By RANDY GONZALES
Special to Hays Post
Now that Raymond and Mary Alice Brent have crossed off their bucket list the goal of visiting all 50 states, what’s next for the Hays couple?
After some thought, Mary Alice suggested they visit more national parks. Raymond suggested visiting all seven continents.
“There are fewer continents than there are countries,” Raymond said, adding North America and Europe have already been checked off their list.
The adventurous couple warmed to the notion of visiting all 50 states one day in 2014 while sitting in Wendy’s Restaurant. There was a map of the United States on the wall, and Raymond and Mary Alice started checking off states they had already visited.
They soon realized they only needed 15 more states to visit.
Nevada was the final state to complete the list. The couple visited there earlier this summer.
These days, Raymond, 74, and Mary Alice, 71, rest up before taking on another big adventure.
Before Mary Alice had knee replacement surgery on both of her knees, travel was a chore at times. Now, they wouldn’t dream of stopping.
“We’re not going to quit traveling,” Raymond said. “The question is where to go. We’ve got a few ideas.”
“I think we’re like kids in a candy store,” he added. “We see something and say, ‘Wow’ – just the diversity of the different states.”
Mary Alice said although they have traveled far and wide, their home state has much to offer. There are sites in the Sunflower State they still want to see, and one they have already visited was a sight to behold.
Visiting Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park in Logan County was special.
Mary Alice grew up on a farm outside Morganville, a small town near Clay Center in north central Kansas. Farm work took priority over travel. Now, she can’t get enough of it, maybe playing catch-up.
“I like to go,” she said simply.
The couple took their two children on trips as kids, and they also now like to travel as adults. Mary Alice and Raymond just laughed at the suggestion that their children learned to love travel from their parents.
While growing up in Alton in Osborne County, Raymond’s family did some traveling as a child. The travel bug bit him early, and he has just kept on trucking—or rather, bussing. For long, multi-state adventures, the Brents usually travel on a tour bus.
Raymond learned a lesson on one such trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania's Civil War battle site.
Raymond, a lover of history and museums, was immersed in the museum there, and the tour director had to remind him that it was time to get back on the bus. Lesson learned: Don’t get left behind.
“Sometimes it’s hard to get Raymond out of museums,” Mary Alice said.
“They almost left me at Gettysburg,” said Raymond, who earned a history degree at Fort Hays State University while working in retail in Hays.
National parks are some of the couple’s favorite stops along the way. They would like to visit them again.
“I would like to go back to Hawaii,” Raymond said. “I’d like to go back and spend more time in California.”
Mary Alice wants to return to Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska. The mountain there, formerly known as Mount McKinley, has the highest peak in North America, but it’s an elusive sight, she added.
Due to prevalent cloud cover, the entire mountain is visible just five days out of 100, and part of the mountain is visible only 20 days out of a 100. When the Brents were there, the mountain was shrouded in clouds.
“We probably need to go back to Alaska and see the whole thing,” she said.
Plus, you never know who you might meet. Raymond said they have met a wide variety of people, some with whom they are still friends to this day.
“Along the way, you realize we’re a small world,” Raymond said, adding you won’t know what you might see until you experience what travel—and life—has to offer.
“There’s more to look at in this world than what’s right in our face,” he added. “We’ve become so ingrained in seeing the trees. We’ve forgotten the forest that’s out there. It’s a big forest.”