4 years to complete Wildlife Bingo!

Before we launched on the road in 2022, we created a wildlife scavenger hunt – 12 animals that we hoped to spot in the wild on our travels. We weren't mentally in for the long-haul yet, but our scavenger hunt helped us envision what was possible if we stuck with our full-time RV life long enough to make it to far regions of the country. We expected it to take a couple years to find all the animals. If you read the last post, you know that it took much longer. We only just spotted our final animal in April! Little did we know when we created this "Wildlife Bingo" what our full-time travels would entail. We thought we'd simply see an animal, marvel at it, and then check it off our list. Instead, we came away with some of our most WILD stories from our travels. Now that we've achieved blackout Bingo, we're ready to share them with you.

Before we get started, here are the rules we had for checking off an animal:

1. The sighting had to be in the wild, not at a zoo, farm, ranch, or sanctuary
2. We can spot them at any time, as long as we're RV traveling (which since we're full-time, was any time between February 2022 and present day)
3. Only one of us needed to spot the animal
4. Photos and videos were helpful documentation, but not required
5. The exact species did not need to match the photo on the card. For instance, "bear" could be a black bear, grizzly, or even a polar bear! "Whale" could be any type, not just an orca (though seeing an orca would have been incredible). "Antelope" would undoubtedly be a pronghorn, because that's what we have in the US.

Here is our completed card with the dates of all our first sightings. We were surprised, though, at how many sightings we had of each animal type. In fact, we had more than one separate sighting of 10/12 of the animals, with the only exceptions being whale and dolphin (though we did see multiple whales in that one sighting).

We aren't going to talk about every sighting of every animal, but will share our first sighting and some fun stories that came from subsequent sightings.

The tortoise – first spotted March 29, 2022 in Estero, FL

After a delayed launch, we finally caught up to our originally-planned reservations in Florida. We spent several days at Koreshan State Park in Estero, near Fort Myers. It didn't take us long once we were there to spot one of the park's resident tortoises. We saw this guy right after we arrived!

We had several more sightings throughout our stay, including one that seemed to try to chase us down a path. Poor things get a bad rap for being slow, but this one had some good speed to him! We also happened to be camping at Koreshan during one of their educational exhibits all about tortoises. We saw one of their dens and learned how they're keystone species. Other critters use the dens for their own habitats.

What's funny is, after this stint of tortoise sightings, we aren't sure if we saw any outside FL. We're racking our brains to remember if we saw a desert tortoise while out west. Once we had these initial sightings, we set our sights on other species. But one thing's for sure: the tortoise became a symbol of our early travel days and all the learning experiences that awaited us.

The armadillo – first spotted April 12, 2022 in Estero, FL

This was one of the few sightings where the first one was also the best. It's also one of the only sightings that happened right in our own campsite! We were still at Koreshan, enjoying an evening of patio time with the pets. Suddenly, Lily stood up, eyes wide, looking at something over near our picnic table. We had never seen her so focused! We followed her gaze, and that's when we saw it.

That's when we realized just how many incredible things the pets would see on the road. This was new territory for Lily, and she was watching an animal that she would have never seen in her lifetime if it weren't for RV life.

Our other notable sighting came when we least expected it. We were at Santee State Park in SC (Jan 2024), exploring the day-use areas and hiking one of the trails. We saw a lot of birds that morning and initially thought the rustling we heard was a bird or a squirrel. Not quite.

The eagle – first spotted April 22, 2022 in Fort Myers, FL

We sought out an eagle nest to get our first sighting. My mom is a big fan of live eagle cams, and so when we set out to travel the country, we made a point to visit some of them. One is the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam, a nest located on private property but viewable from the road and the church next door. We spent a lot of time in the Fort Myers area that year, but one of our campsites was right up the street from the nest. In late April, the eaglets were grown and about ready to fledge. I got some pictures of them perched on the tree.

Look closely at this photo and you will see one of the cameras over the nest.

