95-year-old man hits the open road, completes cross-country drive
Maureen Boyle and her 95-year-old father, Robert Boyle, stopped in Big Sky Country for a photo. The two undertook a trek in July from Washington to Robert Boyle’s new home in Grass Valley, Calif., where Maureen lives.
Robert Boyle’s 3,120-mile trip from Washington to his new home in California wasn’t without its glitches. Here, he ran out of gas on Interstate 94 in Wisconsin.
Robert Boyle arrived at his new home in Grass Valley, Calif., in August. The retired mechanical engineer lives in an apartment in his daughter’s house.
In a journey worthy of Kerouac, Twain and Steinbeck, Robert Boyle completed a cross-country road trip in August.
But unlike those famous travelers, Boyle hit the road at age 95.
It took Boyle nine days to drive from his home in Washington, where he lived since 1949, to Grass Valley, Calif., to move in with his daughter, Maureen Boyle.
“It has been on my bucket list to drive across the country, and I figured I better do it while I still have a driver’s license,” said Boyle.
When Boyle accepted his daughter’s invitation to live in an apartment in her house – after months of consideration – Maureen offered to return to Washington and fly with her father to the gold-mining town located about an hour’s drive north of Sacramento.
But Boyle, a retired mechanical engineer and World War II veteran, declined, saying he would prefer to drive so he could pack more belongings “and see America.”
“When he said he wanted to drive by himself, I said, ‘Oh my God,'” said Maureen. “He hadn’t driven much lately. I usually drove him to the grocery store. I had no idea how he would make it across the country.”
Maureen relented, but insisted on driving in a vehicle ahead of him.
So Boyle bought a used Cadillac Seville on Craigslist and a pair of sunglasses, and followed Maureen across the United States, communicating with her on walkie-talkies because he doesn’t own a cellphone.
After heading south to Burlington, Ky., to visit Boyle’s son, Patrick, the pair turned north and took a circuitous route through national parks and scenic spots, stopping to marvel at the lava fields at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, the rugged landscape of the Badlands in Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the craggy peaks and cliffs at Donner Pass near Lake Tahoe.
They made a short stop in Apple Valley, Minn., to have dinner with Maureen’s son, Zachary Hinton, and his wife, Ellie, one of the highlights of the trip for Boyle.
There were misadventures along the way.
Boyle got a flat tire in Madison, Wis.
The next day, he ran out of gas on Interstate 94 in Wisconsin.
The engine overheated on a winding road inside Yellowstone National Park.
Each time, motorists and state troopers lent a hand to get the Boyles back on the road.
“I never had any doubts that I could do it, only doubts that the newly acquired used car might not make it,” said Boyle.
The Boyles drove as long as eight hours a day, navigating bumper-to-bumper traffic through Cincinnati and topping 80 mph on straight, flat stretches through Big Sky Country.
The pair kept a loose itinerary, stopping occasionally to gas the cars, stretch their legs and grab a bite to eat when they got hungry.
Maureen, who joked she served as her father’s personal trainer, accompanied Boyle (a cancer survivor who had a heart valve replaced at age 75 after congestive heart failure), to the hotel fitness centers, where he worked out to keep his muscles from stiffening.
“I was amazed at how well he did,” said Maureen. “The last night, we drove from Idaho Falls to Nevada, and I picked out a place to stop for the night. He called me on the walkie-talkie and said, ‘I can go another couple hours if you want.’ He was doing better than I was at that point. But I think he was glad when it was over.”
Their time together on the road and in Grass Valley gave Maureen an opportunity to learn details of her father’s life she never knew.
An example: During World War II, Boyle was stationed at Fort Belvior in Virginia, where he worked with a team to reverse-engineer equipment confiscated from German forces.
“My father is still very sharp and very smart, and he’s always told us stories. A lot of them I’d heard before, but there are things about him that I didn’t know, like what he did in the Army,” said Maureen. “We spent a lot of time talking in the hotels and at restaurants, and I liked that.”
Boyle, a graduate of Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) owned Chatham Engineering Co., where he worked until he was in his 80s, and did consulting work for years.
He and his late wife, Shirley, raised seven children, and the family stopped taking vacations “once there were too many kids to fit in one car,” recalled Maureen, laughing.
After Shirley had a series of strokes and was diagnosed with vascular dementia, Boyle became her caregiver, and eventually moved into Hawthorne Woods, an assisted-living facility, to be with his wife.
When she died in 2012, Boyle took up residence in a one-bedroom apartment on East Wheeling Street, where he read several books a week on his Kindle, worked on Sudoku puzzles and watched sports.
He also continued a friendship with mechanical engineer Tom Lewis, owner of Lewis Environmental Services, who studied under Boyle when he became an engineer.
“I was against the trip when they first announced it, but they proved me wrong. I give his daughter Maureen kudos for doing this. At 95, he needs a little looking after,” said Lewis, who noted he and Boyle recently collaborated on a process to recycle wastewater generated from fracking.
But Boyle spent much of his time on his own. His children had long ago moved away, and he had outlived most of his friends.
Maybe it was time, he decided, to climb behind the wheel of that 2002 Seville and drive West. It was time for a new adventure.
And then, 3,120 miles later, Boyle’s great American road trip was over.
He got out of his car, walked into his new apartment, sat in his recliner, and smiled.
He was home.