Gee 2 on the Road

Incidents as We Travel West

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:53:00 +0000

On our return to Florida we spent two days in St Petersburg visiting with Carol’s brother and sister-in-law. The KOA at Madeira Beach that we stayed in is tucked in between an industrial strip and the water. It is bordered by the Pinellas Bike and Foot Trail also. It is a nice enough KOA, but it’s location makes it one of the priciest I can remember. It had a lot of amenities that we have no use for generally as they are for families with young children.

On our way back from Miami, the vibration from the tires on the RAV4 which I had flat spotted December ‘08 became far more severe. I started to worry that something would come apart and I drove with both hands firmly on the wheel. Nothing bad happened. The next day during our visit, Art had some errands and I said I would drive and find a tire place to check out the tires. We to went a local place and they got the car up on a lift and within minutes I was buying two new tires. The left rear had a flap of rubber peeling off the tread! and right rear was not that bad, yet. The car drives so smoothly now it almost feels like new.

Our visit was very satisfying and Carol appreciated having the additional time with her Art and Natalie. This was not a planned visit and we did not think we would see them until they come to Rochester in May. Bonus!

Leaving St Pete we decided that going up I 75 looked boring and we chose to take 19, the local highway out of town and up the coast. We had hopes of seeing more of Florida, and we did. Boring! We have done that and do not need to do it again. There was not much to see and the only benefit was the opportunity to keep our speed down without hindering traffic on the interstate. We spent the night in a Wal Mart parking lot in the Panhandle. When I made a routine walk around someplace down the road from there the next day, I noted that a little black cap on the passenger side arm of the tow bar had gone missing. I did not think much about it as the lock was set firmly.

We decided to make a two night stop in Louisiana so we could satisfy two desires. Carol wanted to do a Swamp Tour and we both wanted to go to Shabbat services in Lafayette, if there was a place to go. We found our way to Poche Fish’n Camp outside of Breaux Bridge LA and from there with some difficulty we found our way to Lake Martin where we joined a group with Butch for a two hour swamp tour that turned into a three hour tour. The weather was perfect and no one, even Butch, seemed to be in a hurry to get back to shore.

For more pictures Click Here

We cleaned up and Carol finished a bean salad for the covered dish dinner that Temple Shalom was having. We had a wonderful evening, the dinner was fine, Rabbi Barry Weinstein and all those present made us feel welcome and we made a lot of friends. It was a bit strange attending a Friday night service with a Torah reading, but I do know that is common in smaller congregations that are glad to get together a minyan once a week. If we are passing through on Shabbat again we will certainly stop there.

Saturday morning found us in a very different setting. Daniel, a fiddler who was at the Shabbat service, had told us that there was a Zydeco Breakfast at Cafe des Amis

in Breaux Bridge starting at 8:30 AM. We had to go! Great music, good food and plenty of dancing. We were back at the coach preparing to roll by 11. After hitching up in the driveway we had our first oh-oh!. That missing cap was more than just ornamental apparently. The passenger side bar did not latch as we pulled onto the highway. After some finagling with the coach and the car, we managed to get the bar to latch and we set off down the road wondering if it would hold, not the most comforting thought. I’d been wanting a new tow bar for a year to get a better release mechanism, but had not been able to justify the expense. Now I had my justification, but no local dealer had one in stock. The nearest place I could find what I wanted was Camping World in Houston, TX, only four hours down the road. I called and verified that they were open until 5, and open on Sunday at 11 and they had what I wanted in stock. Without pressing too hard, we arrived there at 4:45 and by 5 Pm I was installing the replacement on the back of Gee 2. I have replacement parts to rebuild the old bar and will fix it up when I get a chance and see if I can find buyer.

Next stop Goose Island State Park. I will post that later.

Cuba – or A Trip through Gate 19 1/2

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:18:00 +0000

On route to Havana we arrived at Miami International Airport the night before by car from St Petersburg, FL. We needed to be there for an orientation dinner at Rare Steak house in Miami Beach. We are told to meet at the double escalators in concourse J at 6 AM. There is no flight information, or gate information and no one seems to know what airline we will be flying on. Of course there will be no posting of a flight to Cuba anyplace in the airport. Gate 19 1/2 (read your Harry Potter)!

Finally at the counter we learn it is a TACA Airline charter flight and the Airbus A320 is full with our 16 and the rest Cuban Americans going to see their families and carrying all kinds of baggage for them. The paperwork is standard international stuff and the flight is an easy 60 minutes. Arrival is at Havana’s Jose Marti field, instead of the main terminal we roll up to Terminal 2, reserved for the Miami flights. Outside the line up of billboards are all anti US propaganda, this is just an introduction to barrage of propaganda on every billboard we see. An hour later after passing though customs and immigration we board bus 272 Rudolpho at the wheel and Aliane at the microphone.

Our first stop is the Plaza de la Revolution with the famous image of Che Guevara and the memorial to Jose Marti in the middle.

After a stop at the Memorial to the “Assassinated Ethel and Julius Rosenberg” we finally were taken to the Parque Central Hotel – there was no toilet on the bus!

After lunch we had several hours free, allowed because there was no way to assume the flight would be on time or how long we would spend in formalities of entry. Carol and I set off on our own to explore the neighborhood which is old Havana. Oh my! everything is decrepit. Buildings look like a sneeze would bring them down. We walked the length of the Prado, from the park in front of the hotel to the harbor waterfront. We returned by the route the bus had taken on Agramonte, past the museum of the Revolution – which we were to visit later in the trip.

We continued our walk to The Floridita a bar that claims to have invented the daiquiri and was a haunt of Hemingway when he was in Havana. I am told there is a statue of him at the bar, but the smoke, crowd and noise kept us out. Everyone smokes cigars in Havana, except Carol and me. At the Floridita we picked up Obispo Blvd a lively shopping street where it is possible to buy many items that are not part of the standard ration. This is a place where the only currency is the CUC or Convertible Peso. These are equivalent to about $1 US and the internal conversion rate is 25 Cuban Pesos to 1 CUC. Standard salary is 250 Cuban Peso per week. An ice cream cone on the street was 1 CUC. Cubans with no source of hard currency don’t have many ice cream cones! We each had one, they were delicious and we did not get sick!

Back at the hotel we sat with feet up for thirty minutes and then had a briefing by Ariel and Johanna, JDC Staffers from Argentina, on what we could expect to see and how the economy did (or did not) work. Unfortunately as soon as the lights went down we both took turns drifting off to sleep. Refreshed, we boarded the bus for the Hotel National which has hosted many famous people dating back into the 30’s. This includes many stage and movie stars as well as famous gangsters such as Meyer Lansky. We were welcomed with Mojitos (a light rum drink) as we would be where ever we went. Dinner was wonderful and Carol was surprised when the beautiful baked potato they brought her turned out to be an appetizer and was followed with a wonderful plate of grilled vegetables. This was to be the story of the trip, Carol had wonderful vegetables where ever we went. Our food was also very good. I did not expect to have steak in Havana. I am sure it cost a month’s salary or more in local currency.

After a night’s sleep we started Friday with visits to the two Jewish Cemetaries (Ashkenazic and Sephardic) located on the edge of Havana. For all the pictures Click Here. Both of these cemeteries have their own Holocaust Memorials. There are signs of decay everywhere and some signs that work is underway to repair some of the damage. All of the workers are government employees and all burials are paid for by the government. The stones and monuments are paid for privately.

On the drive we pass by a monument to Castro’s hubris. Havana had been offered the chance to host the Pan American Games in 1991, this occurred just as The Soviet Union was failing and pulling the props out from under the Cuban economy. The four lane divided highway to the stadia is crumbling like all of the infrastructure we saw. Our first sight of the biggest stadium was the giant light stands reaching into the sky, they seemed strange at a distance and soon we could see why, the lights were all gone. As we got closer we could see that everything else was showing signs of abandonment as well. I have no pictures as we did not stop and the view from the bus was fleeting.

Next stop Adath Israel, the Orthodox Synagogue.

There are more pictures. This entrance stands out on a street of dilapidated unkempt buildings.

