My lust for road-tripping started when I was a tweenager back in 1970-something. My parents purchased a beat-up old RV, took us out of school and we hit the road. Time passed more slowly then. It wasn’t until recently I realized the trip was only six weeks long; I’d thought we were on the road for months. We bucked the (school) system several times over the years. I’m convinced I learned more on those trips than I ever learned in the classroom. I might also attribute my rule-breaking inclination to those early truancy days. I’ve crossed the country many times now- with siblings and children and dogs, but not my husband- and never tire of the adventure.

Lee and I met in 1979, which even to me sounds like a million years ago. I was a freshman in college. We married, and raised three kids while working our respective jobs. I worked intermittently -as parenting permitted - as a writer and photographer at local and regional publications throughout New England. Lee's been in commercial construction management working like, I'd say a dog but if you saw ours, you'd conclude he was lazy. He's anything but. When the pandemic hit, we found ourselves out of work but not out of dreams. So, we sold the house, 'encouraged' the kids to fledge, rented a great little cottage overlooking a pond in Rhode Island and bought a Sprinter Van. Lee got his master's degree from YouTube University in van conversion. We created a rolling home which far exceeded our expectations-comfortable, cozy and easy. We travelled as extensively as possible throughout the US for four months with our pooches, Simon and Sampson.

The challenge to convince Lee, a sailor at heart, to camp for any length of time was real; it took decades. But even Covid had it’s silver lining. The van conversion was supposed to be a summer project so when October arrived and we were still parked in the driveway, we got anxious. The diesel heater wasn’t operational, nor was the inverter (for 120V power.) But on a perfect fall Wednesday in mid-October, we packed our things and left anyway.

Lee quickly sussed out my thirst for photography as well as my preferences for light, composition and locale. He was adept at pulling over on the quick, timing our driving tours around sun sets and rises, and infinitely patient as I strove to capture in harmony and perfection what we were so incredibly fortunate and grateful to be experiencing. The United States is stunning and quirky, friendly and vast. Together with my photography, my stories try to get the movie-reel version of my varied travels from head to page.