By Mike Morsch, Executive editor
Andy Moutenot and his wife Karen traveled the world. She was a flight attendant and his company was based in Switzerland, which afforded the couple and their family the opportunity to travel all over Europe and much of Asia.
Cranbury residents since 1982, Andy and Karen had always thought that once they retired, they would make a bucket list of places they’d like to visit in the United States.
But then Karen contracted breast cancer and died in February 2016. They were married 46 years.
“We had a wonderful life together and we always thought we were going to save the United States for last and see parts of the country that are on everybody’s bucket list,” said Mr. Moutenot. “When Karen passed, I started to think that maybe I’d take a trip in honor of her. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that seemed a little bit shallow. That maybe there was some way I could combine it with something else to make it more meaningful.”
So he reached out to the Susan G. Komen Central and South Jersey organization in Lawrenceville, a nonprofit that supports local breast cancer services that’s also dedicated to finding a cure for breast cancer.
The group was there when Karen first got sick, providing support services to her and the family. And Andy wanted to find a way to give something back to the organization.
“I kind of thought that putting both of these things together might not be a bad idea. I could use the trip as kind of an awareness thing that would give people more opportunity to be aware of the whole issue of breast cancer and also maybe, if they felt so moved, to make a contribution.”
Andy left on a cross-country trip Tuesday morning, Aug. 23, from the Komen Lawrenceville office, on a trek that will eventually take him to Washington state. He will visit family and friends along the entire route, while documenting the trip on his Facebook page and raising awareness of breast cancer.
According to his Facebook page, he went more than 400 miles the first day crossing through five states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio.
His route will take him through Columbus, Ohio, down to a gracious old hotel in French Lick, Indiana, hometown of National Basketball Association Hall of Famer Larry Bird, that he and Karen always wanted to visit.
From there he’ll head to see friends in southeast Kansas, then up to Charles City, Iowa, for Karen’s 50th high school class reunion. He plans to cross northeast Iowa and head toward the University of South Dakota at Mitchell, where Karen went to college. There’s a tourist attraction there called the Corn Palace, which Andy said he wants to see, just to say he was there.
Then it’s on to Mount Rushmore, through Wyoming, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah. Las Vegas is on the itinerary, and then up the California coast and on to Washington State.
Andy estimates he’ll take six to seven weeks to get to his final destination.
And he’ll make the trip in a Morgan Plus 8 (eight-cylinder) roadster. A two-seater, it’s an aluminum-framed car with a wooden chassis, the design of which hasn’t changed since the 1930s. It does have a newer engine, though.
He first got the car in 2000, but he’s had his eye on the automobile since his younger days. When his older sister got married, she had a reception that included a big guest list of family and friends. At that reception was one of Andy’s cousins, who was married to a guy who owned a Morgan Plus 4 (four cylinder), and he and Andy got to talking at the reception. The fellow took Andy outside to show him the Morgan, flipped him the keys and said, “Would you like to take it for a spin?”Andy was immediately hooked.
“I was a young kid, so I was ecstatic. I got in the car and drove it around and went all over the old neighborhood hoping I could see anybody that I could recognize and wave to and say, ‘Look at me in this neat car.’ But I didn’t see a bloody soul,” said Mr. Moutenot. “The impression of driving that car stayed with me, and I promised myself some day that if I could, I would own one. And here I am with one.”
The part of his trip that takes him up the California coast includes a stop in San Francisco at the largest Morgan dealership in the country.
As to how and when he’s going to eventually get back to Cranbury, Andy is leaving that open-ended for now.
“If I’m in relatively good shape and the car isn’t broken down into bits and pieces, I’ll try to come back through the western provinces of Canada and stop by places like Lake Louise in Alberta and Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah,” said Mr. Moutenot. “But if I’m running out of gas, I expect I’ll try to find a car hauler somewhere and look for a cheap flight back home.”
Andy and Karen raised two daughters, Nicole and Amy, both of whom attended Cranbury School and then the Peddie School in Hightstown. They both now live in New Hampshire.
Andy plans to stay off the main interstates, using mostly secondary roads, and he hopes to meet a lot of interesting people along the way, all while raising money and attention for the fight against breast cancer.
You can follow the trip on his Facebook page at facebook.com/mymorganandme.
Donations to the Susan G. Komen Central and South Jersey organization can be made at http://csnj.info-komen.org/goto/mymorganandme. All donations raised by Andy on this trip will benefit the two New Jersey affiliates of Susan G. Komen with up to 75 percent of funds raised benefiting survivors and local community programs throughout New Jersey and the other 25 percent supporting national research initiatives.
“If I see a little mom and pop stop, or something that just sticks out, I’ll pull in and chat a bit to see what it’s all about. And I’ll be taking photos along the way,” said Mr. Moutenot. “Hopefully it will be all sweetness and light and not me under the car with a spanner in my hand trying to figure out why it’s not running.”
