It was during my college years that I began to appreciate country. There was a dirty hole-in-the-wall called Harry’s Bar where my friends and I liked to congregate and consume excessive amounts of adult beverages. Harry’s was a converted automotive garage, the sort of lovable dump where you could drop a glass beer bottle on a concrete floor and no one would mind. (Seriously!) In addition to the worst billiard tables known to man and random free shots of tequila (personally administered by Harry himself), Harry’s offered a brilliant old school jukebox stocked with your grandfather’s country music. No pretty girl fluffy fluff. We’re talking about grizzled old veterans like Willie Nelson and George Jones. When that jukebox started pumping out the right country tunes, it was magic. There’s something about hearing George Jones singing from a jukebox that, even today, that gives me the uncontrollable urge to guzzle a pitcher of cheap domestic beer.

Then I got married. Although I (sadly?) stopped hanging out at places like Harry’s Bar, I began listening to even more country music. That’s because my wife loves country music. She buys the albums. She watches the awards shows. She knows about all the artists and seems to have memorized the lyrics of all the latest songs. She has increased my aptitude for country and I guess I like it more every year. While I don’t profess to be an expert, I now can distinguish between Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood.

Funny thing about the Internet – you never know who might be out there reading and watching your stuff. A few months ago, I got an email from this fellow. He wrote, “I’ve been following you guys for a couple of years now. I’m the drummer in the country band Lonestar. Let me know if you are ever near one of our shows and we’ll get together.”

“Hey Kristy,” I said. “I just got an email from this guy in a country band. Do you know Lonestar?”

“Yes!” she replied. “They’re really good!”

“Really?”

“Yeah!” she said. “They’ve had a bunch of great songs. Number one hits. Heck, they’ve even got a song that fits with Long Long Honeymoon. It’s called What About Now.”

I did a quick Google check. It was true. Lonestar is a massively successful country band. Over the past twenty years, they’ve carved out a nice career with a series of platinum albums and hit songs. They tour the world. It’s now mandatory law that their #1 song Amazed is played at every wedding in North America.

Then I looked up the guy. His name is Keech Rainwater. Keech is an original member of Lonestar (which with the return of lead singer Richie McDonald has been restored to its original lineup) and has been banging drums for the band for more than two decades. In fact, Lonestar started in 1992, which is right about the time I was slurping tequila at Harry’s Bar.

Next I checked out the song Kristy mentioned. The lyrics were spot on. What About Now is about a couple who finally hits the road for the trip of their lives. Instead of endlessly waiting for someday, they decide to focus on now. “Why should we wait?” the song asks.

Backstage with Lonestar.

Fast forward a couple of months. We checked out the Lonestar tour schedule, and found an appropriate date. I sent Keech a message about the event.

“Just finished a show at an undisclosed location in Asia where we performed for the military,” Keech replied. “Am about to board a 29-hour flight back to Nashville.”

It turns out that Lonestar has a long history of supporting the military, performing shows for troops who are serving far from home.

We agreed on a suitable date. Then on the appointed day, we towed our Airstream to the venue. We met Keech outside the arena and spent a good deal of quality time together.

We arrived early and with Keech's help secured an awesome parking spot for the Airstream.

Sometimes you meet people and you feel an immediate bond. This was one of those times. It turns out that in real life he’s exactly what you’d hope – a down-to-earth, sincere, all around nice person. 

Over the course of a day, we got to know Keech. He hails from Texas, though his home is in Nashville. He’s got a daughter in Canada. When he’s not touring with Lonestar, he’s usually spending time with his daughter. The upshot is that for Keech, travel is truly a way of life.

The subject matter that brought us together, obviously, is our common interest in Airstreams. A few years ago Keech bought a vintage Airstream. He’s currently in the process of renovating it. His plans for the silver bullet extend beyond weekend camping trips. Since he spends so much time traveling anyway, the traditional suburban brick-and-mortar home doesn’t seem to make sense. Instead, he’s thinking about selling his house and pursuing fulltime life on the road.

Hangin' out backstage with Keech and the crew.

In addition to Airstream trailers, we share interests in other obsessions — like filmmaking, cinematography, and quality coffee.

After hanging out with Keech for much of the day, we felt we’d made a new friend. I have a feeling we’ll see him again someday, when his Airstream is a little further along and he’s out there following his latest passions.

This brings me back to that Lonestar song Kristy mentioned. After she told me about the song, I listened to What About Now, and it stuck in my head. Like so many country songs, it tells a story, and it’s an inspiring one.

