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Published on March 11, 2022 – Narrated by Carmen

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“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.

Real life is a montage.

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

Great overnight digs at the Mid-America Air Museum

Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico in one day

San Jon, New Mexico

Blue Hole – Santa Rosa, New Mexico

Santa Rosa Blue Hole – any time of year. A swim in the hole is magic!

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Albuquerque to Moriarty on the 40

You never know what you’ll find at the Walmart. This adorable art car by Lawyer Garage on his way to a Hot Wheels event, invited me to come over and say hello.

Sierra Blanca Brewing Company – Moriarty, New Mexico

The 285 from Moriarty to Carlsbad

Neat old station where we pulled off to rustle up some lunch and water the livestock

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

Chips, Guac & Margaritas. Doesn’t get better than that.

Riverbend Hot Springs

Our Happy Place on The Rio Grande.

Next stop: Hatch, New Mexico

Have chili peppers, will travel. We drove west on the 26

to Adobe Deli – Deming, New Mexico

We always call ahead to arrange for the complimentary overnight parking

Goodbye New Mexico / Hello Arizona

Kartchner Caverns State Park – Benson, Arizona

Jim and Sam joined us at Kartchner Caverns and Mesa

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

The Nerd Reunion: Tansy, Walgrave & Willem

BRAD! Our old neighbor. Passing through Yuma to Coronado on business.

Cherie Koss Waldo director of The River of Time Museum and Doug Waldo, a very fine actor.

Elizabeth & Jack, founders of Airstream Addicts on Facebook

Cynthia, Jim and I go way back to Sweetwater Union High School

Cracker Barrel in Yuma, Arizona

Fried Avocado at Prison Hill! Worth the drive!

Best Cracker Barrell spot ever! Close to everything

Yuma to San Diego on I-8

San Diego, California, our home for two months

Friendsgiving morning on the Bay with Barbie, Dr. Nani, Kerrie (holding George) and Lou

To celebrate Chris’ Retirement

Reunite with friends from decades past

Paula, Steve’s sister, again waaaay back

I’ve known my hair stylist, Stephen since he was nine years-old! Stephen at Eroma

Hang with old friends

Meet new friends

Mario and Rosie are the proprietors of Rancho San Jeronimo, an enchanting outdoor venue for parties, weddings, special occasions and family reunions. For event planners, Rancho San Jeronimo is one of the best kept secrets in San Diego. *Shhh*. Don’t tell everybody 😉

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

Mochi watches dog cookies bake in the wonderful new Contour Oven

and be near family.

Where did we stay in San Diego? More about that in our next campground review.

You can see our exact route on this map.

*photos in this post (unless otherwise noted) were taken and copyrighted by Living In Beauty.

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David Titley

4 years ago

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!