More from Charlottesville In reporting about our activities, I have missed one of the more exciting days here. On December 30th we looked up the mountain behind the house and saw smoke rising below the far ridge. Very shortly there were local firefighters at the foot of the driveway looking for a way to get to the fire. Dan went up as a guide to show them the logging road that reaches an old CCC road that goes up toward the ridge. The firemen, in the mean time, had found an approach from above using a road built to service a radio tower on the high point. Firemen prefer to approach a fire from below so Dan opened the gate so they could use the private road below his property to get to the fire. A bit later in the day the owner of the land, where the fire was, arrived to see what was going on.

The wind switched and began to blow the fire down the ridge for a bit, but the firemen got it under control and left a small watcher force of Forestry Dept employees to keep an eye on the area. By the next morning they had left and the winds began to pick up. Malena left for a supply run only to find the road closed by a couple of fallen trees. While she called some neighbors, Dan grabbed his chainsaw and I joined him to see if we could open the road. It took about 60 minutes with help from Dan's neighbor David to cut the fallen wood and clear the road. David was busy cutting it into firewood lengths while Dan cut longer pieces with the plan of cutting them to wood stove length later in the day. Having cleared the road, Malena was free to go on her errands while the rest of us left for Richmond to go to the Science Museum.

The museum was a bit of a bust. It is intended for a slightly older audience than our gang and it is a bit used up. I doubt we will undertake that hour long drive again in a hurry. We did have to cope with high winds both ways on the drive.

This seems to have been enough excitement for a 36 hour period and we resumed a semblance of normal life - such as that is with two families plus grandparents living together for ten days.  ¶ 3:17 PM 0 Comments

  In Charlottesville All the flights worked just fine. This must be a miracle for our family at this time of year. What remains is Josh getting back to Rochester and Yechiel and family back to Los Angeles. The in between has been a great family gathering.

Backing up to my departure from Rochester with Yechiel in the navigator seat on December 24 at 1:40 PM. The Perils of Paul set in almost immediately. One of the draw bars on the tow bar was stuck and I could not extend it out to align the car. With Yechiel in the driver seat of the car we maneuvered the car into position to fasten it to the recalcitrant draw bar and used the car to extend it. Since we were not planning to disconnect before reaching Dan and Malena's and the tow seemed fine, we set off for a two day journey, with the emergency brake still set on the tow'd. It really is teamwork to get this rig on the road and with half the team missing something was bound to be missed. Fortunately I felt the drag and the ugly sounds before we did any damage. Yechiel went back to release the brakes and we started out again.

The drive was uneventful, if you call 5 hours of driving through wind and rain uneventful. We had plenty of fuel and there was no place to stop overnight along the way so between us we made it to the Flying J in Carlisle, PA by about 7, only to find they had no fuel to sell. We went across the street and fueled there (used the Dunkin Donut parking lot to get to the cross street), paying a nickel a gallon surcharge because I refuse to use a debit card (won't possess one). Crossed the highway again to the Flying J where the lot was almost empty, maybe eight other rigs in there for Christmas Eve. I was able to park along the western edge of the lot and put the living room slide over the curb so I could open it to allow the convertible sofa to open. In the morning we topped off propane and emptied the holding tanks before moving on. The drive to Covesville was even more uneventful as the weather had cleared. Yechiel had his second turn at the wheel and, I suspect enjoyed the opportunity to drive the motorhome.

After setting up in our usual position, I discovered that the door latch was hard to operate. Two issues to deal with. I was not able to retract the extended tow bar arm and had to leave it extended. A call to Jody at Roadmaster tech support yielded instructions for dismantling the bar and freeing it up with a vigorous cleaning to remove rust and road grime from the nose cone. This required dismantling the mechanism on that side and driving the interior bar out. Once it was out I was able to see the cause of the problem, the aforementioned rust and road grime under the split ring collar in the nose cone. Oops, in removing the bar I had lost a spring and pin that are crucial to the function of the tow bar, they are the locking mechanism. Some searching in the gravel and debris yielded the pin, but not the spring. Jody had not mentioned that parts might fly. Another call to him got me the promise of the needed parts. I relaxed and finished cleaning the parts I had and everything went into storage to wait for the the replacement parts. The door got harder and harder to operate.