When’s the best time to pursue your dreams?

What about now?

And that road rolls out like a welcome mat
I don’t know where it goes but it beats where we’re at
We always said someday, somehow
We were gonna get away, gonna blow this town

What about now, how ’bout tonight
Baby for once let’s don’t think twice
Let’s take that spin that never ends
That we’ve been talking about

What about now, why should we wait
We can chase these dreams down the interstate
And be long gone ‘fore the world moves on and makes another round
What about now

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When we’re not camping, I’m one of those people who really enjoys coffee as a daily ritual. Yes, you may call me a coffee geek. It’s more than just an indulgence – it’s a full blown hobby.

Coffee is kind of like cooking and photography – while everyone does it, not everyone does it well. Does that sound snobby? It really shouldn’t. I don’t think it’s snobbish to pursue quality; in fact, these sorts of pursuits make life interesting. And it’s certainly not a money issue. While there may be a few snobs who insist on drinking nothing but $50 cups of cat poop coffee, there’s no reason that quality coffee should be an expensive hobby.

A few years ago I decided to learn the ancient, or actually the modern, secrets of the barista. I bought a fancy Italian espresso machine (Rancilio Silvia) with matching burr grinder (Rancilio Rocky) and started pulling shots. My espresso machine is a full blown manual experience, a little messy and time consuming but also quite satisfying. Like an Airstream, it’s a quality product that’s built to last. Unfortunately it’s too large and unwieldy to take with us on the road.

This is my home coffee rig. It pulls a killer shot of espresso. Unfortunately, it's about the same size as our Airstream and draws more electrical current than the Las Vegas Strip.

If you have acres of space inside your RV, and if you never boondock, then maybe you can go for an electricity suckin’ shot pullin’ Italian stallion of a machine. But inside our Airstream, we measure countertop and storage space in terms of square inches. We’ve been known to go weeks without a hookup. We’ve got to focus on something small. And if it doesn’t require electricity? That’s a bonus.

It probably wouldn't kill me to quit coffee, but why take chances?

You’ll find that creating your own coffee is both more rewarding and more economical than lining up for a hit at the local Starbucks. Even my fancy Italian espresso machine, expensive in the short run, “saves money” over the long haul by delivering restaurant quality espresso at a fraction of the cost. If you are in the habit of shelling out $4 for a grande latte every day, do the math. Although I’m no mathematical genius, the numbers favor prepping your own quality brew at home. By a huge margin.

Good coffee beans need not cost an arm and a leg. At the moment I subscribe via Amazon to Lavazza Qualita Rossa espresso. I get a four-pack at the subscription price of $22 – less than $6 a bag! This is excellent Italian coffee at a reasonable price, and another reason why I love Amazon. Sometimes I use other beans, though I’m fairly loyal to Lavazza when making a “serious” cup of coffee. Lavazza sells a variety of espresso blends that are available in bulk. In addition to Qualita Rossa, I have tried Crema e Gusto, Crema e Aroma, Super Crema, and In Blu. They each produce espresso with unique flavor and character.

"Italy's Favorite Coffee" - buy it in bulk for $6 a bag!

I’ve learned a lot over the years – enough to know that I’m still learning. Again, it’s like photography. You can learn the basics (composition, shutter, aperture) in a day, and then spend the rest of your life in pursuit of excellence. There are many variables that contribute to a great cup of coffee – the bean, the roast, the grind, the water, and the “extraction” process. The one constant is the need for good water. As for the rest, you can change ‘em up to see what suits you.

My goal over time here is to document the various means of making coffee when camping. For our first video, we take a look at the world’s most popular coffee maker. Bialetti has been selling “Moka Pot” coffee makers since 1933 – just a couple of years after Wally Byam started Airstream! They are a staple in every Italian household. If you go to Italy and stay in a B&B, chances are that your morning brew will be made with one of these durable contraptions. Not only do they make a nice cup of espresso (well, it’s technically “almost espresso” because the pot doesn’t create the same pressure as a true espresso maker) but you can buy one on Amazon for a measly $20. See? Good coffee doesn’t need to be expensive.

Italian coffee pots are ideal for camping (even tent camping) because they do not require electricity. They are also quite compact. Our “three cup” version is about the size of a travel coffee mug. The downsides to this approach? First of all, they use some of your propane. Secondly, there’s a bit of mess.

If you want minimal mess, consider this video:

I know what you’re thinking. Instant coffee? Didn’t I just blather on about roast and grind and extraction? What does instant coffee have to do with quality? Admittedly, I am stepping onto treacherous ground here by even suggesting that instant coffee may be worthy of consideration.

