Posted March 11, 2022 – Narrated by Carmen
“Love is space and time measured by the heart.”
Over 2,000 days ago, we set out on an adventure to experience beauty, to capture the breaths of the journey, the whispered moments, the tingling feeling you get in that instant when the sun rises and the mountains cast long shadows reaching for miles.
Other than Beauty and The Beast, this blog is our only real estate, the “X” in The Cloud where we hoard our long-winded treasure.
Whenever the cellular gods provide even a sliver of a signal, we reach into cyberspace to gather our memories and assemble them into a portrait of our experience. Problem is, in the most beautiful places, the cell signals mostly suck.
The Living In Beauty blog is almost five months behind and we are currently heading north into cellular deserts. At this rate, a year from now we’ll be a year behind.
We need a montage to put the squeeze on Old Man Time.
I don’t like to rush, never have. The friction of time management burns through moments my heart wants to hold for hours.
I’m a southerner so I’m tuned to the Mississippi calendar. It’s based on the sun’s arc over a bloodhound napping on a porch. The Droolian Calendar actually adds eleven days each to June, July and August.
Before my mid-thirties, it seemed like I had all the time in the world. The tedium of adulting – juggling school and work, securing loans, repairing old houses – made life seem long, like those films you watched in school.
We became parents and everything changed. Life accelerated too quickly to absorb. Looking back, raising a child seems like a sixty-second montage of stops: Diapers, babysitters, graduation day; and starts: first day of kindergarten, choir recital, military enrollment. Parenting moved along like (yikes) that hoaky Days of Our Lives hourglass.
If we could cheat time we’d have fast-forwarded through the 80’s and 90’s and raised our son in slow-motion so we could document every moment. But real life is the other way around, and the homestretch feels like a runaway train.
Last Christmas Eve, our smart young friend Liam walked us through the numbers like a sage. “Do you realize,” he said, while addressing a roomful of champagne-buzzed sixty-somethings marveling over the deprivations of our depression-era parents, “that 1980 is as far from 1939 as 1980 is from today?”
The room went still as we all considered our so-called vintage goods from the 70’s and 80’s. Liam’s calculations also covered our parents generation and our grandparents who kept a solid grip on their cisterns, chamber pots, sink pumps, butter churns and clothes lines because even under the pressure of accelerating progress their essentials had integrity.
If time cannot be measured true, and progress is determined by the test of time, then the heart is the best device to measure endurance.
The Bulova watch Jim gave me for my sixteenth birthday will outlive me, but the “Love Always” inscription will outlive the watch. Therefore, my heart informs me that the future is bright.
So, let’s burn some road
The 35 from Kansas City to Peck
Wyldewood Cellars – Peck, Kansas
Peck to Liberal on the 54
Mid-America Air Museum – Liberal, Kansas
Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico in one day
San Jon, New Mexico
Blue Hole – Santa Rosa, New Mexico
Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque to Moriarty on the 40
Sierra Blanca Brewing Company – Moriarty, New Mexico
The 285 from Moriarty to Carlsbad
Balzano Family Vineyard – Carlsbad New Mexico
Carlsbad Caverns – Carlsbad, New Mexico. Trick or Treat 👻
The 82 from Carlsbad through the Lincoln National Forest …
to White Sands National Park…
and the 25 to Truth or Consequences
to our Happy Place on The Rio Grande at Riverbend Hot Springs
Next stop: Hatch, New Mexico
Have chili peppers, will travel. We drove west on the 26
to Adobe Deli – Deming, New Mexico
Goodbye New Mexico / Hello Arizona
Kartchner Caverns State Park – Benson, Arizona
View Point RV and Golf Resort – Mesa, Arizona
A relaxing month in the beautiful burbs at our favorite Arizona RV resort
An odd bird celebrates her Medicare Birthday at The Perch Brewery.
Meet-ups with Arizona friends
Cracker Barrel in Yuma, Arizona
Yuma to San Diego on I-8
San Diego, California, our home for two months
To celebrate Chris’ Retirement
Reunite with friends from decades past
Hang with old friends
Meet new friends
Have a smashing evening of conversation and top-notch Italian cuisine at Tricia and Jim’s
and Christmas Eve Dinner at Santa’s House
Christmas Dinner at home
And just to enjoy the beauty of the city
Dog-sit the grands
and be near family.
Where did we stay in San Diego? More about that in our next campground review.
If you want to see our exact route, click here.
*photos in this post (unless otherwise noted) were taken and copyrighted by Living In Beauty.
Great job as always! I think New Mexico is becoming one of my favorite states. We will do a few days at White Sands NP next month, after I pick up Kathy from her bird photo workshop in south Texas. Then onto another summer working in Grand Teton, helping the wildlife & visitors co-exist. Safe travels to you both!
Hey David!
