Wishing you a Merry Christmas from our rolling roof
If home is where you park it, Malibu Beach RV Park is where we’re home for the holidays.
We love this sweet spot on the Pacific Coast Highway, booking our two-week stay way back in June because we wanted to be close to family during the most wonderful time of the year.
It’s definitely a different kind of celebration when you’re living in a 23-foot motorhome. There are no statuesque trees, no cookie baking, definitely no white Christmas. But you know what? We’re OK with the streamlined approach. Who needs all that when we can spend time with family and friends, right?
We started the family reunion in early December when we were parked at Carpenteria Beach State Park. Leslie’s sister Laurel and brother-in-law Greg drove up U.S. 101 from their home in Pasadena to spend the day with us.
It was the first time we’ve seen them since before the pandemic and it was a joyous get-together. We walked on the beach path down to a seal sanctuary and feasted on pizza at the picnic table, the sound of the rolling waves as our soundtrack.
It was deeply gratifying to hear heartfelt compliments from our guests. They were mighty impressed that we seemed to have figured out how to truly embrace this lifestyle.
It wasn’t too long ago when they witnessed us struggling to get our tiny home on wheels in order. Back in 2018, when we first began the journey, we were still adjusting to the constant challenge of RV living.
We’ve gotten better at rolling with it when stressful stuff happens. So yeah, thanks for the kudos dear family.
Once we settled into our spot in Malibu, we invited our offspring over for dinner. It was a nostalgic meal of BBQ ribs delivered straight from Memphis, Tenn., the city where we lived for a few years after leaving Spokane at the end of 2003. We reminisced about our first visit to the world famous Charlie Vergos’s Rendezvous and got caught up in the kind of satifying way that’s not possible in a text string or a phone call. This was exactly the kind of face time we’ve been craving.
There are more visits to come, including Christmas dinner in Pasadena. And we’re looking forward to beach walks and hikes in the nearby Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
While we’ve enjoyed the warm sunshine, we’ve also had a few days that reminded us: winter is coming. Not in the form of snowfall, of course, but dramatic rainfall and gusty winds. Our outdoor tablecloth disappeared one windy night and was found 100 feet down the road!
We’re still trying to do that sometimes delicate dance of eating a chilly dinner al fresco at sunset. And -– oh wow – what sunsets!
Here’s to a very Merry Christmas and a happy 2022… when we’ll be on the road again.
Nice to meet you
Shortly after arriving at Malibu Beach RV Park, we met fellow travelers from Spokane. Gary Blevins and Laurie Summers Blevins are loyal readers who spotted our rig when we pulled in and came by our site to say hello. Small world!
The retired couple – he was a professor at Spokane Falls Community College, she was a family practice physician – have been heading south for a few years. They pull a 27-foot Winnebago Ultra Lite trailer that has slideouts on both sides. In other words, we’re slightly jealous of their expansive space.
It was such a pleasure to visit with Gary and Laurie, to hear about their snowbird adventures. We love their mission to walk on every beach along the West Coast and to check off a list of birds they’ve spotted along the way. Hope our paths cross again!
