Local Man Continues Rving and Traveling in His 80s and 90s.

It’s not very often we sell an RV to someone approaching their 90th birthday, but Noteboom RV did so just today. Paul “Jak” Eich purchased a motor home which he will be taking on his next adventure to Texas this fall. 

The Sheldon, Iowa native has been travelling the world for decades. In 1998, he completed his record-setting adventure through North America. He became the only person who has driven in the 48 contiguous states, as well as Hawaii and Alaska. He also drove into Mexico’s federated republic then comprising of 31 states.  Eich also travelled across 12 state provinces and territories in Canada.

He toured Greece, Israel, Poland, Japan and Russia, just to name a few. Eich was the first American to be granted a special permit to visit the otherwise off limits of Sevastopol. It was where the Russian Black Sea Fleet and nuclear submarines are based. 

In 1999, he travelled more than 3,600 miles to Honduras to deliver school necessities to children. They delivered notebooks, pens, glue chalk, basketballs, typewriters, maps and globes. Unloaded gallons of paint which was to be used to repaint the existing shack they called a school.

Three years later, Eich retired in Zitacuaro, Michoacan, Central Mexico, located about 120 miles from Mexico City. He lived there for 14 years, though it was one of the poorest areas of the country. People didn’t have electricity and they slept on dirt floors. Yet Eich loved the people and the culture. He continued to support the small community, constructing a small home for a woman and building a school for the children. 

Decades earlier, Eich attended Sheldon schools in the late 1940s. He went on to join the Navy during the Korean War. He was disabled during the war with permanent hearing loss. The Veteran was a school custodian for 25 years, and later managed a pipestone mine, which enabled him to travel extensively. 

In 2013, Eich moved to Little Rock, Iowa  to tend to his health. Yet he continues to take boxes of books and maps of the world to Iowa students so they can learn about the world. He still stays in contact with his “kids” in Mexico and Honduras and continues to assist them in any way he can. Now just two weeks shy of his 90th birthday, he continues to support his adopted family by making wood gifts and sending the sales profits to them. 

Eich is a true traveler and we admire his zest for life and passion for helping others. Noteboom RV salutes Paul “Jak”Eich for his service in the U.S. Navy and we wish him continued adventures!