We met the cantor/treasurer/leader (not the President) and visited the small chapel they use daily and weekly and then upstairs to the large main sanctuary that is only used for community gatherings and holidays. There is also a workshop for elderly and we found a doll they had made to buy, it is now added to the various other soft toys that gather on our bed during the day.

We had lunch with community members at a wonderful covered outdoor restaurant. We had a chance to learn about life in Cuba. Melanie, who sat with us, teaches dance to the youth and is a youth leader for the community. She lives with her husband, her two children with him and his two older children and the eldest son’s wife in a two room apartment (that is rooms not bedrooms!). They are reasonably well off since they do not have to share with a fourth generation, yet! Apartments stay in the family. they cannot be bought, sold or transferred out of the family. According to our guide, Alain – himself a government employee, the only way to acquire an apartment or house is to inherit it. He lives with his girlfriend in her family apartment, she has no family so it is just the two of them. They are on the third floor of a five story building with a non functioning Otis elevator. It cannot be repaired so long as the embargo continues.

After a break, which we used to rest a bit, We returned to The Patronata for Shabbat Services and dinner. After a brief return to the hotel we set out for a late night adventure. We went to the show at the Tropicana. This show has been given nightly since 1939. For more details Click Here. We enjoyed the spectacle and returned to our hotel exhausted, but ready to forge onward in the morning.

On Saturday we resumed seeing sites where JDC is working such as the Sephardic Hebrew Center, which is the smallest and least restored of the three centers in Havana. We also had a visit to a farmer’s market, one of many in Havana. Here famers who have met their quotas can bring surplus crops for sale to the public. Generally the sales are in Cuban Pesos and as you can see even here the prices are controlled Sanitation for the meat is not!

We continued on to a visit to the Catholic Cemetery, which is a grand necropolis covering hundreds of acres and reflecting the desire of Cubans to compete for prestige even in death. The pictures are included in the web album.

We toured Old Havana to see the restoration work propelled by the city Historian who has a “license” to develop commercial properties and use the revenue from the properties to renovate more properties. Sounds like a very Capitalist idea to me. Some buildings are not likely to be restored as they house private dwellings and offer no profit motive.

That is Alain, our guide (spelling is questionable). He took us to a Jewish “themed” hotel in the district as well.

I think I know the photographer.

We ended afternoon with a return to the Patronata to see the adults, young adults and children dance and entertain us. We concluded the evening with a farewell dinner and chance to discuss the events we had experienced in the prior 48 hours. We were later joined by the leaders of the community for the dinner and somehow a bus load of tourists from Boca Raton JCC ended up in our private room as well.

Sunday saw us leave the hotel packed for departure with a stop at the Patronata for a chance to dance with the children and say goodbye. We took the long way to the Patronata with a stop at Papa Hemingway’s House on the outskirts of town. Here is the typewriter where he wrote standing up. On the way to the airport we stopped at the Habana Riviera and finally Lennon Square – that is NOT a misspelling. Someone stole the glasses off the stature so there is an assigned guard with a pair of glasses he puts on the statue for an tourists who want to see it.

What we saw is a vibrant Jewish community reviving from the repression of all religion by the Castro Regime until 1992. This is a small remnant and it is doubtful it would have any existence without the support of JDC and the goods brought in by many Jewish groups visiting. The touring of sites and places, including the Museum of the Revolution really helped set the environment within which this community must continue to exist. I doubt that our understanding of the community would be as complete without it.

Paul the Constructor

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:21:00 +0000

I guess the word has gone out that I am reasonably handy and will help with any construction project that is underway. At our son Dan’s, among other projects at other times, I helped with the construction of a new home for their 20 chickens. When we arrived at Carol’s bother Arthur’s home he was in the midst of assembling a piece of kd furniture (before I get the question – kd means “knocked down” or “some assembly required”).

This project, with a well written set of directions, required a certain amount of agility and strength in the hands. After a before dinner scotch (Glenlivet 15 year old!) and a delightful dinner to soften me up, I was invited to try my hand at the assembly. Less than an hour later it was done; a very nice night table was added the bedroom and I had finished yet another of my traveling construction projects.

I cannot imagine where my next one will be, but I am sure it will happen.

Next stop Cuba – I hope I don’t have to build anything there.

A Surprise Visit in Florida

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:03:00 +0000

As we drove along I 95 thinking about the days to come and Cuba in particular this car appeared in front of us. We expect to see more cars like this in Cuba.

#—#--#

I am not sure who was more surprised. As we looked at distance, time and bitter cold weather on the Georgia coast we started to figure where to spend some time and have some fun. It became clear that, on the route we had chosen, we were going to pass within a mile of Deer Creek, the winter home of Shelley and Norm Topf. A phone call confirmed that there was an empty slot right next to them available for our use. 4 hours later we were maneuvering the coach into the slot under the motorhome port on the site next to them. Shelley prepared a wonderful vegetarian soup, hot soup is wonderful in very cold weather. We ate and talked all evening.

Sunday brought clear crisp air. It is still cold all over the East and deep into Florida. We are not leaving hoses connected overnight and propane supply is an issue. Enough with the icebox already.

We decided to drive to Bok Tower National Monument about half and hour south. Rather then describe them here is their web site: Bok Tower. Although it was cool the sunlight was warm and the tower is splendid and any gardens laid out by Frederick Law Olmstead are worth spending some time in. We were joined in this foray by Steven and Marcy Kraus, friend of the Topfs and people we have met at various FMCA Rallies. We arrived just in time for a recorded carillon performance on the Tower carillon. totally magnificent.

We finished the day with dinner at Cherry Pocket Steak and Seafood. It is an old Florida Fishing shack which looks like it is about to fall down without the help of a passing breeze. The food was wonderful, excessively plentiful and not terribly pricey. We rolled out satisfied.

After a while in Shelley and Norm’s coach we are back in Gee 2 preparing to go to sleep and head for St Pete in the AM.

Road Day One and Two

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:12:00 +0000

Don’t worry, I am not likely to post daily, but I have time this afternoon.

We set out from Malena and Dan’s at about 9 AM. I had chosen a Passport America (half off regular price for us cheapskates) campground south of Greensboro. When we set up the route it looked like about 4 hours. Short for a first day, but heading toward the coast there were not a lot of choices and no Passport America stops.

Early on I discovered that cruise control was being intermittent. Most frustrating at the beginning of thousands of mile of driving. After an hour the everything in the coach was up to operating temperature and dried out and cruise resumed working as expected. This is the second time it was not worked well after an extended storage in cold damp conditions. I had the entire module replaced in the spring and it is no better. I think I will ignore it until it fails again.

As we rolled we agreed that a stop at Replacements Ltd was definitely worthwhile. Especially since we would be passing within 10 miles of it. There is always something we need, just a month or so ago and sterling teaspoon had found its way into the disposal. We pulled into their lot and had lunch and a wonder through the showroom and finally we bought the replacement spoon.

An hour down the road we pulled in to Cross Winds Family Campground which is very new looking and VERY empty. As I spoke to Glenda, the owner she told me that this campground is less than two years old and that explained why they were not listed in the Passport America directory, just on their web site. We are an hour south of Greensboro and about the same north of Charlotte NC. The owners are very friendly and facility is very well set up. Every site is full hookup and cable and Wifi. The sites are level and large. For our RV friends, if you are in the area, you might want to stay a night, especially if you belong to Passport America.

The second day on the road was mostly uneventful. We left early and rolled most of the day to Savannah GA. The only stop was at the Darlington Speedway Museum in Darlington, SC. This is a motley collection of several NASCAR race cars, pictures to follow, and a Hall of Fame that is of interest to serious fans, but is poorly executed. The best part of the stop was a quick look at the track itself. It was a fine place to stop for lunch and the tour was only $5, Carol skipped it, so the lunch stop cost one museum entrance.

