Rx: Forever Camping

This 5th post of “From Beauty’s Doorstep” was originally published on Airstream.com

• The 1st post: Beauty, Our Retirement Un-Plan
• The 2nd post: Making Room for Play
• The 3rd post: The Road, Home
• The 4th post: Blips and Bubbles
• The 5th post: RX: Forever Camping
• The 6th and final post: Beautiful World, Beautiful Country, Beautiful Life

Posted November 1, 2022 – Narrated by Carmen

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Overwhelmed with after-school hunger, I stuck my finger into the contents of the electric mixer and landed on the other side of the kitchen, suffering shock by mashed potatoes.

Stunned, I lay on the floor, hoping the surge from the ungrounded mixer would manifest my body with super powers.

Fifty-five years later a similar thing happened when our investment advisor pitched the idea of early retirement in an RV.

The jolt of enlightenment didn’t send me flying across the room, but every nerve stood at attention as synapses fired warning shots across my frontal lobe. Emergent powers rushed to the surface.

The meeting wrapped up, and Jim and I went out for an early lunch to pick through salads and chew on our future. We considered our lifelong preference for outdoor vacations over luxury hotels. Striking camp after our annual Yosemite trip felt like punishment. We grieved the drive down the mountain out of our scenic Paradise.

“Let’s get this straight,” I said, “Living in the most beautiful places on earth will allow us to retire five years before social security and Medicare benefits kick in?” We felt goosebumps.

Our money man had opened up a path we’d never seen. Could the house-free, financially independent, border-blind, semi-retired, mobile American life be the retirement-hack we’d been longing for? Open-ended camping with no scheduled return date. What do you even call that?

Forever Camping!

It’s the superpower retirement plan. Liquidating property and going mobile pairs the leanness of poverty with the most desirable aspect of affluence – the enrichment of endless travel. We’d struck gold.

That afternoon we agreed – while our bodies remained in good enough condition – to make it happen.

From that moment forward, at all hours of the day and night, Jim’s computer glowed with decumulation actuarial spreadsheets, aka, The Valley of The Shadow of Retirement Spend-down Scenarios.

As non-pensioners, forever-camping made solid economic sense.

In the first six years, we were better off than Jim’s most idealistic early hopes. Now – following the pandemic – we are on track with Jim’s projections, including the financing for long-term nursing care, should we need it.

But the economics of six-and-a-half years on the road doesn’t rival the real bonus: the improvements in our overall health and well-being.

Even Pico de Gallo, our fifteen-year-old Chihuahua is killin’ it.

Leaning into the world, into sunlight and wilderness, and even into city parks and greenscapes into places where the earth still has some fight left in it – is a prescription for improved mental and physical health.

Beauty and The Beast, our Airstream+Ram team, work together seamlessly as our primary health plan, super-powers, whisperers. Our matched pair gently takes us down all the roads less traveled – our Aging in Places plan – to address the many challenges of growing up through the senior years

It’s all about self-care.

I survived the Sixties by latching onto Jack LaLanne’s concept of thinking of your body as a beloved animal who needs daily care – food, water, sleep, play, exercise, and kind words.

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I decided to think of my body as a horse. I know, it sounds odd, “My Body, My Horse” and all that. I never named my horse or gave it a color, I just visualized a powerful, life-affirming animal that would help me excel in track and field even though I did not qualify for the team in the pre-Title IX era. Even now – whenever I am physically or emotionally strained – I go to “the stable” and check on “my horse” to investigate her wounds, apologize for the mistreatment and overfeeding, overworking, and promise to do better.

While living in Beauty, apologies are seldom necessary. Debilitating neck, back, knee, foot, ankle and hip pain are no longer a serious concern. I deduce that walking our prescriptive three-miles-per-day on concrete pavement had a negative effect on our connective tissue. Exercising on earthen pathways and beaches is much more beneficial. Our need for pain medication and ointments is reduced and the old aches resume only when we visit cities.

Our eyesight and hearing have also improved – especially in the last two years as we’ve traveled to more remote areas. When Jim retired, we stopped night-driving and we still avoid it, but in the last few years our night-sight has sharpened. Even on the new moon I can observe owl and bat activity. Walking at night without artificial illumination is relaxing and puts me in the mood for sleep.

My dreams moved outside too.

For several decades I’ve tracked my dreams in a journal. A few months after I began sleeping in Beauty my dream infrastructure of houses, hospitals, offices, schools and theaters dropped their facades.

