Editor’s Note: Every life has a story. In this column,we pay tribute to people who have died recently.
Ernest Gobeille Jr. made almost every state in the union hishome, at least for one night.
The 76 year-old Queensbury man died Jan. 2 of cancer.
Upon his retirement, “Ernie” and wife Jan bought a fifth wheeltrailer, hitched it to a truck, and traveled the United States.Before they could actually record a state’s visit on their map,however, the couple had a special rule: They had to have campedthere.
Touring the U.S. was just part of Ernie’s retirement goal. Afterleaving Travelers Insurance Co., he set out to experience somethingdifferent every five years.
“His thought was, ‘You need to do new things, you need newideas; it stimulates your mind and it keeps you fresh,’” Jansaid.
And so, between 1995 until his health began to deteriorate a fewyears ago, Ernie took up motorcycling, trained two Australianshepherds as therapy dogs and crisscrossed the country severaltimes, staying in hundreds of campsites with Jan and dogs Minnieand Chili.
“Ernie wanted to always have things to do and meet so manydifferent people. You weren’t traveling in your bridge group oryour country club. You meet all kinds of people when you travel,”Jan said.
Ernie had always loved to drive, according to Jan, and when theyfirst met Ernie drove alone from Long Island to the Rocky Mountainsin a Pontiac Tempest. In those early years, however, his idea ofcamping hadn’t yet evolved to include comfortableaccommodations.
“He would have a cot and he would put a tarp on the top of thedoor so that when he shut the tarp into the car, the tarp drapedover his cot,” Jan recalled.
The first trip the couple took in Ernie’s retirement was toPaducah, Ky., so Jan could attend a quilt show.
They planned their trips around sightseeing adventures likeMystic Seaport in Connecticut, the mansions in Newport, R.I., or acivil war site in Mississippi. The couple saw the northern rim ofthe Grand Canyon in Arizona and Yellowstone National Park inWyoming.
Jan said seeing the country in the manner they did was unique,but because she liked to “stay put” for some of the time, Erniewould arrange for them to visit one southern state every spring forthree or four weeks at a time. He would meet up with a bicyclinggroup while Jan brought her sewing machine and worked on herquilts.
Ernie was still in good health when in 2010 the couple realizedthey hadn’t yet been to Oregon, California, Washington, Nevada andIdaho. Jan asked Ernie if completing the map was still on his”bucket list,” and they finished up their journey from August toOctober.
Through the 15 years on the road, they also took caravan toursto Canada and Mexico and camped in Alaska. Ernie and Jan actuallyvisited all 50 states but the visit to Hawaii wasn’t officiallyrecorded on their map.
“We didn’t camp there,” Jan said.
Features writer Meg Hagerty may be reached or 742-3208.
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