Our scare for the day was one idiot driver who is lucky she and her passenger are alive. As we were passing an on ramp at about 62 mph (in a 70 zone) she started to pull in front of me at about 40 mph. I honked the horn, flashed the lights and stomped on the brakes. Carol was working with the GPS setting up our next stop and her first indication that we were in trouble was the sudden deceleration. She had some unrepeatable things to say as our pulses slowed and I regained road speed. I must admit to some justified road rage, displayed as an evil raised fist out the window as they passed me a few miles down the road. I have a lot of reasons for holding my speed to 62 and avoiding these sorts of incidents is one of them.

The day ended in a mediocre campground (Biltmore Gardens) in the Savannah area. This is our second mediocre to miserable camping experience in this area. We like the city, but. . .

More in a day or two. We leave for Cuba next Thursday, January 14.

VA or VT

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:34:00 +0000

I know when we left Rochester we drove south not east. I know I am sitting in Dan and Malena’s driveway which is in VA. But it feels like VT or Rochester. The coach still has snow on the roof from the snow storm two weeks ago. The temperature has managed to get over 40 once since we got here. The overnight temperatures have been in the teens and my feet are cold. Am I complaining? YES! I am burning about five gallons of propane daily and we are keeping the living room slide pulled in to reduce the volume to heat. Other than that everything is great.

Dan and I have been working on building a new hen house to keep them warmer. It will not be done in time for this major cold, but we are well along. Not sure Dan will get it set up before they leave for Mexico.

The other night I noticed that the power from the house had gone off. It came back on and then went off again a couple of times. In the morning I fired up the generator and kept it going all day until the power was restored mid afternoon. The kids kept their house warm with the wood stove and Malena even cooked on it because there was no power for the electric stove. The only casualty so far is a frozen pipe to the cold water in the back of the coach. No onboard showers until that thaws. I hope when it thaws that the pipe has not been broken.

We had dinner at the Blue Mountain Brewery with the Robbs last night (go back to one of first trips, we met the Robbs in San Antonio in a parking garage). It was a blast to spend time with them again. Every time we get together we are reminded how we had so much fun together on the first meeting. Today we will take the propane tanks in for another refill and stop for lunch in the Barracks Road Mall with Bill Freedman, a high school classmate.

Lunch at Aromas with Bill was fine. Always a pleasure to spend time with him.

OK, the pipes to the rear thawed and the temperature has risen enough to push the slide out again. I have shoveled off the roof so I can go down the road without killing someone. Today (Wednesday) I went to drain the holding tanks ad found the macerator (sewage pump) frozen, aargh! Waited a few hours and the sunshine and rising temperatures (38!) thawed that so the holding tanks are now empty. Rollout is tomorrow Thursday the 7th.

Tried to reach our grandson Josh for his 18th birthday with no luck so far.

Murphy Assists our Departure

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:56:00 +0000

We rolled out of bed early on December 29 to get an early start on the drive to Dan and Malena’s in Charlottesville. The coach was sitting in their driveway and we were going to drive though in one day in the tow’d (our RAV4). There were boxes and suitcases scattered on the floor and I wondered how everything would fit into the back of our mini SUV, even with the seats folded up. As we ate breakfast we started moving stuff into the car. It soon became clear that everything would fit just fine and there were only a few boxes left to move.

Murphy picked this moment to visit. I was transferring five cans of gingerale into a wine case to consolidate one more item when one of the cans tumbled onto the floor and hit a corner of a cabinet putting a small hole in the side. Gingerale sprayed over the floor and up the wall as I grabbed the can and tossed it out the door onto the deck, where I will find it come Spring. After cleanup we finished loading and closed up the house. I opened the garage door onto 9 degree, blowing snow weather. The forecast said we had to tolerate this for about 60 miles and then we would be out of the lake effect area and into clear skies.

Clear skies couldn’t come soon enough. The roads were not bad, but every passing car and truck threw ice and sleet onto the windshield and the windshield washers froze up. I drove the 60 miles with declining visibility, stopping every so often to scrub the windshield. After a stop we saw some clear blue sky and could see rainbows to either side of the sun. An omen! Murphy was left behind. The rest of the drive was uneventful, other than finding that Tedd’s Landing (landmark for those who run US 15 through Pennsylvania) was not open for lunch any more. Perkins, anyone?

It snowed in Virginia over Christmas – 28 inches at the farm. It has not warmed up much since. We found Gee 2 under a blanket of snow, but with paths shoveled to the door and bins where Dan had gone to find an electric heater and a water jug for use in the house during the storm. Tuesday night we moved it back into its usual spot (ten feet forward from where we had parked it), hooked up the electric and used the water jug for wash water since I was not up to dewinterizing the water system in the dark and cold and I was tired from the drive. Wednesday we got everything back into live aboard mode and we are cozy and comfortable. Each morning the children come out to play for 30 minutes before doing their chores and schooling.

Here is Carol (Bubbeh) reading to Alex and Corey:

and this is the view down the driveway as I am writing:

New Year, New Tools, Reprise the Route

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:25:00 +0000

It has been a while since i have had anything to post here. After getting back from Vermont and the Adirondacks, Gee 2 spent most of its time in storage. For Thanksgiving we were invited to Malena and Dan’s. We decided that it would make some sense to move Gee 2 to their yard so we could have some space and add to their sleeping quarter. Then it seemed reasonable to leave it there until time to start out winter travels at the end of December.

As I write these words, Dec 11, I am on AirTran flight 60 bound for Los Angeles to visit with Yechiel and Miriam and the boys. Or as Carol might say the boys, but we will spend time with the parents as well. Some family news; Yechiel has left academia and is in early times as a life insurance salesman. I wonder where he got that idea.

Our winter itinerary has some very definite stops and then gets really fuzzy. On or about December 29 we will drive the tow’d from Rochester to Covesville for an extended visit. They are leaving for Mexico on January 10 so we will depart on the 8th or 9th and drive through to St Petersburg, FL for a visit with Carol’s brother and sister-in-law. On the 13th we will drive the tow’d to Miami airport, with a stop in Boynton Beach to visit Aunt Evelyn, in preparation for a flight to Havana, Cuba with a group from the JDC. Upon our return on Sunday the 17th we will drive directly back to St Petersburg. Our current plan is to head west on the 20th. From there on it is really fuzzy. No route plan yet, and no specific dates to be anyplace.

Travels this Fall have included a driving trip to NYC for the JDC Board Meeting in October which included a stop at Peg and Jon Kerner’s in Pound Ridge. Jon was my college roommate back in the dark ages and the four of us were good friends when we lived in Manhattan in the late ‘60s. We had not seen each other in many years and it was wonderful to have some time with them in there new house. Jon was always a collector, but he has become a major Wedgewood collector and there are hundreds of pieces displayed in the living room, and other places too. The drive in the Prius was uneventful and it was really thrilling to drive 350 miles and stop to buy 8 gallons of gasoline for the trip home. No comparison to the coach, $200 to get to Dan’s!

I am in a chatty mood with no real time constraints so I may just wander on for a bit.

It is now December 23 and there is two feet of snow in Virginia and very little on the ground here in Rochester, so much for our plans to get Gee 2 out of the weather. We plan on driving down there on Tuesday the 29th, weather permitting.

A Summer Mini Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:50:00 +0000

We are on a 3 week trip in the immediate northeast. First stop Keuka Lake State Park to visit with Deb Friedman and Scott Mackler, then on to the Adirondaks, too long since we have been there. From there on to Shelburne VT for an overnight with Sandy and David before entering the Essex Fairgrounds for the FMCA Northeast Rally. After that is up in the air. We need to return to Rochester by the 22nd and we fly to St Petersburg FL on the 26th for five days. Whew!

As we set out from Rochester I noted oil on the right rear wheel. A stop at Balantyne RV suggested a leaking seal, but there is plenty of oil in the differential and we determined it would be ok to travel so long as it did not get worse. The beginning of 4 AM wake ups for me, one more thing to worry about. 350 miles and so far no problems. Need to go another 80 to get to the rally, then we shall see.