Being unsure of myself in in fixing the tow bar and not knowing how to deal with the door, I called a local mobile RV mechanic, Ed Stigle, and had a conversation with him. He made himself available if I needed him for the tow bar, but declined to work on the door as he felt he did not have any particular capability with locks. He did suggest lubricating the parts that seemed to be causing a problem. After slapping myself on the forehead several times I applied three sprays of pure silicone lube to the accessible openings in the lock mechanism. Now Carol can open the door herself and I no longer have to climb in through the driver door to open the main door (boy am I happy I have that optional door). When the parts arrived on Friday it was a matter of ten minutes to reassemble the tow bar (with a tarp spread to catch flying parts) which now seems to be ready for service.

All during this time, from December 26th on we have taken several excursions with various groupings of the family. There was an ice skating trip and a trip to Richmond to go to the Science Museum and a trip to Lynchburg to play in the Children's Museum and several hikes and walks and even days playing around the house. Although this was holiday and vacation time, Dan dealt with calls from work almost every day, Yechiel received a copy of his latest article which needs corrections and a clarification or two before being published and I was in touch with several clients. Miriam's sister and her two children came for a visit on Sunday and Monday and her father, Les, arrived on Monday. Although they were not sleeping at the house, the added energy sure got things hopping. I think the maximum number we seated for dinner was 15 and the minimum was 11. Oh yes, grandson Josh arrived after Les' departure and his personality added to the mix made it all even sweeter. We celebrated his 17th birthday a couple of days early and he spent two hours in the kitchen preparing a white chocolate cake from a recipe from his mother. The rest of the meal was steak (for the omnivores) and artichoke and huevos rancheros (for the vegetarians) and salad it was a grand meal.

Malena and Miriam and Carol turned out meal after delicious meal. It is amazing that they were able to keep it all straight between the Kosher Vegetarian, the Vegetarian, the omnivores and a couple of special dietary needs. No one got the wrong food and we all ate very well. Now we are down to merely vegetarian and omnivore. We already miss Yechiel, Miriam, Azriel and Avtalyon who have driven to Arlington to see the Capital and the Mall before flying back to Los Angeles. I am not sure what we will do tomorrow (Monday January 5), Dan is still off work, but the children are back in school and I think the house will be very quiet for an hour or two.  ¶ 10:08 PM 0 Comments

  Preparing to go Cross Country, Again Sitting in the den in Rochester, excitement about getting on the road is starting to build. I have had my tooth ache (sinus congestion actually), my back ache has been treated with cortisone shots, Carol seems to be in good health as does my mother, a nursing home resident here in Rochester. Sunday, Carol (Ann Carol to those of you in the Art World) will fly to Los Angeles to accompany Miriam and the boys across the country by plane to Charlottesville, VA. Yechiel in the mean time will be flying to DC to attend a conference and give a paper and hopefully have a job interview or two. After the conference he will fly to Rochester on the 23rd to drive with me in the coach to Charlottesville after visiting his grandmother. Some time on the 26th we will all convene at Dan and Malena's house south of Charlottesville, VA for ten days of togetherness and family reunion, Josh (eldest grandson) will be flying into the middle of this gang and we expect visits from Miriam's sister and family and maybe even her father Les.

The weather outside is predicted to be frightful in Rochester. We hope to pull the coach into the yard on Thursday so Carol can get her stuff on board before leaving for LA. I plan to get the exterior mechanical work done in the breaks in the bad weather. Sometime late on the 24th or early on the 25th we will roll from here. I am excited to have a chance to share the coach and driving with one of my son's. They have both been on the coach and are familiar with it, but neither has ever traveled on it, much less driven and Yechiel will get his 5 or 6 hour driving lesson next week as we have 10 or 11 hour drive with a stop someplace in southern PA or MD along I 81.

When we leave Charlottesville sometime after the 6th we will be heading south west with the eventual goal of camping at Dockweilers Beach under the LAX departure runways. The route is open to debate. There is always the possibility of going immediately south to the Florida Panhandle if Carol's brother and sister-in-law will come north from St Pete to meet us. There is the possibility of traversing TN on I 40 before heading south. Of course there is also the middle route on I 20 from Birmingham AL as well. All routes take us through Texas. And in Texas we will stop in Austin for a visit with the Rainwaters. Then we need to get to Falcon SP and this year we want to return to Big Bend NP. Onward with a stop in Las Cruces, NM and then to Senator Wash on the CA/AZ border.

