We had such a great and blessed adventure over the last two years, as full-time RVers and humans. The time has come up for us to stop ripping and running on the road.
It is funny how things work out when they are meant to be. For us is to get to live in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and the journey, I believe, started almost 40 years ago.
40 years ago? Yup that's right, and I blame my neighbor's grand nephew Marcos, that would come down to visit her, along with his mom, his brother, his aunt, and two cousins from Santa Fe, every year, twice a year.
We both must have been 5 years old back then, neither he spoke Spanish nor I spoke English, but somehow we would manage to communicate with hand signals, and we will play all day long. I'd teach Marcos about the Mexican ways, and he will tell me and teach me about his life in Santa Fe, and to this day, he is one of my best friends. His stories, the things I'd see in the movies, and our family's trips to El Paso, would make me want to one day, live in the USA. I kept telling my parents I was a geographical mistake.
It wasn't until I came to New Mexico State University in Las Cruces for my Master's degree that I got to make a trip to Santa Fe, and oh boy, I was hooked with the city, from the minute I set foot there. For many years, I either lived intermittently there or I'd just come and spend time there and visit with Marcos. When Kevin came into my life in 2008, I took him to the city and it had the same effect on him as well. Therefore, it was natural for us, to drive from Oklahoma City to Santa Fe, to get married in 2013. Marcos and his wife, were there to help us celebrate, along with my nephew and other friends.
Fast forward to 2020 when we took off and hit the road as full-time RVers.
We both wanted to enjoy each other company and go places and see the world. We did, but in two years, we never made it to Santa Fe, despite having the freedom to do remote work.
But it wasn't until a few months ago, and a combination of things, that just paved the road for us to call it home. The high diesel prices; caused people to stay longer at campgrounds, making it really hard to plan our trips. I also started to acknowledge that Kevin needed more social interaction than the sporadic conversations with other RVers. I am normally in meetings all day long and get to see my coworkers, and by the time I am done with work, the last thing I want to do is to interact with other people, but Kevin was in a different situation where I and the dogs were the only people he interacted with for the most part. Kevin now has a camp work here in Albuquerque in the main office, checking people in and out and I can tell he is loving the social interaction. He knows every single person in the park of course. It's funny to see him interact with people as we are driving in or out of the park. He waves at the, talks to some, he is Mr. Popular guy; then he proceeds to tell me their stories, where they are from, how long they have been on the road, the type of rig they have, etc.
Transitioning from an RV to a house is as hard as the other way around, but nothing that can't be solved with good planning and time. We are lucky that Kevin's gig comes with free rent for us on top of his salary; because there are not that many free spots at campgrounds around here, especially for monthly stays; most of them have waiting lists that go all the way until November, and if there are any, you have to be ready to spend at least $1,000 for the month, and when summer kicks in, it may go up to 3 times.
This move came with tough decisions though, one of them was to leave behind a great bunch of people that I loved working with, at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. They took me in for a second time and not only embraced everything that I came to change but put up with me for two years. The other one would be to stop traveling full time.
I struggled for a few weeks trying to find what would be the best for us, especially since I had this huge feeling of guilt of letting my former employer down by quitting; as I, one more time, was feeling so appreciated by my team at work. But I couldn't have asked for a better boss which, I am also blessed to call our friend; that knew how much Santa Fe meant to us both, and knows and understands my free spirit.
I start a new job on Monday, one that I'd get to go to Santa Fe at least once a week, working with and for an old friend from NMSU. We will be able to call the Santa Fe area home for a while, but mostly, a place where it will help me grow and improve my art skills. I'd get to hang out with my friend more often, like when we were kids (on a side note, he just told me that he has always wanted to live in Mexico since he was a kid); and reconnect with older friends that we made while we lived in Las Cruces.
There are still so many places that we didn't get to go to, but one thing for sure is that we are keeping the RV, so we will hit them whenever we get a chance to do it. This has been a journey of growth and self-discovery for both of us. We made amazing connections with other RVers while on the road and not only got to see places that would have taken us forever to get in our travel plans, but we also got to see family and friends more often. Would we do it again? DEFINITELY! We loved every aspect of it. Thank you for riding with us.
In our next blog post, we will talk about our favorite places.