Have you ever thought it might be too late to make a dream come true? Well, let Grandma Joy inspire you to think again! She took her very first camping trip at 85 years old and hasn’t slowed down since.
Eleven years ago, her grandson Brad was headed to The Smoky Mountain National Parks on a weekend campout. When Joy mentioned she had never been camping, Brad offered to take her along. With a mantra of “I’ll try anything once,” Grandma Joy willingly said, “Yes!”
A Laurel and Hardy Skit?
It was not an easy entry to the camping world though. They arrived at the park at 1AM in the pouring rain. That did not stop Joy from hopping out of the car to help Brad make camp. She held the umbrella and flashlight while her grandson set up the tent and blew up the air mattresses, all in a steady rain. When Joy finally crawled onto her mattress on the ground, it immediately deflated. She laughed later that she thought she was in a real-life Laurel and Hardy skit. Everything was going wrong.
The next morning it was still raining. Not the adventure Joy had imagined. She was enjoying being with Brad but pretty sure this camping thing would be a “one and done.” That was until Brad took her on a hike to the top of a mountain. Slow and steady they climbed the steps to the overlook. Everyone was passing them but Brad held her hand and they just kept climbing. When she reached the top, all those who had passed her on their way to the top, gave her a round of applause and wanted to get their picture taken with the 85 year old grandma summiting her first mountain. Joy recalled not wanting her picture taken because she “looked like a wild woman with hair sticking out all over!”
A Time To Heal
When Brad invited his grandmother to accompany him on that first camping adventure, the invitation was more than a chance to see a great National Park. It was an opportunity to heal great brokenness in their family that had led to a ten-year estrangement between the two. His parents’ divorce a decade earlier had shattered the family. Each member retreated to their own corner to process in their own way. Brad became a bit of a “human doing,” keeping as busy as possible to avoid the pain of those relationships. “I was a solo flyer trying to fill the void in my heart in the aftermath of the destruction of my family. My father, Grandma Joy’s eldest son, and I remain estranged. It took me a long time to realize that it was not fair of me to hold her accountable for my father’s behavior.”
When Brad returned to Ohio to complete his doctorate in Veterinary Medicine at The Ohio State University, he was living near his grandmother for the first time in many years. It was an opportunity to use the time to recover a once happy relationship. “I called Grandma Joy. She was surprised to hear my voice on the other end of the phone, but it was important to me to heal that wound in my own heart. There was no way to turn back the clock and pretend that none of it had happened. The only option was to start over and create something new.” That first trip to the Smoky’s was the start of a grand adventure. Their National Park tour came about gradually.
Time to Explore the US
Although Brad had studied veterinary medicine in South Africa and hiked the 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail, he hadn’t explored much of his own country. Joy, who was born and raised in Duncan Falls, Ohio, was still living in the house she had settled in as a newlywed in her twenties. With their Smoky Mountains adventure starting the healing process in their relationship, they set out on a second trip the following year. They took an epic six-week journey visiting the National Parks in the Southwest.
Brad upgraded his camping equipment to a large dome tent they could stand in and added cots to sleep on. Brad did the driving and Grandma Joy rode shotgun with the old school Rand and McNally map on her lap. They covered 29 parks on that second trip and became good camping partners. At age 86, Joy’s job was taking down and packing up the tent while Brad loaded the rest of the gear in the car. They became a formidable tag team on a mission to see as many parks as they could.
New and Happier Memories
As they drove, they talked, laughed, shared and sometimes cried but with each passing mile they left more of the pain behind and created new and happier memories. Joy says of her grandson Brad, “So many people put their old folks in the backseat of their lives. Brad put me in the front seat of his life and made me so important. Many of my friends are envious of that but I want them to know that even if they don’t have a grandson like Brad, they don’t have to stay home. They should call a cab and go visit a friend, take in a movie – just get out and go someplace close to home. You don’t have to sit there waiting to die.”
Brad and Joy have become a bit of a cause celeb. They have visited all of the National Parks and Brad has written a memoir about their journey: Grandma Joy and Me: A Journey of Healing One National Park at a Time. The book will be out June 16th on Simon and Schuster. You can preorder it here. Their next adventures include visiting all seven continents. So far, they have traveled to Africa, Antarctica, Iceland, Canada, and South America. They head to Ireland in April and are planning their visit to Asia and Australia. Grandma Joy is an inspiration to Girl Campers of all ages who think they missed their opportunity to “camp like a girl” whether your grandson is with you or find like-minded souls to accompany you. She reminds us that age is just a number and that your mind and a good attitude will take you farther than you could have ever imagined.
Written by our Camper-In-Chief, Janine Pettit.
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