Egad, this sounds like a lot of planning with little unplanned time. Somehow I firmly expect that much of it will happen, whether on the way out or the way home. We have not made plans to meet our peripatetic friends the Hoggs or the Topfs among others and somehow I suspect that there are many people out there, including the Armstrongs who on reading this and later postings will pull us off our planned course for a visit, overnight or for a week as we get within a few hundred miles of each other.

Another project of mine to watch for. I have photographed our coach in almost every campground we have stayed in, Wal Marts included, and I am starting to gather those pictures into an album, for my own curiosity. I will put them up on my site on Picasa when I feel I am ready. I think by late January.

Stay safe, drive safe, and stay warm!

Oh, by the way, these postings are now available on my Facebook page.  ¶ 9:55 PM 0 Comments

  An Occasional Movie Revew Haven't posted one of these to this list before and haven't posted one
to the movie list in over a year either.

We just saw TransSiberian
http://www.firstlookstudios.com/films/transsiberian/
at The Little Theatre, for non Rochesterians this is an Art Film House.
If you are looking for a really well made film with fine acting and
good music. This may be the one. It spends much of its time on the
Trans Siberian Railroad with wonderful railroad shots including some
great old steam. There are also classic uses of the trains in the story
line.

This is not for the squeamish, it earns its R rating but Carol was not
in the least turned off. She says, "Edge of the seat"

The synopsis is:
One of those legendary train trips that people used to dream about
taking, the Transsiberian Express has probably seen better days. An
American couple, Roy (Woody Harrelson) and Jessie (Emily Mortimer),
decide to return home the long way from their recent sojourn in Peking
and meet another couple from the West, Carlos (Eduardo Noriega) and Abby
(Kate Mara), with whom they quickly form that tenuous bond that often
unites fellow travelers away from home. When Roy gets separated from the
train at a stopover, Jessie begins to realize that their compatriots
aren't exactly who or what they seem to be. But the real dangers of
their unforgettable trip have only begun to surface; Russian cops (Ben
Kingsley plays one), mobsters, and locals are still to come.

Enjoy, and if you see it please let me know what you think.

Paul

  ¶ 9:19 PM 0 Comments

  Pictures from the Winter '08 Trip I can't believe it has taken so long but this link will take you to the
photo summary of our Winter '08 travels.
http://picasaweb.google.com/xctraveler/Winter08?authkey=KNgdIOXRsIo

I will be posting photos from our summer travels Real Soon Now.

  ¶ 8:22 PM 0 Comments

  And We Go Around Lake Superior Made it out of St Paul, whew! But where are we going. We have in mind recapitulating a trip we made in 1975 or so when the boys were young and we visited in Edina, MN to attend Erica Rudin's Bat Mitzvah. So it was clear that out next stop had to be on or near the North Shore of Lake Superior. Carol, in the mean time, had been studying maps and found several interesting side trips that coincided with her desire to go kayaking in the Boundary Water Canoe Wilderness Area (BWCWA).

The first stop was Two Harbors, MN, just north of Duluth. Here we stayed in a lovely public campground on the edge of town and right on the lake. We started out by touring the town and its piers and lighthouse area. We were stunned to find a very small locomotive collection, two engines, one very old and quite small and the other, well I'll insert the pictures and they tell the story of this 2-8-8-4 monster built in 1943 (for those who don't have fond memories of steam the numbers mean the locomotive has 2 wheels on the front guide truck and a total of 16 drive wheels in two groups of 8 followed by 4 more wheels on the trailing truck).



We kept hearing noise from the area where the piers were located, but could not see what was going on. As we continued the tour we got around the other side of the harbor and were able to see a lake freighter between the piers taking on ore in a gravity feed down the chutes from the ore pockets on the pier as they were designed many years ago. Although the industry has declined significantly from its hey day in the '30s it still continues to mine and load ore for the making of steel in other ports on the Great Lakes. The next day we drove up to Gooseberry State park where we planned to see the falls and then bike to Split Rock Lighthouse about 6 miles further up the coast. We stayed a bit longer than planned at Gooseberry and then found that the bike trail out of the park was under construction and we would have to drive a couple of miles up the road to begin our ride. Ultimately our ride became a total of about 6 or 7 miles none of which were level. The downhills were terrifying and the uphills grueling, we enjoyed the ride and the visit to the lighthouse was fascinating. Of course there was much more to see than we were here last in 1975, a large visitor center has been built and much of the equipment has been restore or reconstructed. When the Coast Guard closed the lighthouse in the 60's they has stripped it of any useful equipment and essentially abandoned it to the state. This had been the most visited lighthouse in the service until that time so its reconstruction was a matter of time and money. I am sure it is once again one of the most visited lighthouse locations (along with several others we have visited :))

