AMERICAN ROADSCHOOL: A Bedford family adventures across the United States in an RV during the global pandemic

from September/October 2021

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PHOTOJOURNAL AND STORY BY: Emily Neville Fisher

A Bedford family adventures across the United States in an RV during the global pandemic

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures.

So in late summer 2020, amid the escalating COVID-19 pandemic and with the threat of another year of remote school and work, my husband, Murray, and I, decided to pull our three kids out of school, buy an RV, and hit the open road. As long as we had to quarantine at home, we might as well make it a mobile one.

We bought the pre-owned 32-foot Sunseeker RV from a website, sight unseen, and drove it off the lot a few days before our departure. We planned to see the country, visit friends and family in Colorado and California, and go wherever the road might take us.

We fast became a team, and everybody had a job. Murray and our 9-year-old daughter, Grayson, became skilled and efficient at ‘hookups’ -- connecting us to the water, electric and sewer lines at the RV sites. Once parked, I would pop out the ‘slide-outs’ and make dinner. Our 5-year-old twin boys would clean up the dining area and set the table.

We realized early on that we needed a smaller get-around vehicle to run to the grocery store and for day trips to hiking trails. Murray bought a used jeep in Colorado after seeing it in a yard sporting a FOR SALE sign. It was a wonderful choice my husband made—wonderful in that we were full of wonder as to what possessed him to buy such an impractical car for this family of five. Not only did it have no seatbelts, it had no back seat! It was meant for mountain climbing, not street driving, and had only a partial roof. While it came in handy a few times, it mostly served as a hazardous appendage to an already oversized RV. To boot, the battery died which meant we had to jump it every time we needed it. I won’t forget driving around Moab with our kids getting snowed on in the newly installed back seat. “It will toughen them up,” Murray claimed.

We watched movies most nights but didn’t allow screen-time during the day. The kids entertained themselves surprisingly well. The boys played with sticks, rocks and other treasures found along the way while Grayson read books. I’d spend my days looking out the window for things to photograph while Murray was busy driving, white-knuckled, with the sole objective of returning his family home, in one piece, at the end of it all. We followed a very loose itinerary and stopped whenever we saw something interesting or found a nice hike, often booking that night’s RV site only hours before. Flexibility was key as some places were worth staying a few days while others served only as a place to sleep.

We had plenty of mechanical mishaps - mostly user-error. But one morning in Moab, Utah, we woke up to a 2-inch flood covering the RV floor; water drenched the rugs, comforters and the family’s entire shoe collection. Luckily it was fresh water from the cracked plastic toilet. Thankfully, there happened to be a mobile RV repairman in Moab who met us at our RV site within a few hours and installed a new and improved porcelain toilet. We picked up the RV a few days before our departure which didn’t leave time to get a license plate for our new vehicle before the trip. I was unable to make an appointment at the DMV due to COVID so I dropped off the paperwork with a note asking that they mail the new plates to my sister’s house in Boulder, CO. Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, our paperwork wasn’t complete (my husband hadn’t cosigned the title), so that half-baked plan fell through. We were never in one spot long enough for them to mail it to us during our travels so we spent the entire 80 days driving with expired tags.

In the last 30 minutes of our trip, we got pulled over. After 11,000 miles of driving with expired New Jersey temporary tags, towing a Jeep with the previous owner’s Colorado plates, and our kids in questionable seatbelt configurations in the back, this would be our reckoning. We thought, “Okay, we are finally going to get all of the tickets that we had coming to us over the past few months.” We sheepishly rolled down our window, ready to confess all of our violations, when the officer asked, “Where are you headed?” My husband responded, “We are headed to our home in Bedford after being on the road for almost three months.” The cop asked, “Do you realize you are on a parkway and there is a bridge a mile ahead that would have taken the entire top of this RV off?!” My husband - distracted by the kids fighting in the back - had missed an important exit. The officer said, “You’re lucky, there’s one last exit before the bridge.” We thanked him effusively for saving us and our trip. He replied, “I’m not going to give you a ticket this time.” Shaken and relieved, we resumed the final leg of the trip without incident.