I’d love to take that bird photo class with Kathy! She has such a gift for photography. She’s there at the perfect time, Fall in The Spring.
White Sands should be lovely next month. Weekends there are a bit crowded so you might want to plan ahead. We’d love to go to the Tetons again and paddle those lakes. Your annual gig there is quite the retirement story! Thanks for keeping us posted about your unique Airstream journey on Underway Shift Colors!
https://underwayshiftcolors.com
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Better {Posting} Late than Never…Keep up the Good Work!
Thank you Pat. It’s a joy to have you onboard.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Hey ! We made it into your blog!
I don’t remember donning the Santa garb!?!?
Santa magic is Everywhere!
Love you! Hugs to Sam xoxo
Carmen
Oh what a great time!! Love how you whittled your time down to a few photos and comments, but still gave us a peek! Enjoy your time; I’ll keep looking forward to your next posts!!
Hey Susan!
It was a great time! That was almost four months of travel in one post. If we kept that up there would be only three blogs per year! Yes, I raced through so much and omitted some lovely friends and wonderful moments but at least we covered all of the destinations and hopefully captured the scope of the journey.
There were many doctor and dentist and vet visits in San Diego. We found out that Pico had a tick disease which he picked up from a tick in Georgia last year. He had minor symptoms, but we knew something was up. It was an epic adventure to find his medicine (with all the shortages) and the treatment took a month but he’s all better now.
Life is full! Stuff happens! The journey continues …
Thanks so much for being onboard.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Where are you now? We are in Key West.
Hey David! We’re in Southern Oregon. It’s cold. Bet it’s nice in Key West …
Send Sunshine.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Love following your travels.. I have been living my dream vicariously through your postings.. One day health will allow me to enjoy my Airstream travels again..
Hey Airstream RoadTrip!
Jim and I send our best and look forward to hearing that you are in good health and back on the road. Meanwhile, we are blessed to have you onboard for the journey.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
I have never listened to our podcasts, always just read the blog as I LOVE the pictures. Listened today and Carmen, I love your voice and how you read it. So soothing!!!! I may listen all the time now – and continue to look at the amazing pics. Do you always just use your phone for pics? I have an amazing camera, but it’s so heavy and bulky, many times I don’t even want to take it anywhere.
Brenda!
So you’re the one who listened to the podcast today 😊 Thank you so much! I jest a bit, we have a way to know how many listen and it’s not a lot – still, I enjoy doing it.
My brilliant technician Deborah Reeves set up my Airstream Audio Studio so I can work on the road. She’s a genius and I couldn’t do it without her!
https://www.udemy.com/user/deborahreeves2/
The podcast helps me to keep my voice fresh so I can resume voiceover when we settle down.
I’m flattered that you like my photos. I use three different cameras: My iPhone8, (my old iPhone6 fell in the Mystic River …) and I still have the camera gifted to me by the crew of the Best Buy documentary, a Nikon Coolpix B-500 (It has a powerful zoom and I get better bird shots with it) and my current favorite camera is the Sony RX-100 M7. It’s a small pocket camera. It took a while to get used to it’s smallness, but now I love it for landscape and food photography. It fits in a tiny camera bag. Not bulky at all. Here’s the link:
https://livinginbeauty.net/product/sony-rx100-vii/
Thanks so much for being with us, Brenda! You are such an encouragement!
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Such fun pictures!
Thank you, Julia! The holidays were the best. I hope yours were too!
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Gosh what a whirlwind! I’m exhausted! 🙂
True for us too, Zuri! We’re still reeling from fun overload! But it was worth it. Family and friends is what it’s all about.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Great “Fast Forward.” Wow – 2 months back in San Diego 😵💫. Just in time to start re-experiencing the sticker shock of San Diego Cost of Living 😉. For those staying in or near San Diego, there’s a service called “MexiVet.com” that will pick up your pet, take them to reputable veterinary services in Tijuana where you can be on the phone with the Veterinarian while with your pet, and bring your pet back to you. Has gotten great reviews and was recommended by a friend. Safe travels 👍
Hey Kevin!
Thanks for the MexiVet tip. Many RV and yacht people (full and part-timers) stay close to the border so they can cross into Mexico regularly for medical treatments, imaging, dental work and other services that are far less expensive than in the states. It doesn’t surprise me that there are some good veterinarians there too. We’re looking forward to going south someday.
Always wonderful to hear from you, Kevin. It’s great to have you on board.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Absolutely amazing!!! Thought you had only been on the road for 2 years but for about 6 I commend you both!!! Absolutely beautiful country that most people don’t see or understand!!! A lot of heritage out there to be seen!!! Love your posts, safe travels and enjoy!!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏👌👌👍👍
Hey Larry! I never thought we’d make it six years, but so far every year seems to be getting easier. Much of our good luck is due to our technician Vinny Lamica but we take nothing for granted. We are beyond grateful for these last six years and we hope we’re not pushing the odds too far. We’re learning that, from time to time, it’s good for us to take a long 1-3 month break from travel. We’d like to spend more time exploring New Mexico. It is a strange, beautiful and mystical land … truly, The Land of Enchantment.
