1/31/2007 12:58:00 PM Randalls back from yearlong journey
Jeff and Shelly pose in Joshua Tree, Calif. Their van, Matilda, served them well, through eight oil changes, 41 states and five provinces. Link to their travel blog for more photos and stories at www.shellyrandall.com. – Photo courtesy of Shelly Randall
A little road trip advice from the traveling Port Townsend duo of Jeff and Shelly Randall: Before you leave on a yearlong, cross-country adventure, spread the word in your hometown.
Because before you know it, you'll have much of the city calling up relatives across the nation, putting the word out.
Of the 80 overnight hosts the Randalls stayed with, 12 of them were friends or relatives of Port Townsend residents.
Like the McDades in New York, who are good friends of PT's George and Barbara Bush.
Jennifer McDade said Shelly helped her can applesauce, and Jeff helped Pat build a greenhouse during their visit.
"They were very nice," Jennifer said. "They were fantastic houseguests and represented Port Townsend well."
The Randalls entertained the children while staying with the McDades in the Amish community of Conewango Valley, N.Y.
"Shelly made balloon animals and Jeff got out his banjo and started playing for everybody," Jennifer said.
More advice from the road-trippers: Bring musical instruments. Jeff said that's what often warmed people up. "Everybody loved it when I broke out the banjo," he said. "It put a smile on the kids' faces."
The McDades said having the Port Townsend couple around was not a problem. After all, all the Randalls asked for was a driveway and an electric plug-in for their road-weary Volkswagen camper van, Matilda.
The couple bought the 1989 Westfalia van before they left town in January 2006. Shelly quit her job in public relations with the Northwest Maritime Center, and Jeff left his position as planning director with the City of Port Townsend.
It was a trip they both wanted to take since they were married in 2002. Jeff said he needed some new perspectives for his career path, and that a cross-country trip would provide inspiration for that kind of choice.
Their goal was to be as self sufficient as possible and to not inconvenience their hosts, who were alerted to the traveling twosome's arrival a week or so in advance.
"The last thing we wanted to do was make our hosts uncomfortable," Shelly said. "We gave them plenty of notice before we came to their home."
Cape Cod's Jennifer Whiteley said the couple called her two weeks in advance before showing up at her doorstep in Massachusetts.
"I didn't know what to think at first," she said. "But after I met them I was glad to have them over. They reminded me of my sister."
Whiteley's sister, Sarah Peters, is a Port Townsend resident who helped arrange the meeting for the Randalls.
"I admired what they were doing," Whiteley said. "It takes courage to leave your job and just go travel for so long, sleeping in your car."
The Randalls slept in some driveways for up to a week, depending on how much time they needed to rest; or if Matilda needed an oil change they'd stick around town a little longer.
But one thing they noticed about people in each city was their willingness to talk about their hometown. "It's universal," Jeff said. "People love to talk about where they're from no matter where it is. They get excited to know that someone's interested."
While the Randalls occasionally found themselves wanting to stay a little longer in certain cities, Jeff just couldn't combat what he called "the travel bug."
"I hated to leave people after I just met them," Jeff said, "but I knew in the back of my mind there were other places to see that were just as good. There was always something great ahead."
Jeff said that unlike other vacations, this trip seemed too long. "Most people come back from vacation wishing they were still at the beach or whatever," he said. After 300 days on the road, the Randalls were ecstatic to return in December 2006 to their home state.
"I don't feel like leaving Washington for the next 12 months," Shelly said. "We're both really happy to be back home."
While sharing homes (or driveways) with their on-the-road hosts, the couple came to realize the importance of good chemistry between host and guest.
"There were some people you really clicked with," Jeff said. "Sometimes your energy and their energy worked really well together, but we always practiced being good guests."
"I'd say one of the more important things we learned on this trip," Jeff said, "is that hospitality is universal."
Even house hosts with no direct link to Port Townsend treated the couple like family.
And this trip gave them a chance to visit members of their actual family, relatives they'd never had the chance to meet. Jeff even found the grave of his great-great-grandfather in Iowa.
"There were things we did that we might never again have the opportunity to do," Jeff said. "Little things became important."
The couple said that above all, the vacation gave them both the opportunity to really think. "That's something you never get," Shelly said. "Thinking time was the most valuable thing."
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