Who’s on the road now?

We’re Melanie Whittaker and John Cumbow, two 70-something travelers out to see “What’s over there now.”
Together, we’re on a journey to visit some of the places we’ve always dreamed of, and ready to share our stories of some of the quirky things we see along the way.

MelanieNaturopathic & Homeopathic Physician

Melanie and John at Machu Picchu in 2001
Melanie and John at Machu Picchu in 2001

Being on this journey is all my fault, I must admit. I have wanted to travel since I read an article on Machu Picchu in junior high school. Right then and there I decided, “That’s where I want to go!”

As a young woman, I moved to New Mexico. The Southwest culture fascinated me – it was so different from my home in the Pacific Northwest.

I have spent most of my adult life in healthcare, first as an RN and later, after earning a graduate degree as a Naturopathic Physician, I opened the Alternative Medicine Clinic, where I spent 24 years as owner and primary doctor.

Oh, and I got married to a great guy along the way too.

All the while, I never stopped my desire for travel and exploration. In my early 20s, I went to Spain and Italy. During nursing school, I spent one summer traveling around Mexico and Guatemala. Later, a girlfriend and I spent three-and-a-half weeks in Northern India.

John and I have traveled together to Mexico, Japan, Peru, Ecuador, Cambodia, Canada, Paris, and the American Southwest. Still, it was not enough to quench my desire to see what is out there.

When your desire for where you are going is bigger than where you are, you will make it happen. You have to make it your mindset. Decide, “OK, this is what I am going to do.” And then you just do it – no matter what.

Fortunately, my partner of many years came around to the idea too, and we set off on our journey together. It’s wonderful when a lifelong dream becomes reality.

John Writer, Photographer, Artist

John is a writer and photographer
John is a writer and photographer

As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been fascinated by art, history and the things left behind by other cultures. From childhood visits with my mother to the art and historical museums in Columbus, Ohio, to my fascination with native peoples and archaeology, I’ve always had the mindset of an explorer.

For 25 years I explored art glass – working with stained glass, kiln-fired glass and glassblowing – and I always had an interest in photography (my amateur photographer dad had a darkroom in our basement when I was a kid). I learned to photograph my artwork, and I took lots of photos of my children and our vacation trips.

During my first 40 years, my travels were limited to the Continental U.S., but during that time I managed to cover quite a lot of it. I’ve driven across the U.S. from coast to coast and top to bottom, and one of those roundtrips was made in a 1959 Chevy school bus I outfitted as a rolling home. Talk about an adventure!

But it wasn’t until Melanie and I got together that I ventured more than a few miles past America’s borders. Our first foreign trip together was a two-week jaunt to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. After visiting Chichen Itza, Tulum and a couple other Mayan ruins I was hooked on international travel.

We spent a week in Kyoto, Japan exploring ancient temples, palaces and gardens. We later visited the ruins at Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat. How could I ever NOT travel after that?

Our biggest travel problem was always the amount of time we could be away from work, me with an employer-mandated limit of two weeks at a stretch, and Mel with… Well, as the boss, she had to be there or things didn’t get done.

Melanie says I “finally came around,” but I was always with the program of wanting to travel more. What I finally came around to was the idea of traveling from now on, ditching all of the possessions that were holding me in place and becoming a global nomad.

So here we are… On The Road Now.

Follow us on our ‘slow’ travels as we explore other cultures through archaeology, architecture, anthropology, food, music and more.
See you on the road.