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and camp their way across the country.
Then, two years ago, when Sandi’s dad
developed some health problems, they
decided to limit their travels even more
and bought a home in Sun City Texas.
“We had always planned to be here when
we were older, but ‘older’ came quicker
than we thought,” Sandi said.
Not that it keeps them around much.
Since 2007, Rocky and Sandi have been
co-teaching Senior University classes
with Sandi’s dad, Don Beaumont, also a
Sun City Texas resident and a geologist
with a Ph.D. from Columbia University
who had a long career at Texaco. Their
most recent collaboration, “Civil War Ge-
ology,” took Rocky and Sandi on a three-
month road tour of Civil War sites. Don
teaches the geology aspects; Rocky and
Sandi share photos and stories gleaned
from their travel. Theirs is no “here we
are in Gettysburg” presentation, though.
Sandi figures for every 45-minute pre-
sentation, they put in 90 hours of re-
search and preparation. Throughout
their road trips, they are connected to
the Internet and making extensive notes
each day about the places they visit. In
addition, every class has a field trip at
the end of the course. For the Civil War
class, participants went on a tour of a
Texas plantation, and viewed a Civil War
campsite and battle re-enactment.
The best-rated of their recent presen-
tations was “Ancient People, Ancient
Pathways,” about “the geology and
geologic treasures that helped ancient
people move from Africa to the rest of
the world.”
One of Rocky’s favorite classes was
“Vagabond Ventures Oil Company,” in
which oil exploration and drilling logis-
tics were covered. In this class, students
were offered $1 million in play money
to invest in fictitious wells that they
thought were likely enterprises, based
on their learning. Between classes, stu-
dents were sent emails with “drilling
reports” and, at the end of the class, a
“golden egg” was given to the one who
made the most money—and a hobo sack
to the one who had nothing left. Rocky
remembers one participant who got so
wrapped up in the project, he even sent
an email when he couldn’t attend the
last class and said, “I have to know how
I did with my well!”
Among the other Senior University
classes they have offered that feature
travel with a geologic focus were East
Africa, Appalachia, Western Europe,
Southwest Africa, China, andWorldWar
II geology. Some of these classes have
been replicated in University of Texas
Lifelong Learning Institute classes, or
reconfigured for presentations at The
Wesleyan at Estrella independent liv-
ing facility in Georgetown. Rocky and
Sandi are quick to say they don’t repeat
classes from year to year. Students seem
to welcome both their expertise and their
presentation skills, with 100-180 people
attending their classes. With this suc-
cess, however, they worry that they have
lost the personal touch, since it is dif-
ficult to interact successfully with that
many individuals. “Tell people to come
up and meet us!” Rocky said, wistfully.
As for the “bucket list” of overseas places
they haven’t yet visited, Rocky said there
are about 220 “sites” (not countries) that
are on the current and growing list. Top
priorities for countries, Sandi said, are
Israel, Thailand, India, Australia and
New Zealand. What drives them in
their quest for new places? Travel brings
“completeness as a person,” they said; it
“brings tolerance and reduces bigotry.”
And it makes it “so good to get home!”
Rocky’s and Sandi’s fridge is covered in souvenir magnets from their travels.
