Grandma Joy's Road Trip: 91-Year-Old + Grandson Brad's Journey To Every US National Park Continues

We can always count on "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir to report hard-hitting news on ABC, but when he's on our show, he shares some of his favorite good news stories from his "America Strong" segment.

In 2019, David introduced us to Grandma Joy and her grandson, Brad Ryan from Ohio, who were on a mission to visit all 63 U.S. National Parks. They'd already been to 51, and were exploring Hawaii at the end of 2019. 

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Of course, with the pandemic hitting in 2020, their travel plans were put on hold. But Rachael is checking in with Grandma Joy (now 91-years-old!) and 39-year-old Brad to hear about how they hope to continue their journey this summer. Plus, Rach got to surprise the pair with some amazing news thanks to our friends at Carhartt—see Brad and Grandma Joy's reactions in the video above!

"We've visited 53 out of 63 U.S. National Parks. We only have 10 more to go, and we're hoping to close in on that goal this year," Brad says. 

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"We've saved the best for last in my opinion, because Alaska is the great North American wilderness."

"I can't wait to go to Alaska! I want to see a big bear flip the salmon in the air. That's what I've been looking for and waiting for all this time," Grandma Joy says.

As Brad adds, though, "The road trip expenses do add up." That's why he set up a GoFundMe for their big trip to Alaska and linked to it on their Instagram page, @grandmajoysroadtrip.

Brad first made the Instagram account "so that other families across the United States and around the world would be able to get some inspiration from our story, because our goal as the years go on is that we're going to see more intergenerational families—grandparents and grandchildren—exploring the great outdoors together." 

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