My Traveling Mom

—Thomas M. Lyons

In memory of my mother Ruth Viola on her 97th birthday, I thought it would be fun and interesting to do a review of her global galavanting as well as her extensive domestic travels. A big thank you to my dad for making his travel log available to me for this purpose.

CHILDHOOD & COLLEGE

To be sure, traveling was not a part of my mom’s Great Depression era childhood. Born “pert’near” the Iowa border in rural Cherry Grove, Minnesota, and raised on a succession of rented farms, she hadn’t seen more than the ubiquitous fields of corn and beans and the nearby small towns until she graduated high school.

She made her first break from the rural bubble by enrolling in God’s Bible School, located on a hill overlooking the Ohio River in the major league city of Cincinnati. Her brother Lavern and sister Verna were also students there. Her next academic adventure was closer to home in Oskaloosa, Iowa at Kletzing College, where she took an interest in a student preacher, maybe partly because he had his own automobile: a gift from his dad, a 1946 Nash.

She didn’t know at the time this connection would get her a lot more than local mobility; partnering with Vernon, she would possibly spend more time on the road than she had lived up to that time. She would visit more state and national parks than she could count, experience many of the world’s cosmopolitan cities, explore ancient ruins, take in breathtaking mountain vistas, rejuvenate in idillic tropical destinations, traveling thousands upon thousands of miles by car, train, plane and ship. But first, of course, they were married, started a church, and had a few kids.

EARLY TRAVELS

There’s an irony to this story about my traveling mother, mainly because she was the quintessential stay-at-home-mom. That was always her identity. On top of that, the early days for my parents were financially difficult, to say the least. So, frugality, born out of necessity, became the lifestyle of choice from then on. How was it then that this frugality didn’t hinder the amount and extent of travel? Well, that becomes evident in the means, manner and choice of destinations.

If Cincinnati is considered a midwestern city, then Mom didn’t get out of the midwest until the later 1950’s. Before that, traveling was primarily from Chicago to Minnesota for vacations and to see relatives.

The necessity for a pastor to get away during allotted vacation time, and the economic challenge of doing it with a growing family, made Medicine Lake Conference Grounds the perfect choice in the early years because pastors and their families ate and stayed for free. It was located just north of the twin cities, which made it convenient for visiting relatives on the way.

Pike’s Peak

—high point of the 1950’s

But when Ashburn Baptist affiliated with the Conservative Baptist Association, the annual meetings provided an opportunity for church-funded trips by plane and train to other parts of the country. Mom was able to accompany my dad on three of these trips. This expanded her circle to Colorado Springs, Denver, Salt Lake City, Atlantic City and New York. During these weeklong ventures, the children were either farmed out to church families or looked after by Grandma Scrabeck and Aunt Carolyn.

CAMPING

In 1957, after two heavy canvas tents (floor-less) were found and purchased at an army surplus store, our family became campers.  That first summer of tent camping included Mississippi Palisades, Devil’s Lake and Starved Rock. Aunt Carolyn recalls joining the family to Devil’s Lake, Wisconsin and sleeping with the girls in the car, she on the back seat, Mary on the floor, and Charlane on the back window ledge. With the purchase of the gold Rambler station wagon in 1964, Mom and Dad started sleeping in the car.

Bishop Lake, Michigan —1970

From the late 1950’s to the early 1970’s, the Lyons family camped in state parks in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The later 1970’s included camping in Canada, Maine, New England, Kentucky, Georgia and Florida. The old army tents would be used for over forty years as my mother and father would continue to tent camp almost every summer till 1997.

OVERSEAS

Two unique opportunities gave my mom the privilege of extensive overseas travel. The first was she and Dad being sent by the church to visit its missionaries. The second was joining Dad in hosting tour groups on Bible Land Seminars.

The first overseas adventure was to Europe in September of 1972 where the DeChalandeaus in France and the Jobes in Spain had started churches; England, Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg were also visited on this trip. What about the children? Well, again, each of us have our own memories, spending the three weeks with different church families. For me it was the Polcaster’s who had two kids at the time.

Burgos, Spain —-1972

The next time they visited these same missionaries was as part of a trip around the world in 1984. But this time DeChalandeau gave them a tour of churches behind the Iron Curtain. In so doing, he made them a part of the mission, smuggling in Bibles and preaching to the persecuted Christians. This trip included Yugoslavia, Romania, Hungry, as well as Austria and Liechtenstein. They continued east through Abu Dahbi, United Arab Emirates;  Singapore, Malaysia; and then to Manila, Philippines where my sister Martha and her husband were missionaries with their three children. The trip continued on through Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan on the way back to Chicago for a total of 31 days. The last of the “missionary trips” Mom would take was a second trip to the Philippines plus Korea in 1992.

