RV Life Archives | Golden Country Cowgirl

Gold Country Cowgirl is Hitting the Trail!

As much as I have enjoyed learning the ropes of living in Gold Country, this Gold Country Cowgirl will be hitting the trail soon. Will I take up a life of living full time on the road in a travel trailer? Read about my life-changing decision.

Although I’ve been trying to stay active on social media, I’ve been pretty quiet on the blog lately. Maybe you noticed. I made a life-changing decision a couple of months ago and it has kind of consumed me since. It all started when my friend, Kelly, who I moved here to Gold Country to be near, told me she and her family were planning to move to Tennessee. I wasn’t invited to join them but I probably would not have chosen to do that even if I had been. So, it really got me thinking. Would I want to stay here if she moved? I have quite a few friends here, some wonderful pet sitting clients and I have cultivated some great business relationships through…

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Fall Travel Plans – A Conference and an RV Trip

Oh, my gosh. It has been so long since I wrote a blog post I’m not sure I remember how! I just couldn’t muster up the motivation to “find” things to write about when I couldn’t travel or even go out to most restaurants. However, I have some exciting news that has gotten me extremely motivated. You may have already seen some of the news on my social media channels or in my newsletter, but I want to share with you in more detail my fall travel plans. My cats and I will be hitting the trail in October as soon as I return from the International Food Blogger Conference! Sadly, they have to stay home with a pet sitter while I attend the conference.…

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Fall RV Trip Update — The Art of Resiliency and Flexibility

Is it just me or have we had to be super resilient and flexible for the past couple of years? Barely a month ago I wrote a blog post about my fall RV trip plans which included a conference in El Paso, Texas. Due to changes, some beyond my control, I have had to make several modifications and update my fall RV trip plans. Conference Update I debated with myself for weeks about whether or not to attend this conference. It wasn’t a concern about illness. I felt the conference would not live up to the one I had attended in the past due to the restrictions and safety measures in place. The purpose of the conference is to showcase the El Paso food scene.…

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Baking in an RV Oven — Do you do it?

Why There’s no Baking in my RV Oven I have now been on two 6-week RV trips and not once during either trip did I fire up my RV oven for baking. Since I eat low carb, I don’t bake things like bread, cookies or cakes, but I do like to use my oven to finish off meat I’ve seared on the stove top. Also, I like to use the broiler once in a while for things like frittatas. So, what did I do on those trips? Well, I have a grill pan I used for things like steak if I didn’t cook outside on the barbecue and I just had to forego frittatas. Are you wondering why I didn’t bake in my RV oven?…

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Were They RV Must Haves or Have Nots?

While downsizing for the RV life, I made a list of RV must haves. A review of the list reveals which items were my most useful RV must haves.

A while back, while I was downsizing my house to move into my trailer, I wrote about the things I had on hand that I thought would be RV must haves. When I look back on the list, it is interesting to see what I actually used, what I didn’t need or miss, and what I wish I’d had. What do you think were my most useful RV must haves? My Most Useful RV Must Haves Before I left, I read lots of posts about how people mostly cook outside their rig. I took that to heart and took my portable gas grill as well as electric gadgets that could be plugged in outside. Most of the time though, it was too cold to cook…

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A Newbie’s List of RV Must Haves

RV Must Haves - Although space is pretty limited in any RV including my travel trailer, there are a few things that I am putting on my RV must haves list.

Two months seems like forever, yet no time at all when there is so much to do. My tentative goal for hitting the trail is September 21st — two months from today! I have some pet sitting commitments through September 19th then, after that, there is nothing to keep me from starting the adventure. My biggest chore before heading out is, of course, downsizing and getting rid of the majority of my stuff. I know what a monumental task this can be. I sold, donated and gave to friends so much of my stuff when I moved here four years ago. How can I still have so much? I still have boxes in my garage that haven’t been unpacked! I keep thinking, if I get…

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Electric Bike and the Solo Senior Female Traveler Saga

Electric bike with text overlay: Electric Bike and the Solo Senior Female Traveler Does the saga have a happy ending?

Back in 2019, when I was planning my RV trip, I saw lots of YouTube videos about electric bikes. One brand in particular, Lectric eBikes, caught my attention. Lots of nomads that I follow reviewed their bikes and just raved about them. I thought an electric bike would be a really fun way to get around campgrounds and other places I stayed on my trip. Lectric eBikes was selling their bikes through a Kickstarter at an amazing price so I decided to jump on it. Electric Bike Purchase in 2019 I had to wait several months for the bike to be shipped. It finally arrived, just in time for my trip. Unboxing it was exciting and relatively easy! You can see from the video that…

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Epic 40-day California to Texas RV Itinerary

When I finally pulled away from the home I had lived in for the past four years in Pine Grove, I was both relieved and excited. I knew there were things I would miss but there were also some uncomfortable things going on that I was glad to be leaving behind. The thought of what might lie ahead – whatever that might be – was exciting! I was headed to Texas in my RV, making a lifelong dream come true. I had a general idea of what my California to Texas RV itinerary would be but I also wanted it to be fluid and flexible. To set the stage for this trip for those of you who don’t know, this was my first time ever…

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Best Things to do in Glen Rose, Texas — Dinosaurs, Wildlife, History

Paluxy River in Dinosaur Valley State Park with text overlay: Discover all the best things to do in Glen Rose, Texas

When I made my trip from California to Texas last year, Glen Rose was one of my stops in Texas (see Oakdale Park below). While I was there on that trip, it rained most of the time. In fact, the weather was so stormy that I extended my stay by a couple of days to avoid driving in the bad weather conditions. I wanted to add Glen Rose to my itinerary on this trip because there are so many interesting things to see and do that I missed on my last trip. Glen Rose is a great getaway from the Dallas/Fort Worth area or well worth a detour if you are passing nearby. Best Attractions in Glen Rose, Texas Fossil Rim Wildlife Center Fossil Rim…

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A Taste of Oklahoma – Durant and Ardmore

Choctaw Casino sign with text overlay: Durant and Ardmore Just a taste of Oklahoma

One of the destinations on my recent RV trip was southern Oklahoma to visit a friend. I had planned to boondock at a couple of spots in Oklahoma but the weather turned bitterly cold a few days earlier, so I decided to find RV parks instead. I figured they would make better bases of operations while I got at least a little taste of Oklahoma during the few days I planned to be in Durant and Ardmore. Durant, Oklahoma Durant/Choctaw Casino KOA I’ve never stayed at a KOA campground or a casino so I thought the Durant/Choctaw Casino KOA sounded promising. I later read on their website that they are “the #1 KOA RV park in all of the country.” I think KOA only accepts…

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