Wandering Wahls

This entry is from the “other half” of the Wahls Across America Board of Directors. As we enter our 11th month of traveling in an RV, I am full of mixed emotions.

First, I can’t believe we are already at this point. Where did the time go? We have been so busy exploring new sights, learning about our nation’s history and diverse cultures, re-connecting with friends and relatives, and meeting so many new people, that we have barely had time to sit and reflect on what this adventure has done for us, both as individuals and as a family.

Second though, I am starting to feel a bit anxious to “settle down.” I’d love to be part of a community, to get to know my neighbors, to get involved in church and school activities—basically to do what most people do normally. (Notice I didn’t mention “work?” After 22 years of active duty service, I am still contemplating that.)

However, when I think of ending our trip, I feel a little sad! I’ve gotten used to the five of us living in such a small space, and having only 1 bathroom to clean. When we get tired of the local weather, we simply move on. There are no crazy hectic kid schedules—juggling piano lessons, soccer practice, scouting, and homework are not challenges for me now.

But, the journey continues and we have more people and places to see, as well as find a job (for Tom) and a place to call home.

Something hit us the other day, other than insects flying into our windshield. We realized that the year we expected to be on the road is almost up, but we don’t have a place to live. That’s ok, though. We’re enjoying seeing people, places, and things across the US – many for the first time along with our children. It is odd to think that a year from now, my son might say “I first saw such-and-such when I was 12.” and I’ll be saying “I first saw such-and-such when I was 48.” – was my childhood that deprived?

We tallied up some figures from our trip so far. We’ve been to 46 National Parks (or Seashores, Monuments, Trails, Junior Ranger programs, etc.). As for states, we have set foot or tire tread in about 42 (to see a map of our journey, go to our personal travel website). We could also include a few scars, one trip to the ER, and numerous local pies.

Anyway, we are directing ourselves toward Idaho to start a zigzagging southward trip to look into areas that we think might appeal to us. We have decided that we want to live somewhere in Colorado or further west. Specific areas we like or want to look into further include Evergreen, CO; Los Alamos, NM; Fort Collins, CO; and, Nevada City/Grass Valley, CA. But we want to look at Oregon and Washington a little more, too. We’re still open though, and also considering the issue of employment- be it a local job or a training/teaching job to which I can telecommute.

Speaking of which, we’ll be in San Diego for MOAA’s Career Fair on October 22 (we members need to take advantage of MOAA’s great member services!).

Finally, though, we have an impetus to find a place. My youngest asked us when we were going to have a house. We said in a couple of months and asked why.

His reply was, “I can’t wait to take a bath.”

We made it up to Lac-Saint-Jean in northern Quebec to see our friends in the Canadian Air Force, Chris and Nancy LaRouche. Our friends were stationed in Germany with NATO, and lived in our village; attended our church on base; and, drove the same model Volvo – what a match! We ended up spending the last couple of Christmas Eves with them and other Canadian Air Force members celebrating Christmas in the French-Canadian style: eating “tourtiere” at midnight on Christmas Eve, having Santa arrive, and trying to understand rapid-fire French.

In Germany, we took a couple of trips with the French-Canadian contingent of NATO, but nothing prepared us for our entry into Quebec – it was more foreign that traveling in France. I think France has more spoken and written English than Quebec. Quebec is like a distant, foreign country plopped into North America.

Our friends took us north to camp at Lac-Saint-Jean, which sits on the only fjord in eastern North America. The beauty was spectacular. The best part of this excursion was continuing our “Eating Our Way Across America” segment into Canada (we’ll have to change the name now). We went berry picking and had the best raspberries yet (sorry, New England). The kids were popping them into their mouths left and right. No wonder our boxes were continually empty. It was great to hear the kids exclaim that they wished movie theaters sold berries instead of popcorn.

I can’t wait to hold them to this declaration next time they ask for popcorn at the movies and I pull out my snuck-in stash of berries.

While driving through beautiful New England in our RV, I was taking in the wonderful views and thinking about the great sites we’ve seen and the old friends we’ve been able to meet up with on our trip. As my mind wandered (not the RV though, it stayed in its lane), I realized that this trip has given me a broad range of things to see.

For instance, I’ve been able to see my three kids grow closer together and learn to play with each other. Alright, there are the usual sibling arguments (“Why can’t Anna brush her teeth first?!”), but for the most part the three have learned to create games with each other and really enjoy them. That has been a wonderful sight.