The next month, I surprised my mom by sending her a Mother's Day gift. I used an online company to get a framed print of this photo:

We paid another visit to the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam in January 2024. The adult female eagle had passed away, and the male had recently accepted a new mate. We got to see her in her first season at the nest, and she was the most stunning eagle we've ever seen in person. Unfortunately, she was hit by a car earlier this year. This is the downside of the wildlife cameras; we can't help but feel emotionally connected. It's really hard to watch nature run its course sometimes.

When we were on Long Island at the turn of the year in 2023, we went to another live-streamed nest in Centerport. The female eagle had recently gotten a new mate, and he too was just exquisite to see in-person. He even flew right over us!

But we didn't just see eagles when we sought out their nests. A couple weeks after the Long Island sighting, we were in Virginia. Our campground, Pohick Bay Regional Park, was across from an eagle preserve, so we grabbed our binoculars and went. But we didn't see any eagles. Apparently, they were across the street, at our campground! After striking out at the preserve, we saw one during our morning campground walk the very next day.

Our last notable sighting was at Hernando Point COE Campground in MS (March 2024). We booked our site not knowing that there's an eagle nest right in the campground. Imagine our surprise when we heard eagle calls right from our RV. I went looking for them, and there they were, flying over the campground loop, near their nest. Had we known, we would have booked the campsite nearest the nest!

The bear – first spotted May 30, 2022 in Gatlinburg, TN

In Season 1 of travels, we planned a few "big dots" on our itinerary, the biggest being the Smokies. It turned out to be a perfect spring getaway – not too crowded, perfect weather, and beautiful foliage. Also good about springtime? Bears galore! There are always lots of black bears in the Smokies, but this time of year, the cubs are growing but not yet out on their own, so you can often spot groups of multiple bears. We technically did on June 1, during our Pink Jeep Tour through the park. One of our tour-mates pointed out what we believe were 5 bears, but they were so far away, we could barely see them. That was OK, though, because we had already spotted our first bear a couple days before. It was my birthday, and we had gone up to the mountaintop park, Anakeesta. On our chairlift ride down, we saw a black bear in the woods below us. I didn't get a good photo, but it became emblematic on the blog as the "bear butt."

Until we got a better photo, I would always use this "representative photo" taken of a bear in captivity at Ober Gatlinburg. We just "pretended" it was in the wild. The habitats at Ober were pretty realistic!

Fast forward 2 years later, and we stopped needing the representative photo. We were in Sequoia National Park and took a gorgeous 7-mile hike through the redwoods. On our way out, something had drawn a crowd. Just off the trail was a black bear, totally chill, just hanging out at the trailhead. It was clear that he had done this a lot and humans did not phase him. Of course, we still didn't want to get too close, but I put my camera zoom to good use.

Before long, he crossed the trail to the other side and roamed into the woods. We could all use this bear's level of chill. And we're happy to report that all the spectators did the right thing by giving him his space.

We've had several black bear sightings in our travels, but we've yet to see a grizzly bear in the wild. We hoped it would happen last year during our extended time out west – as long as it was safe, of course – but it hasn't been our time.

The whale – spotted July 31, 2022 in Plymouth, MA

This was our most local wildlife sighting, happening when we were camping at our MA home-base in summer 2022. You might remember that summer. We were supposed to be camping in Plymouth, but the owner of the campground turned out to be a jerk. So we moved up to our home-base instead, where the following week, we got struck by lightning and a tree next to us caught fire as a result. Not exactly the most enjoyable summer, but we did get our last Bingo check mark of the year, and it was a good one. Actually, we had booked an earlier whale watch time but couldn't make it because we had to stop at the Plymouth campground and fight them for a refund. We moved our cruise to the afternoon, which could have been disappointing because earlier timeslots tend to have more whale sightings. Turns out, we didn't need to worry. We saw so many whales on that cruise! Most of them were humpbacks, but we did also see one fin whale.