Reflecting on our 11-week adventure, the road was often bumpy: we got stuck in an unfriendly person’s yard and had to be rescued by emergency vehicles; we got blindsided by a blizzard and were forced to traverse the steepest windiest switch-backed mountain passes that no RV should have had any business on; our pipes froze, leaving us with no water or bathroom function for hours on end; we found our propane tank empty at the most inopportune times; and we had an emergency dental visit in Vegas, of all places. And, in one alarming incident, our daughter’s hand got pinned between the jeep hitch and the RV which landed us in the ER. But we also had unforgettable life experiences. We climbed all over Mother Nature’s playground. We saw tumbleweeds and roadrunners, hoodoos and arches, petrified wood and dinosaur footprints. A rattlesnake rattled at us while hiking and we found seashell fossils in the middle of the desert. We soaked, au naturel, in hot springs, sledded on sand and we fell in love with a miniature donkey named Eeyore. We hit 24 states and explored some of America’s most extraordinary parks along the way: Grand Canyon, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Death Valley, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Sequoia National Park, Yosemite and Joshua Tree, among others. Given the beating and mileage we put on the RV, we were delighted to unload it for what we paid for it when we returned.

For most Americans, this pandemic has turned our lives upside down, creating a life of isolation, fear and hardship. But the silver lining for us was that it also provided lots of family time, a little freedom and a nearly empty calendar that enabled us to experience a once-in-a-lifetime adventure while (re)discovering the magnificence and beauty of our vast country. The road was a rich classroom for the five of us - filled with history, nature and exploration.

We visited three different sand dune parks on our trip and had vastly different adventures in each. First was Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. These dunes are gigantic, intimidating and difficult to negotiate, especially with three little kids. There also happened to be a windstorm on the day we visited so the sand was pelting our skin and getting into our eyes, mouths, ears and noses. We walked pretty far into the dunes to take pictures because, visually, it was incredible and otherworldly. But it got hectic and very hard to walk and the blowing sand was starting to hurt. The kids, Murray and I started to get panicky. Murray and I each tried to carry one of the boys but it was impossible when walking against the wind and sinking in the sand. Everyone was miserable, the kids were crying and we were all thankful to finally make it back to the RV. We were still finding sand on our bodies and in our clothes and shoes weeks later. We also visited the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley and had a much more pleasant experience. The weather was beautiful and the dunes also very impressive. Our favorite dunes, however, were the ones in White Sands National Park in New Mexico. The white sand is soft and fine and made of gypsum. We rented sleds for the kids from the visitor center and spent hours playing in the dunes. We had a magical day and stayed until the sun went down. My kids judged parks by how unconstrained they were for visitors. Sequoia National Park, understandably, has a lot to protect so there are railings and boardwalks to keep visitors from damaging the giant sequoias, the largest living organisms on earth. Zion also felt restrictive and highly programmed which distracted from and inhibited our full immersion in the park. On the other end of the spectrum is Goblin Valley in Utah, which gets its name from the thousands of hoodoos, or sandstone rock formations, in the park. In Goblin Valley, it’s free-reign and visitors are welcome to climb on anything they’d like. We spent two days in Goblin Valley because it truly was the best playground we’d ever experienced. We tended to have the most fun in places with the fewest visitors, rules and restrictions, where our kids could wander and explore without external (time or physical) constraints.

When we were in the RV park at the Grand Canyon, we awoke in the morning to see a herd of elk walking around the RVs. My daughter quickly grabbed some carrots and went out to try to feed them. A park ranger came up to her and told her to keep three bus-lengths away from any wild animals for safety reasons. But by this time one elk had already smelled the carrots in her jacket pocket and stuck his nose in there. As the ranger told her to back away from the wild animal, the animal continued to follow her like a dog as she sheepishly retreated back into our RV.

