Living In Beauty

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2026/09/06/rv-foul-ups/ Ten years and more than 78,000 miles into full-time travel, we look back at seven memorable mistakes that cost us money, time, dignity, and occasionally all three. The habits and checklists that followed show how those early foul-ups changed the way we travel today.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2026/08/16/paso-robles/ Sun Outdoors Paso Robles combines full-service resort amenities with a surprisingly peaceful setting among mature California oaks. During our month-long stay, we found spacious campsites, comfortable places to relax, and an easy base for exploring the wineries, breweries, beaches, and communities of California’s Central Coast.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2026/07/18/still-rolling-decade/ Ten years of full-time travel have brought far more than memorable destinations. From unexpected kindness to slower days and lasting friendships, this anniversary is really about the life that grew from simply deciding to go.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2026/06/14/rode-to-joy/ After more than fifty years together and almost a decade on the road, we've learned that the things we remember matter far more than the things we owned. Reflecting on a lifetime of accumulation, we consider why some memories remain vivid while so much else fades away.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2026/05/10/california-streamin/ A simple drive from San Diego to Sacramento turns into a three-month stretch with no reservations and no pressure to move quickly. As we settle into each stop, the trip begins to shift into a slower, more grounded way of traveling.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2026/04/12/tale/ What starts as a call for advice becomes a deeper process of defining what matters—space, function, health, and how we want to move through the world. That process leads us to our Airstream, Beauty, and the truck who moves her.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2026/03/09/cochiti/ Cochiti Lake campground near Santa Fe, New Mexico sits above a broad lake with open desert views and generously spaced sites. With hiking trails, a swimmable shoreline, and a quiet setting removed from town, the focus stays on the landscape rather than amenities.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2026/02/11/trust-us-we-lie/ Living on the road, we find ourselves sharing the best parts while much of what actually fills our days stays in the background. That’s where most of the glitches and lessons usually end up.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2026/01/16/stellaluna/ While on the road, we find ourselves unexpectedly bringing a rescue puppy named Stellaluna into our lives. As she begins to settle in, we adjust to her pace, her personality, and the new dynamic she brings to life in Beauty.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2025/12/19/vienna/ For our 50th wedding anniversary, we set aside the road and spend three months living in Vienna, trading motion for a temporary sense of place. Staying long enough to settle in, we begin to experience the city as part of daily life rather than as visitors.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2025/09/22/campground-hosting/ Trying campground hosting for the first time, we find ourselves in a situation that doesn’t go the way we had imagined. As it happens, we begin to look more closely at what led us there and what we might have approached differently.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2025/08/21/palo-duro-goodnight/ At Palo Duro Canyon State Park near Amarillo, Texas, the depth of the canyon and the network of trails create a setting that invites both movement and stillness. Spending time there, we settle into the landscape and let the days take their own shape.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2025/07/18/whoppers/ Starting our tenth year on the road, we look back at the many things people have said about full-time RV living, some close to the truth and others not at all. Over time, those conversations have become part of how we make sense of this life.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2025/06/11/civil-rights-trail-7/ As we reach the end of our time on the Civil Rights Trail, we begin to take in the weight of what we’ve seen across these months. Alongside it, the food, music, and people we encountered remain just as much a part of how we understand it.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2025/05/15/bridges/ The many bridges we’ve crossed over the years begin to feel connected to the changes and challenges we’ve moved through more recently. As we find our footing again, we continue forward.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2025/04/07/galveston-island-state-park/ Galveston Island State Park provides camping along a broad coastal stretch with direct access to the beach and a network of trails on the bay side. Though not far from town, the setting feels open and exposed to the elements in a way that defines the stay.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2025/03/12/good-king-biscuit/ At the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas, we settle into a few days shaped by live music, local food, and time spent moving between stages and the riverfront. Over time, the rhythm of the festival begins to carry it.