Yes, in the past, instant coffees have been rather terrible facsimiles of the real thing.

Yes, it’s probably true that most instant coffees still taste like dirty lawnmower oil.

I love Trader Joe's, but HATE their instant coffee. This horrid nasty stuff is frankly undrinkable. That's why there's mold growing inside this jar.

Nevertheless (and I’m probably destroying my coffee snob credentials here), there are a couple of instant coffees that are surprisingly decent.

The first is Starbucks Via. If you drink Via you retain your snob status because the stuff is more expensive than plutonium. Plus, every package comes equipped with its own stylish Starbucks logo. Via is a weird product – kind of like a practical Ferrari hatchback. You may be inclined to mock it, but you can’t deny that it delivers the goods. I daresay that Starbucks Via would perform well in blind taste tests. This would make a great ad campaign, if Folger’s hadn’t already done it.

A Ferrari FF, aka "the Starbucks Via of automobiles."

Of course there’s an alternative to Via. It costs one-tenth the price and it’s available everywhere…

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We flew to the Caribbean to appear in an upcoming TV show (code named “Vacation Hunters“) for the Travel Channel. We love watching the Travel Channel, and we’d never visited the Virgin Islands, so this seemed like a fun and memorable way to experience a new destination. We arrived in the island of St. Thomas, and ventured out from there. Over the course of the week, we experienced several different types of vacation.

The premise of the show: participants ”hunt” for a unique vacation experience that suits their own wish list. So we got to “test drive” three different ways to vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands. We’ve watched a zillion episodes of shows like House Hunters and House Hunters International – this is a similar show.

I won’t reveal too much just yet (since all will eventually be revealed on TV) but we were pleased by the variety of offerings cooked up by the TV production company. There were a few surprises, and no bad choices. In the end, we were able to dovetail our love of Airstream camping with our time in the Islands.

The location didn’t hurt. The Caribbean is gorgeous in springtime. The weather was warm but not hot. The ocean waters were a perfect temperature for swimming. Rum is cheaper than water! Overall we had a blast in the Caribbean. I’m sure we’ll go back someday.

We’d previously been to Jamaica. The U.S. Virgin Islands reminded me of Jamaica in many ways, but it nevertheless has its own unique identity. As a United States Territory, the Virgin Islands are not bound by all of the usual American legal excesses. Life in the Islands is a just a little different. For example, I stopped and chatted with a man who had set up a sidewalk “rum & coke stand” that was like a lemonade stand for adults. In the States you’d need a permit, one the bureaucrats would never agree to issue anyway.

Here are a few photos from the trip, presented in pretty much random order. I shot some video also, and will eventually edit it for your consideration. Note that clicking the individual photos will open up the view to full size.

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I’ve blathered in this space before about Yellowstone, and why it’s God’s greatest creation since Eve, fire, the wheel, and the GPS. It’s the “oldest and best” park, the world’s first national park, and… BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.

There I go again. Let’s face it: you’re tired of hearing me drone on about Yellowstone. So I thought I’d pull together a video of reasons why you should NEVER visit Yellowstone. Instead of hearing about all of the delicious reasons to visit, let’s consider some downside risks. Many of these involve the possibility of dying an unusual and violent death. Studies show that most people prefer to avoid unusual and violent deaths.

In Yellowstone, you run a reasonable risk of death by wild animal. In the video I refer to bison as “the most dangerous animals in the Park.” This is true, as Obi Wan Kenobi might say, from a certain point of view…

Bison are not necessarily the deadliest animals in the Park, but they cause the most human injuries. This is because many people act rather silly around bison, treating them like cuddly play toys. I heard about one woman who literally grabbed the horns of an adult male bison so she could turn its head and “get a better picture.” She ended up in the hospital with a severe (and arguably well deserved) goring. At the risk of sounding harsh, I don’t feel sorry for people who antagonize and agitate powerful wild animals. What was she thinking?

When I worked in Yellowstone, one tourist lost her left buttock in a bison goring. (Do you realize how much self-control is involved in relaying this story with a straight face?) It hit her from behind and tossed her twenty feet. Sayonara, butt cheek. I just hope she wasn’t a Hollywood butt double.

Then there are the bison-related snowmobile and auto accidents. Bison enjoy using the roads just like we do. If you hit a full grown male adult bison at high speed with a Fiat, for example, you may bruise the bison’s ribs. The Fiat, on the other hand, will be totaled. If you smash headlong into a two thousand pound bison with a snowmobile, you will be totaled.

