Driving Miss Norma: An Inspirational Story About What Really Matters at the End of Life – A Charming Memoir of Defying Cancer and Choosing Adventure

When Miss Norma was diagnosed with uterine cancer, she was advised to undergo surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. But instead of confining herself to a hospital bed for what could be her last stay, Miss Norma—newly widowed after nearly seven decades of marriage—rose to her full height of five feet and told the doctor, “I’m ninety years old. I’m hitting the road.” 

And so Miss Norma took off on an unforgettable around-the-country journey in a thirty-six-foot motor home with her retired son Tim, his wife Ramie, and their dog Ringo. 

As this once timid woman says “yes” to living in the face of death, she tries regional foods for the first time, reaches for the clouds in a hot air balloon, and mounts up for a horseback ride. With each passing mile (and one educational visit to a cannabis dispensary), Miss Norma’s health improves and conversations that had once been taboo begin to unfold. Norma, Tim, and Ramie bond in ways they had never done before, and their definitions of home, family, and friendship expand. Stop by stop, state by state, they meet countless people from all walks of life—strangers who become fast friends and welcome them with kindness and open hearts.

Infused with this irrepressible nonagenarian’s wisdom, courage, and generous spirit, Driving Miss Norma is the charming, infectiously joyous chronicle of their experiences on the road. It portrays a transformative journey of living life on your own terms that shows us it is never too late to begin an adventure, inspire hope, or become a trailblazer.

Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle are professional nomads who retired by age 50 to travel full-time in an Airstream travel trailer with Ringo, their Standard Poodle. They have explored every state but Alaska, and consider Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula the closest thing to home. They continue to say "YES!" to living and have traded in their motor home for a boat, and will be cruising America's 6,000-mile Great Loop aboard M/V Miss Norma.