Samuel J. Swayne - Coast to Coast Road Trip USA with Young Children

Illustrations by Lucie Swayne

Chief Editor: Jennifer Swayne

Dedicated to Mum
Fantastic Mother of Four

We have undertaken quite an extraordinary adventure, and we took our young children aged one and three with us. We have crossed an ocean by sea and a continent by road, twice. We have travelled from England to the Pacific Ocean, and back, without once boarding an aeroplane or indeed travelling over 70 miles per hour for the entire journey. Weve done The Great American Road Trip .

Weve been to some of the great cities and most major national parks in the US. It seems this trip we have just done was so extensive, and so complete that most people told us we were either very mad or very brave to even contemplate such a journey. We dont consider ourselves to be either, but we just did it all the same.

At the end of our American odyssey we headed straight back out and drove through a snow covered Europe to the Czech Republic in the east, for a white Christmas with my in-laws. Eighteen time zones in under five months with two small children. This is our story.

To see photos of the trip, visit facebook.com/ swayneroadtripusa

Coast to Coast to Coast Road Trip USA

We are a normal couple, living normal lives with normal responsibilities, and live in a normal three bedroomed, terraced house in a normal part of the city of Plymouth. We do not consider ourselves risk takers or dare devils, and we certainly dont want to make life hard in order to make it feel as if we have achieved something.

We just really love to travel, and the United States of America was next on our big to do list. The big difference now is that we have children, but this didnt stop our itchy feet or stop us occasionally dreaming about what if

Im Sam, the dad and main breadwinner. I have a nice comfortable job as a consultant structural engineer in a profitable local firm. If I want to drive coast to coast across America, Ill have to give up my nice job and nice desk because I dont think theyll give me a four-month holiday. But I really like that desk, its so, well, nice. And what will I do for a job when I get back? I cant expect my firm to hold my job open for me, and theres a global recession on. Decisions.

My wife Lucie is a full time mother who enjoys city life with a circle of good mum friends. My son Erik is a typical three-year-old who enjoys climbing, jumping and running around pretending to be a train. My youngest son Max is a baby, hes fond of food, sleep and filling his nappy. He celebrated his first birthday the day before we set off on our American adventure.

The Great American Road Trip . This was my Holy Grail, it was so full of possibility, but was also so far out of reach as to seem unattainable. How could I just leave my job to go travelling in the middle of a recession when I have a young family to support?

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25 th November 2010. This is the day I can pinpoint as being the tipping point in my road trip saga. I was riding my 125cc motorbike on the way home from work when I had a near fatal accident. I was on the dual carriageway when traffic in the lane I was in the process of moving into had suddenly stopped and I hit the back of a stationary vehicle, probably doing about 50 mph. The list of injuries made for good reading open fracture of the left femur, open fracture of left tibia, closed fracture of both radial bones of the left forearm, dislocated left ring finger, broken right thumb, massive black eye, a broken tooth and three fillings lost. Also, as a result of the accident I developed a condition called compartment syndrome in my lower leg. This causes pressure in the limb to greatly increase, leading to massive swelling and if left untreated can mean the loss of the limb and even death.

I later spoke with the police officers who were right behind me so were first to attend. They confirm I did not lose consciousness at any point, but I still have no memory of the accident or the first three days in hospital. I was told that I just slept a lot and could never remember why I was there.

On the third day I started to regain my ability to remember. I still had no idea what had happened or why I was there. I remember having a dream that I had crashed my motorbike into the back of a car and I woke with a start, relieved to find it was just a dream.

I found it curious that I was all bandaged up and how my limbs would bend unnaturally when I tried to lift them. I thought I must still be dreaming and tried desperately to wake up. Trying to imagine myself padding through the soft carpet of my bedroom floor, I would close my eyes tightly then open them quickly. But it never worked. I always woke up in hospital and never in my bedroom.

I was completely wired up to the bed and was even given a special air mattress to keep me as comfortable as possible because I couldnt move anything except my head and right arm, and even that was painful.

I seem to remember asking people why I was there, but either they didnt know or I couldnt process their answer. I went through this turmoil of not knowing anything and trying to wake up for several hours, until at last I saw my shining light. My beautiful wife was here and now everything would be OK. This was apparently her fifth visit, but it was the first one I could remember. I asked her what I was doing here and when she told me it all finally started to make sense.

It was the year 2000 and I met my future wife Lucie at a country hotel near Plymouth where we both worked, Lucie in the kitchens and me in the bar.

I had just left the Royal Air Force after nine years loyal service as a mechanical transport driver. I had done a reasonable amount of travel during my time. I was first stationed at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, during which time I completed a four-month tour of the Falkland Islands and of Saudi Arabia. I was then posted to Cyprus for three years, which was warm and lovely. My final posting was to RAF Coltishall in Norfolk when I shared a rented house in Norwich.

Wherever I was there was always a good bunch of lads that made it a great job to be in. I fitted right in with the lifestyle of living with my mates in the barrack block, drinking with my mates in the bar and playing sports (with my mates) on a Wednesday afternoon. The only problem was that I found the job itself really quite tedious, even with all my mates. So at the age of 27 I left the service to study for a degree in Civil Engineering at Plymouth University.

I was demobbed in the spring so I had all summer to fill before starting my course in the autumn. I initially started work for a haulage firm driving articulated lorries, but found the work much harder than trucking in the Air Force and for much less pay. I went to the job centre and saw an advert for a hotel barman, the pay was the same as for truck driving and accommodation was all included, so this looked perfect. I had been working at the hotel for a month when Lucie came along, she was 18 and on a school placement for the holidays. She is from Krom in the Czech Republic and was studying at what roughly translates into English as Hotel School. She was learning all aspects of running a hotel, from the ground to management. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, certainly the most beautiful who had ever deigned speak with me, and she was living in the room opposite mine in the staff block so yeah, that worked out well.