What about bears? When pondering animal death in Yellowstone, everyone thinks of grizzly bear attack. In recent years bear attacks have been on the rise. Every year, a few people experience “negative human bear interactions,” as the rangers like to say. I wouldn’t want to die being eaten alive by a hungry bear – that would truly be a negative interaction, at least from my perspective. (Click here to see our incredibly informative bear safety video.) The most likely risk of a nasty bear encounter happens when hiking. To really enjoy Yellowstone, you need to lace up some boots and hit the trails. When you do so, you’d better make a lot of noise and pack some pepper spray.

I sincerely would prefer death by bear to taking a dip in one of Yellowstone’s geothermal features. Believe it or not, over the years many have suffered this cruel fate. In fact, more have died in Yellowstone by boiling than by bear. I do feel sorry for these people, even the ones who naively chose to jump into the pools. No one would voluntarily choose that fate. Obviously most have underestimated the amount of heat generated by the Yellowstone super-volcano. Those turquoise pools may look pretty, but they are as comforting as the average lobster pot.

Yellowstone simply isn’t like most other parks. If you take a wrong step, you can die an extremely painful death.

Geothermal features are generally well marked. Stay on the boardwalks and you will be fine. But whatever you do, please don’t go hiking after dark, with no flashlight, through a geyser basin. In 2000, three Park employees did just that – they fell into a 10-foot deep pool of boiling water, and one poor girl died from the resulting burns. Horrible to think about, isn’t it?

It looks innocent enough, but fall into Yellowstone's Cavern Spring (where water temps approach 200 degrees Farenheit) and you'll wish you were dead.

When I was working in the park, one employee got drunk and walked beyond the pathways into unsafe areas. He fell through the crust into a boiling hot pool. His body was pretty much destroyed from the waist down. He was airlifted from the park by helicopter (there are no real hospitals in Yellowstone). I’m not sure whether he survived.

Several wayward children have wandered into the thermal areas. A few poor souls, not realizing the intense heat of the geothermal areas, have voluntarily leapt into the pools chasing after dogs and the like. So let’s all consider today’s safety tip: never, ever, ever, ever, ever approach Yellowstone’s geothermal features with anything less than the utmost deference and respect. A healthy dose of fear, in this case, is warranted.

Another weird way to die in Yellowstone is by falling into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River.

“Aren’t there guardrails?” you ask.

Of course there are guardrails. There are also scores of foolhardy tourists who eagerly climb over said guardrails in order “to get a better picture.” Just about every year someone climbs beyond a guardrail, poses for a photo, loses his or her balance, and plunges several hundred feet to their death into the canyon. Hey, falling into the canyon wouldn’t be the best way to go – but it sure would beat boiling water or bear.

You’ll note that many victims in Yellowstone were Park employees. If you live full-time in Yellowstone, it makes sense that you are more exposed to its dangers.  Hopefully you are more attuned to them as well.

For me, working in the Park was a wonderful experience. Sure, the money sucks. You simply don’t work in Yellowstone expecting to make much money. Although your paycheck is laughable (useful mainly for buying pizza and beer in the employee pub), you will be compensated in other ways. You’ll form memorable friendships with your coworkers, and you’ll experience the Park to a degree that few others can appreciate.

For more information about working in Yellowstone, check out YellowstoneJobs.com.

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So here’s this year’s “video card” – shot during our December 12-19 transatlantic passage from Southampton to New York. The voyage crosses more than 2000 miles of North Atlantic Ocean during a season of predictably dangerous weather. To further bolster one’s confidence, the route passes within 80 nautical miles of the remains of the RMS Titanic.

The Queen Mary 2 is the largest ocean liner ever built. As a true ocean liner, it was built differently than cruise ships. It’s got 40% more steel in the hull, for example, than typical passenger vessels of comparable girth. It’s equipped with a couple of massive Rolls Royce stabilizers. In rough seas, these extend underwater from the hull of the ship and act like airplane wings. The stabilizers are said to reduce roll in extreme weather by 90%. So the Queen Mary 2 is not only a beautiful ship, but a capable one. She has been designed to handle the North Atlantic in winter.

Even so, when you toss force 10 winds and 30-foot swells at her, you’ll notice…

We encountered two separate storms on our transatlantic passage. Both generated swells in excess of 20-feet and winds in the gale force 9 and 10 range. Travel outside to the ship’s decks was forbidden for obvious reasons. But I was able to step onto our balcony and snap a few moments of video. The wind was powerful, cold, and laced with pellets of rain. I could only stand on our balcony for a few moments before retreating back inside the cabin.

