Get off your block: See the world as a senior

My all-time favorite state is Colorado and located in Ft. Collins, Colorado, is an organization called Walking the World (WTW). This is a group with programs for those ages 50 and over and it is run by Ward Luthi.

My first experience with WTW was a trip to Scotland that my girlfriend Dottie and I took the year I turned 50 and she 60. The greatest benefit in taking a trip like this is the common interest that everyone has. You are not walking with a “youngster” who has to be out in front of the guide. The Scottish Highlands were such a treat that the following year we went to Switzerland and then Norway, Provence and Washington State. Our guide in Switzerland told us “you only see the world you walk” —  isn’t that the truth!

At this point we wanted to try something new and turned our interest to biking. With Road Scholar, the former Elderhostel, located in Boston, and again age appropriate, we biked  from Deggendorf, Germany to Vienna down the tow-roads of the Danube. On future trips we cycled down the Krimmel Valley in Austria, across Prince Edward Island in Canada, biked and barged the Rhine, Moselle and Seine rivers in Europe.

Europe is very bike friendly but we wanted to give the United States a chance and so we rode across Missouri on the Katy Trail and down the C&O path to Georgetown.

Through each of these adventures I have met the most interesting people. We signed up to take several trips together, promising to meet again next year. And for many years we did just that. Even now, if it is just an occasional email, the memories are wonderful.

So turn on your computer and look up WTW or Road Scholar and plan a new adventure. When you are walking alongside Ward, say hi for me.

Walking the World, P.O. Box 1186 Ft. Collins, Colorado 80522, 970-498-0500, walkingtheworld.com.

Road Scholar, 11 Avenue de Lafayette, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, 800-454-5768, roadscholar.org.