Our first stop was at Keuka Lake State Park, only 51 miles from home. Why have we not explored this park before? Probably because it is so close. After arrival late afternoon on Tuesday, we set up and drove to Deb and Scott's for wine on the dock

From August '09 Trip NY and VT

and great food and more wine on the deck. We agreed to lunch at Knapp Winery

From August '09 Trip NY and VT

and a shopping trip to Long Point Winery where we tasted our way through most of their selections. I bought three bottles of their Zinfandel Reserve, Deb and Scott bought more, but they don't have to find storage in a motorhome. We returned to their cottage after a stop at Gee 2 for us to change clothes and for Carol to pick up a salad she had made. Wine on the dock turned into a wonderful boat ride after which we had dinner. As we were cleaning up, there was the sound of fireworks on the lake and a trek down to the dock was rewarded with a splendid fireworks show in Branchport at the northern end of the lake. It was time to say farewell and be on our way north in the morning.

On Thursday morning we began to retrace roads we have not driven since we started RVing. We took I 81 north to the Ft Drum exit north of Watertown. We stopped at Longways to fuel up (a frequent stop back in the 90's when Dan was at Ft Drum) and continued up Rt 3 to Saranac Lake Village where we picked up 86 through Lake Placid past the entrance to Whiteface Mountain and took the turn into Lake Placid/Whiteface Mountain KOA. We are too big to reserve in most Adirondack State Campgrounds so here we are in a KOA for the first time in over a year. This is a very nice KOA with pleasant staff and plentiful clean restrooms and showers, we needed the showers because we did not a sewer connection and Carol was doing some fun cooking which uses water. Our first day in the ADK we reprised a climb we had done in 1965, Ampersand Mountain. I think the trail in has gotten longer and the steepness of the ascent has surely increased in the ensuing years. We summited in time for lunch and the weather was perfect to enjoy the views.

From August '09 Trip NY and VT

On the way down Carol developed a sore toe and my back began to ache a bit – oh oh. The next day we set out to climb Cascade via Porter, but we couldn't find the trail head along rt 73 and decided to hike in to Round Pond and continue on to Noon Mark another sub 4,000 ft mountain. Three hours on the trail found us a half a mile from the summit of Noon Mark and the previous half mile had taken an hour – Noon Mark is steep! We were running out of time and calories, It was already 2:30 and it appeared we would not exit the trail until after 7 if we kept at it. We turned back after appreciating the views at the halfway clearing.

From August '09 Trip NY and VT

As we hiked out Carol's toe became very sore and my back was pretty bad. This was to be our last hike on this trip. As I write 10 days later, Carol is healed and my back is fine, but I think we will reconsider trying 6 hour mountain climbs on consecutive days for a while.

The next stop was Shelburne VT for an overnight in my sister and brother-in-law's driveway on the way to the NEAR (North East Area Rally) of FMCA in Essex Junction,VT. On our way from the house to the rally we made a planned stop at the home of Starbase a program for middle schoolers run by the Vt National Air Guard at the air guard base adjacent to Burlington Airport. The site visit was inspired because our foundation has funded transportation for the program for three years. The program is quite thrilling and visit included a tour of the active duty base as well with flight simulator and live takeoff a walk through the maintenance hangar where F 16s were in various states of repair. All in all a very exciting tour arranged by my brother-in-law David Coen.

From August '09 Trip NY and VT

As we set up at the Champlain Exposition Fairgrounds I was hoping to find someone to take a look at the right rear wheel which had continued to ooze oil through out the trip. None of the vendors had a chassis man present so a call to my road service (Coach-Net) yielded the name of a local truck chassis specialist – Bailey's Chassis and Spring – who promptly sent a man over to check out the differential oil level and look at the wheel. He found that it was leaking and there was plenty of oil in the differential to continue on. He refused any payment, so I decided to bring the coach there for the repair. But first we called a friend we had not seen in many years, Brad Schwartz. Brad and his wife Jacquie run the Inn at Buck Hollow Farm outside of Fairfax VT. They invited us to park the coach in their yard and we stayed for a two night visit.

From August '09 Trip NY and VT

The Inn is still quite lovely and we had a wonderful visit. Leaving there we retraced back to Essex Junction for an appointment at Bailey's Chassis and Spring where the right axle was pulled the outer seal replaced and everything restored in just under an hour. I slept very well last night at Apple Island Resort in the Champlain islands!

Tomorrow we will leave Vermont and head for an overnight stop in Sackets Harbor, NY before heading on back to Rochester so we can leave for Florida, by plane on Wednesday.

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:39:00 +0000

A Slow Trip up the Blue Ridge Parkway

After a night just north of Cherokee, a place we really do not have the urge to revisit, we found our way to the Blue Ridge Parkway about 50 miles north of its southern end in The Great Smoky Mountains. We left behind the dramatic presentation Unto These Hills - a Dramatic Retelling of Cherokee History and Cades Cove and many wonderful hikes that will have to wait for another day, another trip. We had decided at some point to retrace a trip we had taken in 1984 with a tent and B and B guide but going northward, the direction of the Appalachian Trail through hikers, this time. Our first stop was Asheville, the home of The Biltmore, and many art galleries and wonderful scenery. Although I wanted to see The Biltmore again, we decided to focus on hiking, craft shopping and galleries.

Having done an exploratory drive up the Parkway to the closure and a nice hike we came back through Asheville to see if we could find Mast General Store to see if they could outfit me with hiking boots. We could not find parking and we were tired so we went back to Gee 2 for relaxation and dinner. The next day we set out to shop at the Allanstand Folk Art Center on the Parkway. It is one of five craft centers representing North Carolina crafters. After successful shopping there among some of the finest crafts we've seen we set out for Asheville again and this time we found parking. Before we could get to the store however we walked into Blue Spiral Gallery and were lost for over an hour. The space is immense, the collection superb and the people were very warm. It was now lunch time so we retraced steps to a spot we had noticed driving in called Mellow Mushroom where we had a delightful lunch on the street under the warm sun. The shopping at Mast General was less satisfying and I still have my 30 year old Danner hiking boots. Several galleries later including a wonderful new photography gallery left us ready for rest. After happy hour with neighbors in the campground we had a light dinner and some reading before falling asleep exhausted.

As we pulled out of Tapps RV in Asheville we knew we were facing a major detour around a large landslide about 15 miles north of us. We skipped the 50 miles, having explored the southern portion up to the slide area by car the day before. We began the journey using a wonderful book “Walking the Blue Ridge” by Leonard M. Adkins. We have had this book for a dozen years or more, but little changes on the Parkway. We had two problems. The book is laid out North to South so we felt like we reading Hebrew as we started with the book opening from the right (the back to English readers) and worked our way forward. This resulted in a number of surprises as we failed to leap ahead to the beginning of a section to read the background that we were traversing in reverse order. The other “problem” was the date. Very little (next to nothing) is open on the Parkway before May 1. This included campgrounds. I called the ranger desk and was told that Linville Falls and Peaks of Otter were the only two that were open. There is over 200 miles of ridgeline between them. Well 50% is better than nothing. We spent two lovely nights in Linville Falls CG with a couple of other RV's and two Hosts. Even the water was not on, no problem for us as we bring our own, but for the hosts it was a very real issue. They are promised full hookups. We took a lovely hike to Linville Falls from the campground where we met and hiked with Dennis and Beth Bedell, the other motorhomers camped near us. They joined us for happy hour later that day after we went exploring in the car.

From Winter 09 Vol 2

On the exploration we came across the Altapass Orchard.

From Winter 09 Vol 2

It was closed, but we saw activity and pulled in. We met the owner who has been running the orchard and retail store for 16 years. They have live local music on weekends and are working to preserve the orchard and its surroundings. The place was built by the railroad to generate freight for their new rail line. We were told that rail buffs will recognize the Clinchfield Loops as an amazing railroading achievement and it is still in use and visible from the orchard stand. We drove on and returned to Gee 2 eventually.