Our stateroom was located near the front of the ship, fairly high on deck 8. Ship movement is most exaggerated towards this area of the ship. (If you think about a ship’s rocking motion during a storm, it makes sense that the most stable portion would be low and towards the center of the vessel.)

Technically our stateroom was an upgraded cabin, due to its location and the fact it was equipped with a clear plexiglass balcony. The balconies on deck 8 are not directly adjacent to the water since they overlook the deck 7 walking area. This is a benefit. If you somehow managed to fall off a deck 4 balcony, there would be a big splash. Sadly, it would probably be the final splash you’d experience in this particular lifetime. If you fell off a deck 8 balcony, you would hit wood and metal instead of water. It would be painful and probably injurious, but you might actually survive.

I guess in most situations the higher staterooms are the more desirable. But there’s an ironic old saying about passenger ships: “the more you pay, the more you sway.” As a practical consequence, this meant that our deck 8 stateroom was swaying wildly for several days. The pitch (vertical motion) was much more extreme than the roll (horizontal motion). The room was rising and falling with such force that when lying in bed, we got a genuine sense of weightlessness as the bed dropped through the air! Then, as the ship crested over the next swell, we felt ourselves pressed down into the bed with significant gravitational force. Oddly, at times this sensation could be comforting; it was like we were being rocked in a giant cradle.

Of course some passengers were afflicted with seasickness. Thankfully Kristy and I did not encounter seasickness. (We did contract an unfortunate viral bug in England that we battled during our voyage, but that was no fault of the ship or weather.)

The first three days of our seven day passage were dominated by this extreme weather. Rough seas transformed life on the ship. Due to the conditions, many shipboard entertainment events were rescheduled or cancelled altogether. (You can’t exactly have a group of people dancing around on stage during this sort of storm, else they go flying into the front row seats.) So there were certainly times that we were wanting the weather to clear.

But in hindsight, it was a spectacular travel experience. The weather turned our cushy cruise into a legitimate adventure.

After a couple of days of stormy travel, it began to dawn on me how unusual such an experience would be. “You know the weather’s bad,” I told Kristy, “when you see members of the crew stopping to watch it.” And we did see this happening all over the ship. Overall, the crew amazed me as much as the ship. They displayed a remarkable ability to “keep calm and carry on” despite the challenging circumstances.

I asked the ship librarian how often she sees comparable weather. She told me that she had not experienced anything so severe since Hurricane Ophelia in 2005. So, this transatlantic crossing was rare indeed. The entertainment director said “we’ll be talking about this one for the rest of the decade.” Kristy and I will be talking about it for the rest of our lives. (Thirty years from now, you can just tell me to stop since you already heard the story… )

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If you have ever watched Steven Speilberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, you probably recognize Devil’s Tower. In the movie it served as a meeting place for aliens. It was a brilliant choice of location, because there’s something truly otherworldly about this place. It’s a mountain of rock that looks like no mountain you’ve ever seen.

Native Americans had their own theories about the origins of this geological oddity. Their folklore tells of a time when giant bears were chasing a handful of Indian maidens. The Great Spirit himself raised the Tower from the earth in order to save the damsels in distress. Giant bear claws thus created the deep vertical grooves around the outside of the tower.

Science has its own theories. But interestingly, even amongst the slide-rule & calculator set there’s not a clear consensus. Park Service signs outside the tower reference three different theories as to its formation. Sadly, none of these includes giant bears. The most likely is that Devil’s Tower is the remainder of an ancient volcano.

When Kristy and I visited, we took a little time to stop and hike around this base of the Tower. This was time well spent. It was not a particularly challenging or lengthy hike, but it was memorable. The majority of tourists in our national parks and monument rarely venture beyond the most obvious photo opportunities. Sometimes you will get a greatly enhanced perspective on a place by simply traveling a little further than everyone else.

We enjoyed a nice and mostly quiet hike. We spotted a few deer. And we watched a few humans attempt to scale the tower. Wherever there is a large rock, there will be people wanting to climb said rock.

We learned that Devil’s Tower is a special place amongst the native Indian tribes. For centuries, Devil’s Tower was not called Devil’s Tower. Due to its sacred nature, it was revered by Native Americans as something holy. Then in the 1800s it was taken away from those people by the U.S. government and turned into a Satanic-themed recreational area.