Showers and dinner back at Gee 2 prepared us for our next adventure further up the coast. We headed up to Grand Marais a mere 50 miles from the Canadian Border. There is the beginning of the Gunfllint Trail and we had set our sights on driving the trail and camping along it. We noted that all the campgrounds along the trail are operated by the National Forest Service. We have always found those parks among the prettiest. Given that we wanted to see Grand Marais as well we chose the first campground on the way, Devil Track Lake is its name and I can highly recommend any site in that campground, but #10 is truly exquisite. Carol backed Gee 2 into the site so our curb side faced the lake and the rest of the coach was nestled in the trees such that once we closed the front drapes we were totally private. The sites on either side of us were occupied and not much else in the campground. We were unaware of our neighbors and they of us unless we chose to step out on the road to greet them on the way to and from the boat launch. We inflated our Sea Eagle kayak and launched it on the lake for a mornings play right from our site. Our plan had been to go further into the BWCWA, but the shortest routes were measured in days and even the shortest hike we could find was 52 kilometers. We spent much of the rest of the day sitting in the sun, on our oh so private and beautiful campsite, reading. You should know that all of this luxury cost $7.50 a night (that is a 50% discount for surviving to 65). Thank you fellow taxpayers. Of course there was no running water, sanitary sewer or electricity available, but what do you want for $7.50 a night. We were well prepared for an extended stay as we had just been dry camping (with electric) for 7 nights at the convention. Our generator supplied all the electricity we needed. We did drive into Grand Marais twice, the second time because there was a semblance of cell service there so we could be in touch with family. This was our last time on the network until we reached Sault Ste Marie, two days later.

We left our site in the woods as the campground was starting to fill with the weekend approaching. The night before I realized that we would be crossing the border into Canada and I did not know what the current regulations were for carrying beef across the border northbound. In the freezer was a fine steak I had been carrying from Wegman's and in the refrigerator were cold cuts of beef for my lunch. I determined to move both into a cooler in the basement which was unlikely to be searched and to lie about carrying beef if asked. Frankly the tit for tat over beef at the border seems a bit childish, besides who wants to dump a wonderful steak, it would make the border crossing very expensive. They never asked! They did question us about firearms, not likely, and alcohol, which I minimized and stated it was all for personal consumption during our stay. The inspector was most concerned about the car in tow which I assured him was ours and we did indeed intend to bring it back to the States with us. He did not ask for papers.

Before we reached the border we entered the Grand Portage Reservation and stopped at Grand Portage National Monument. This was the location of the Rendezvous where the Voyageurs from Montreal met the trappers who had spent the winter collecting furs to trade with the East. It was managed by the Northwest Trading Company until the border between the US and Canada was established at which point the trading post was moved to Fort William on the other side of the border. This is a wonderful stop and the costumed interpreters were excellent. After a couple of hours we continued on to Thunder Bay ON where we eventually found our targeted campground and set up for a night. We thought we might stay two nights, but after a drive through of the town we decided that there was little of interest to hold us. In the morning we broke camp and drove to Fort William and parked in a very empty lot as the place was not yet open. This is done on a much grander scale than Grand Portage. It has been operating since the 70's and has a lot of people playing the roles of life at the fort in1815. It is better not to admit being from “America” as the Scots are not particularly well disposed to the people who defeated them in the War of 1812. We managed not to get arrested, but were challenged a couple of times in the name of fun. Among the highlights of our visit was a chance to join the crew of a Voyageur canoe and paddle it on the river that the Fort sits on. It is no small task to paddle a broad beamed 24 foot birch bark canoe with a couple of kids waving paddles at random. And two other adult visitors and a crew of two from the Fort.