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2025/02/08/blue-ridge-parkway/ After years of circling around it, we give the Blue Ridge Parkway a full month of our time, moving slowly and without a fixed pace. The road begins to feel like something we’re part of rather than just passing through.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2025/01/08/sam-houston-jones/ Sam Houston Jones State Park near Lake Charles, Louisiana is set among bayous, river bends, and wooded trails, offering easy access to hiking and kayaking in a calm natural setting. Though close to the city, it feels removed enough to enjoy the beauty and pace of the landscape.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2024/12/15/civil-rights-trail-6/ In Montgomery, we spend time moving through the places that define the Civil Rights Movement and begin to see how deeply it is rooted here. Being there brings a clarity to events we had known, but never fully understood.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2024/10/04/3000-days/ At 3,000 days on the road, coinciding with a 70th birthday, we pause to take in what this life in Beauty holds. Over time, the people we meet and the places we spend time in begin to shift how we understand the world around us.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2024/09/15/civil-rights-trail-5/ During an extended stay in the New Orleans area, we shape our days around local food, music, and time spent moving through neighborhoods beyond the usual stops. With the Civil Rights Trail guiding our time there, the history becomes part of how we begin to understand the city.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2024/09/06/olly-olly-oxen-free/ As we continue living in Beauty, the people we meet and the help we share become part of how this life works. Through small exchanges and ongoing challenges, a sense of community begins to form that travels with us.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2024/07/18/magic-number-nine/ As we begin our ninth year of full-time travel, we take in the scope of where we’ve been and how we’ve lived in Beauty. From there, we start shifting toward traveling less and settling more into each place.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2024/06/28/cane-creek-park/ Cane Creek Park Campground near Waxhaw, North Carolina centers around a lake with a variety of sites, from private wooded spots to open views near the water. With good access throughout, it’s a simple county park that works well for a relaxed stay.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2024/06/14/civil-rights-trail-4/ A stop in Mound Bayou begins as a visit to a museum, but we soon realize the story extends well beyond its walls. As we listen and move through it, a deeper and largely unfamiliar history begins to come into view.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2024/04/20/day-in-beauty/ Living in an Airstream looks different depending on where we land, but the structure of each day forms around familiar patterns of work, meals, and time outside. Within that small space, we find a rhythm that supports both daily life and the moments that matter most.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2024/03/20/civil-rights-trail-3/ In Clarksdale, the Juke Joint Festival brings us into the heart of Delta music, where the town itself feels like a living part of the Blues. Moving through its streets, venues, and gatherings, we begin to see how music, history, and daily life remain closely intertwined.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2024/02/19/civil-rights-trail-2/ Our journey along the Civil Rights Trail begins with the story of Emmett Till in Mississippi, a fitting place to start given how his murder helped spark the movement. Being there makes the history feel immediate and real in a way we hadn’t expected.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2024/01/18/civil-rights-trail-1/ This begins our journey along the Civil Rights Trail, where we move through the South with a growing awareness of the people, places, and events that shaped the movement. Being there in person starts to change how we see both the history and the present.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/12/17/8-christmases/ Christmas on the road has taken shape through simple traditions we carry with us each year, no matter where we land. From a small rosemary tree to familiar meals and time with family or friends, the season settles in with a sense of continuity across changing places.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/11/07/beer/ Stopping at local breweries has become a simple way for us to get our bearings in a new place and meet the people who know it best. Over a beer, we often pick up the kind of local knowledge that never shows up in our research of the area.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/10/19/harvest-hosts-one-night-delights/ Harvest Hosts is a steady part of how we travel, offering simple overnight stays at farms, wineries, breweries, and small businesses across the country. These one-night stops give us a quiet place to land, connect with the hosts, and keep moving without the structure of traditional campgrounds.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/09/01/sweetwater-summit/ Sweetwater Summit Regional Park sits just outside San Diego in a wide, scenic valley, with large sites and a natural landscape that feels set apart from the city. The campground is older in places, but the open space and miles of hiking trails give it lasting appeal.