The Indians weren’t too thrilled when people began climbing the Tower for fun. So the Park Service now asks people to refrain from climbing the Tower during the month of June, when Indian tribes hold ceremonies outside the tower. They say that 85% of people honor the request; so I guess (according to my 7th grade mathematics) that means that 15% ignore it. The scientific term for those people is “buttocks area.” While one can understand the desire to climb the tower, I think out of simple respect and decency people could take the month of June off. That’s not asking much.

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It’s always a bizarre sensation when we return to our brick-and-mortar home after a few months in the Airstream. In the vast world of cavernous recreational vehicles, our Airstream is pretty small. But there’s a strange transition that happens when you adjust to the full-time experience. You get used to it. After a couple weeks of full-timing, you quickly adjust to the new normal.

While this may seem extreme to some, for others a five-month Airstreaming journey is just a warmup. Yes, there are those who travel for even longer periods of time in even smaller rigs. Enter Lani and Chris, a young couple who have traveled for a couple of years in a 23-footer.

This is another couple who decided to push the “work from home” concept to the extreme. Why wait for retirement to travel? If you can work from anywhere, then why not work from anywhere you want? When plotting the course of their telecommuting adventure, they chose between two seemingly dichotomous paths.

“I gave Lani two options,” Chris said. “We could either move to Argentina and experience life in South America, or we could move into an Airstream and see the United States. She chose the Airstream.”

That Argentina was an option validates what I’ve long suspected. The type of person who embraces full-time Airstream travel at a young age is often the same type of person who embraces international travel. It’s a mindset, a thirst for exploration and personal growth. That’s why Kristy and I have featured travel to Guatemala, El Salvador, Argentina, Jamaica, and Europe here on LongLongHoneymoon. Whether we’re camping or not, the motivating spirit is the same.

So, even though they had never spent a single night aboard an Airstream, Lani and Chris bought a 23-footer sight unseen. Next they bought a tow vehicle and tugged it to Florida. After establishing residency in the sunshine state for tax purposes, they ventured out into the country. Their path was not dissimilar to our own, as they took their Airstream west to places like Yellowstone, Banff, and the California redwoods.

Meanwhile, nature took its course when Lani discovered she was with child. At this news, many people might understandably pull the plug on the Airstream experiment. But Lani and Chris followed through, taking their Airstream to New Hampshire to have baby Emerson.

Has life aboard the Airstream always been an easy, blissful, joyous experience? Are you kidding? Any time you pursue an unconventional lifestyle that involves unique challenges, there are going to be some difficult times. A lot of people talk about tiny houses; these guys have been really doing it. Airstreams take the tiny house concept to the limit. At times Kristy and I have space issues with our 25-footer; I can only imagine what it would be like to add a newborn baby into the equation.

In her entertaining blog AluminumBliss.com, Lani has written with honesty and humor about the good days and the not-so-good days. At one juncture after having the baby, Lani wrote, “the Airstream life wasn’t working for me. I needed more than 160 square feet.” This reaction, it must be pointed out, is completely rational.

When I asked Chris and Lani to talk about the impact of Airstream travel upon their relationship, they just looked at me and laughed. Fair enough.

So there have been ups and downs. That’s to be expected. Life aboard an Airstream, just like life while traveling anywhere, remains life. When we seek out new experiences and turn our crazy dreams into reality, we can’t expect perfection. There will always be peaks and valleys. Hopefully the upside more than compensates for the downside. Hopefully we emerge from the experience a little wiser and a lot more satisfied.

A couple of years have passed since Chris and Lani departed on their Airstreaming journey. It’s possible that soon they will turn the page and begin a new chapter of their lives. Yes, they probably won’t live the rest of their lives inside a tin can. Guess what? We won’t either.

But they will move forward into the future with the knowledge that they did it. They turned a crazy idea into a viable lifestyle. They persevered and somehow made it work – for years. If they decide to park the Airstream and move on to the next adventure, they can do so with satisfaction. It’s far better to try and know, than to go through life wondering.

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I’m happy to report that so far my dumb mistakes have caused minimal harm to others, our Airstream, and the environment. I haven’t pulled a BP and spilled ten billion gallons of black water in the Gulf of Mexico. I haven’t forgotten to properly hitch our Airstream before driving away. I’ve done little things. Like the time we were in North Dakota and I filled SEEMORE’s diesel belly full of gasoline.

