Vivian's RV Vignettes

So long 2024, and hello 2025!

With everything that occupied my attention when I came home from my travels in September (the passing of my pastor and friend Ted Law, getting back into the routines of stationary life in Houston, and taking care of the small accumulated repair/ improvement projects on my RV), I never wrote the year-end summary post I had intended. So New Year’s Eve seems like a good time to look back and reflect on my adventures this year, with another post tomorrow to talk about my 2025 plans.

So first off, the statistics:

– In 2024, I drove my RV in 18 states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico). I made side-quests to North Carolina, Iowa, and Nevada, for a total of 21 states visited.

I visited 14 new national parks (Voyageurs, Badlands, Wind Cave, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Great Basin, Saguaro, and White Sands) and re-visited three old favorites (Great Smoky Mountain, Rocky Mountain, and Arches), for a total of 17. This brings my lifetime total visited to 41 out of 63. Of the remaining 22, 11 are in the contiguous 48 states, and 11 are in Alaska, Hawaii, American Samoa, or the U.S. Virgin Islands (with 2 theoretically accessible by RV). I still have a lot of visiting to do!

And now, a few vignettes from RV life since my last blog post in September:

On my way home from New Mexico, I stopped off for a swim at Balmorhea State Park in west Texas, where the Civilian Conservation Corps built an enormous spring-fed natural swimming pool that is still in use. (I visited the park in 2022 but it was too cold for swimming, so this time I actually got to go in.)

I pulled back in to my old spot near Magnolia, TX, where I’m now settled for the winter. I’ve got my “patio” area cleaned up into a nice sitting area, which I enjoy a lot on pleasant days.

Last January’s twin baby lambs have already grown up into adult sheep.

I put up a bike tent to use as a shed for various tools and my bike, which I now have back into riding shape. I’ve gone on several rides on Houston bike trails and in the neighborhood around my home spot.

Soon after I got home, I retrieved Peter from his summer quarters at Margaret’s house. After pouting for 24 hours about the drive, he re-embraced life in the RV with me. He loves cuddling on my bed and exploring the nearby woods and sheep pasture. One of my first major RV improvement projects was to install a pet flap for him through one of my under-belly compartments so that he can come and go as he pleases. I got a carpenter to help me, and I’m very happy with how it turned out!

For Christmas, my sister Nancy Elizabeth visited with her husband and kids, so we had a big Christmas morning present haul. I gave the family a year’s subscription to Let’s Roam Scavenger Hunts, which let you explore dozens of places all over the country with specific quests to find landmarks, answer trivia questions, and take goofy pictures. We did our first hunt in the Houston Museum District this past week.

We visited the Houston Zoo and saw the new baby elephant. My niece Genevieve came over to my RV for a sleepover, where we watched movies and I introduced her to the wonders of Shipley’s Donuts.

It’s a good way to wind up the year, and I’m looking forward to unwrapping the gift of 2025. 🙂