An American road trip with his French grandmother: 'It was now or never'

"I love to travel. I love to discover the habits of a new country. As a young woman, she was in a serious car accident - her doctors said she might not survive. But she made a full recovery, and would go on to explore Thailand and spend months in Japan."

"She was speaking with her hands, navigating by sight. She's a person who really likes to talk with people. In the fall of 2024, Montagard invited his grandmother to meet him in Las Vegas for an adventure. They would drive more than 2,000 miles on back roads through Nevada, Utah, Arizona, California, Colorado and New Mexico."

"As a photographer, I'm always thinking about new things to explore, but that wasn't the reason for this trip. I had this in mind for a long time with my grandmother. She was aging. I'm very close to her. At the time of the trip, she was 88. It was now or never."

Monique Uffholtz, 89, has maintained a lifelong passion for travel and exploration despite a serious car accident in her youth. She survived a near-fatal crash and went on to explore Thailand, Japan, and other destinations. Her grandson Arnaud Montagard, a photographer living in the United States, invited her to join him on a three-week road trip through the American West in fall 2024. They drove over 2,000 miles across Nevada, Utah, Arizona, California, Colorado, and New Mexico on back roads. Montagard, who cared for his grandmother during childhood in France, recognized the urgency of spending extended time together as her mobility and memory decline. The trip allowed them to reconnect after decades of limited time together, with Montagard documenting the journey through photography.

Read at The Washington Post