What happens when you put unleaded gasoline in a diesel truck? My understanding is that you can put a few gallons in the tank and be okay. While I’m not recommending that you try it, I’ve been told that a couple of gallons in a large 30-gallon tank wouldn’t hurt things too much. An entire tankful of unleaded gas, on the other hand, can cause all sorts of trouble. It can cause your engine to go kaboom.

In this case, I was fortunate on a couple of fronts. First of all, I discovered the problem before cranking the truck. If I had fired up the truck and driven away, it’s very likely that damage to bearings, pistons, and even a head gasket could have been the result. Things would have gotten messy and expensive very fast. We would have faced a massive repair bill, one probably involving a rental car and an unplanned extended stay in a campground. Since I discovered the problem right away, the risk of damage was minimized.

Secondly, we were lucky that this problem happened in North Dakota. The state may have a small population, but it ranks unusually high on the “nice people” charts. Rodney, the fellow who rode to our rescue, was fantastic.

I spoke with him about the situation. In most places, the diesel island is 100 percent diesel. You can’t really screw up royally when pumping from the diesel island. In North Dakota, there is also unleaded fuel on the island. Hence my dumb mistake. When I pulled into the fueling station, I spotted the diesel island. I quickly hopped out of our truck and filled my tank with fuel from the first pump. It was only upon returning the handle to the pump that I discovered my mistake.

In the background under the red roof are the unleaded gasoline pumps. Our truck SEEMORE is parked at the diesel island. Usually when you see a dedicated diesel island that is separated from all of the unleaded gasoline pumps, you can only obtain diesel from that island. Here there was a gasoline pump on the diesel island.

Rodney told me that he’d visited this particular station before on a similar syphoning job.

“That guy was a Texas oil company executive,” Rodney said, “who was in town on business.”

I nodded. There were several oil fields in the vicinity of this North Dakota town.

“Boy, was he mad,” Rodney chuckled. “He couldn’t believe that there was unleaded gas on the diesel island.”

In contrast to the executive, I wasn’t angry. Sure, I think offering unleaded fuel on the diesel island probably isn’t the greatest idea, but the situation was ultimately my fault. I somehow managed to find the humor in the situation and laugh about it.

After Rodney finished syphoning the unleaded fuel out of our truck (a process that took at least an hour), it was time to settle up.

“What do I owe you?” I asked.

Rodney shook his head.

“Nothin’,” he replied.

“I need to pay you something,” I insisted.

“For what?” he said with a wry grin. “For takin’ your gas?”

Sure, I gave Rodney the tankful of gas, which he turn gave to local farmers. But most tow companies would have stuck me for a hefty bill. Let’s suppose he charged me $150. Then I would be out that sum plus the amount paid for the gasoline, so this fiasco would have been a $250 mistake. Then I would need to pump another $100 worth of diesel, meaning this would have been a $350 gas station visit. That’s enough to spoil anyone’s day.

But Rodney was incredibly kind and generous. We left town thankful that this particular dumb mistake happened in North Dakota. In the end, thanks to Rodney, it didn’t really spoil our day.

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Okay, things are pretty bad. But they’re not that bad. Recent economic activity resembles a dead dog on a freeway during rush hour, but people are still living their First World lives. It’s only a matter of time before Apple announces the next iPhone. Tell me – how bad can it really be when people are willing to CAMP OUT for a freakin’ phone? In other parts of the world, people are fighting for survival. Here people are fighting for the latest version of Angry Birds. But I digress.

Any way you slice it, the economy stinks – so why not share some money-saving ideas? I’ve always been a big believer in FRUGALITY. Whatever your net worth may be, it will be EVEN GREATER if you know how to use it wisely. Once, as a bearded, smelly twenty-something, I toured several European countries like Austria, Italy, and Czechoslovakia. It cost me about $30. Granted, I came home with a few extra fleas, but I learned how to stretch out a few measly dollars for days at a time.

Sometimes I joke about being a cheapskate. But it’s really not about being “cheap” per se; it’s about being SMART. There’s a word for people who are frivolous with their money. That word is “stupid.”

Let’s start by examining CLUBS. I’m not talking about sipping an Arnold Palmer down at the golf course while wifey takes tennis lessons from the buff young stud. I’m talking about those vast marketing organizations we join that promise to somehow save us money.

First up: COSTCO. Is Costco a “club?” In a sense, yes Costco is a club. You pay an annual membership fee in exchange for a variety of benefits.