Now, walls are mere partitions rather than solid barricades. Doors, hinges, windows and locks are present but inert. Partial plant draped walls invite the elements to weave through the rooms making their natural impression on sofas, tile work, exercise equipment. Birds fly in through ornamented apertures open to the sky. Wild and domestic animals graze and raise their young in these indoor-outdoor buildings and the occupants seem not to notice or care.

How do we sleep?

Like drugged house cats on a flight to Australia. In the past we slept outside under the stars, in tents, and even in a hammock on a ship, but there’s nothing like hitting the sack in an Airstream. Just thinking about our minimalist home makes me relax. Beauty’s cozy bedroom is our sleep-therapy pod. It’s instant hygge.

Within a couple of weeks on the road, I put aside my anxiety medication and sleep tonics. Built-in climate controls, blackout blinds and stereo for white noise compliment the restful environment. We sleep better in our cocoon of Beauty than we ever did in the king-sized bed in our cavernous master bedroom. To all of our friends who keep offering us your spare bedrooms, “No, thank you. We’ve got this.”

Our Airstream

We’re not eager to return to a sprawling, high maintenance house or condo that is hopelessly stuck to the ground – a 20th century problem which should have been solved decades ago. Mobility satisfies any 7-year, 7-month, or 7-day itch for change. There are many choices out there but since the 1930s, Airstream remains the most energy efficient, dynamic, smart, affordable, reliable, resilient and beautiful homes and/or escape pods in the world. Design matters.

Beauty – our low profile machine for living – is not only an affordable housing solution, it is also lower maintenance than an on-site, static house. The best part of living in Beauty is no more worry about Jim falling off the roof of our three story house. My DIY guy’s motivation to save a few bucks by cleaning the gutters is all in the past. I once considered printing this CDC alert on all of his t-shirts: Warning: “Falls are the leading cause of injury and death in older Americans” and these unintentional life-changing accidents usually happen in a house.

These days we live with less risk, more comfort, and more activity. The novelty of moving our residence keeps us mentally sharp and physically strong. Untethered travel is like an ongoing deep tissue brain massage. We are in a perpetual state of exploration, always discovering the next beautiful, and maintenance-free backyard. Without the burden of property, we are free to pursue other interests.

Our hobbies are like buried treasure we find along the road. Jim discovered his amazing talent for cooking and grilling. Before Forever Camping, Jim rarely had the time or patience to cook.

Now, he’s designing recipes and even writing a book about slow-cooking to compliment my writings on slow-travel philosophy. I love Jim’s cooking, and taking “What’s For Dinner” photos.

Until we hit the road, I’d only taken the occasional family snapshot. This new life instilled a desire to tell our story in images.

We manage quite well for ourselves because we work as a team. We share driving, hitching and unhitching, setting up and striking camp, tank maintenance, laundry, and cleaning the rig top to bottom, inside and out.

Teamwork and maintenance mitigates injury and builds strength. Over the last five years, our physical stamina astounds us.

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Stronger now than when we began, we can hike for miles …

kayak farther than ever before …

and thanks to our Dolphin e-Bikes, we’re working toward a 60-mile bike ride …

In the last six-and-a-half years we haven’t spent a single night in the hospital. That’s our best all-time record. Of course nothing is truly forever. We know there will come a day. Until then, we make the most of the road life.

Now that social security and Medicare have kicked in, we have no desire to change our active, low-stress lifestyle. This is how we roll. This is how we feel safe.

Lions and tigers and bears (oh, my) are all part of the journey. Extreme weather is our primary concern, but these days the potential for unusual events is common in every place. So we watch weather reports at least twice daily and keep a dialogue going with the rangers, camp hosts and locals. We also practice drills or at least talk through emergency procedures. If we sense danger, we drive toward safety. Beauty and The Beast is our ever-present escape hatch.

Throughout our working years, camping excursions provided a quick detox from city and suburbia. Even short overnight trips gave us the power surge we needed. Now, Forever Camping is our ongoing Dose Of Nature.

WARNINGS: Forever Camping should be taken with plenty of food, water, sunlight and fresh air. Forever Camping may be addictive. Forever Camping may cause you to pinch yourself, have goosebumps, and may lead to extended states of bliss and/or prolonged joy. Acute exacerbation of chronic Happy Hour may set in. Forever Camping may cause drowsiness and result in deep and uninterrupted sleep so the dog has to stand on your chest and lick your face to wake you up. Forever Camping may cause gross expansion of your bucket list. When drop-dead gorgeous scenery overdose occurs, STOP and smell the roses. Forever Camping is not responsible or liable for bad selfies or burnt smores. Pink yard flamingoes, not included.

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If you want to see the exact route we travel, click here.

*photos in this post (unless otherwise noted) were taken and copyrighted by Living In Beauty.

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