Media Coverage
FAMILY MOTORCOACH
Magazine

This mother-daughter duo is re-creating the family's 1940s cross-country adventure and is once again sharing their experiences with children across the nation through an educational newsletter.

In the mid-1940s , as World War II was coming to an end, Malva and Roland Huson loaded their two preschoolers, a typewriter, a duplicating machine, camping equipment and three changes of clothing into a Ford automobile that had been modified to serve as a home and an office, as well as transportation. And for the next two years, “The Traveling Husons,” as they called themselves, explored the United States and wrote about its people, places and perspectives.

The Husons shared their adventures with children throughout the country via an ongoing series know as Travel Letters. The missives were friendly, chatty and personalized and subscribers received them in the mail approximately every 10 days.

Today, 43 years later, the distaff half of the family is re-creating both the trip and the letters. The mother-daughter team of Malva Huson Brown and Juanita Huson Sylvest expect to travel until the end of 1990, visiting not only the 48 continental states, which were visited during the original trip, but also Hawaii and Alaska. The women departed their home state of Louisiana in June 1989.

Malva, 74, commented that camping conditions are certainly different now than they were in 1945. “In the ‘40s, organized campgrounds were few and far between,” she said. “However, there was greater accessibility to open, unused land. We usually camped in our car, which had been modified for sleeping. We often camped on the beach, on lakeshores, or by rivers and streams, frequently catching fish for dinner.”

Living conditions have changes as well. This time, the women – who still refer to themselves as “The Traveling Husons” – are traveling in a 1973 Landau Continental motorhome. Juanita, a captain licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard, is at the helm. Before this adventure began, she could often be found teaching women how to sail.

Juanita said that she believes that similarities exist between RVing fulltime in a coach and living in a boat at sea. “The medium through which they travel may differ, but basically they are all self-contained vehicles with similar support systems,” she said. “The critical need for proper maintenance and habitual systematic checks is the same.”

Juanita said that she and her mother use the Landau for getting from one destination to another, similar to traveling in a large yacht. Then, they unhitch their tow car and drive it around the area, just as sailors use their dinghies. The women have fine-tuned the hitching and unhitching routine to a three-minute team effort, which includes connecting and disconnecting the lube pump that protects their front-wheel-drive auto.

Part of the impetus to re-create the adventure and letters came when the women learned about a 1988 National Georgaphic Society survey, which indicated that a majority of our nation's youth are geographically illiterate.

Another difference between this excursion and the one of the 1940s is the technology with which the writers can produce their biweekly letters to children. The original Travel Letters were typed and then cranked out on a duplicating machine, and the Husons used a special invention of their own to personalize the greeting of each letter. Today the letters are written on a word processor and then printed on a computer printer, both of which are housed in a special workstation aboard the coach.

Juanita, along with an experienced carpenter and boating friend, Hank Cowell, modified and updated the Landau for its special dual role as a home and an office. First, they removed one of the pedestal chairs and the cocktail cabinet. Into this space they built a customized workstation with two file drawers, three desk drawers, and a 27-inch-by-42-inch desk top, which provided plenty of room for the Husons’ computer and printer.

Juanita and Hank also created a six-shelf, floor-to-ceiling, 21-in-wide book rack by making use of a previously unused 3 ½-inch-deep space between the coach door and the refrigerator. In the bedroom, they replaced the Landau’s youth bunks with 22-inch sliding-door cabinets. This change doubled the amount of storage space in the sleeping area.

Adapting to full-time motorhome life has been easy for Malva and Juanita. Malva spent five years full-timing in an Airstream travel trailer with her first husband, Roland, so she had some experience. Juanita simply took a sabbatical from the sea and transferred the yachting lifestyle to dry land.

The two women are thoroughly enjoying the chance to see the United States through the eyes of their young readers. “Knowing that we’re traveling on behalf of and writing for children keeps us young and active,” Malva said. “We’re having a lot of fun rediscovering out country and sharing our adventures with young readers.”

Part of the impetus to re-create the adventure and letters series came when the women learned about a 1988 National Geographic Society survey, which indicated that a majority of our nation’s youth are geographically illiterate. Their decision to travel was further fueled when Juanita’s daughter, an honor student in college, was surprised when she learned that two states she knew were famous for winter sports – Colorado and Vermont – were nowhere near each other.

“Kids today have access to a lot of good information, such as in television documentaries,” said Juanita. “But they lack a sense of connectedness, a sense of how the states relate to one another geographically, historically and economically.” The children receive an atlas with their subscription to the letters, and the women hope that by tracing their travel adventures, the young subscribers will gain a better understanding of our county.

The letters are addressed to individual children, family groups, and entire classes of schoolchildren or even entire schools. The Huson Travel Letters are currently being sent to subscribers in almost every state, as well as in Ireland, Switzerland, Costa Rica and Australia. The women are signing up more subscribers as they travel.

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