Lucky are those who find a travel partner in their parents. Luckier those who find it in their grandparents. And this guy is proof!
Brad Ryan spent a lot of time with his grandmother as a kid. But after his parents got divorced, he was separated from her. However, after 10 years, they reunited.
According to sources, Ryan realised how much time he missed with his Grandma Joy and wanted to spend as much time as he could with her. One day, he was telling her about the time he went for a hike at the Appalachian Trail.
“I regret that I didn’t get to see more things in life. It would have been nice to see the mountains”, said Grandma Joy, and that broke Ryan’s heart.
That’s when he decided – he is going to take her places!
One weekend, Ryan called her up and said, “Are you doing anything this weekend? I want to drive down to the Smokies. How do you feel about sleeping in a tent?”
“When are you picking me up?”, replied Grandma Joy, without sparing a second thought.
And that was it. The two arrived at the Great Smoky Mountains amidst rainfall, Joy holding an umbrella while Ryan set up the tent! She was 85 years old, and it was her first time sleeping in a tent.
“It was a life-altering trip that provided more purpose and fulfilment than anything I had ever done academically or professionally. Two years later I set up a GoFundMe called Grandma Joy’s Road Trip in the spirit of making up for the lost time and proving that you’re never too old to pack in a lifetime of adventure and travel,” Ryan said.
Ryan had decided to take his Grandma to all the national parks in the U.S. It’s been 4 years since, and the two have visited 29 of the 61 U.S. national parks, walking 25,000 miles across 38 states.
“We were trapped in a bison herd for over four hours in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park. We have watched the sunrise over the Grand Canyon. We have stared up at the towering sequoias of California that were standing long before Grandma Joy was born,” said Ryan.
Ryan documents their visits on Instagram. He says that even when they get tired and grumpy at each other, he wouldn’t want to see the world with anyone else but her. The two plan road-trips every year, sometimes more than once a year. They connect with other travellers they meet on their way. Grandma Joy also high-fives these travellers on her way up to a mountain! She gives Ryan a purpose.
This warms my heart and makes me want to call my grandma right now!