This remains one of the best experiences we've had in MA, and it couldn't have come at a better time. We were in the middle of our first year of RVing, dealing with a lot of issues, and feeling the dissonance of being back home for the first time. We often look back and remember the challenges of that summer, like the lightning strike and all the aftermath. It's nice to remember that it wasn't all stress and scariness.

The elk – first spotted April 1, 2023 at Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

It was my first trip to the Grand Canyon and I got very emotional, so it's easy to forget that this was the day of our first elk sighting. As we finished up our walk along the South Rim, we saw a couple of elk feeding from the trees. This was the only photo I got. Quite the neck stretch this dude has!

For the most part, we had tons of sightings of the western species. We didn't know how prolific they'd be, but we were at an advantage. When out west, we tend to go to very nature-heavy locations. We visited national and state parks where these animals are abundant. By this point, we wouldn't be able to recall all our elk sightings, even if we tried, but a few stand out.

There was this super chill one lounging next to the trail at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone (June 2023).

Basically all sightings in Rocky Mountain National Park and its gateway town, Estes Park (October 2023) were ones to remember. We had elk walking down the street, an elk in our campground, and a herd of elk under the moon. If you want to see an elk, go to Estes Park. They are very popular residents.

Our favorite sighting of all, though, was the bull elk making his mating call to the ladies...who seemed less than impressed.

The pronghorn – first spotted May 7, 2023 somewhere in Idaho

If we say we spotted a pronghorn on May 7, 2023, then it must have happened, but we have no record of it. It was a drive day in Idaho, and our vague recollection is that I may have seen one briefly on the drive. The month after that, Anthony saw one in Ennis, MT. This one was memorable because it was just meandering in front of the fire station...as one does.

We have no more records of pronghorn sightings during this period. How is it possible, then, that we remember this story so vividly?

After Ennis, we camped near the north entrance of Yellowstone. The day we arrived, we took a scenic drive in the park. This was when we saw the chill elk, plus we saw a rattlesnake, a bear, and bison. We were hoping to spot a moose or grizzly bear, and when the truck in front of us slowed down and waved out the window for us to look, we got excited. "He's telling us there's something over there! It must be good!" ......."Oh, it's just pronghorns."

Were we that desensitized to them after just one sighting each? That couldn't be. They're really cool animals! But unless our memories come back someday, all we can say is that we didn't give the pronghorns the attention they deserved during our first few sightings.

Thankfully, we made up for it in the summer. We were baking our way through Wyoming and risked heat stroke to hike T Hill in Thermopolis. As we returned to the parking lot after our hike, we made a couple buddies.

This was the closest we'd ever seen them, and my goodness, they are stunning! They also have butts that resemble those of Corgis. What? Do I not speak the truth?!

Our most recent sighting was also the most scenic. We were traveling America's Loneliest Road in Nevada (May 2025) and went on the search for natural hot springs. We found the springs, but we also found these pronghorns. Seeing them against this backdrop was just spectacular.

The bison – first spotted May 13, 2023 at Yellowstone National Park, WY

Our first trip into Yellowstone was impromptu. We were camping in Idaho, 90 minutes away from the West Yellowstone entrance, and we had a bad experience seeing animals in captivity. Our remedy was to go get wild. We are so glad we visited Yellowstone early in the season. It was a completely different experience from when we returned in the summer. It also granted us our first bison sighting.

Our most memorable bison sighting in Yellowstone, however, came on our scenic drive from the North entrance. Long story short, we got lost, went the wrong way, and ended up in a bison jam. Going hours out of our way wasn't the best, especially since it was getting dark, but we can't deny that this sighting was one for the books.

We had a lot of bison sightings in 2023, so we can't talk about them all, but we'd be remiss if we didn't mention a few:

The massive bison jam on Iron Mountain Road in SD:

The bison in Custer State Park, against a landscape that looked like a painting:

And also where the matriarch of the herd led everyone on a pilgrimage, which we got to witness as we drove through the park. They only move this fast when they're relocating, and the matriarch always leads the way.

