By TRINITY POON
Aug 16, 2024
Bourne News

Retirement and grandparenthood may conjure up images of jazzercise at the senior center and Tuesday afternoon knitting circles, but for two local grandmothers this phase of their life is about reinvention, exploration and inspiring others like themselves.

Beth Sobiloff, 74, and Marcia Rothwell, 81, are the stars of their own travel show, “Two Grannies on the Road.” Created by Ms. Sobiloff, the show follows the “two grannies” on their travels as they pursue their goal of visiting all 351 towns and cities in Massachusetts.

The show airs on Plymouth Area Community Television in addition to other towns across Massachusetts. It has also aired on community television stations in Texas, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

In each town they visit, the two interview local business owners, attend town events and eat local food while learning the town’s history, always ending their packed day with an ice cream cone.

“Hopefully we can get the flavor of the whole town, not just one part, not just the history,” Ms. Rothwell said. “We try to get it all and put it into one half-hour show,” Ms. Sobiloff added.

The Vacation That Started It All

The “Two Grannies” project began in 2008 when Ms. Sobiloff realized that she had not taken a vacation in the eight years since she had started her web design business. Single at the time and her youngest child a new college graduate, the time was right to begin a new adventure, Ms. Sobiloff said.

“I always wanted to travel across the country in the RV with my kids and never got the chance to,” Ms. Sobiloff said. “And then I was like: ‘Well, wait a second, I have a job that I could do from anywhere. Maybe I can figure out a way to work and play at the same time.’ ”

Ahead of the work from home and van-life trends that arose during the pandemic, Ms. Sobiloff approached one of her friends, Virginia Just, with the idea to make a travel show.

“I was talking about doing camp cooking shows along the way and sending them to the Food Network,” she said.

With Ms. Just on board and a freshly published website, the two began seeking sponsorships for their trip. However, after two years of rejected proposals and no sponsorships, the two decided to pivot, using the resources readily available to them.

“I became aware that you could do a community TV show basically for free,” Ms. Sobiloff said. For a small membership fee she was able to borrow equipment and learn how to use it.

At the time, the two grannies centered their show around people similar to them. “We had started to have a lot of friends our age who were getting laid off from their job […] before they were ready to retire,” Ms. Sobiloff said.

“We said: ‘Let’s do a show where we interview baby boomers who have reinvented themselves and tell their stories to inspire other baby boomers to live their dreams. It’s never too late,’” Ms. Sobiloff said.

With the help of East Bridgewater Community Television, Ms. Sobiloff and Ms. Just traveled to different towns interviewing those baby boomers and dedicating a segment of the show to exploring the town called “Road Trip.”

This format of the show continued for four years with a break in the middle until Ms. Just retired from the show. During that time, the grannies began filming in Plymouth with Plymouth Area Community Television. For a short period Ms. Sobiloff continued the show alone, focusing more on travel and inviting “guest grannies” onto the show.

The second granny to host with Ms. Sobiloff, Debbie Thelen, began as a guest granny and became a regular co-host when Ms. Sobiloff proposed the project of visiting every Massachusetts town. In 2018 Ms. Sobiloff and Ms. Thelen began visiting each town, pausing the project during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. Thelen retired from the show in 2022. Ms. Rothwell joined after she and Ms. Sobiloff met at a women’s lunch. “She said, ‘That’s right up my alley,’” Ms. Sobiloff recalled.

84 Down, 267 To Go

In total, the grannies have visited 84 of the 351 towns in Massachusetts, traveling in a minivan emblazoned with their logo, lovingly known as the “Granny Mobile.” Their most-recent visit was to Halifax on August 1.

There is no particular formula for the next town they will visit, the grannies said. Sometimes they are invited by towns to speak at community centers and other times they plan their visits around local festivals, sometimes visiting multiple towns in one trip.

Before the grannies hit the road for a given town, Ms. Rothwell plans and researches their stops, including restaurants, landmarks and local businesses. “I go on Facebook and I go to the town forums,” Ms. Rothwell said.

By getting recommendations from community members on Facebook instead of travel websites, the grannies find more hidden gems and local favorite spots, getting a better sense of the town, Ms. Rothwell added. “That way, we end up with all sorts of interesting things that sometimes even the community members don’t know about,” she said.