Thanks for being with us, Larry!
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
That’s awesome 👏 Where are you now?
Hey David! We’re in Oregon freezing our butts off, and dodging trees haha! But it sure is beautiful. Uh-oh Storm’s a coming. Gotta pull in the awning.
Send sunshine.
Love to you and Mary Ann. xoxo
Carmen@LIB
It’s warm here in Florida. Come on down.
What an amazing life you two live! Bill Smith and I were so happy to meet you and share some good times in San Diego. Thanks for including us in your memories
Betty!!! Where are you now? Borrego? OMG it’s SO cold up here in Oregon and a storm is on the way – nevertheless we’re having a good time. The green, the trees, the scenery … but we’re not in SoCal anymore.
Thanks to you and Bill for spending time with us in Chula Vista! We must meet up again someday!
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
We’re in Tucson. Hot sun in the daylight hours and chilly at night. Heading to northern AZ in a few days and expect cooler temps.
We’ve done Oregon in March. Cold and rainy, but green and so beautiful. My skin misses the humidity.
We’ll keep in touch and hope to see you down the road.
Thanks for the update. We’d love to hear about your northern AZ travels. Other than the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff we haven’t spent a lot of time up there. Enjoy! xoxo
Okay you weren’t kidding when you said you working on your blog posting! Wow what a busy and beautiful life you are living.
Haha! Yes! Busy and beautiful makes us all three happy campers.
xoxo, Doren!
Carmen
Love love loved the fast forward – and love you both!
Ed! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. We loveLoveLOVE you too! Hugs to you, Stephanie and the kids.
xoxox,
Carmen
You guys gonna be on the road forever? Fun!
Hey Darlene!
Well … nothing is forever they say, but so far we’re quite satisfied with how this is going. We don’t miss having a house fastened to the ground – at least not yet. Who knows what the future will bring, but for now we are soooo happy in this mobile lifestyle.
Jim sends greetings!
Thank you for being onboard!
Carmen@LIB
That sure was fun!!
Yes, it was my dear. I have missed you SO much. Give you a call next time we’re in town?
xoxox,
Carmen
Wow! I remember running into you both on the sidewalk right before you were going to be leaving Coronado. How time flies when you’re having fun
Barbara, yes! I remember that day like it was last year. How wonderful to hear from you! Are you and Lacio still in San Diego?
Safe & Happy Travels xoxox
Carmen@LIB
Currently we are, but we’ve been living in Holland for the last 5 years and loving it 🥰 Now we’ll see where we go next. The world is our oyster
Love to see your travels and pictures! See you down the road somewhere–David and Anna Brandon, Grapevine, TX (and North Texas Airstream Community in Hillsboro TX)
David & Anna! We look forward to visiting you and the North Texas Airstream Community someday.
Thank you for being with us,
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Awesome as always! Happy trails. Stay safe and enjoy!
Carl!!!! And here you are like Einstein’s train. It’s always wonderful to hear from you. Where are you now? Still have momentum?
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Great job catching up on your blog, and very fun photos! New Mexico is one of our favorite states. It truly is the Land of Enchantment.
I’m always behind on our blog, too. Although I’m currently caught up to ‘real time’ from our adventures over the past two years since we were stranded in Florida, I’m getting ready to open the time capsule of our 2019 fall travels as we made our way down the east coast from the Maritimes. My plan is to get those posts done before we take off in June for a four month trip to Michigan and Minnesota. Wish me luck, LOL!
Where are you in Southern Oregon? We had a home for 23 years in Ashland and just sold it last August. We adored that town, but the wildfires made us decide we didn’t want to return. Keep on enjoying your fabulous journey, I hope it warms up for you soon!
Laurel! We just signed up for your wonderful RV travel blog:
https://ravenandchickadee.com
Laura from Chapter3Travels is a good matchmaker. We love your travel style, story-telling style and photography.
Lately, we are meeting many home-owners who have gone mobile or are exploring the RV as a permanent housing alternative – but, sadly, it’s coming from a place of uncertainty about the future. Along with the surge in camping due to covid, now we have wild fires, flooding, hurricanes, storm surges and grid failures to disrupt the full-time RV lifestyle which should be a choice rather than a necessity. Jim and I see no advantage in settling down right now and really haven’t found a place other than San Diego where we would be comfortable living year-round. No wonder SoCal is growing exponentially – even with the ongoing draught, year-round fire season and land movement – cliff erosion, earthquakes and land slides – and the insane housing prices the Baja California region has the most comfortable year-round climate in the Americas.
