Great Motorcycling of New Mexico

Earlier this year we made plans to have a little family meet up in New Mexico to catch up with Sean and Christine and baby Keller, Joel and Kara and Sara. We found and scheduled Timeshare. A three-bedroom and importantly 3 bathroom timeshare two level condo that also had parking for our truck and rig and took pets. As it turned out it was just Steve, Brodie and I in Ruidoso New Mexico.


We took several long motorcycle rides through some absolutely fabulous areas.  Again, we have nothing like these areas in Arizona.  The roads in Arizona are mostly straight and fairly uninteresting with a few exceptions.  Not here...

We rode on five routes within fifty miles of Ruidoso that all put anything we have done in Arizona to shame. They were long sweepers and tight winding combined and all uninhabited to boot.  These were all among the trees, pastures, and green farm country side always changing.  One of the best loops we did went from 6200' to over 9000' to a very old town called Cloudcroft NM.  Cloudcroft was established in 1890's as part of the the railroad.  I now has a small ski resort, an astronomical observatory, and some really quaint old buildings down town.

In this area of southern New Mexico seems to be made from mostly mesas.  It is table top flat then you come to an edge and you go straight up to the top, or down depending, then it is flat top again.  That is which exception, around the Lincoln National forest.  A large range of mountains poke out for the mesas.  There is a 12000 footer among the peaks here.  We rode to the top of that one too.

Heather, Brodie, and I rode all day in 70 degrees with not a cloud in the sky.  The weather was like this all week. It was beautiful!  This is only about seven hours from Phoenix so we will be back to spend more time at future opportunities if the Lord allows.


The summary of our Life XL: We experienced living life fully, enjoying each other even more than before, which is hard to believe. Who would have thought going from a big house to a tiny 5th wheel would get in our hearts so deeply?
The big change for Brodie has been more exercise and new things to explore. Brodie loves to hunt for furry things and this lifestyle change as been Heaven on Earth for Brodie.
The big change for us personally has been the fun of hanging out 24/7 doing shoulder time.
This has not been a once in a life time vacation, both of us worked our jobs the entire trip. We have different shifts, different schedules and different days off. It has been easy to meld our schedules to still include time to explore.

Another benefit of Life XL has been the ease of meeting people everywhere we go. People doing the RV lifestyle are more open and friendly, willing to lend a hand at the drop of a hat, and willing to share their time and memories, pass on tips for traveling, and hear our hearts. Just knowing we can knock on any of the rigs and see a smiling face is exciting. No one seems burdened to spend time with us. And the conversations seem to generally be much deeper than we experience when we are not on the road.

We can see why Christ and Paul (though not together) traveled so much, as did many of the key people in the Bible. Christ was about His Father's business. We truly see a difference between being planted in a big house that is in a big city with a big population of people all closing their doors and curtains. People busy doing their lives in the hamster wheel of life. There is just no energy or a strong will to make time for the neighbor or help out in the community, let alone spend more than a couple hours a year, if that, with family and friends.

A pastor said, "you can't truly know a person unless you spend time with the person." But....Time always marches on, each day is 24 hours closer to the end of our time on earth. Our decisions to make time to step into this Life XL experience has changed our hearts and desires. No longer do we need stuff, no longer do we want stuff so if you are in need of stuff let us know, we probably can hook you up.

Life XL has tested us in ways we never thought we would step up to the challenge and experience. We realized our thinking was Americanized to the point of being stale. American isn't sinking down the tubes, it is each person living in America too busy to know their neighbor, spend quality time with friends, that is, in part, disconnecting us from being here to connect with others, to be more like Christ.

We have traveled almost 10,000 miles, 24 states in that experience weather has been a factor that showed us God has created a truly unique planet for us to live on. America is a blessed land of plenty. Through five different tornado aftermaths, 45 days of sizzling heat and humidity, pouring rain storms, fog too thick to see, sunsets that paraded beauty and splendor across the horizon, glorious sunrises that gave us goosebumps, lightening and thunder that got our instant attention, all of this has shown us the power of seasons on this earth, the power of Life XL.

We have arrived in Phoenix. Our great neighbors and good friends to us watched our house and indoor plants while we were gone. We owe them much more than thank you cards! Our community landscaper took care of lawn and outside plants. Everything is in it's place. The weather is getting cooler in Phoenix. The house is fine but this isn't where we are needed any more. In just the few days we have been planted in our house we feel the change. I call it "life tiny." No more chatting with people on our walks...faces pointed down, fear in their eyes, walk pass and don't make eye contact. No beautiful changing views, no changing hearts and no one sharing funny stories. Life tiny isn't going to do now that we have walked, driven, and ridden Life XL!

We had a taste of what Paul experienced traveling to new places, meeting and encouraging, helping strangers and stirring the hearts of others. Oh, to imagine Paul's journey, the long hours of walking lonely roads to meet up with strangers, stay for a meal and chat, extend his stay to a week or more, changing their lives as much as they added to his life memories.