And finally, the Badlands, where this guy decided to scratch his itch:

All these sightings inspired us to put bison on our cross-country Bingo card last year, but it was surprisingly tough to spot one. We guess in 2023, we were just in the right places. Last year, we ended up camping with them just to be safe. Those bison wouldn't have counted towards Wildlife Bingo because they are on a ranch, but they counted towards cross-country Bingo!

Also, just a note for those who want to see Bison in the eastern US. There is a prairie preserve south of Gainesville, FL, and if you're lucky, you can see them right from HWY 441! There is a pull-off and observation deck, part of Paynes Prairie State Park. Look for alligators, too. There are a lot in the trenches next to the highway.

The moose – first spotted July 11, 2023 in Jackson, WY

Now we're into the 2023 wildlife sightings that were harder to come by. We tried really hard to spot a moose as we went through the national parks of the west. Once we got to Grand Teton in July, we still hadn't spotted one, and so we learned their common stomping grounds and went at the optimal times of dawn and dusk. We still came up short.

When did we finally see one? Coming back from errands in Jackson, we noticed a crowd on the side of the road, so we stopped, just in case it was a moose...and it was! Go figure. We went into the depths of the park over and over, but the moose sighting happened right up the street from our campground, in the bright late afternoon sun.

We did end up seeing more later in the year, on our way to Salida, CO. Snapped a quick photo of this family as we drove by.

The bighorn sheep – first spotted July 23, 2023 in Dubois, WY

We really made an effort on this one. Come summertime, we still hadn't seen a bighorn sheep, and we were getting nervous. We didn't want to leave the west without getting this check on our bingo card. We even stopped at the Bighorn Sheep Center in Dubois to get tips on the best places to see one. We drove the whole road that was recommended to us and didn't see one.

But the next day, we headed up the same way for a hike, and we came across a whole group of them. This was a very satisfying, long-awaited bingo check mark.

They stuck around while we hiked, and on our way back from the trailhead, we got to say "bye."

That started a good luck streak with us and bighorn sheep. I got incredible photos of this one at Badlands National Park in September 2023. He ended up walking alongside us for a while.

Then last year, when we were back out west, we didn't even have to try. We saw several in Valley of Fire State Park, and even ended up in a sheep jam!

But that sighting was quickly upstaged when we got back to our campground and met our new neighbor.

The manatee – first spotted January 17, 2024 in Apollo Beach, FL

Only 2 holdouts remained, and we could spot both in Florida. We understood why we didn't see manatees in 2022; we launched too late, and by the time we got south, they had already gone back out to the ocean. In 2024, we left right on time, and we made it to FL while the manatees were still seeking warmer waters. We first sought them out at the Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach, where they take advantage of the discharge waters from the power plant. Our sightings were numerous, and boy were these creatures cute!

A couple weeks later, we went to Manatee Park, but these sightings weren't as good. The river water was warm enough for the manatees to swim further out, leaving only a handful to bubble up near our viewing platform.

We so hoped to also see a dolphin that year so we could complete Blackout Bingo, but that of course didn't happen. We had to wait over 2 more years to get our dolphin sighting. But now that we know where and how it happened, we aren't mad. We got to see it right from our campsite! That makes it just one of two wildlife bingo checks that happened from our site. Just a reminder, you can read about our dolphin sighting in our previous post.

Looking back, if we were to add any other animals to our Bingo card, we would have put mountain goat, prairie dog, and javelina. We have some incredible memories of seeing mountain goats and prairie dogs. And the javelina? We didn't know anything about it until we traveled out west, where we learned that they are "everywhere." But we still haven't seen one in the wild. Guess we still wouldn't have Blackout Bingo had we added that one to our card! Perhaps things worked out the way they were supposed to. It was definitely a wild ride.