Do We Really Want to Get Back to Normal?

I visited a small town in New Mexico back in March and the wildlife in town was abundant.  There were wild horses at the golf course, Elk at the library and crossing busy streets (they even used the crosswalk).   You couldn't drive a mile without coming across some amazing wildlife.   Now I've been to Ruidoso, New Mexico many times and I've always seen deer and maybe an Elk once or twice, but it had never been like this.   We've all seen the stories about animals coming in to towns during the pandemic when everything was shut down, but it was incredible to experience it first hand. 

But now as the town is once again crowded with visitors, the wildlife is starting to retreat.   Don't get me wrong, there is still wildlife in the area, it just isn't as abundant was it was just a few months ago.    Ruidoso remains a beautiful little town, but this traveling hillbilly misses the Ruidoso where the animals seemed to live so casually with the town folk.    Just not sure I'm ready for everything to get back to normal. 

Nature's Gym

During this extended time-off, I'm trying to get back into a morning work out routine. I used to ride my bike to the YMCA in the mornings for a work out before heading in to work. Then I moved, started a new job. The new job requried me to be at work an hour earlier than my previous job and it was often still dark when I left the house for work, so the morning work out routine fell by the way side.

But now I'm in these beatiful mountains where the sun rises just after 6am and most mornings the Traveling Hillbilly is waking up to clear, bright blue skies. It's hard not to be motivated to jump out of bed and get the day going. Plus the temperature is nice in cool early in the morning, making it beautiful weather for a morning walk or even yoga on the deck.

When this is your gym, how can you not want to work out?

Perfect Life or Lazy Life?

Woke up shortly after the sun had risen and realized it was going to be a beautiful day.   I enjoyed the stunning view while letting the dogs out. 

Back inside and as the hounds ate their breakfast, I threw on some gym clothes.  Wanted to take the dogs for a morning walk while we still have the nice cool morning temperatures.    We headed to the path that loops around the golf course, figuring some of the mountain trails would still be too muddy from the recent rains.   After about a mile with the dogs, it was time to take them home and come back for another loop at a quicker pace.   With temperatures only in the high 60's, with limited humidity, it is perfect weather to get those daily steps in. 

Came back home to do some stretching with a little yoga on the deck, enjoying the nice cool breeze and of course the view.   The morning work out was followed by a nice bowl of fresh fruit. 

As I'm sitting on the deck eating my fruit, I'm thinking this is the perfect way to start the day.  The Traveling Hillbilly got a morning workout in, got to enjoy the beautiful surrounding scenery without feeling rushed and even had time to stop for a coffee.  Why can't every day start like this?  Why is it we only get to move at this pace when we are on vacation? 

Then I thought is this too self indulgent?   Should I be hopping out of bed and rushing to start my day?   Should I be crossing a bunch of things off my "to do" list?   I start to feel bad.  I start to wonder when should I stop enjoying this quiet time on the deck and start getting some work done?  What is the right balance between being productive and taking time to enjoy the beauty in the world?   It certainly doesn't seem that 2-3 weeks of vacation a year to enjoy this pace is the right balance.   But it would be hard to do this everyday without getting up at 4am.   We all work so hard and so much, we often don't have the time to stop and smell the roses, but we should.   And we shouldn't have to wait until we are retired to do so.

Wonder if there are people out there that have figured this out?   People that have, and take, the time to enjoy the beauty of life, while also working and being productive?   If so, the Traveling Hillbilly would love to know how they are accomplishing this balance on a daily basis.

Traveling with Hounds

Even though I had a very long journey, luckily I had two great road companions with me, my two crazy but sweet dogs.   These two are used to road trips by now and have probably traveled across the country more than most people have.   For the most part the  hounds slept on this long journey, only groggily waking when they felt the car slow down to stop for gas.   Once my  dogs feel the car start to  slow down, there's no going back.   They  know it's time to get out and stretch their legs.  They start getting quite antsy and vocal.   

For those of you who travel with your dogs, you know there is no such thing as a  "quick stop" with them.  They have to go for stroll, do their business, stroll some more, then get some water, say hi to any one who might happen by.   And they like to take their sweet time doing all this.    So every stop adds at least 15-20 minutes to the journey.   But I much prefer traveling with them than without.   

