thousand days on the road - Living In Beauty

Posted April 14, 2019 – Narrated by Carmen

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“A thousand half-loves must be forsaken to take the whole heart home“
– Rumi

Today, a LIB milestone. A thousand days on the road.

This is serious glamping by-the-sea. To celebrate this moment, Jim brought us to Gulf Waters RV Resort in Port Aransas, Texas on Mustang Island. This beachside RV park is now one of our top five private parks.

The site is spacious, fully landscaped and features our own private palapa bar. In a few days we’ll pull out of this gorgeous resort, so call soon to get your reservation for #419 or choose from other great sites.

In the biblical writings Jim and I were raised with thousand is a divine idea that can mean …

myriads, infinity, countless, innumerable, immensity, fullness of time, multitude

In Buddhism a thousand is a metaphor for the capacity to effect spiritual transformation. I like the Purusha myth that describes The Universal Being as having a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet for traveling though “all that hath been and all that is yet to be.”

But for Jim, a thousand is a number he can sink his CFO chops into on the LIB timeline. 1,000 days since we left Coronado. 29,913 travel miles. 198 different overnight locations in 37 states and provinces.

This day is also a time to reflect on the thousand “half-loves” we left behind (property, stability, position). To mourn the myriad comforts (routines, doctors, community pool, hair stylist, gardening …) that we forsook to go a-toddling off like babes in the woods – old babes …

Too old to nest and not ready to rest.

We often miss our family and friends, but digital technology and social media facilitates constant connectivity.

We marvel that only a few decades have passed since our dads were away for months and years at a time on navy business. Back then, the only way to maintain a relationship was through the postal service and the rare 2-minute garbled phone call from a ship’s radio.

Imagine how these last few years of technological advances – had they existed in the 1960’s – would alter the outcomes of history. How might the telegraph change the story of Odysseus’ travels on the Aegean? or the iPhone impact The Exodus of the Israelites.

It begs the question:

Is it really an adventure when our son can track our every move on the iPhone ‘Find Friends’ app?

Yes. I guess it is, when we consider a future when he may be tracking us on a go-pro in a long-term care facility.

Last month, while paddling the south end of Armistad Lake near the dam, my phone sounded a “Welcome to Mexico” alert. So I paddled out to the center of the lake where I could see the top of the bluff where cars were lined up for inspection.

Kayaking Amistad National Recreation Area – Del Rio, Texas

Testing the boundaries is what LIB is all about.

We’re learning that corporations invasive use of personal information is throttled by moving targets. Our lifestyle of full-time, on-the-go RV travel bamboozles the banks, Amazon, medical insurers …

Clearly, providers make more money when they can efficiently broadcast the goods to the customers who are corralled into static bundles, because that way it’s easier to track ’em, bill ’em and sell ’em. Jim is always on the phone trying to help corporations understand our lifestyle so we can receive services.

So, for the moment, indiscretions with the public’s right to privacy does not concern us overmuch. Hopefully, it will all be straightened out soon. As old people, we’ve seen how quickly things can change.

21st Century communication

Not long ago it was customary social practice to set out on a journey to relate bad news in-person because the alternative – a letter delivered by mail – was considered indecent.

But only a decade later it was common for difficult news to arrive through telegraph (with apologies of course) and not much later by telephone, with the necessary apologies.

So, learning of a dear friend’s sudden death via Facebook shouldn’t have come as such a shock because we probably would have received the news that way even if we were still in Coronado.

At our age, it’s wise to take a deep breath and utter a quick prayer before logging into Facebook.

Focusing

I think Rumi’s wisdom, “A thousand half-loves must be forsaken to take the whole heart home” is about more than romantic love or spiritual enlightenment. It’s a practical discipline.

Focusing on the heart’s desire and staying true to the dream rather than being detoured by a thousand distractions will deliver rewards. Keep that carrot in focus. Zero in on what you’re doing. Don’t obsess over every inferior mirage in the road.