The Ashburn Baptist Bible Institute offered a total of six Bible Lands Seminars. These trips were packed with biblically historic destinations, some not as commonly seen. With the dual commentary of excellent tour guides and Dad’s biblical background given for each sight, these trips were perpetually interesting and rewarding. All the hotels were five star. The food was excellent and all meals were included. My mom had the privilege of cohosting four of these educational pilgrimages with my dad. The first was in 1975 to Israel, Italy and Greece. The very next year they led a group on a trip which included Christmas in Bethlehem. She added Turkey, Egypt and Jordan to her growing list of countries visited in 1978. In her final trip to Israel, in 2008, she returned to Greece and Italy. I was a part of the BLS IV and can attest to what an exceptional experience these trips were; my mom was able to enjoy four of these amazing adventures! But wait —she had one other trip to Israel. My mom and dad were able to go by themselves in 1996 when my dad enrolled in a 21-day summer academic program at Jerusalem’s Institute of Holy Land Studies. I’m guessing on that occasion she brought a few books along.

MEXICO

My mom’s first trip to Mexico with my dad was in 1968. I believe Chuck and Alice Polcaster became our foster parents for the two weeks. The next time, in 1974, they brought along the four youngest kids, traveling the country by auto, a trip that was 29 days. But after she and my dad discovered the treasure of Mexico’s Pacific Coast, they would return 24 more times, escaping Chicago winters to Puerto Vallarta, typically for three-week stretches. It became like a second home. Note: the Azteca, their hotel of choice, was just a step above tent camping —but possibly cheaper.

CRUISES

The Royal Treatment —-1978

Quite a contrast to their many economy trips, in 1978 and 2007 they boarded a ship of the Norwegian Caribbean Lines that provided service fit for royalty. They enjoyed the best of food and accommodations along with all the beauty of the multiple tropical ports of call, including Jamaica’s Ocho Rios, Haiti, Bahamas’ Princess Cay, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico. For whatever it’s worth, the only reference to cost in Dad’s whole travel log, noted that their first (8 day) cruise was $71.56 per person, per day. That’s 1978 dollars!

SUMMER VACATIONS

Three weeks away every summer! That was more or less the pattern in the later decades. The 80’s and 90’s were a mix of tent camping in state parks and visiting relatives in south central Minnesota’s Clarks Grove, Karlstad in northwest Minnesota, and Key West.

The July 4th Scrabeck reunions started in 1988 which brought Mom back to Minnesota every two years to see her siblings, nieces and nephews until 2014, the year before she died.

The gang’s all here! —2014

In 1999, they had their first stay at the Gull Lake Conference Center near Kalamazoo, Michigan. It became the primary summer destination for the next ten years, followed by tours of the south up through 2014.

INDEPENDENT TRAVEL

Let me highlight some exceptions when Mom traveled without Dad. In 1966 she flew with her mom to visit her sister Verna in Key West on the occasion of the birth of the Carter twins. Almost 30 years later she would travel to Warsaw, Indiana soon after her grandson Brian was born; she went on to accompany Rachel to Fort Wayne when he was transferred to the neonatal care unit in a hospital there.

Another occasion was her 40th high school reunion, for which I had the privilege of being her escort. On that trip, we took another trip —down memory lane, visiting every farm house she lived in growing up, plus the home near Preston, in Fairbault County that was built in 1920 with life insurance money from my mom’s Uncle Ole S. Scrabeck, a U. S. Army Private, who was killed in combat in WW I. But the most significant sight was the log cabin which was the original Scrabeck homestead in which my grandfather was born. Unfortunately the pictures from that historical trip have been lost.

On three occasions, Mom headed out on her own to visit my sister Mary. The first was by Greyhound to Kentucky so she could help her when Karen was born. Next, I brought her to Warsaw, Indiana when Kevin was born. Later she flew to New Jersey when Mary and her family were living there to spend a week with them.

In February of 2008, Ruth made one last important trip by herself. She flew to Portland, Oregon to attend the funeral of her grandnephew, Derek Scrabeck, son of Kevin and Tabor, who died in a boating accident near Pacific City, OR.

SUMMARY

Over six decades mom traveled to or through 42 of the 50 states, as well as to D. C., with destinations from Los Angeles to Maine, and Key West to Portland. Also, over her lifetime she visited Canada eight times, seeing sights from the Rockies in the west to Quebec City in the east. She was in a total of 31 countries and according to a conservative estimate spent well over 500 nights camping and at least that many days in sunny Mexico.

Maybe my mom was never thought of as a globetrotter or a jet setter because she never thought of herself that way. Perhaps, she subconsciously relished her go-no-place childhood in a part of the world that nobody ever came to see. Who would have ever imagined that this farm girl would quietly become more traveled than Christopher Columbus. So, here’s to a day to celebrate Ruth V. Lyons the traveler!

Looking as fresh as a daisy!

—Mexico 1974