We bought our first trailer in 2002, a Jayco Kiwi hybrid. Every summer I took my wife and son on a 3 week excursion to national and state parks across the western US and Canada, as well as other trips during the year. The first time I heard the term ‘snowbird’ was in 2003. We were staying at Rocky Mountain National Park and my wife had been talking to a couple in the giant 5th wheel next to us and explained that they were snowbirds. Northerners who travel to warmer southern regions in winter. She said she would like to do that one day, but I dismissed the idea as we already lived in Southern California. We couldn’t get much warmer!
Flash forward 18 years. My son, now a college graduate and Army officer, had left active duty and settled with his wife in Vancouver, Washington. One month later Jena was born, and not long after a for sale sign sprouted in my front yard. We sold our old, worn, and well-loved trailer, divested ourselves of almost all our worldly possessions, loaded up the dog, and headed north. I wanted to buy a house when we got there, but my wife had other ideas.
At first we lived in our son’s basement, eventually moving into a 2023 Grand Design Reflection 150. We parked it on a pad we built on the side of my son’s half acre property and ran water and 50amp power to it. We took our new home on wheels out for some 2 and 3 week sojourns around Washington and Oregon to break it in. After 14 months of helping my son with his fixer-upper and watching the baby grow, and with October temps dropping into the 30’s, my wife and I hit the road for parts south. We had become Snowbirds!
Our 6 month journey started in Washington. Through Oregon to California where we visited with family and friends and had a magical 3 day Christmas Vacation at Disneyland with our kids. We crisscrossed Arizona exploring a dozen state parks and national monuments. From Lake Havasu to Picacho Peak. Then back to Phoenix for a week so my wife could fly home for some time with the baby. Back to Tucson and over to Kartchner Caverns.
Then to New Mexico where we visited the Roswell UFO Museum. A week at Palo Duro Canyon in Texas where we hiked the Lighthouse trail. On to Caprock Canyon where wild Bison wandered into our campsite, and pooped! It was now April and we were homesick. The highlight of our travels is our weekly video call with our granddaughter. We miss her, and the kids. It was getting warmer in Vancouver and Jena kept asking when Papa and Gigi were coming home. We’d reached our way-point.
We turned west to Albuquerque where we experienced the solar eclipse while hiking at Petroglyph National Monument. North to Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon, and on to Bryce Canyon. We meandered through Utah where we hiked to a waterfall outside Provo, and visited a warm spring in Nevada. We camped at several spots in the Fremont and Rogue River national forests in Oregon. At Grants Pass we made a right turn, the final leg of the journey. Eventually crossing the Columbia River on the I-5 Interstate Bridge.
It’s been a long voyage. Exciting at times, tiring at others. We’d made it largely unscathed. Except when I brushed the trailer on a tree, and when my wife hit a picnic table. No flat tires or major repairs, but we did have one $2,200 emergency vet bill. We’d even had some moments of sheer panic like the night in White Sands where 53mph winds threatened to rip off our new solar panels.
A few minutes after crossing the Columbia we turn down my son’s street. As we inched closer a small figure comes running out of the house and down the driveway shouting, “Gigi, Papa, Gigi, Papa! My wife jumps out of the truck and runs to pick up Jena, no longer a baby. Happy tears all around.
We’ve got lots to do. Repairs for the truck and trailer, a few remodeling projects on the house. A little girl is having her 3rd birthday. And a lot more activities planned for the warm Vancouver summer. But when the sky begins to darken, the leaves begin to fall and the temperatures drop, it will be time for the Snowbirds to start their next journey south.