By noon or so we worked our way back to the entrance and after lunch on Gee 2 we set off for Sault Ste Marie where I am sitting now in Glenview Cottages and Campground. We are just down the road from Blueberry Hill where we remember staying with the kids on that long ago trip. We will be going on a Lock Tour soon. It is a two hour boat ride that includes going up the American Locks and down the Canadian Locks and a tour of the area as time permits after the locks.  ¶ 9:25 PM 0 Comments

  Lost (and Found) After seven days at the Minnesota State Fairground outside St Paul, we decided to spend a couple of days seeing the area so we took our shortest one day drive yet – 6 miles – to Lowry Grove RV Park. It has a good laundry, full hookups and apparent proximity to everything we want to see . It is otherwise over priced and the sites are small and difficult to access amidst the broken down seasonals and mobile homes.

Friday after setting up and doing laundry we set out to see the State Capitol in St Paul and the Cathedral just down the street. Both are very impressive and worth the stop, bring quarters to the Capitol as there is no place to get them and the meters take 6 for an hour, allow at least an hour for the tour. The parking at the Cathedral was free and depending on your interests it could take 30 minutes or as much more as your inclinations suggest.

Upon leaving the Cathedral at about 4:30 PM we decided that a good plan for the day was to drive to Mall of America in Bloomington, just south of Minneapolis, and take the light rail into the Nicolette Mall in Minneapolis and have dinner at a sidewalk cafe. The drive there was uneventful and Germaine got us there with no problems. We parked in the West lot only to discover that the train ran from the East lot. This enabled us to walk through the entire mall on the second level and get a good overview of a gigantic mall with a huge indoor amusement park in the middle. Amazing! We caught the train for $2 each for 6 hour tickets and wondered as it began to fill to bursting. Only after the third stop did we notice the many Twins shirts and realize that the stop two before ours was the Metrodome where the Twins play, yup it was a game night.

We finally got to Nicolette Mall and took a nice stroll before selecting Zelo's as the place for dinner. It was a wonderful meal and when we finally got to look inside it turns out to be a very fancy restaurant as well as having fine food. Carol and I had noted during dinner that women going in to the restaurant were very well dressed in fancy outfits and high heels, unlike many others on the street. Following dinner we resumed our stroll and were drawn in by the sound of music, well some might call it music. It was Rock. Minneapolis celebrates summer with the Aquatennial (that is not a misspelling) and it includes loud music, beer and too much smoking of all sorts. The crowd was young and in a party mood. The characteristic that drew us closer to the stage, at the risk of our hearing was a Hammond B3 organ playing at the front of the group. Too much noise and echo to really enjoy it. We bailed out and headed for the train.

Oops, the game wasn't over but the Twins had a 6 run lead and the fans were headed home. Another train filled to overflowing. By 10:15 or 10:30 we were in the car ready to get to Gee 2 and some sleep. It was not to be for some time. You must have read that a bridge over the Mississippi has fallen down, try to tell that to a Garmen Nuvi 350 GPS, it refused to understand and would not reroute us. Worse I35W Northbound was closed further south and we could not even reach the bridge that was open. We found ourselves on surface streets with no idea where we were. A gas station operator sent us back south to the Mall of America to start over by going east to I 35E to go north. The GPS did not like this and kept trying to turn us around, I kept hoping we would get to where the I35E route would be the more direct route. We reached that point finally only to find the road closed for weekend construction. Back to surface roads, at least by now we were on the east of the river as is the campground. No one we spoke to had any idea how to get anyplace without the Interstates and we could not trust the GPS as it also assumed the interstates were open. Finally, I put in the Fairgrounds as my destination, figuring that I had gotten to the campground from there once and I could do it again. ALMOST!! we ran into two more closed exits blocking our access to the campground. Another 3 miles out of the way and we finally pulled into Lowry Grove after 90 minutes of not having a clue of how to get there. I kissed the hood on Gee 2 and Carol cheered my finally getting us there.

Today has been clean up and relax so far. There is Raptor Center not far from here and other things to see that will not require the use of interstates. We do wonder what the Republicans are going going to do here in late summer when they overlap the State Fair and the road repair will not be finished. The locals are trying to see how far away they can get!

No plan for tomorrow, yet, but I think we will head for the north shore and ultimately, Duluth and over the top of the Great Lakes.  ¶ 12:25 PM 0 Comments