Magnolia teacher wins national road trip giveaway, celebrates 40-year friendship

THE WOODLANDS, TX – While summertime is a much-earned respite for most – if not all – teachers, some get extra lucky with special getaways and road trips. One local teacher is enjoying the benefit of winning a special prize and sharing it with her friends.

Kerry Kemp, a longtime Magnolia ISD teacher, recently won a $5,000 prize from Pilot Travel Centers with their National Road Trip Day giveaway. She’s using it to fuel her next adventure with two lifelong friends – Dawn Flynn and Brenda Trampert – as part of a 40-plus year friendship that started right in Magnolia classrooms.

Each year, Pilot gives contestants the chance to fuel your dream road trip with free summer fuel and $5,000 cash. “We want to know what calls you to the open road. Maybe it’s chasing your favorite band to an iconic venue, exploring a bucket list national park, or the simple craving of freedom and discovery that the open road offers. Whatever fuels your Journey Maker spirit, we want to see it,” said Pilot representatives in a statement.

Kerry entered this year’s competition and won. She was inspired to go after the prize after she retired in early May of this year. Though she admits that retirement has left her with time travel, a lack of time before didn’t seem to stop her and her two friends from road-tripping across the country, cruising the Caribbean, and even riding mules into the Grand Canyon.

“I met Dawn in 1982 when we taught school together and she helped me since I was a new teacher,” Kerry told Woodlands Online. “Brenda and I met around 2001 when our sons were in the same class in elementary school and had fun as chaperones for field trips. I introduced them together in 2015.”

Once the trio discovered their mutual love of travel, they started listing itineraries and then fulfilling them. Their next stop: Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, on a mission to finally spot a moose.

“We plan our trips to see as much as we can during the day and relax at night with a good movie or playing card or dice games. We are always ready for the unexpected opportunity to change plans as needed,” Kerry told Woodlands Online. “Dawn has been to almost half of the national parks, and Brenda and I enjoy hiking.”

Even with this win that was as custom-fit as they come, Kerry and her two cohorts don’t plan to stop the sojourning there.

“There are so many places still to explore. We’d all love to go to Alaska to Denali Park. I’ve read Dana Stabenow’s Kate Shugak series that describes the land and wildlife and would like to explore it one day.”