Vidalia — Sustaining long-distance relationships can be tough, but living in a home that they can drive makes it easier for Beth and Randy Merrick, who have been married for 33 years despite Beth living in Biloxi while Randy works as the master chief of the United States Coast Guard Cutter Greenbrier in Natchez.

Beth made her way to the Miss-Lou this week to visit Randy and also catch Angels on the Bluff in Natchez over the weekend, and she is staying in the family’s Recreational Vehicle, which also serves as their permanent home.

“This is our house, we’re full-timers,” Beth said.

The couple was walking their dog Izzy at the Vidalia Riverfront RV Park Wednesday afternoon where The Dart landed.

“(This lifestyle) is not for everybody,” Randy said. “But, we enjoy it. It’s really not an issue with us. We have all the comforts of home (on the RV).”

The RV is usually parked at a park in Biloxi, and Randy makes the nearly four-hour drive each weekend to go home to visit Izzy and Beth, he said.

“This is just a choice we made,” Randy said. “We have everything we want, and it gives us the best chance at spending time (with each other).”

Beth is a retired pharmacy technician and currently spends her weeks taking care of Izzy at the family home. She also volunteers for the Keesler Spouses’ Club, which is a charitable organization for spouses of members of the armed forces.

Weekends are times the couple gets to share, and Randy said the two try to make the most out of each one.

“We try to do something (every weekend),” he said. “It depends on what’s going on, there’s usually a lot going on on the Gulf Coast.”

The couple said in the past few weekends they have attended a gumbo festival and the Cruising the Coast car show. Beth said this week’s trip was just her second to the Miss-Lou since Randy took over the boat last year. She said the past is what attracts her to Natchez and events like Angels on the Bluff.

“I love to know about the people,” she said. “Natchez has really good history. There’s just so much history.”

The two also take advantage of their RV by doing a lot of traveling, they said. Recently they have been to North Carolina, Las Vegas and Colorado Springs.

Randy said they hope to continue their exploration of the United States when he retires in approximately three years.

“We are going to travel,” he said. “We want to go out west and spend a few months out west.”

But Randy is not exactly itching to start those retirement adventures, he said.

“I really like what I do,” he said. “But the thought that I have to give it up is not scary. I think the realization hit me a month ago. I’ve just spent so much time at this, nearly 30 years.”

Beth and Randy are originally from small towns in western Tennessee, they said. They have one son named Cole, who is in flight school at the Columbus Air Force Base.