South Texas

Yesterday, We went up to box canyon in Socorro, it looked beautiful, but I broke one of my rules and went in the dark, after a stressful drive in there with travel partner towing a trailer, we got worried it could rain and left, went back to the truck stop. The next day went all the way out near white sands over a gigantic mountain pass, again towing only to get the the entrance to campground, six miles down and it says it does not advise trailers to go. Second day of little rest. Went a few more hours through El Paso, then rain down I 10 then exhausted found a pilot in Texas. Now major stress and starting to fray.

What I learned again from this experience is different types of vehicles dictate a different lifestyle and routine, and ours were totally opposite, so sadly we had to separate so we each could do what we needed to take care of ourselves and our animals. I said we had to stay safe and sane first most!

Was nice to have someone to share the ups and downs of travel with.

South Texas is worth the effort to get here.  It’s is incredibly beautiful, mountainous, with a tropical feel.  People everywhere are smiling, that is important to me.  Got to start watching the dog again with gators!

Not many truck stops out of elpaso, farther down closer to the coast they start to increase again. Gas is really cheap.  Going to stay in this area for a month or so. Always on the look out for places to live when I feel to old to do this anymore.

New Mexico

New Mexico

Leaving Winslow Arizona to New Mexico campgrounds

What next? Padre Island!

We all learn different styles of living out here, what works for us, what doesn’t.

I think sometimes our identities get caught up in trying to prove our way is right, this is a natural human thing to do and I try really hard not to do this. To know what works for me, may not work for the next person. So that is my disclaimer!

What excites me, makes living this way worth the hassle is travel and big nature. Seeing things I have never seen, adapting to cultures different from my own, challenging myself. The way I do things involves quite a bit of risk and understandably it is not for everyone. I have enough savings now that car trouble risk is easily taken care of and that reduces stress considerably.

If I can’t have travel and big nature due to money constraints I rely heavily on my spiritual cultivation. I use the adverse situation to turn inward, marshal my resources and try to get to a state of compassion, loving kindness, equanimity, acceptance and gratitude. Again I only came to this through trial and error, getting stuck places I didn’t want to be, many, many times. So now it is pretty automatic to do this until circumstances change.

So I have accomplished my current highest priority, meeting people from the forum. So glad I did, we have so much in common, tons to talk about, we are adventurous, intelligent, accomplished people, like I thought we were, good to have it confirmed though. Hope fully I will meet back up with them in a couple of months and meet more, before the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous, that is also a priority for me, again to meet people.

So for now I am ready to go find the best temperature and climate I can and Padre Island sounds like it fits the bill. Dog needs to soak in the salt water! She is dusty, dirty

 

This is not what I expected!

New people are having a hard time, and they have been the first to say, this is not at all what I expected!

I have thought for awhile, and it is being confirmed, that reading the high points of someone’s travels and seeing someone’s beautiful pictures on the Internet is a whole different story then the often pretty extreme ups and downs of a life of travel.

Getting experience dealing with the weather and scheduling your tasks of daily living alone takes a lot of effort and trial and error in the beginning. After doing it for awhile you get a sense of mastery and confidence but in the beginning it is often one failure after another.

One example that comes to mind. We have all left stuff out not realizing it would rain, then u have to put it in your vehicle dirty, wet and unorganized, then it is still raining and often hot so u can’t roll the windows down, now what? I finally by accident saw a do it yourself car wash to drive under one day, now I put it maps on phone when that starts to happen, that only took two years to figure out!

So not trying to discourage anyone from this way of life but I would encourage expectations to be low and then be pleasantly surprised when it all goes right, like often happens too.

Camping with others

I had a great time meeting others from forum, we are a like kind for sure

Standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona

California, Los Padres National Forest

Love this area

Beautiful and free here

Desert driving! Yeeks!