Week 3: From the Mountains to the Desert and Back Again, plus a Live Demo with Art Toolkit!
The third week since selling our house to travel full time!
Hello, hello! It’s hard to believe that Wednesday marked 3 weeks since we sold our house in Austin, Texas to travel full time in our converted camper van — and what a week it was!
Hasta la Vista, Texas!
On Sunday we broke camp at Dog Canyon in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas and started making our way to New Mexico. It was such a strange feeling leaving Texas and not knowing when we’ll be back!
Camping in the Forest
We started off the week camping in the mountains in Lincoln National Forest near Cloudcroft, New Mexico at around 9,500 feet. The temperatures were in the 70s during the day and 50’s at night — such a welcome treat after the desert heat of the week before!
One evening I heard some strange noises coming from up the mountain, so I ran and grabbed the binoculars and spotted a lone elk in the distance! She was looking right at me — it was a magical moment.
I also worked on the website that I do for the Native Prairies Association of Texas — it’s so cool to be able to work from the middle of nowhere!
Live Demo with Art Toolkit
Wednesday morning we left camp so that we could get better satellite internet access for a live demo with Art Toolkit.
We parked off to the side of an overlook for the demo so that we’d have an open sky for satellite coverage — and what a view it was! The white in the distance is White Sands National Park — foreshadowing: we went there later in the week!
I had so much fun doing the demo with Maria! I could nerd out on color all day with her. :) Thanks so much to everyone who us joined live — no worries if you missed it, you can catch the recording on YouTube.
I still can’t get over how fast the Triad Collaboration with Art Toolkit and Letter Sparrow sold out so fast! And I’m happy to share that the Triad Template will be available later this summer for those who missed out. This is such a great tool for learning about color y’all!
Here’s a list of the colors from Letter Sparrow, followed by the Daniel Smith equivalent so you can build your own palette:
Spring: Primrose Yellow (PY3, Hansa Yellow Light), Quinaridone Rose (PV19), Cerulean Blue (PB36, Cerulean Blue Chromium)
Summer: Hansa Yellow (PY97), Quinacridone Magenta (PR122), Phthalo Blue (PB15) -
Fall: Sunflower Yellow (PY65, Hansa Yellow Deep), Coral (PR255, Pyrrole Red ), Ultramarine Blue (PB29)
Winter: Gamboge Yellow (PY150, Nickel Azo Yellow), Black Currant (PR101, Venetian Red), Indanthrone Blue (PB60)
Town Day and Lakeside Camping
After the demo we headed into Alamogordo, New Mexico to do some chores. First up was going to a tire shop— turns out we picked up a nail and it was causing a slow leak. (We kept the tire topped off with our on-board air compressor.) I was so glad to get that fixed — and it was only $22. Whew!
Then we just had to stop at PistachioLand — home of the world’s largest pistachio —we’d seen it when we went through the area back in 2018 but didn’t have time to stop then. It’s touristy but definitely worth a stop! Next we took care of laundry and got groceries. Then a HUGE windstorm kicked up — it was crazy! I’d never been in anything like it!
Since we were so close to White Sands I told J “hey, why don’t we go there tomorrow”?! So we checked iOverlander and found a free camp spot at Holloman Lake — which is actually the wastewater settling ponds for Holloman Air Force Base LOL! (There were signs saying not to drink the water!)
There were shorebirds at the lake — so cool to see them in the desert. We also got to see jets taking off from the Air Force Base — it’s wild how they move faster than sound!
White Sands National Park
Our camp spot was only 4 miles from White Sands National Park, so we had to go! The last time we were there in 2018 we hiked every trail except Alkali Flats, a 5 mile trail out to the edge of the dunes and back, so of course we had to do that one.
Luckily it was only in the 80s when we started and the 90s when we finished — I don’t recommend doing this trail if it’s any hotter than that!
There were times when there were no trail markers in sight. It was a little (okay maybe more than a little) scary but I finally found some waaaaaaay out on the horizon. We were glad to have our compass and GPS, plus the Garmin inReach mini just in case!
I was thankful we brought an electrolyte mix, and that I had on a long sleeved sunshirt, a hat and sunglasses. The wind really started whipping up and I used a bandana to tie my hat to my head LOL!
Climbing up some of the taller/steeper dunes was like so crazy — the sand fell beneath our feet and I’m not ashamed to admit that I scrambled up on all fours on a few of the steeper ones!
It was an otherworldly experience with the glittering, shifting sand and no other humans in sight. We got super excited when we spotted an ant or a plant!
I love hiking in places like this — it really makes me feel small and my problems seem insignificant. These photos can’t capture the sense of scale of the place.
As we were hiking I got to thinking about Dune. So we watched Dune: Part 2. We were so tired we only made it through part of it and had to finish it the next night though!
I also wondered if this is what it’s like in the Arctic — only hotter!
Back to the Mountains
Now we’re back in the Sacramento Mountains in Lincoln National Forest — the air smells so good and fresh here y’all — it’s like a pine scented Christmas candle, only better — and a hummingbird just checked me out as I’m typing this. I’m still pinching myself that this is my life now and it’s not all a dream.
On a more somber note — many of you have asked — and I wanted to assure you that we’ve also been monitoring the South Fork and Salt Fires closely using the Watch Duty app and staying safe. Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by the fires — I can’t even imagine what that’s like. Here’s a list of places if you’d like to donate — we donated to the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico.
I’m hoping for rain to force us to slow down — cross your fingers! I can’t wait to finish up some sketches I started at White Sands, do some botanical drawings in my perpetual journal of the neat plants around here, and just hang out and read a book with a cup of tea.
That’s it for this week — thanks for following on our advantures! — Lisa
So enjoyed the demo with art toolkit. Got mine in the mail the next day and it’s fun. Enjoy your new life. You’re so lucky to do that. I’ve always wanted to try it a while. Live it up and paint!!
Great pictures, I love reading about your adventures. I really enjoyed the art toolkit demo it was great. I actually drew one of the triads on my CAD when I saw the one your husband printed for you in another art toolkit demo and asked my nephew to print it at his school but I’m still going to order one as soon as Art toolkit starts selling them!!!