I’m a Costco FANATIC. (Full disclosure: I own Costco stock – and even in the current climate, it’s doing okay!) Quality products, great prices, and free food samples – what more do you need? We buy anything and everything at Costco. Costco buyers negotiate excellent prices up front, and then they pass those prices along to members. It’s said that Costco will NEVER mark up an item more than 14% above its own price. Joining Costco, if you have the opportunity, is a no brainer. One big ticket purchase like a TV and your annual membership fee is covered.

What about GOOD SAM CLUB? It all depends. Do you intend to do a LOT of camping in privately owned full hookup campgrounds? If so, it makes sense to join Good Sam Club. We’ve had some good experiences (albeit not our best experiences) at those parks. When we are doing a lot of travel, our Good Sam membership just about covers itself.

Note that some (not all) campgrounds will honor AAA membership discounts as well as Good Sam Club. So if you are a AAA member, you reap some of these discount rewards too.

What about PUBLIC LIBRARIES? These aren’t technically “clubs,” but you pay your membership fees in taxes whether you use them or not. So you might as well use them. These days, a well run library is a source for all sorts of media. In addition to books, you can get movies, music, and Internet – it’s a media moocher’s paradise. Is that what Ben Franklin had in mind?

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Back to festivals. It’s not that I don’t like people. I enjoy meeting and talking to people very much.

It’s that I don’t like crowds. Being surrounded by large crowds of people for extended periods of time doesn’t feel very liberating. It feels confining. When the crowds get too large, they begin to dictate how fast you move and where you go. That feeling of claustrophobia is sort of “anti-walkabout” in my book.

When I think of “festivals,” my mind jumps to those massive music extravaganzas that are hugely popular every summer. You know the type of festival I am talking about. They feature a few dozen bands, horrible musical acoustics, sweaty dirty mobs of drunken revelers, and a fleet of port-a-potties. One of my goals in life is to minimize time spent in port-a-potties.

So the festival needs to be pretty special to garner my interest. With this in mind, we’ve taken our Airstream to some wonderful festivals over the years. Some festivals, like the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque and the Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota, are so unique and compelling that they are worth the hassle. Seaside’s wine festival is fun (of course, even a “dentist drill festival” could be fun if enough wine is involved).

Our festival du jour is called Digital Graffiti. It’s billed as the world’s first projection art festival. The event takes place once a year in the town of Alys (pronounced “Alice”) Beach, Florida. Alys Beach is a ridiculously expensive planned community on Florida’s increasingly famous Scenic Highway 30A. Imagine a little Gulf Coast utopia with style and architecture inspired by Bermuda and Antigua, Guatemala.

As of this writing, the town is under construction. What’s already complete is outrageously beautiful. It’s also solid as an anvil. The entire town is “built to fortified standards,” meaning that the build quality is pretty much as high as it gets. There’s not a lot of vinyl siding or rich Corinthian leather. There is a lot of stone and concrete. Furthermore, each “fortified” home is intended to last several hundred years.

We could hold a little engineering and architecture class to discuss the details, but suffice to say that the walls and windows in Alys Beach are designed to withstand a hurricane. That’s rather important if you intend to build a lasting structure along this stretch of Florida coast. Walls are thick slabs of poured concrete that’s painted white. So the overall effect is a pristine white town. There’s nothing else quite like it in the United States, at least not that we have seen.

The idea behind the Digital Graffiti festival is simple and brilliant. The white walls of Alys Beach are a blank canvas. One night per year, that canvas is thoroughly “painted” with a smorgasbord of digital art. The actual artwork of Digital Graffiti varies, but most of it is of an abstract nature. It’s a menagerie of flashing light and vibrant color.

Digital Graffiti is not for art snobs. You don’t need to know your Monet from your Rembrandt. In fact, you don’t need to know much of anything. There’s no agenda. You just wander the gorgeous streets of Alys Beach, perhaps sipping your favorite adult beverage, and take in the different sights.

It’s appropriate for families; there will be no shortage of young kids darting to and fro, squealing with delight. But it’s also appropriate for young adults (or in my case, flabby middle-aged adults) who are seeking nightlife.

The heart of Digital Graffiti is in the Caliza Pool area. The swimming pool in Alys Beach is rumored to have cost more than $15 million to build. Whatever the cost, it’s a rather fantastical place to hold a party. And in this corner of Alys Beach, that’s what Digital Graffiti becomes.

For Kristy and me, this stretch of Florida highway is our home away from home. Although Alys Beach doesn’t offer any camping, there are plenty of options in the area. Grayton Beach and Henderson Beach come to mind.

Like I said, I don’t really like festivals. But this is a good one. It’s busy and lively without being a cattle drive. I don’t even remember seeing any port-a-potties.

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