After selecting a few recommendations, Ms. Rothwell reaches out to businesses and the local historical society to set up interviews. On their trips the grannies have visited farms, nonprofit organizations, many restaurants and historical landmarks.

No matter where they go, the grannies are welcomed with warmth and enthusiasm by locals. “We get the best side of people. It really restores your faith in human nature and people,” Ms. Sobiloff said.

Ms. Sobiloff, who edits the show herself, also reaches out to the community television station of the given town to ask for volunteers to help with filming and editing.

The grannies have had exciting adventures and met many interesting people while filming their show. In April the grannies competed in the Athol-Orange River Rat Race, a 5.2-mile canoe event on the Millers River.

The grannies were invited to compete after a local company, Billy Goat Boats, sponsored the two with a canoe adorned with their logo on the side. Though the grannies finished in last place, they said they had fun and enjoyed the views.

In Hubbardston the pair visited the owner of the world’s largest collection of “Back To The Future” memorabilia. In Oxford they visited the Clara Barton Camp, a summer camp for children living with diabetes. In Halifax the grannies learned the fascinating history of a local oddity, Standish Legs, a statue of Myles Standish whose upper torso was broken off by a lightning strike.

Though Ms. Sobiloff and Ms. Rothwell are from Plymouth and Sagamore Beach, respectively, they have visited only five of the 15 towns on Cape Cod: Sandwich, Falmouth, Dennis, Yarmouth and Chatham.

“We don’t do those in the summer,” Ms. Rothwell said, adding the traffic makes visiting the towns difficult and that they opt to visit Cape towns in the shoulder seasons.

“They’ve all been fun and welcoming and [have] great histories,” Ms. Sobiloff said.

Two Grannies On A Mission

In their many adventures the grannies have learned a lot about Massachusetts and the spirit of the state’s small towns.

Ms. Sobiloff has especially valued the history she has learned and the farms she has visited during her travels. “The history is incredible. You’re not going to find that in California; it’s too new,” she said. She added, “I’ve grown to appreciate local farmers. They are the hardest-working people on the planet.”

Ms. Rothwell, who grew up in Connecticut, added that her travels have taught her much about Massachusetts: “I am learning so much. It’s a great learning experience even if you’ve lived here all your life.”

The two grannies have multiple goals and messages they hope to communicate to their viewers. The biggest ones? To inspire others to go out and explore, live healthfully and always have goals.

“I think it’s important that people realize that you don’t have to spend a lot of money [to travel]. And that they can see so much and do so much,” Ms. Rothwell said.

“Traveling in your own state is still traveling,” Ms. Sobiloff added.

Ms. Sobiloff spoke about the goal-setting mission of their project. “I think people always need to have goals, no matter how old they are or what situation they’re in. You need to have goals. You need to have a purpose,” Ms. Sobiloff said.

The Grannies’ Influence

Currently the grannies have 10,000 Facebook followers and more than 1,000 followers on YouTube and Instagram. Their most-popular YouTube video has more than 15,000 views.

Though they realize there are creators with much larger followings, the grannies are proud of what they have made and the influence they have had. “I know people that have visited places that they wouldn’t have gone to if they hadn’t seen our posts,” Ms. Sobiloff said. “It’s reaching the people that want to see it.”

When asked if they had been recognized in public, Ms. Rothwell said, “All the time,” adding that the distinctive “Granny Mobile” attracts some of that attention.

Nineteen local companies have sponsored the travels of the grannies, though they welcome more as they grow their show.

“If we have sponsorships or even if we have volunteers […], we could do more. We could visit more towns, we could put out more content,” Ms. Sobiloff said.

The pair have discussed expanding their content onto TikTok, writing a Massachusetts travel guide and starting a club, similar to the 251 Club of Vermont, uniting others who aim to visit every town in the state.

“In the future, we can both see a time where we go back to the original ‘Two Grannies’ mission where we do stuff across the country,” Ms. Sobiloff said.

In all, the grannies’ love for their state is overwhelming and inspiring. Though they do not yet have a partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Travel and Tourism, Ms. Sobiloff said, “We’re ambassadors to tourism to Massachusetts.”

The grannies are looking forward to visiting Tanglewood in Lenox, their 85th town, on August 25.