The Gift Of Nature

Her lifelong love affair with our national parks

- Jo-Anne Graham

I was a college senior, and my friends were plotting their ten-dollar-a-day Eurorail Pass trips through Europe. The Eiffel Tower. The Sistine Chapel. London Bridge. Great places, all. Yet I kept thinking, Isn’t there a lot of America I still need to see?

I’d lived most of my life in Connecticut. The farthest west I’d ever been was a trip to Denver to visit my sister at school. The first time I saw the snow-capped Rocky Mountains, I pulled over the car to gape. Oh, what wonders God had made!

I came up with a plan. I bought a used Ford pickup that had a camper cab in back. The previous owner had installed a five-gallon pump sink and a two-burner stove, as well as a small refrigerator. The day after graduation, a friend and I hit the road. Little did I know that a lifelong love affair with our national parks was just beginning.