Vivian's RV Vignettes

As I said in my last post, I have 13 national parks still to visit by RV (Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, King’s Canyon, Sequoia, Channel Islands, Lassen Volcanic, and Pinnacles in California; Crater Lake in Oregon; North Cascades and Mount Rainier in Washington; and Wrangell-St. Elias and Kenai Fjords in Alaska) as well as 9 parks that can’t be reached by road in Alaska, Hawaii, US Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.

So how many of those do I plan to cover in 2025? Zero.

Yeah, I’m taking a break. I realized this was a good year to take things a little easier. I am trying to finish up my doctorate, finish PAYING for my doctorate, and launch a new line of my consulting business. To be honest, I’m not feeling very confident about the effects of the new administration on the economy in general and my grant-writing business in particular. And I realized that a west coast trip is going to be VERY expensive, given the price of fuel and Penelope the motorhome’s unquenchable thirst (8 miles per gallon, argh). So I’m going to go for a less expensive option this year and hopefully save up some money for 2026.

However, rather than swelter through a Houston summer, I’ve decided to book a seasonal site in the mountains of Tennessee near Nancy Elizabeth and family. Last summer, she introduced us to Lake Watauga about half an hour from her house. I am booked there now from May through August next summer! I also booked a week at Galveston Island State Park in late April – early May, since I enjoyed that so much last year.

So I won’t have the same intensity of new-places new-adventures posting this year, but I hope to share some fun times and beautiful scenes. 🙂 I also have graduation at Johnson University (for myself if I finish my dissertation in time, or for some of my friends if I don’t), my niece Madelaine’s high school senior choir program, my 25-year reunion at Asbury, and Leadership Summit at Johnson — all reasons I picked Tennessee for my summer home. And my parents are coming to the area for most of July, so we should have a lot of fun with them and NEB’s family and side-trips to Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

So, Happy New Year to all my readers and thanks for following along. 🙂 I look forward to sharing my 2025 with you.