Hittin' the road
Hittin' the road
Posted 2 years ago
"I?ll never retire. There?s no rocking chair for me - ever."
Ed Lonsbary is not the type to sit still for long.
The former Ingersoll resident and his wife, Patty, are living their dream ? on the road full-time in their motor coach headed for Central and South America in 2008 to seek out new opportunities and challenges.
Don?t call them tourists. Founding Global Tourism Solutions, Inc., the couple sees Central and South America as the next big opportunity in experience travel and they plan to be on the cutting edge.
They?ll ride in comfort in their 40-foot converted Prevost coach. A home on wheels, it?s outfitted with a queen size bed, shower, kitchen and washer/dryer. A satellite dish will even provide an Internet connection.
During their travels, Patty will document their experiences through an Internet blog and video/photography. She also plans to write a book and develop a travel guide for the RV travellers they expect will head south after them.
"Tourism (in Central and South America) is going to grow huge in the next 20 years," Ed says.
They are also putting out feelers for a reality travel TV show with the possibility of special guests tagging along with the Lonsbarys for a while.
"This is not just a whim," Ed says. "We?ve been planning this for a long time."
Their business mantra is, "happy, healthy and meet expenses."
To get to South America, the coach will have to be loaded on a ship for the final leg.
Far from new to the RV lifestyle, the Lonsbarys operated Private Motor Coach Inc. for eight years. The business offered high-end clientele the opportunity to travel on a private motor coach driven by Ed who racked up over 127,000 miles behind the wheel.
Ed earned the United Motor Coach Association Vision Award in 2001 for the innovative concept.
With Global Tourism Solutions, the Lonsbarys have reoriented the business to help travelers experience the South Americas.
"It?s pretty important to Ed and me," Patty says. "We feel really strongly about going for it. I guess we would call it an expedition. There?s not too many people who have explored South America in a motor home. That?s part of the beauty and adventure of it."
With a case of wanderlust, adventure is something Ed says he has sought out throughout his life.
An engineer, the IDCI graduate left Canada for the United States in 1978 to seek fame and fortune.
NASA was interested in hiring him but lacking a green card to work in the U.S. the deal fell through.
Lonsbary ended up working for Jacuzzi in Little Rock, Arkansas, after the company helped him obtained a green card.
He remembers seeing a young Bill Clinton in a mall during his campaign for governor of the state.
From there, Lonsbary went to work for Dupont in Delaware and then moved on to Dow Chemical and Bayer before he was downsized. Taking a buyout package, he went to work for a small company and spent 150 nights a year on the road.
Throughout it all, Lonsbary had other aspirations.
When he was on the road, he would stop at truck dealerships just to check out the big rigs and dream.
"I love to travel," he says. "I was an entrepreneur inside, I was a trucker inside. I love the freedom of the road."
Eventually, he decided to make a move.
"I?d had enough of corporate America and I wanted to do my own thing," he says.
He left the corporate world and started following his dream, establishing his motor coach business in 1999 and in 2001 moved it from Pittsburgh to southern Texas.
His business aspirations turned out to be a success and the venture grew as he chauffeured travels around North America in his coach.
With that feather in his cap, Lonsbary, who says he thrives on "the thrill of the hunt," talked with Patty and they decided to take the business in a new direction.
"To me, it?s the journey, not the end game," he says.
He and Patty "sold to the ground" in Texas, keeping only a few boxes of memorabilia like photo albums that they put into storage and set out on their new adventure.
"Leaving one life and going to another is radical for most people," says Ed. "The idea was to do what I love to do ? a hobby and a business ? that?s the perfect match. What we?re doing is downsizing and simplifying our lives."
While they?re travelling, they plan to get involved in humanitarian projects. Patty is a Paul Harris Fellow with Rotary, which has a goal of fostering international understanding, and they?ll connect with Rotarians in South America to see what they can do to help.
During a recent trip to Ingersoll to visit family, the Lonsbarys parked their coach at Spring lake RV Park where Ed?s parents, Harvey and Jean, had a small trailer for years. Some of the best times of their life were spent there, Ed says.
"I?m sure my dad?s pulling for me," he says.
Global Tourism Solutions Inc. can be found on the Internet at: www.glotours.com