The next morning, with Carol at the helm, we continued north. Our major stop was at the Moses Cone Manor House. The weather was not friendly and it was snowing as we pulled into the parking lot. The Manor sits on a large estate that was given to the Parkway. It comprises the house and miles of carriage trails overlooking Blowing Rock. The manor house is another of the Craft Guild chain and the material on display is just wonderful. Fortunately we are space limited in the motorhome and are very much in “look, don't buy” mode. We sat in the coach with the dining table overlooking the valley while we enjoyed our lunch and the view. Along the way we stopped in more overlooks and roadside pull offs than it is reasonable to record. Many of these stops for just a few minutes so the driver could take time to see and enjoy the scenery. Our stop for the night was in the town of Meadows of Dan, Virginia, at the Meadows of Dan Campground. It seemed familiar and it was. We had stayed there in 2003 when we joined Dan's family for the Floyd Fest music festival along the BRP nearby.

Our plan for the following day was to camp at Peaks of Otter and continue our exploration of that area. We have stayed there twice before, once in a tent many years ago. It is a beautiful place with a lodge across the lake from the campground and a trip to Sharp Top that can be hiked or for a small charge there is a bus to the top. Actually one year we climbed another peak and were almost to the bottom before Carol missed her camera. We ran back to the top and it was gone. We stopped at the ranger station to report it and he already had it and was holding it for us. There are also many engaging level walks in the area. Our stop was not to be this time. It was still closed! I called to ask if we might stay over in the picnic area, but the ranger said that the enforcement division would not be happy. We got out the books and settled on Yogi Bear Jellystone RV Resort in Natural Bridge. The only reason we stayed there was that the alternative was a KOA that cost more and had nothing more to offer that we wanted. Germain, the GPS, said we should continue north a bit a then turn left on Petites Gap road for the best route to the campground. We verified that the GPS was set to AVOID unpaved roads. As I turned left over Carol's well stated qualms I said “see the road is paved” for the first 100 yards! We entered a roughly 3,000 foot descent in 5 miles on a road that was single track dirt with occasional turnouts for vehicles to pass. Since we are used to the road to Dan and Malena's I was most concerned about the tightness of the hairpins and the steepness of the descent. The turns were fine, if a bit scary, and the descent was first gear and foot on the brakes all the way down. We met three cars coming up and were fortunate that they could see us in time to pull off and let us pass. We would stay at this campground again if necessary as we have once before. We would not enjoy it in season as it clearly caters to families with noisy children and has many wonderful attractions for them.

Thursday found us on our last lap on the Parkway as we climbed up route 501 to rejoin the Parkway at its lowest point crossing the James River where it crosses the Blue Ridge, this is 649 feet. The highest elevation in Virginia is 10 miles to the south at 3,950, we did most of this descent on the aforementioned dirt road! We stopped at the river crossing to enjoy the trails that reach the river's edge and pass under the BRP bridge as it crosses the river.

Some spelling errors are easier to correct than others:

From Winter 09 Vol 2

and here is the Pedestrain at the Pedestrain Overlook.

From Winter 09 Vol 2

We made one more stop that day at Indian Gap for a very short hike, about.3 mile round trip, to a wonderful jumble of immense boulders that would be a wonderful playground for children of most ages. After a lunch stop in a pull out overlooking Sherando Lake I took the helm and we began a familiar drive that brought us to Dan and Malena's early afternoon.

We are here until Sunday, May 3 and then we will try to make the 500 miles to Rochester in one day, unless we take two.
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From Winter 09 Vol 2

Five days and 1000 Miles – Civil Rights History Revisited

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 02:20:00 +0000

Eventually Carol will post a detailed retelling of our visit with Ruth Stewart in Houston. Briefly we had a wonderful day visiting this 92 year old women who proceeded to drive us around Houston and tell us her life story as a black singer performer in the era of segregation. She performed and studied in Europe before returning to the US eventually to become a teacher at Southern Texas University.

The next morning we left Livingston with the idea of seeing two more major stops on the Civil Rights Trail we have been following for the past 7 years. But first, my hiking boots are 30 years old or so and are worn out. I need to find new ones and I saw we were passing near a Bass Pro shop in Jackson MS. I also know that Bass Pro shops allow free overnight parking. It seemed like a bright idea to head there for planned shopping and a “free” overnight stop. It worked out fine, but they did not have the boot I wanted in the size I need. When we came out of the store the lot was mobbed. Across the street is a baseball stadium and Mississippi State and University of Mississippi (Miss v Ole Miss) were playing the Governors Cup. With the score Ole Miss 8 to 1 in the 7th the crowd began to break up and by 9:30 we were able to move to the edge of the lot and set up for the night.

The next morning we got up before the store opened and moved out relatively early for a three hour run to Selma, AL. I called ahead to find out if there was parking for us nearby at the National Voters Rights Museum and Institute just down the street from the Edmund Pettus Bridge which you might remember as the site of Bloody Sunday in 1965 – rather than my trying to write a history you can read about it at http://www.nvrm.org/ We found parking three doors down in front of the Masonic Temple. After spending enough time to absorb the story and some of the material we moved on to Montgomery, driving over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and following the root of march across US 80 to the steps of the Capitol there. Actually we checked into the Woods RV Park on the edge of Montgomery and used the car to go first to the Rosa Parks Museum. We arrived with only an hour left to closing, but were able to take in the multimedia exhibit and most of the rest of the presentation. There is a Montgomery City Bus and the story of Rosa Parks' quiet rebellion is played out on the windows of the bus while we stand in front of the theater that was the bus stop where it happened. This was very powerful, maybe one of the strongest presentations of all the museums and memorials we have seen.

One is inclined to say “dayenu” (Hebrew for “it would be sufficient”-the translation loses something). We drove from there toward the Capitol building, another obsession of ours and also the destination of the March from Selma. I did not realize that the church that Martin Luther King Jr was pastor of at that time was the closest private property within a block of the capitol. After we walked all over the capitol grounds we walked back to the church because our car was parked there. We saw a gentleman outside the church clearly waiting for something and he greeted us with the standard question we get when someone sees our NY plates out of context, “where you folks from?” with this for a conversation starter we figured out he was the current pastor of the church, the only other car parked on the street was in the pastor's parking spot. He invited us in for a tour of the church and a bit of explanation of its history.

Now we decided to have dinner in town. Throwing a dart at the restaurant guide we came of with Nancy Paterson's Bistro. When we arrived at the specified address there was no such restaurant. Not to be denied Carol called and determined that they could satisfy her vegetarian needs and got driving directions. They were wrong and we chased all over town. Three calls later – believing that this restaurant had become the holy grail - we arrived there. It was worth all the chasing around, it is a superb bistro and the people are very nice. I would not hesitate to send anyone there with the expectation they would have a fine (not inexpensive) meal. They also make a fine martini.

Up early the next morning we rolled out for another 300+ mile day. This brought us through Atlanta, right through on I 85, and eventually up to the Cherokee, NC area where we stayed at Fort Wilderness CG, terrible entrance road and WiFi didn't work. Up again early and onto the Blue Ridge Parkway for a log slow haul to Tapps RV in Asheville. We will stay here again when we are in the area. Great location near the BRP and town, good WiFi and slow laundry. Nice people both staff and fellow Rvers.

I see that the pictures I want to include are still not processed, I'll update this and repost when I have the pictures on line.

Ruminations on Indecisiveness

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:42:00 +0000

We couldn't seem to decide on our route. Each day we looked at the weather and changed our mind about how far north or south we wanted to go. The fact that the weather to the east of us was dreadful did not help. We thought about going to Big Bend or Falcon State Park to stay warm, but low to mid 90's seems to be a bit too warm. As I wrote the above we were sitting in El Paso, TX. You would think this is about as far south as you can get, but traveling east we could take US 90 and really go south or further on we can pick up I 20 heading toward Dallas. Eventually we needed to know whether we would continue even further north toward I 40 or stay south and come up I 59 or I 75.

Amazing! as we pressed on east on I 10 past Van Horn and Ft Stockton with the idea of reaching Junction by 6 PM or so I spied a sign I had seen several times before., Sonora Caverns and with that sign was another advertising Sonora Caverns RV Park We had been on the road 6 or 7 hours and the idea of a cavern and a campground seemed like a great idea. Both highway signs listing camping had no indication of this campground. None of our campground guides list it and the only reference we found was in the “Next Exit” with a mention that it was 8 miles off the exit and no other information. As we pulled into the drive a family member(?) greeted us, told us how to get into the pull through campsites and said we could pay in the morning with our cavern tour.