About once a week, we would rent an Airbnb or some cottage so that the five of us could spread out, take long showers and do laundry. Because of Covid, we almost always rented something free-standing as opposed to staying in a hotel. It was a time for us to reflect on and document our journey and adventures. The kids had journals in which they would write or draw favorite moments from the past few days.

Nebraska was one of the best surprises of the trip. I had always assumed the state was mostly farming and corn fields. It definitely has its share of those, however, it also has gorgeous, rolling hills and wild landscapes. We stayed in the Niobrara River Valley where we took one of the prettiest hikes of my life. The yellow Aspens, red sumac and blue sky and river made it look as though we were in a colorful fairytale. The kids fed wild turkeys and found so many interesting insects like the Plains Lubber grasshopper and dung beetles rolling dung. We didn’t see another soul on the hike.

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&KYMBERLY WEINER TODD GLAZER

06.19.21

PHOTOGRAPHY: VIVIANA PODHAISKI

Kymberly Weiner and Todd Glazer are ‘beshert’, a Yiddish term meaning destiny, or meant to be. The pair met at Island Lake sleepaway camp in Pennsylvania 30 years ago, when they were both 11 years old. They stayed in touch through high school and college, but as the years went by and they moved to different cities across the country from each other, they lost touch. Twice, they randomly crossed paths! Once at a charitable event for the United Jewish Appeal in Westchester. The second time, in New Orleans, where Todd had moved, as they were crossing at a very busy intersection on Canal and Bourbon streets.

In 2018, a newly-single Todd reached out to Kymberly on LinkedIn direct messages. They saw each other a week later for dinner, and immediately began dating. “From then on we were basically attached at the hip,” Kymberly laughs. In January 2019, Kymberly picked up and moved from Westchester down to New Orleans to be with Todd and his then four-year old twin daughters.

The two had originally intended to get married in June of 2020. A big 150-person wedding at the Kohler golf course in Wisconsin; it was where Kymberly and Todd had vacationed together early on in their relationship, and is a stunning setting that looks like the Cliffs of Moher in Scotland. But the pandemic intervened. Frustrated after having to twice reschedule the plans... the couple eloped via Zoom on June 20, 2020, and were officially married by their Rabbi and close friend.

The larger celebration would have to wait until June of 2021. And instead of Wisconsin, they decided on something a bit more intimate - at Kymberly’s parent’s house in Pound Ridge. Kymberly is the eldest of three, and the only daughter of Sharon and Jonas Weiner, and Sharon planned everything!

“We got married in my parents backyard in Pound Ridge. It was stunning. We had the backyard tented and the entire thing looked out on Blue Heron Lake. My involvement in the planning was choosing some New Orleans-inspired food, bringing in dueling pianos – which were an absolute blast, and insisting that my old college friend who’s an artist fly in to do live wedding art,” Kymberly said.

The nuptials took place under an ornate flower chuppah, overlooking the lake. “Because we had technically already been married, it was more like a vow renewal. So we had a Jewish ceremony, but were able to have more relaxed rules – like not having to wait for sundown on Saturday, which would normally be the custom.” Kymberly continued, “We thought it would be kind of anti-climactic given that we had been married for over a year at that point, but it was so special to be able to do this in front of the people we love and to share in the celebration… and, of course, we both cried!” To top off the beautiful setting, the couple went all out on flowers. Kymberly explained, “I knew that I wanted lots of flowers. But I originally had opted for much more neutral tones. About a month before the wedding I was at my Mom’s house for Mother’s Day and she had this absolutely stunning bouquet from Bedford Village Flower Shoppe. All of a sudden I just had to have exactly that. So I called Lauren, who runs Bedford Village Flower Shoppe, and completely changed the color scheme and the types of flowers – only a month out from the wedding. Lauren was totally accommodating and made everything look absolutely gorgeous. It was magical.”