I will admit though, it's much easier and pleasant to travel with them  outside of summer.  Traveling with them this time of year, can be challenging due to the extreme heat in a lot of places.   I'm constantly worry they aren't staying  cool enough in the car when we are driving.  That worry grows significantly when we have to stop for breaks.   After they've done their business and are back in the car drinking water, I run quickly to take my own potty break and am always afraid they are going to get too hot in the few minutes I'm gone.   I much prefer traveling with them when it's cooler vs. when temps are 90+ degrees!

Almost 15 hours in the car...Ugh!

I did a major detour on the way to New Mexico.  I stopped to visit some family for a few days.   I knew it was going to be a long drive from there to New Mexico, but thought it was just under 14 hours.  Imagine my surprise, and disappointment, when I plugged the New Mexico address in to my Nav system and it showed three route options, with the quickest being over 16 hours!   The other two options were 18 and 19 hours .  Boy this detour had turned out to be bigger than I expected.  

Funny thing though, when I plugged the address into my phone on google maps, it was just 13 1/2 hours!   Now I prefer to use my car's navigation because cell service can be very spotty on these long drives across the country.  However, I decided to try and follow the cell navigation.   At this point, knocking even an hour off the drive would be great.   My goal was to arrive before it got dark.

I have to say, this was not the prettiest of drives.   Driving through Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas can be so desolate at times and doesn't always have the best scenery.

Toggling between the cell and car navigation, I was able to knock at least an hour off the original estimated travel time and arrived about 15 minutes before it got dark.  Whew, what a long day.

But now I get to wake up in my happy place to amazing views!

Finally a little peace...

I've been working so hard and stressing over a home renovation.  But it's getting close and I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel!  My peaceful retreat is close.

Traveling weather...

I've hit all kinds of weather in the last few days.  I drove in 80+ degree weather all day Saturday.  Got to my destination and it was in the 60s during the day and 30s at night.  A quick side trip where it was in the 70s and woke up to snow this morning. 

Sunrise this morning

Sunrise yesterday

Yet Another Road Trip

It was time to make that drive again, from LA to New Mexico.   We didn't hit any storms this time, just sunny blue skies.   There's nothing like 14 hours in the car, to make you think or rethink the decisions in your life.   Of course I had my trusted travel companions, my crazy pups.   Didn't matter that I put the back seats down so they had a large space to roam in, they still chose to squeeze into the passenger seat together.   But we made it.   After the miserably hot summer/fall we've had in LA, it' nice to be in cool weather!   New Mexico is just so beautiful.

A Most Beautiful Drive

The drive from Los Angeles truly is beautiful.   This time of the year, it's beyond HOT (temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit) for most of the drive.   However, the scenery is just astonishing.   As we drove across the southwest, we saw several pockets of rain around us, a lightning storm ahead of us, two rainbows and one double rainbow!  Not to mention, the mountains, the white sands and the overall beautiful landscape.   We lucked out that despite all the crazy weather we could see around us, we didn't hit any storms ourselves.  That is until almost 8 hours into our trip.  Just passed Wilcox, Arizona, the skies went black and it started pouring the rain.  We could barely see what was in front of us, then suddenly the skies lit up with lightning!   I thought for sure the car was going to get hit.  The dogs both got very quiet and tried to settle in.

Everyone knows I LOVE a good storm, but this was quite scary to drive in.   As anyone who has made this journey knows, there aren't many options to call it a night once you're east of Tucson.   I was starting to wish I had stopped in Wilcox for the night.   But at this point, I really had no option other than to tread on and make it to Lordsburg.    I was quite happy to finally rest my head on a pillow at the Hampton Inn.   Even after all those hours in the car, the dogs were ready to relax too.

A Road Trip with my best buds!

I was long overdue for a road trip to New Mexico.  I had needed to go for several weeks to take care of some things, but just couldn't seem to make it work.   Well finally the stars aligned and I was able to take enough time off to hit the road.   First question, should I take both of my crazy hounds?   As some of my loyal followers know, my hound Lucy Grace, is a great travel companion.  She's totally chill in the car and very well behaved when staying at even the fanciest of hotels.  Now Bella, aka, The Terrorist, is another story.  I'd only done one TEST road trip with her.  She was actually much more well behaved than I expected, but still that was a 90 minute car ride and 2 night stay.  How would she fair on a  14 hour ride and a week+ in a hotel?   After much consternation, I just couldn't bring myself to put her in a kennel, so off we went.  I loaded up the 4Runner and we began our journey!   Would it be a great adventure or something else?