We were all alone in the campground for 30 minutes.

From Winter 09 Vol 2

While we were setting up, a tow truck pulled pickup truck pulling a fifth wheel camper into the campground spotted them in a campsite and left. This is not the best way to arrive in a campground that is 50 miles from no place. We eventually met the travelers a father, son and son-in-law from England. They were hauling the fifth wheel and a U Haul trailer behind a rental car from Baja to Miami, this day they had made negative 30 miles. It being Friday night 50 miles from no place they had bought the replacement parts they thought they might need to repair the 1984 Ford pick up which had been sitting and rotting for 10 years in Las Vegas.

We wandered up to the lodge/shop/entrance to the caverns to scope out the situation and discovered that they were starting a tour in fifteen minutes with a party of two. On the spot we decided to delay dinner and go on the 1 ½ to 2 hour tour at 6 PM rather than waiting. WOW!!!!

From Winter 09 Vol 2

We have been in many public and private caverns and experienced many disappointments, but this cavern is one of the most beautiful we have been in and, once past the dormant areas that had been vandalized in the early years, we saw more formations and areas covered with a great variety natural formations than either of us can remember.

From Winter 09 Vol 2

This is one of the few caverns that is warm and humid, the temperature was high 70's and the humidity was said to be 98%.

We returned to the surface and walked down to Gee 2 and could see our neighbors deep under the hood of the old truck. They were to remain there until late into the night. In the morning we heard the truck engine sputtering and roaring and when we spoke they seemed satisfied that they were going to go on down the road after they had a chance to tour the cavern. We pulled out and will not get to hear the next chapter of their story. We rolled on to Jim Hogg Park, an Army Corp of Engineers facility (COE) near Georgetown, TX just north of Austin. We are visiting with Patrick and Leigh Rainwater and will move on Monday to Livingston, TX where we will have our own Sedar and take some time to see Houston.

I guess we have made some decisions at least for the next week.

A week later and I haven't gotten around to posting this yet. It has been pouring on and off and this is the first rain day we can remember in a couple of months. We settled into Rainbow's End, the Escapee home park in Livingston, TX with the idea that we would take a day trip into Houston, 75 miles to the south, and be settled for the beginning of Pesach (Passover) with full hookups in familiar surroundings.

From Winter 09 Vol 2

We had no idea of finding other Jews to share any of the holiday with, which would be a very strange holiday for us. The second afternoon here we were sitting in the sun reading when a woman came from the financial planning office on the adjacent street corner and asked if we would witness a will signing. As we walked in we noted a lot of Jewish material on the walls and bookshelves. Our initial reaction was mixed as this is evangelical country and their professed love of Israel leads many to adopt Jewish symbols for their own. However as soon as Dave opened his mouth the sounds of Long Island filled the room and we knew we had found something rare, Jewish residents in Livingston, TX. We found out just how rare on Friday night when we were invited for Shabbat dinner with the entire Livingston Jewish community, all six if them plus some spouses.

We took our first run into Houston and went to the Rothko Chapel, the Cy Twombley building and the Menil Collection plus the Houston Center for Photography. We also saw the Richmond Hall installation of Dan Flavin. Of course in the Menil Collection there was a Donald Judd and several John Chamberlins. The collection also includes an extensive collection of surrealists although there were no Dalis on display. We spent five hours or more in these exhibits and then went over to the Museum of Contemporary Art which had an exhibit based on puppets. It was apparent that the subject was misleading to parents who thought it would be welcoming for children. There were warning signs at the entrance, but we still saw young children going though with their parents. The show is very strong and much of the material is clearly not suitable for children, some not for me either.

We plan to go back to Houston to visit a woman who Carol met and befriended on an interminable shuttle from LAX to our children's home a year ago. Then we have set a route through Selma and Montgomery AL to continue our exploration of the Civil Rights Movement in the South. From there it seems that all otherwise reasonable routes to Charlottesville require that we pass though Atlanta and so it will be.

A Gradual Move to Phoenix

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:58:00 +0000

As we pulled out of Death Valley we knew we were beginning the trip back east to Rochester even though we still had six weeks or so before our planned return. The usual questions confront us, northern route, Colorado, Kansas and so forth or a more southerly route. We had already set ourselves more northerly than usual by going to Death Valley so we vamped by going to Boulder City NV again. This still leaves both the southerly and northerly routes open. I really had to fly to Rochester for a few days and we decided that Phoenix would be the better place to fly from, Carol did not want to hang out near Vegas again. So we sat and booked reservations, me from PHX to ROC and back and us to Jersey Boys while we were near Las Vegas. We really did not want to hang out for three days either in Boulder City or Phoenix so we ended up stopping in Wikieup AZ which is half way between Kingman and Phoenix along US 93, another way of saying almost no place.

Dazzo's Restaurant and RV Park was about as rustic as you can get. Check out the pictures on Picasa We pulled in not knowing what to expect and found a pleasant place to spend some time and to explore the surrounding desert by car and on foot. It was a treat to have the large old Saguaro cactus right near our coach with many birds occupying the holes. We took several drives on dirt roads using GPS and little else to find our way. Although we never got lost we did get tangled up a couple of times and were grateful to have all wheel drive and plenty of clearance. We never ate at Dazzo's largely because Carol felt sure that there was no way to be comfortable that the veggies had not been cooked with the meat, or on the same grill. I must admit that the sandwiches were tempting and we had a report that their pizza was superb.

Eventually we had to move on to Phoenix so I could fly to Rochester on Sunday the 22nd. This brought us to a very different sort of “camping” experience. We pulled into Sun Life RV Resort in the midst of more huge resorts than I wanted to know exsted. This place has over 700 sites many of which are occupied by “park models” trailers not unlike the house trailers from the 60's, but much more high end since these are winter resort escapes and not permanent homes. We have all the amenities and a price to go with them. I must admit it is nice having a fitness room and a billiards room and a very large computer room and pool and, and, and.

The best part is the resources of the Phoenix area. We have been to Taliesin West, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation home and school and today we spent most of the day in the Phoenix Art Museum. Yes they do have a Donald Judd piece mounted. They also have the Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe show “Charting the Grand Canyon", and so much more. They also have a lovely cafe where we had lunch. We wrapped up the day with a visit to the State Capitol Museum.

I guess in all of this I forgot to mention our trip with Dan and Beverly Armstrong to Organ Stop Pizza. Check out the site yourself http://www.organstoppizza.com/ The ambience is Theater Organ and the pizza is pretty good too. Carol lost a necklace there and when she called, it had been turned in and they held it for us to pick up tonight on our way back from Phoenix.

The weather to the east of us and to the north looks dreadful so we still don't know what our route will be. Monday we will have to decide before we start the engine. Hope we see an opening in the weather by then. Pesach will be on the road, just the two of us this year unless fate intervenes.

Death Valley

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:21:00 +0000

We have done this before, but it was a while ago and there is a lot to see and do in Death Valley. We arrived late afternoon on Wednesday the 11th. We had to stop in Barstow for fuel, propane and an Outlet Mall. My clothes have gotten frayed, stained and tattered over the years. Carol had her usual lousy shopping luck, getting only pair of jeans that almost fit. I had better luck replacing some beloved but holey jeans a couple of frayed shirts and worn out shorts. We still look disreputable, but clean and not worn out disreputable, for a day or two.

Shortly after setting up in Sunset Campground across from the store and really just a level place in the desert with room for 1,000 campers we were stranding around looking over the premises when Dean and Jane (Cross and Ecclestone respectively) stopped by to chat. First we made plans to get together for happy hour the next day, then we agreed to meet in the morning and go off on a hike together. They suggested a hike up a wash to Willow Creek and not having our own plans we agreed, a hike is a hike. We went off in two cars and had a great hike to a desert water falls. After resting for a bit we gathered at G-2 for Happy Hour which lasted a bit longer than that. We agreed in the end to go off in their Jeep for a rough road excursion in the morning. We left at 10:15 and returned at a bout 6 PM. We had ventured up Hanaupah Canyon, 15 miles or so of really rough road, and then hiked back in more than a mile up a canyon into the mountains looking for the remains of a cabin and two mines. We didn't find those but did find two wonderful friends.

