With the holiday season in full swing, the Sound of Music’s “Favorite Things” song keeps worming its way into my thoughts:
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things
If I were to re-write this song from the perspective of a full-time RVer, my list of favorite things might look like this:
Warm sunny days in the Arizona desert
With flip flops and shorts, and a drink in my hand
Coyote yips and dark starry skies in the middle of the night
These are a few of my favorite things
OK, I know I lack the talent of Rodgers and Hammerstein, but this seemed like the best way to convey my giddiness at having the ability to escape winter’s wrath and enjoy the holidays in the southwest. I’m not alone judging by the millions of other snowbirds who make an annual southern pilgrimage like me. Whether we’re parked along the Florida coast or circling the wagons around a desert campfire, every single one of us revels at the thought of fleeing the icy cold fingers of Old Man Winter.
Not everyone sees it this way, however. The famous author and radio show host Garrison Keillor once joked that it’s simply wrong for his fellow Northerners to flee winter, that everyone needs to stand together during the harshest time of year: “We don’t call those people ‘snowbirds,’ we call them ‘deserters,’” he quipped.
I guess you can count me in as a deserter because nothing makes me happier than getting away from dark, cold winter weather. As I sit here in the Southern California desert with every window in my RV flung wide open during a flaming tequila sunset, I can’t help but feel nothing but gratitude for my RVing ancestors who had the wits to realize that nomadic living has exceptional perks during winter.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some days when I wonder what the heck my husband and I were thinking when we decided to become snowbirds. While boondocking in the desert, we’ve seen wind blow so hard across the flats that you can’t go outside without getting sandblasted. The water quality here is usually terrible and there are times when I can’t wash my hair for at least a week because we’re conserving water. The snowbirding life isn’t always a picnic – but it’s the closest you can get to one in the middle of December.
The recently released 2015 weather predictions by the Old Farmer’s Almanac call for an extremely cold, bitter winter in about 80 percent of North America. Even sunny Florida will see its share of frosty orange groves and frozen iguanas falling from trees. If you happen to have a RV sitting in your driveway and you’re located anywhere near falling temperatures, unwinterize that beast and head south now before it’s too late! Come join the thousands of other snowbirds pointed in the direction of sunny days ahead. Those of us who are here promise to keep happy hour going until you get here.
Rene Agredano and her husband, Jim Nelson, became full-time RVers in 2007 and have been touring the country ever since. In her blog, Rene chronicles the ins and outs of the full-timing life and brings readers along to meet the fascinating people and amazing places they visit on the road. Her road trip adventures are chronicled in her blog at LiveWorkDream.com.
Leave a Reply