Former Governor Charts New Waters After Career In Politics

Like a ride on a boat, the life of a politician can have its ups and downs.

For Mary Fallin, it also provided a long career.

"When I was 35 years old, I was elected," Former Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin told News On 6’s Jonathan Cooper. "Served 12 years as lieutenant governor, then four years in Congress, and 8 years as governor."

Fallin’s career in politics ended in January 2019, after serving as the state's first and only female Governor.

It was a term with some ups: legislative wins; but also some downs: she left office with an approval rating below 25 percent.

"I am grateful I had the opportunity to serve when I did," Fallin said. "I'm also grateful that I'm not serving right now in, frankly, this political environment."

Now 69, Fallin has nine grandchildren and lives with her husband, Wade Christensen, in the Oklahoma City area…but that's not the only place the couple now calls home. For them, home is also on the open water.

"This boat was kind of just something we decided to do that was out of left field," Christensen said.

Last year, the couple found an expanded interest in boating.

"Being in Oklahoma all our lives, we had a ski boat in our past and the last boat we had, probably a decade or so ago, was a pontoon boat," Christensen said.

Instead of pontoons, Fallin and Christensen wanted a boat they could take out on the open ocean and major rivers. After finding one they liked, they then had to learn navigation and nautical lingo.

"We didn't know anything about navigating rivers, currents, receding and going up and down waterways or even crossing an ocean," Fallin explained.

The couple decided to navigate the Down East Circle: a navigational route that takes you three thousand miles from New York City, up the Hudson River, east on the St. Lawrence, and all the way around the eastern coast of Canada. To get the full east coast experience, the couple left from Florida.

"We left May 7th and started heading north, made it to New York and we crossed into Canada on July 1st, because that was their Canada Day," Fallin recalled.

She says the journey got more difficult from there.

"One time we left from Tapasack, Ontario, started out the weather was fine, and then about 10 minutes out we ran into very heavy fog."

Besides weather delays, they also encountered language barriers in that part of Canada, where many people speak French.

Despite the challenges, the couple says they met amazing people along the way. And on September 27, the couple crossed back to the U.S., passing the Statue of Liberty along the way.

"Wade saw someone from Belgium this week that had a boat similar to ours and he said, 'You know, most people aren't brave enough to do what you did,'" Fallin said. “That's really a hard trip because the ocean is hard, the rivers are swift."

The couple later learned only 12 to 15 people every year complete this route. Now, the two already have goals for their next trip.

Fallin encourages others to chase their dreams as well, even if it’s not out on the open sea.

"Life's short, if you have a dream or a desire or something you'd think would be fun, especially as you enter into your retirement years…go out and do it,” Fallin said.