Death Valley is raw desert. One needs to take the time to look closely and the ground and the blooms. There is so much color that it seems to shade towards brown or gray, but that merely is the blend of all the hues of the rainbow in the soils and flowers. Looking closely we saw many different flowers in bloom and the soft greens of copper and reds of iron and yellows of sulfur, not to mention the white of the alkali salt flats. We are once again camping at the lowest point in North America. The campground is at 190 feet below sea level. We have been lower at the Dead Sea but we were not camping there, just swimming. Hmm, Death Valley – Dead Sea, there must be something about being below sea level that leads to this kind of naming.
Saturday morning we went to the Visitor Center at 10 and got on line for the first time since getting here. After picking up email and letting the family know we had not vanished from the face of the earth, we returned to Gee 2 to find Jane and Dean just passing and we agreed to meet after lunch for a drive up to Ubehebe Crater, about 40 miles to the north of the campground. We had been there eight years ago, but I wanted to go back. When we finally arrived, 2,000 feet higher than the campground it was windy and it felt cold. It looked even colder because people were gathered on the rim in winter coats, scarfs and gloves. Carol and Dean decided that it was too cold and windy for them so Jane and I set off for the upper rim of Ubehebe Crater and then for the rim of Little Hebe. The distance was not great but the slope of the trail was vertiginous. I think we climbed another 600 feet in less than a mile and the car was seldom out of sight. It was not really cold – maybe in the high 50's and climbing kept me warm even in shorts and t-shirt.

We regrouped at their Damon coach for happy hour at about 5 PM. we were joined later by Sgt Major of the Army Ret Richard Voice. If I choose to believe half of his story, he is a man to be reckoned with. Not least, he claims to be a Congressional Medal of Honor holder. I will check that out on line before publishing. Checked out: he is a great story teller and a teller of lies.

The next day Jane and Dean were tired so we set out to hike Golden Canyon to Zabriske Point and return. The altitude gain is something like 1,800 feet in a couple of miles from the parking lot at Golden Canyon to the height of the Point. In Golden Canyon we met Margaret and Kirwin Johnson (I may have that name spelled wrong) on the trail. They had just climbed down from Zabriske and were headed up. As we hiked our paces matched and our interest in the outdoors as well. At some point we invited them t o join us at Gee 2 for Happy Hour along with Jane and Dean. It is getting to be a party. The trail to the top was well marked and hiking with people who had just come down gave us confidence in the route. For the return we chose to follow the Gower Gulch Loop which is essentially unmarked. Just follow the Gulch. Once in it there is very little choice about route. The decent was a bit more gradual as the Loop added about a half mile to the return and did not have to approach Manly Beacon as we had on the way up. Along both routes we saw evidence of mining activity from the late 1800's and early 1900's. How those men worked in that environment and thought they could profit is beyond imagining. You have to hike in the region to understand just how obsessed they must have been.

As the gray water tank filled and the freshwater tank emptied it became apparent that we needed to move the coach and the food supply was getting limited and the nearest real shopping is 90 miles away. We said goodbye to our new friends whose email addresses are on this list now and moved. On to Boulder City, NV.

A quick broken parts story with a happy, if expensive, ending. The way we tow the car requires an extension hitch which lowers the tow bar six inches relative to the coach hitch. A year and a half ago I tried to remove the tow bar assembly and found one of the locks frozen and the stinger of the tow bar frozen into the extension. I decided I didn't need to remove the tow bar after all :) And so we have traveled for close to 30,000 miles with no problem. At some point, I think in Las Cruces, a passing RVer mentioned that the extension appeared to be bent. I decided he was wrong and continued on through the desert, into LA and only then did I become aware that it was indeed bent. I tried to remove the frozen lock to no avail. I tried to pull out the tow bar to no avail. What to do? It happens there are two Camping World stores in the Las Vegas area. The store in Henderson had in stock the very hitch part I needed but no mechanic time. The replacement is much heftier than the original and should last more than the 60,000 miles we have put on the first. Las Vegas RV, the other store, had a mechanic available immediately and they began work within minutes after our arrival. First they cut the hitch lock – a 5/8 inch steel pin – to move the whole assembly from the coach. Then they had to cut the 2” opening with the stinger for the tow bar away and then use a maul to separate the parts. The only real casualty in this was the Tow Defender, a screen to keep stones from hitting the car, which has caused endless problems since I installed it. Both of its pivot pins were broken as the mechanic tried to free the tow bar. Rather than try to fix it again, I had them discard it. I have the highest praise and thanks to Ray, the service manager, and the mechanics who resolved this for us in under an hour and had us on the road in time to reach Canyon Trails RV in Boulder City the same day.

Hiking and more Hiking - and a Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:49:00 +0000

The Sauters moved on and we rolled forward into their camping area taking over the very nice campfire circle their predecessor had built and some of their firewood. This was made easier by our need to service our holding tanks and get some more freshwater. Which meant we had to move the coach anyhow. The water was still low, but the temperature was rising and overnight lows were moving into the 50's.

We explored several areas we had never been to in the 4 or 5 five years we had been coming to the area. We finally found the turn off for Mittry Lake, an unmarked dirt road running along an irrigation canal right across from the access to YPG. We arranged to pick up mail at the Christian Service Center on Ferguson Road. We had drven by the turn off many times and had actually pulled in to the area once, but had no idea what services they offered. Mail service is good!

We had heard of the Castle Dome Museum, but had never thought to go there for no reason we could explain. The drive of 10 miles over a barely improved dirt road was a great introduction to the area. Castle Dome is a distinctive mountain top that can be seen for miles around. It sits in the middle of an area that has been mined for gold, silver and lead from the mid 1800's though the early 1960's. The most recent claim was filed in 1973. When the mining collapsed the Interior Department took control of all the land that was not subject to active claims and began to remove all signs of development. The founders of the Castle Dome Museum went out into the land and moved buildings and abandoned equipment onto their land. There is now a fairly complete mining ghost town preserved and watched over by a corp of volunteers who live on the outskirts in their RVs. We spent 2 and a half hours there and will go back on our next visit. I will post some pictures on Picasa soon.

The previous day we had returned to the Martinez Lake area and the NWR (National Wildlife Refuge) to reprise a hike in the Painted Desert. This is an area where the ground is colored by volcanic dust in greens, reds and deep brown reflecting different mineral content of various eruptions. It is geologically interesting and quite beautiful. We enjoyed both the hike and the driving way back on 4wd dirt roads to see this area. There are many turnoffs to headlands overlooking the Colorado River which defines this area. On our return to paved roads we explored the lake Martinez area and decided we were not thrilled with the idea of coming there to stay in the future.

Meanwhile at Senator Wash the water was beginning to refill the reservoir. We decided to hike around it while we could still use the exposed shoreline to avoid having to go way back into the desert to get around to the North Shore. This hike took over three hours and it was not as level as you might think. The reservoir has many bays and it was not possible to stay on the shore all the time so we had to hike up out of the shoe area to cross the points and then back down to the shore. Eventually we found ourselves stymied and had to bushwhack up a donkey path to find our way to the top of the dam to continue the hike. This hike whetted our appetite for more. We had talked to George and Linda several times – they were in slot 1 at the very far end of the beach where it would be tough to set up a motorhome, but their trailer fit quite nicely. George had been looking at the mountains to the west and decide to hike out to them. He reported that it was a nice hike so we decided to try it ourselves. The only direction we had was “hike towards those mountains, there is a mine up there.” So we set out to “hike to those mountains.” First we had to cross the LTVA (Long Term Visitor Area) and that brought us to a wash (arroyo, wadi, pick your terms). As we surveyed the sides of the wash we noted a trail down into it and up the other side. We spent the next 2 hours following this trail to the mountains and then up a ridge line where we could see a car and a couple hiking further up. They were rock hounding (looking for turquoise) and we talked for a while before finding a convenient perch for our picnic, we always carry lunch in our hydration packs. By the time we got back to G 2 we were ready to kick off our boots and put our feet up with an adult beverage.