Thanks so much for finding us, Laura! We hope to meet up in the near future!
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Beautiful journeys!
Thank you, Marybeth!
Love to you, Rich and the boys! 😘😘😘😘😘
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen & Jim
What an adventure – so much since we saw you at Shenandoah NP last year. Enjoyed reliving some of our SW stops from 3 years ago through your pictures – Yuma, Kartchner Caverans, etc. Beautifully done.
Darrel,
Always wonderful to hear from our wonderful friends at Sprinty Chronicles: https://2015sprinty.blogspot.com. You guys rock!
Thanks so much for checking in with us!
Love to Kris xoxo
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Amazing!
Thanks for your encouragement, Lance!
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
So how many months did you cover in this blog post? Well done! You are almost caught up. Doing this “quick” photo diary thing does the trick. I should do this as well. My blog is about two months behind… Like in your case, reliable internet is hard to find in Baja and we are having too much fun to sit behind our computers the way we used to in the US. 🙂
Also, I’m enjoying a slower pace of life, with less restrictions and responsibilities. It’s so nice we can do what we want, when we want, where we want with our blogs.
San Diego is such an awesome place for a multiple-month base. I wish we had friends there with a level driveway. And, New Mexico has many undiscovered treasures. We have greatly enjoyed and appreciated it the last few years. You’ve stopped at some of our favorites in the south of the state.
Happy travels north and happy blog catch-up!
Thanks for reading and responding Liesbet!
The cold, wet, windy weather has us kicking ourselves for not going south of the border for the winter.
Before our RV days, we enjoyed winter vacations in Baja. So far we haven’t crossed over the border in Beauty and The Beast but it’s always a temptation. Next winter, perhaps, we’ll dive in to sunshine, beaches, palm trees and margarita land 🏝 It’s good to know that our Roaming About friends are relaxing in the sun: https://www.roamingabout.com
Yes, that was four months of content. I regret not taking more pictures of friends, but when you’re having a good time taking photos is an interruption – so many moments were simply not documented.
San Diego is a great place to relax, but we always have a long list of “to do’s” that crowd our time. We know where everything is, so we put off tiny repairs and trailer and truck improvements for our annual time in San Diego. We need to find a solution to this problem. Maybe get stuff done in Mesa first and arrive in San Diego with nothing to do but visit with family and go to docs, dentist and vets.
Great to hear from you Liesbet, you wise woman basking in the comforts of Mexico …
Please send sunshine.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Sending you sunshine AND smiles! Thank you for the sweet reply and for the shout-out to our blog. Spring and summer are just around the corner. 🙂
Like you, we have a huge to-do list for when we return to the US in April. Not having to think and worry about that now is the only way we could relax and enjoy that sunshine…
Don’t think about the hard stuff, just enjoy and take notes and photos so we can watch and learn.
xoxo,
Carmen
I always enjoy reading your beautiful blog! Your photos are awesome, as is your writing.
Carmela! The journey is a blessing. Every day is a gift. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
What a journey you guys have had. Keep on going. I love reading what you experience.
Marcy!!! We miss you two! Thank you for being onboard for the journey. It’s encouraging to know that you and Ted are keeping an eye out for us.
Safe & Happy Travels!
xoxox,
Carmen & Jim
I’m loving being on the journey with you, too. Thank you!
Jim, thank you so much. Xoxox to you and Trish. We are praying for your recovery.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen & Jim
Thank you so much
Colorful pictures, colorful life!
Thank you for being on the LIB caravan, Liz!
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Great article!
Great to have you with us, Danny!
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
Poignant introduction, really enjoyed reading it, excellent writing. I just turned 65, and have been traveling in a RV for the last 7 years. Last year, I lost one my favorite traveling companions, my cat Paso Robles. Finding the motivation to get out on the road this year without her is difficult, but I am trying. Life goes on. Have a wonderful 2022.
Hey Rob. Thank you for the encouragement. Thanks also for sharing your touching story about the passing of Paso Robles.
https://mountainlioncycling.com/2022/02/06/the-passing-of-paso-robles/
As a fellow 65 year-old, I’m pleased to hear that despite your loss, your story about the travel lifestyle with those beautiful fuzzy muzzles will continue with Rascal – looking forward to hearing more.
Safe & Happy Travels!
Carmen@LIB
ALWAYS enjoy your LIB travelogues. Cruising along on the latest and, lo and behold, up pops Helen and I loving your company in San Diego. Thanks for taking us along on this spectacular ride.
Mickie! So sorry it took so long to respond. I would blame sucky WiFi but it was actually due to time and tide – I’m on a tide schedule here and my poor time management doesn’t jive with mother nature. But it’s great to hear from you. I miss you already but it’s good to know that we are in your thoughts. See you later, Gal! xoxo
Carmen@LIB