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Marries LINDSAY BRADSELL CODY POTVIN

06.26.21

PHOTOGRAPHY: CONSTANCE SCHIANO & BARB COLOMBO

Lindsay and Cody both grew up on the East Coast - and only about two hours from each other - Lindsay in Bedford, and Cody in Rutland, Massachusetts. But the pair met all the way across the United States, when they were both volunteering for FEMA after college. They had each been stationed in Sacramento, California, and although they were on different teams of 9 or 10 people responding to disaster areas, the two quickly became friends, and eventually decided to start dating. It’s immediately clear upon meeting the couple that they have a lot in common and are a perfect fit for each other. They’re both extremely adventurous, love being active, and are each always trying to make the world a better place. “We drove around in a van and stayed in these weird crazy places all over the place helping out wherever we were needed. Sometimes we’d be in Sacramento together for three months at a time, and other times we wouldn’t see each other for a while. But it was the best when we’d get lucky and our teams would get stationed at the same sites; sometimes it would only be as short as a day-long overlap, but sometimes we’d have a while. It was all so out of our hands. And we were always around other people, so we never really had much time on our own. But it helped us to build this really strong foundation. We had to be really raw all the time,” Lindsay explained about the start of the relationship.

After FEMA, the pair spent a few years in Wooster, MA, where Lindsay worked as a nurse and Cody worked at a nonprofit, with children with developmental disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, and mental illnesses. Cody continues the story with a grin, saying that, after about two years in Wooster, “We decided to take a road trip for a few weeks… We flew down to see one of Lindsay’s sisters in Orlando at Disney, and then drove back up stopping in Tampa, Savannah, Charleston, Wilmington, and Virginia Beach. Within a few hours in Charleston, we realized we loved it, and that we wanted to live there permanently!”

The pair got engaged on a hiking trip in August of 2019 and moved down to Charleston shortly thereafter. Cody started a job as a Naturalist where he does kayak tours of Charleston, and Lindsay works with a company called Main Street that focuses on tax breaks to help small businesses flourish. Lindsay mused, “We’re such adventurous people. If we’re not doing something...we go crazy. And it’s so beautiful here all the time. We picked up surfing and love going to the beach - it’s a big part of why we moved here. Since Cody has been working at the kayaking job he’s become obsessed with birds. We go on lots of walks all over the city. And we’ve made an incredible group of friends in the two years since we’ve been here.”

Marries LINDSAY BRADSELL

CODY POTVIN The pair are hoping to go on a honeymoon this winter, and in the meantime, just closed on their first home together, in Charleston.

“I go back to Bedford all the time for the Holidays or really whenever I get the chance. It’s where I grew up, and my parents still live there. So we initially considered Bedford for the wedding… but we have this beach house in Connecticut that’s been passed through generations of my family - where I have such fond memories of growing up with my sisters and cousins. I feel a light inside of me when I’m there. So that’s ultimately where we decided to have the wedding. In that backyard outside on the beach,” Lindsay explained.

“We basically built the venue from the ground up! We turned the beachfront backyard into this beautiful tented oasis. My wedding planner and my parents were amazing in bringing it all together and making it happen,” Lindsay said. Her parents are Diane and Bill Bradsell, who own and run Bradsell Construction in Bedford. Bill handcrafted all the bars, the triangular arch that Lindsay and Cody got married under, the cake and gift tables, and all the signs and the seating chart that were used. He even restored a pair of antique doors that lead into the ceremony space.

“We’re pretty relaxed and casual people; we just wanted people to be able to come together and celebrate with us. We each have pretty big families, so we had about 125 people. Our band was a Bedford-area group called ‘Ask Your Mom’ who are good friends with Lindsay’s Dad, and her aunt did a lot of the photography,” Cody reminisced about the wedding. Lindsay exclaimed, “None of my bridesmaids even wore shoes!” Lindsay is the oldest of three girls, and all of her sisters were in the bridal party, and Cody is one of seven, and also had his two brothers standing beside him on the big day.

“It was so much fun and so special – we wish we could do it again!” Lindsay laughed as she went on to say, “We had such a fun time that my family actually convinced me to put my wedding dress back on two weeks later - when we were still at the beach - to celebrate the Fourth of July!”