In his 25 years as a feature correspondent for the Today show, Mike Leonard has covered everything from the Wisconsin World Cheese Championship to the 2002 Winter Olympics. He has made it his personal mission to seek out the offbeat and the every day hero — the real America. “I love music, characters and action.” Leonard said. “I’ve met movie stars and superstar athletes but the people I’ve had the most fun with are the people who’ve never been on TV before.”

In 2004, Mike decided to load his parents, Marge the proud pessimist and Jack the eternal optimist, along with three of Mike’s grown children into two RVs, one being a 2004 Holiday Rambler Neptune. Mike envisioned a month long cross-country tour destined to end in Chicago with the welcome birth of the newest member of the family; Mike’s grandchild and a first great-grandchild for Marge and Jack. The trip was a chance for Marge and Jack to see the country, and for three generations of the Leonard family to share some real quality time together.

But the story did not end there. It aired in a four-segment series on the Today show. The series was wildly popular with viewers. After some coaxing, Mike decided that the lessons he and his family had learned from one another in their travels deserved to be told in full detail and enjoyed by an even wider audience. The result was a book published in April 2006 called The Ride of Our Lives: Roadside Lessons of an American Family. Since its publication, The Ride of Our Lives has taken its place on the New York Times Bestseller list.

Mike got a late start in the media business at the age of 30 when friends and family convinced him to show his well-crafted home videos to a local news broadcaster in the Phoenix area. The broadcaster looked past Mike’s lack of a journalism degree or experience and saw what America has seen since: a knack for understanding human nature, for seeing everyday life with humor and for telling a good story. Those talents landed him his first job and a dream job offer a little over a year later with CBS and the Today show. Since then he has created his unique niche, showing real Americans to America.

Mike decided to make the cross-country odyssey after a couple of phone conversations with his parents who were feeling discouraged at the time. Marge and Jack were feeling hemmed in and unhappy in a leased home they had just moved into from another state. Mike decided he wanted to do something special for them. “I could have just flown them into Chicago [for the birth of my daughter’s baby] and sat around” Mike explained. “But I wanted to boost their spirits with an adventure.”

The Leonard clan openly admits that before the trip, they didn’t know the first thing about nature, camping or RVs. So why choose to travel in the RV? “It’s more of an emotional answer than a logical one” Mike replied. “They [my parents] felt immobile and the RV was mobile.” Mike also felt “the most enjoyable experiences in an RV are finding the out of the way places, meeting people, hanging out in small towns.” These were the things that Mike knew both he and his parents would truly enjoy the most.

Marge and Jack, both in their 80s, could relax without the hassle of moving baggage and checking in and out of hotels. The couple could share stories about their parents and their own youth. “I knew there would be more talking and sharing stories [on an RV trip]” Mike said. “That’s what happens on these trips.”

In spite of complete RV innocence, job conflicts and camping concerns from family members Mike was determined to go forward with his plans for the ultimate Family Reunion. He contacted the RVIA who put him in touch with Monaco Coach Corporation. “Monaco Coach Corporation helped us out. They knew we were first timers. They were wise in their judgment with what they let us use.” And they also offered that crucial driving tutorial. In spite of the Leonard family’s self-avowed fear of nature and lack of ease with vehicles, Mike felt that the Holiday Rambler was easy to drive.

The biggest surprise of the journey for Mike was not the quality time together, the conversations and stories exchanged, or the many solos that were sung courtesy of Mike’s father Jack (who loves to share the songs of his Irish childhood whenever possible, generously sprinkled with any other songs held in his capacious memory banks) but the level of comfort in their accommodations. “When we opened the [slideouts], it all of a sudden became like a little house” Mike exclaimed. “It was quiet and comfortable and I have never slept better.”

The Leonards also quickly picked up on one of the great secrets of RV travel, how three generations of family in such close quarters could survive a month-long trip, using the occasional swift change of subject.

Since the publication of his book, Mike says, “I can’t tell you how many people have come up to me and said ‘we’re going to do the same thing.’” People interested in discovering what a little time on the road could mean for their own family. So when others have asked him why he took this journey considering what he might have saved on gas if he’d stayed home, Mike responds, “What about the ability to venture off the main highway? Or to get out, wander around, meet people and say, ‘Hey let’s stay another night!?’” He added “The RV is the perfect vehicle to do that in.”

When preparing for The Ride of Our Lives book tour, Mike’s publishers at Random House/Ballantine hit upon a great idea. What could be more appropriate than to do part of the tour in an RV? The publishers contacted Monaco Coach Corporation and Mike set out on the road in one of the manufacturer’s coaches for the first leg of his book-signing tour. The tour included over 20 stops in cities throughout the country from April 18 to May 23.

Mike said with a laugh that the book tour group looked like the occupants of a clown car in a traveling circus when it was time to pile out. A bluegrass band would be followed by Mike, then his kids, and of course by Marge and Jack. “The book tour was their victory lap,” Mike said.

Mike recalled Jack’s response after reading The Ride of Our Lives for the first time, “My dad came to me with tears streaming down his face and said ‘Now people will know my parents.’” One of Mike’s motivations in writing the book was to introduce readers to his own parents and their legacy. “My parents have no statues dedicated to them” he said. “We live in a celebrity culture and society doesn’t really praise everyday regular folks.”

So Mike created this monument to the story of their trip and the stories of his parents’ lives. “The RV trip is only a part of the book” he said. “The rest is 100 years in the life of a family.”