Some people take the road less traveled. The Euler family took just about every road.
For 5 1/2 months, Amy, Ian, Marcy and Tom Euler - and Labrador retriever Phoebe - packed into an RV and went on the trip of a lifetime.
What sort of became a reality show gone well was a result of Tom losing his job as an environmental consultant in March 2009. He now works for POWER Engineers as a senior project manager.
But back in 2009, his wife, Marcy, had an idea: Take the kids out of school for a semester and travel the country via RV.
"In my head it was a gift, an opportunity to do something," said Marcy, whose infectious laugh and upbeat manner complement her family's wholesome vibe.
When she first ran the idea by Tom, he wasn't as enthralled.
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"She had this idea of taking a living history tour," he said. "One, we're not RV people. Two, we're homebodies.
"I kind of pooh-poohed the idea."
But then he started researching possibilities online, and the dream became a reality.
An RV was purchased. School administrators were told. Road maps were collected, and a GPS system was bought.
Their 19,218-mile journey meandered through 38 states and took 163 days.
"We used the country as our textbook," Amy said.
That "textbook" covered 25 colleges and universities, 35 state capitals and 37 national parks/historic sites.
Practically every night, the Eulers wrote in their online journals, which is still available to read at www.eulerfamily.net
"You got a different sense of what happened through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy and a 46-year-old woman," Marcy said.
The family read aloud American classics such as "Huckleberry Finn" and "The Scarlet Letter."
"Every night we'd figure out the next step," said Marcy, who kept the kids current with their schoolwork in math.
The kids recalled the funny, offbeat conversations and activities the most. The time Mom was attacked by "millions of mosquitoes" in the Everglades. Or when she fell out while whitewater rafting.
They remember snow on the ground in July at a volcanic park in Northern California.
Amy saw a rat snake up close. Ian remembers finding a 5-inch french fry at a Lexington, Ky., restaurant so he could win a free custard.
Doing laundry was a nightmare. Ian missed playing video games. The family had two EpiPens in case someone had an allergic reaction to something. Nobody did.
The most they drove at one time was the first day, 475 miles. They used mass transit in bigger cities like Philadelphia and Boston. Cars were rented in Seattle and Washington, D.C.
Because of space issues in the 200-square-foot RV, the only souvenirs collected were hundreds of lapel pins.
When Amy and Ian recently dumped the pins out of their backpacks and sifted through them, memories resurfaced.
"It was like a flood of places we'd forgotten when we dumped out those pins," Marcy said later.
Tom and Marcy said the adventure gave the family a greater appreciation for what they have in Tucson.
"We all had to go out of our comfort zone to go on our adventure - that was hard for each of us in a different way," Tom wrote in an e-mail. "However, it was also liberating. Without the daily barrage of cell phone calls, Internet, television, etc., we were able to slow our lives down and enjoy one another and the people and places we visited in a very special way."
As a Christmas present to Marcy last year, everyone wrote about the trip and offered advice to those who might consider embarking on a similar adventure.
Ian's No. 1 piece of advice still brings tears to her eyes when she reads it out loud.
"If you don't love your family as much as we do, don't do it."
See Sunday's ¡Vamos! section for more stories of change.
By the numbers
• RV (cost after reselling it after the trip): $15,000.
• Gasoline: $5,200.
• Food (groceries/restaurants): $6,900.
• RV campsites/campgrounds: $3,400.
• Miscellaneous (entry fees, vehicle maintenance, propane, souvenirs, nonfood items): $8,900.
• Total expenses: $39,400.
Cast of characters in the Euler Family Adventure, and ages at the time of the trip (July 22-Dec. 31, 2009):
• Tom: 53.
• Marcy: 46 (now employed by the University of Notre Dame as advancement director for the school's ACE Academies).
• Amy: 13-14 (spent her birthday at Crater Lake).
• Ian: 12 (very happy to be leading a stationary lifestyle again).
• Phoebe: 10-11-year-old yellow Lab (best traveler of all).
Advice to anyone planning to travel like this
Tom:
• Create a set of goals, a base budget and a flexible itinerary.
Marcy:
• Bring less stuff.
• Tow a car.
Amy:
• Eat the food that the place you're in is famous for.
• Bring your pet so it can experience this.
Ian:
• If you love dirty work and the outdoors, you might want to do this.
• Have fun!
Favorite national parks
1. Big Bend, Texas.
2. Theodore Roosevelt, N.D.
3. Congaree, S.C.
Favorite things they did
1. Snorkeling in the Florida Keys.
2. Whitewater rafting on the North Fork of the Payette River(outside Boise, Idaho).
3. Disney World.