I’ve also seen my kids develop a great sense of adventure and “lets do it!” attitude – from taking hikes to see raptors and jumping off 20 foot cliffs into the base of a waterfall, to jumping off the roof of a friend’s boathouse in Canada into the Rideau River. Even picking up water snakes or salamanders.

The final sight I don’t know quite how to take, though it made me proud. In Acadia National Park, Joe and I took a strenuous 5-mile hike that climbed quite high and went over trails and mountain paths of stones and boulders.

Before we had quite reached the top we hit a stretch of boulder steps that made the hike quite hard for the legs. Joe was leading when I mentioned how tiring the hike had become. He turned and said, “Lets keep going, we’ll rest at the top.”

I was stunned. This is the exact same thing I had always told him on our more strenuous activities, like hiking in Cinque Terra and climbing the mountains in Bavaria. Wow, the tables have turned now, and I’m only 48! Well, that’s the revelation that makes me wonder how to take all of this.

It is still a great sight to see on our trip though.

Jump in, the water's fine!

The moonlight came out for our visit to Stowe, Vt. So did the ice cream, the waterfalls, swimming under waterfalls, hiking, biking, new German friends, library used book sales, and everything else.

Stowe is a fantastic place to visit and we tried to take advantage of everything there. We hit the Ben & Jerry’s factory tour (skip it if you go to Stowe), but had better homemade ice cream at a little ice creamery in town.

There were plenty of outdoor activities. There was a bike trail up the hills that we rode the first day. The next day we hiked the area’s three falls and ended up swimming in 50-degree water at the base of Bingham Falls. The kids were jumping into the water off rocks — a 20-foot jump does a child good, I think.

We also met a German family who was spending a three-week holiday touring the Northeast in a rental RV. Joe trekked the nearby stream with their boy: A nice two-mile stroll in the water practicing his German also does a child good.

Then the full moon came out and showed us what the song meant about moonlight in Vermont. We ended our stay chatting with our new friends under the Vermont moon and introducing them to s’mores. This cross-cultural cuisine exchange must have been successful since they ate three of them. Another milestone in German-American relations!

We ended up at Hanscom AFB outside of Boston for an extended U.S. historical study stay. Minuteman National Park was minutes away (no pun intended). The bikes were loaded, a lunch was packed, and away we went for a ride along the Battle Road Trail, where the Brits marched along on their way to Concord and Lexington. Paul Revere also rode along the road warning that the Brits were coming. Interesting It was interesting to observe the road that started our country’s path to having baseball and apple pie as national icons as opposed to soccer and Indian curry.

On another day, we made our way into Boston and walked our way around the Freedom Trail and Boston Commons. We saw the USS Constitution, Faneuil Hall, and where the tea was dumped into the bay, making it totally undrinkable.

The stop was fun, educational, and the kids bagged three National Park Junior Ranger badges for their collection!

New England has been fun. I especially love the “No Drinking and Driving” signs with the little martini glasses. I picture Thurston Howell III from Gilligan’s Island saying, “offff course lovey, no martinis, just gin and tonics while driving.”

We spent a few nights at Hanscom AFB in order to see Boston. One of our day trips though was back into Rhode Island to see Mary Claire’s good friend, retired Col. Deb Erikson-Owens. She was a former consultant to the Air Force surgeon general and senior certified nurse-midwife in the Air Force. Deb was Mary Claire’s mentor in the Air Force and the person responsible for urging her to enter midwifery after being a labor and delivery nurse.

We first stopped and picked blueberries. You pick and then your basket is weighed when you’re done. So we went off to pick. Actually, we picked a little, ate a little, picked a little, ate a little, picked, picked, ate a lot, and picked a little more. Thank goodness they didn’t weigh each kid before and after picking and only weighed the boxes we filled.

Next up was a stop at the little market across the street for some local pie. We needed to compare Rhode Island berry pies to Maine’s. The findings: well, we’ll have to go back and have some more from each location to figure this out. Oh, we also had a Rhode Island delicacy from Del’s — lemon icees (watermelon for the adults) — man, these were good, even on a misty, cold day.

We ended up at Beavertail Lighthouse for a picnic and, since it was on a coastline, watching the kids explore the rocks and tide pools. They found numerous starfish and, in the spirit of the original 13 colonies, started new colonies for the little guys by gathering them from all over and putting them into “colonies” (as Joe succinctly called it).

The visit was short but fabulous. We’re very thankful for the opportunity this trip has given us to see old friends like Deb (and have Mary Claire get some career ideas about teaching nursing at a university).