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/08/15/airstreaming-to-alaska-final-chapter/ After 246 days and thousands of miles, we gather the notes we wish we had before setting out—covering everything from planning and road conditions to wildlife, weather, and daily life on the road. What follows is a practical, hard-earned look at traveling to Alaska by land.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/08/05/airstreaming-to-alaska-chapter-20/ Turning south from Alaska, the journey isn’t over yet—nearly 2,000 miles still stretch between us and the Lower 48. Long days, changing landscapes, and a few meaningful stops carry us through Yukon and British Columbia, easing us toward the border and the end of a journey we know will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/07/18/launching-year-8/ Marking the start of year eight, this update reflects on seven years of full-time travel, from gear and routines to lessons learned along the way. We are shifting toward a slower pace, as experience and age begin to shape how we approach the road.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/07/09/airstreaming-to-alaska-chapter-19/ From Tok to Haines, the road south runs through some of the most striking stretches of the journey, set against the awareness that Alaska is coming to an end. What follows is a farewell that feels both reluctant and certain.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/06/11/airstreaming-to-alaska-chapter-18/ Moving north through Fairbanks toward Chena Hot Springs brings a stretch shaped by late-season timing and the need to plan for the unexpected. The experience balances that tension with moments of reward, ending with rest and recovery in the mineral waters.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/05/16/airstreaming-to-alaska-chapter-17/ Denali National Park brings together mountains, rivers, and open wilderness on a scale that feels distinct even within Alaska. Time spent here shows how fully the park lives up to its reputation, with a setting that stands among the most beautiful and memorable anywhere.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/04/28/airstreaming-to-alaska-chapter-16/ Between Whittier and Talkeetna, the days move through rain, brief clearings, and moments that hint at Alaska’s larger beauty. The stretch ends in Talkeetna, where a small, inviting town offers a different rhythm after time along the road.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/04/03/airstreaming-to-alaska-chapter-15/ On the Kenai Peninsula, days in Homer and Seward settle around water, sky, and long summer light that shapes the rhythm of travel. The experience becomes less about moving on and more about staying present within a landscape that continues to surprise.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/03/12/airstreaming-to-alaska-chapter-14/ Between Glacier View and Anchorage, the road reveals distant glaciers and moments with wildlife that bring the landscape into sharper focus. Arrival in Anchorage introduces a different pace, where time in the city balances the stretch of road behind.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/02/05/beautiful-world/ Looking back on years of travel, a simple habit observed in our bookstore returns as a way of understanding how the world is experienced on the road. What follows is a shift toward seeing the beautiful more clearly, with a growing sense of care for the places encountered.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/01/25/airstreaming-to-alaska-chapter-13/ From Tok to Valdez, the route moves through changing conditions and remote stretches as Alaska begins to reveal itself in layers of landscape, culture, and scale. The result is a place that feels both expansive and difficult to fully grasp.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2023/01/04/airstreaming-to-alaska-chapter-12/ The drive from Dawson City to Chicken along the Top of the World Highway unfolds under rough conditions, limited visibility, and constant tension. Reaching Chicken shifts the tone, where a small, offbeat town offers relief after a drive not easily forgotten.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2022/12/04/airstreaming-to-alaska-chapter-11/ Yukon holds a constant mix of uncertainty and scale, where smoke, water, and distance make each stretch feel unsettled. Movement depends on shifting conditions, while stops along the way show a place shaped by resilience, history, and a landscape that remains in control.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2022/11/01/rx-forever-camping/ Could a house-free, financially independent, border-blind, semi-retired, mobile life be the retirement we’d been looking for? Open-ended camping with no scheduled return date raises a simple question: what do you even call that? For us, it became Forever Camping.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2022/10/07/airstreaming-to-alaska-chapter-10/ The Alaska Highway carries a mix of instability and beauty, where shifting conditions and remote terrain require constant awareness. Progress comes slowly, shaped by the road itself, with each stretch carrying both risk and moments of awe.

Experience the complete story: read, listen, and enjoy the photos. https://livinginbeauty.net/2022/09/13/blips-and-bubbles/ Those early weeks on the road brought a sharp reminder that freedom without discipline has its limits. We shifted toward preparation, patience, and trust in instinct, shaping a way of traveling that makes room for mistakes and the choice to celebrate them.