trails!