To Life!
ON THE COVER
Road Trip! from page 29
The Rosens includ-
ed the following'
information on their
Web site:
• Recycling con-
serves valuable
natural resources,
saves energy, clean
air, clean water and
landfill space and can
save money and cre-
ate jobs.
• Each ton of
recycled paper can
save 17 trees, 380
gallons of oil, three
cubic yards of landfill
space, 4,000 kilowatts
of energy and 7,000
gallons of water.
• Americans use
more than 67 million
tons of paper per
year, or about 580
pounds per person.
• Recycling one alu-
minum can can save
enough energy to
burn a 100-watt bulb
for almost four hours
or run a television for
three hours.
• Making recycled paper instead of new
paper uses 64 percent less energy and uses
58 percent less water.
• Americans throw out an average of 4.4
pounds of garbage per person per day.
• Every Sunday, 500,000 trees are made
into newspapers that are not recycled.
• An aluminum can recycled today will
be back on the shelf in about 80 days.
,
And they took time to enjoy being a
family. Even Sandy, CEO at Great Lakes
Recycling in Roseville, said, "I checked e-
mail every few days and took an occasional
phone call. But other than that, for the first
time in my career, I stopped working."
The family also took turns adding
entries to the online journal they updated
daily.
Carly used some of the time to get
a head start on a summer project for
classes at the Frankel Jewish Academy of
Metropolitan Detroit, where she and Ryan
are students. Sydney is getting ready to
start sixth grade at Hillel Day School of
Metropolitan Detroit.
The seemingly endless road also pro-
vided an incomparable venue for Carly to
practice something she had been working
hard to perfect. "I was turning 16 on the
trip, and I had obtained a permit; so I drove
my share of the trip',' she said.
Even through downtown Boston,
Washington, D.C., and Highway 1 up the
California coast in some tough weather,
according to her dad.
And Carly didn't mind when nothing
specific was on the itinerary. Sometimes
"I just stared out the window and watched
the road pass me by," she said. "I found a
lot that I saw out my window to be awe-
inspiring."
Sydney said, "My favorite part was being
able to relax and sleep in, in Hawaii."
Ryan's favorite moments were more
active. "I liked visiting Alaska because we
went kayaking and it was amazing',' he
said. "We passed a glacier, some moun-
tains and waterfalls; and it was beautiful."
Tikkun Olam
With Sandy's prof6sional involvement in
recycling, the family found a way for their
entire journey to become a giant promo-
tion for recycling.
"The prime objective was a family
adventure he said. "But the recycling
awareness came as we realized that atten-
tion to our voyage was an opportunity to
get a message out."
Even in the small, traveling home, "we
saved all of our paper and containers and
hauled them around until we found places
to drop them off': Sandy said.
The family discovered some states had
recycling centers everywhere, and some
had none.
The sides and front of their van dis-
played the words: "To learn more about
recycling visit www.recycle-america.net ."
"People in vehicles would wave when they
passed:' Lucinda said.
And, added Sandy, "We handed out
flyers to people who were interested, left
flyers at hotel lobbies and restaurants and
wore our '50 States in 50 Days' shirts every
moment of the trip, which prompted ques-
tions everywhere we went."
A Very Close Family
Sandy estimates the family spent 350
hours together in the 20-foot red, white
and blue Roadtrek 190 Versatile RV.
Even chores like visiting the laundromat
or grocery shopping became family activi-
ties."We didn't stop very often unless we
needed to stretch our legs or wanted to do
lunch," Lucinda said. "Most of the time we
ate while driving."
Mornings and some afternoons were
usually set for visiting tourist attractions
— with at least one planned for each state
— so the next destination could be met
by dinnertime.
Not wanting to intrude on friends and
family, the Rosens declined overnight invi-
tations. Nights were spent in hotels, except
for the two red-eye flights from Alaska
and Hawaii; the latter included a five-hour
delay.
Ryan found the lack of "personal space"
the toughest part of the trip, but the kids
admitted to having fun together. And it
may have been a bit difficult to be away
from friends for so long, but they were
able to stay in touch through phone calls
and e-mails. "So it wasn't too horrible
said Carly. And there was semi-regular
contact from home.
"The house-sitters collected our mail
and placed it in a 'shuttle box' in our
garage, along with anything else we might
need, like books': Sandy said. This was
taken to Sandy's office, where his assistant
\ vould ship it overnight to the hotel that
was the next stop.
"But when we were in Texas:' Sandy
said, "we had to go to a UPS store and ship
some stuff back to make room."
For Ryan, a favorite part of the journey
was "talking to people we didn't know and
having them tell us how amazing our trip
was and how unbelievable it was to them."
In addition to meeting new people
— including a breakfast date with a non-
related family named Rosen in California,
who found the Michigan Rosens through
their Web site — they connected with
family and friends in Georgia, New
Mexico, Colorado, Hawaii and California.
The family packed Judaica items so they
could make Kiddush on Friday nights and
Havdallah after Shabbat whenever pos-
sible."We also looked up the local Jewish
communities along the way," Sandy said.
Now that they're back home, Carly said,
"It's still pretty strange to be able to say
I've been to all 50 states. It's not something
you hear often, if at all; and it's amazing
to me. I can hardly believe we really did it.
"I loved the whole experience. I love
being with my family. Seeing and doing
new and strange things ... the whole she-
bang?"
For Lucinda, the trip was "made up of
all the little moments of awe, of what a
great, big, beautiful country this is. I know
our kids have a wonderful knowledge
of Jewish history from their schooling
and our trip to Israel with the [Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's
Family] Mission last December. But this
trip showed them what a wonderful coun-
try they have been born into.
"They will have memories of this for the
rest of their lives and that their crazy par-
ents wanted to be a part of it with them.
"One gentleman we met said, `Just wait
until some Thanksgiving 10-15 years from
now. You'll be sitting and laughing about
the trip and memories will be brought up
that you never thought your kids would
take away from it:" El
To view the Rosens` online travel and
photo journal, access the Web site
at: www.rosenfamily.net .
August 24 • 2006
31