It really doesn't take a lot of work to get your license nowadays. My daughter got her Tech when she was 12.
I love old ham equipment! I'll send you a PM.
Wow, are we talking 20 miles line of sight with just handhelds? Impressive! I know it can be done peak to peak, but usually if you are close to the ground, the curvature of the earth limits VHF/UHF comms to less than 10 miles, usually half that. Obviously if you have antennas and something to get them up in the air, then you can gain quite a bit of range.