The "Widow" Minshall, a title of repugnance for the vibrant and adventuresome woman only five years short of life’s mid-century mark, took stock of the traditional roots she and Jack had carefully nurtured in 26 years of marriage. She counted two grown daughters who busied themselves with their own lives and a white Cape Cod home nestled in pine trees in the Michigan countryside. At her job as a department head medical secretary in a regional radiation-oncology center in South Bend, Indiana, she added up caring friends. There were couple friends from her life with Jack, and her church family. Membership in the church choir, an interest in writing, and investment classes at Indiana University filled her hours and numbered among her blessings. Yet, despite the value of each person and activity on her list, a sixth sense of adventure continued to tug at the edges of her mind.

Charlie had first discovered the exhilaration of the unknown lurking around the next bend when her six-foot-three inches tall husband fashioned a honeymoon suite by replacing the back seat in their 1955 Plymouth with a mattress. In three weeks, they covered 7,000 miles from Michigan to Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain National Parks and southeast to Florida. Continuing to camp on a financial shoe-string, their girls grew up thinking a 9x9 tent was home. Then came the motorhome, Jack’s favorite toy, jerry-rigged with his mechanical expertise.

Two years after her husband’s death, Charlie entrusted Jack’s sentimental old toy to his brother, himself a Sunday mechanic. In another year, she sold their home and moved to an apartment, thinking that would quell the excitement she remembered from the open road. "I absolutely hated the confinement of rooms separated from neighbors by only a thin wall," she says. "I decided to follow our vision of full-time RVing.

"Except for my kids and my boss, I didn’t tell anybody what I planned to do until about four months before my date to leave," Charlie explains. For the last six weeks of her traditional career, she lived in her newly purchased mini-motorhome in the hospital’s parking lot.

When Charlie announced her plan, her two daughters appeared enthusiastic. "According to what they now tell me, they worried, thinking I was naive--which I was," she says with a laugh. "However, my brothers were ready to put a bag over my head! But they did not discourage me.

"None of Jack’s mechanical skills had rubbed off," Charlie continues. "Over the years, I’ve been forced to take care of my rig and tow vehicle. As much as I don’t know, I realize I’ve learned a lot!" She remembers her aggravation with Jack because there was an extra tire and tools under the table on every trip. "At the time, I didn’t have to address the technical aspects of a motorhome," she says. "I expect Jack is somewhere, looking down and grinning," she adds with a bit of wistful smile.

One daughter worked at an Idaho newspaper, The Glenns Ferry Pilot. The editor approached Charlie about writing a regular column based on her travels. "I was thrilled down to my toes until he stipulated the perspective of a senior citizen," she says, noting that, at the time, she was still 49--for a few more days. "However, I accepted--deflated ego and all--and wrote the column ‘View From The Top’ for the next nine months. My writing career was launched!"

Her first year out, Charlie wintered on the beaches of Baja, writing her column, keeping a daily log, and sending out queries to other publications. Her persistence paid off with an acceptance for another column in Camp-Orama RV Magazine, this time from the single traveler’s perspective.

Now twelve years into her gypsy lifestyle, the silver-haired and solo grandmother has five books and six or eight columns to her credit. When time away from travel and book marketing permits, she freelances travel stories to various publications. Her work appears regularly in Woodall’s RV Life, Escapees Magazine, Wagon Train to Adventure, and Two Lane Highways. She does occasional lectures, primarily sessions at the Annual Life On Wheels RV Conference on the University of Idaho campus in Moscow.

Within a year, Charlie traded her mini-motorhome for a Class-A Sprinter and customized it for full-time living as a professional writer. She stores reams of typing paper and manila envelopes neatly in the oven and thousands of photographs that illustrate her articles in labeled boxes. She opts to sleep in a pull-down bunk over the driver’s seat.

Enlisting the help of a big brother, Charlie converted the vehicle’s bedroom into an office by removing the mattress and installing plywood, pad and carpeting on the bed pedestal. Her desk with computer, printer, copier, typewriter, and files are strapped tightly to the platform, avoiding jolts from sudden lurches in traffic.

Charlie’s enthusiasm for full-time RVing never wanes. Nor does inspiration for her written words. On three different trips, she spent 14 months in Mexico. Her two daughters live 3,000 miles apart, one in Washington and the other in Virginia. In addition to traveling from doorstep to doorstep to keep up with her grandchildren – 10-year-old Rebecca, and a two year old toddler who turns his grandmother’s heart to warm mush – the seasoned traveler has driven through every Province and territory in Canada and has spent at least 12 months in Alaska, again extended over three different trips.

Once she managed to spend five weeks in tiny Hope, Alaska. Her interest in the wilderness village was piqued by its smallness and the fact that it has the second highest tides in the world. "A majority of those weeks, I parked on Resurrection Creek, a recreational goldpanning area," she says describing her experience of cold fingers and illusive gold. "One of my favorite things is to park not 10 feet from a creek, open my window at night, and listen to the gurgle of a free-flowing stream."

In starting her adventure, Charlie was not frightened of traveling alone. "But I did wake up some nights in a cold sweat, realizing that I had cut all ties," she says. "I went from ‘roots’ to ‘enroute’ almost overnight. "For the most part, I don’t get lonely," she says. "When I do, I make phone calls or write letters--or go out and meet people. Driving my motorhome, I sit up high enough to view the world--and for the moment, all I survey belongs to me. I love meeting people and enjoy the excitement of any place I visit."

At points along her travels, the sterling-maned lady takes an unexpected, yet unexplainable, breath. "I know without a doubt that I belong in that spot at that very moment in time," she sums up. Sometimes she cannot resist bursting out with a chorus of "God Bless America!"

For information on Sharlene Minshall’s books, click on Workamper Bookstore.