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job. Why sell their property? Why live in a little trailer and travel with no particular agenda? She’s been talking about the excitement and adventure along with the problems, fear, and stress. The plan is to continue with the blog and share — at least weekly — what we’re doing, what we’re learning, what we’re seeing … San Diego Physician: Since you’re not going to drive for longer than a day at a stretch, you’ll probably end up in northern California after you first take off?
Jim: The plan — and this is as far as we like to plan — is to drive no more than a day, and then to stay a week or two wherever we end up, enjoying the things the area has to offer. Then we’ll drive another day or so and do the same thing. San Diego Physician: Is this a philosophy or just a plan? Jim: There are different words out there to describe the concept, like purging … simplifying … pruning … clearing. A lot of this has been tantalizing America because of the popularity of the TV show Tiny House Nation. If you downsize your space, your needs will follow. We will be living in a 240-square-foot Airstream trailer that’s eight feet wide and 30 feet long. Yes, it is a philosophy. We’ve been landlords for 20-some years, owned property for 41. We bought our first home when I was 20 and my wife was 18. The burden of all that just finally caught up with us, and we decided to simplify. We’ve been working on this plan for two years by slowly donating, gifting, or selling all of our possessions. San Diego Physician: You’re going to keep a blog, yes? Jim: My wife, Carmen, is a writer and voice actor. She wanted to create a journal to explain our philosophy and our transition to a spare, mobile lifestyle, so she created a blog called Living In Beauty. She named the trailer Beauty, and the truck is called The Beast, so the blog is LivingInBeauty.net. She’s written over a dozen posts so far about why someone who didn’t need to retire would leave their
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Jim: That first day, we’ll swing by and see some friends in Corona and have dinner with them. Then we’ll keep going north. We have some other friends in Sacramento, might swing by there. The next stop is to visit friends in Oregon, then more friends in Washington. Along the way we’ll see the national parks, unusual places, and stay in campsites. San Diego Physician: Canada? Jim: Oh yeah. We renewed our passports and we have friends in Calgary and Vancouver. Won’t go to Alaska probably till the summer of ’18 because the roads are so hard on your trailer that you need to go in groups. When you have problems — and you will have problems — the group environment helps out with repairs and stuff. San Diego Physician: There’s no plan to finish? Jim: No plan to finish; this is indefinite. We originally talked about one year, then we said two years, then we said “this is indefinite” for as long as our interest and health hold out. San Diego Physician: OK, I lied. Let’s talk briefly about your years at SDCMS. What are you proudest of having achieved at the Medical Society? Jim: Tom Gehring, who retired as CEO at the end of last year, wanted to increase the awareness of the Medical Society among San Diego’s healthcare stakeholders. Tom and I both went out into the healthcare communities and represented physicians with one message and one message only: that physicians are not the problem, they are the solution to the healthcare challenges we face. The physician’s voice needs to be heard — that was the message we have given over the past decade. Whether I was on Mental Health America’s board helping to create access
for mental health patients; or co-chairing the Childhood Obesity Healthcare Domain improving children’s health; or working with San Diegans for Healthcare Coverage to reach the uninsured; or with Alliance Healthcare Foundation financing innovative and mission-driven healthcare initiatives that serve the poor and disenfranchised; or chairing the Health Services Advisory Board helping the Board of Supervisors select priorities for healthcare in San Diego County, these hundreds of meetings were just a small part of what I did at SDCMS for the past 12 years. It would be way too much to discuss all of the different boards and committees I had the privilege to serve on, but one highlight was leading and chairing United Way of San Diego Health Vision Council to award $2 million for healthcare innovation to San Diego. Probably the greatest thing I have accomplished in my 12 years at the Medical Society is raising the visibility and voice of San Diego County physicians, demonstrating that physicians are willing to participate and get down and dirty into lots of different stakeholders’ worlds to increase the health of San Diegans. San Diego Physician: Are you ever going to come back to San Diego? Jim: Because of my personal healthcare, my insurance is tied to San Diego County. We’re not on Medicare yet (we’re too young), so we have to come back to San Diego if we need doctors. I’ve been here since 1954, so it’s kind of like home. San Diego Physician: Is there anything in parting you’d like to say to the physicians? Jim: I’ve always wanted to serve my community, and, of all of my careers, my work at SDCMS fulfills the dream of being able to witness the social impact of my efforts. My hometown is a healthier place than it was 12 years ago, and our work at SDCMS is part of that legacy. San Diego Physician: Other than just going to LivingInBeauty.net, can people subscribe in some way? Jim: Yes. You can hit the Follow button to receive new posts as followers, or just stop in and visit whenever you want. Who knows where we’ll be a year from now? The Grand Tetons? Maine? Prince Edward Island? Mazatlan? Not knowing your own next move, that’s our idea of a beautiful life.