After catching our breath we began the preparations to break camp and head out the next day. After a two week stay we had plenty of stuff out of the compartments. The inflatable kayak was snugged up to the coach, the bikes were in riding condition and we had gone riding and all of the comforts were scattered around the campsite. It took about 30 or 45 minutes to put it all in condition to move.

Move to where? We wanted to go to Borrego Springs in the Anza Borrego Desert, but had been informed that the desert flower bloom season had started and all the campsites were reserved. We decided to head for Borrego Springs anyhow since this is one of the few areas in the country where there is open camping anywhere you can find, off a designated road and not too close to water (what water?). Sure enough all the campgrounds were full when we got there, but we picked up maps of the area with suggestions of where we could find like minded desert boondockers and soon found ourselves near the Peg Leg Smith Monument with several other Rvers. Nice place. No amenities, no charge. We will dump our holding tanks in Los Angeles when we get there. Since our arrival we have had two days of strenuous hiking and back road driving – this park is the reason we had to have an AWD vehicle with reasonable ground clearance when Carol's car needed to be replaced. We have used all of its capabilities this trip. The short list is Calcite Mines, Palm Slot, The Slot and Hawk Canyon. Each of these entailed a drive of 1 to 4 miles over dirt tracks and a hike of half to 4 miles as part of the experience. There is still much to do and see, but we will save it for another time. We are preparing to leave for Los Angeles in the morning as I write.

. . . picking up where I left off . . .

The Calcite Mines were developed in WW II to provide calcite for lenses for war time applications. They are slots or crevices in the mountain top. The road was rough and we parked the car 2 miles in and hiked the remainder of the way. A car similar to our RAV4 passed us as we hiked and we met the occupants at the top. The driver had made the trip before which gave him an advantage over us. We enjoyed the climb and spent some time on the summit with views of the surrounding mountains and desert and the Salton Sea. On the hike down we met some young men at a place where the road crossed a large wash. They said we could hike down the wash rather than retrace down the road. With no idea where we would come out relative to the car, we started down an amazing canyon with a series of slots that were just magnificent. At the bottom we located a road (donkey path?) that seemed to head towards where the GPS said we would find the car. A short very steep climb brought us back to the car. We drove back down the road we had driven up and took a right at the bottom before going back up to the highway. This brought us to the entry to Palm Slot, another slot canyon. After pause for lunch which we had packed, we walked through this exquisite slot and retraced to the car.

Although we had had enough hiking by now, we set off for Fonts Point, four miles up another dirt road. This provides a over view of the Borrego Valley and the mountains that surround it. We returned to G-2 and collapsed and read for a while before going into town for Mexican dinner and a show “American Song Book” a review of as much Rogers and Hart as you would want to enjoy in an evening. The performers were Sherri Roberts, vocalist and David Udolf, pianist. We really enjoyed this break from books and videos.

The next day we decided we needed to hike one more slot canyon, this one is known as simply “The Slot.” Another long desert dirt road brought us to a cliff edge. First we took a side trial to a bluff overlooking Hawk Canyon, the floor of which we visited later in the day. We retraced to the car and walked over the edge of the cliff to scramble down a path that led to the bottom of the slot. This slot was longer than the others and was so narrow that I had to move the car keys to a different pocket to negotiate some of the crevices. We returned the way we had come and took the car to Hawk Canyon where we had lunch. Through out these two days we were overwhelmed with the desert flowers in bloom. We never went to any of the special sites people travel for hundreds of miles to visit to see the blooms, but we saw everything they were seeing, just not a two minute walk from a highway. We saw a field of desert lilies and lupine and all the flowers that were listed in the guide. There were acres of yellow and purple flowers and in places the ground was carpeted with orange and yellow flowers that were too small to see as individuals and barely visible unless you looked down at an angle with low angle sunlight. It was a shame to leave, but we were headed to Los Angeles to see the grandchildren so leave we did.

We have been staying with Azriel and Avtalyon for two nights while Miriam and Yechiel have a break to go sea kayaking and tour Hearst Castle. During the day on Thursday, while the boys were in school, we went to downtown LA to see the Walt Disney Music Hall and MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art. Our membership in Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester got us in to MOCA and we went first to the rotating exhibit of the permanent collection. When we entered the room we both stopped and started laughing. That room is dominated by several large pieces by Donald Judd and John Chamberlain. This snapped us back to Marfa TX a month ago. The world really is smaller than we know.

Enough! We have dinner with my cousin John Levey tomorrow night and on the 11^th we will have to decide where we are going.

No Sale! The microwave is fixed! We Settle into Senator Wash . . . again!

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:20:00 +0000

I guess I haven't written in a while. We toured several houses with Joanie and found one we might have loved if we were looking for a four bedroom house to live in with space for everyone to visit and room for our coach and a friend's coach as well. Price was not the killer. We realized we are not looking to furnish a new house nor are we prepared to close our home in Rochester. We really want a place for the coach and at $400 a month plus electricity for a pad in a campground who needs to own land and pay taxes and do upkeep. Glad we looked, glad we did not make a foolish decision (for us), glad to move on.

We waited to hear from Richard (Richard's RV Service) about our convection/microwave oven. And we waited, and we waited. Finally, a week and a day after he took it he appeared with our repaired convection/microwave oven at 5:30 on Friday night. By 6 pm he was gone with a bad check from us. . . oops. Carol got her hands on my money market checkbook and wrote a check on it to Richard.. She does not have signature authority on that account. Called Richard and arranged to leave him a good check with the campground office before we left.

We were finally free to head for Senator Wash. You can locate it by entering it into Google maps or just do a Google search for it. We are in the south shore camping area where we have stayed a couple of previous times. We are on the shore of a pumped storage reservoir just above the usual high water area. When we arrived the water level was about 30 feet from the high water mark and we set up camp about a foot or two above that. This seemed to be at about the usual low water mark . As we approached the camping area we were concerned because it was Saturday of the three day President's weekend and from past experience we expected the place to be mobbed. We were both relieved and dismayed to find plenty of space for us. Where is everyone?

We have been here five days as I write this and the weather has been cool and there have been high winds and even some rain. Since we arrived they have continued to drain water out of the lake and so far as we can tell there has been no pumping to refill it. I am looking across the lake bed and see nothing but mud flats from where I am camped across to the far share. Yesterday we walked across the flats on our way back from a long walk. None of the beach camping area is on the water at the moment. I am sure that by this time next week we will have water up to the high water mark a few feet from the wheels. We have had the company of Kurt and Margaret Sauter from British Columbia since we arrived. They are not related to my assistant, Kathy Sauter Meintel. Kurt is Swiss and a Canadian citizen. He has a delicatessen on Shuswap the tourist area halfway between Vancouver and Calgary and gets away for the winter because business falls off significantly when the tourists and summer residents leave. As I write they are packing up to move on, having overstayed their allotted two weeks in this particular Short Term Visitor Area (STVA in government speak). We will miss their company, but there are others we have met who we have spent time with in past years.

I am hoping to post this today with a stop at the Yuma Proving Grounds (YPG) near where we are camping. This is a US Army proving ground for a lot of military vehicles and track mounted weapons. Also the Golden Knights parachute team practices here. We have free access to the base and many of its facilities and the bowling alley has free wifi available. So we will see if we can get on line there a little faster than here. Otherwise I may try using my phone as usual.

We got distracted when we arrived on the YPG grounds. Paratroopers were falling out of the sky all around us. We took our lunch and chairs to the patch of public land between the three landing areas and watched as the Golden Knights, the 82 Airborne, and the navy Seals took turns jumping out of planes and hitting the marks in the middle of their respective fields. For a grand finale, well not finale as they do this once an hour from 0900 to 1530 five days a week, all the teams put up a total of 20 jumpers who fell from 6,000 feet while forming a large formation before breaking and opening their chutes. Great fun, we watched one full cycle and wandered off to do other things.

The water is rising in the lake. We may be on a lake shore again soon.

Extended Time in Las Cruces

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 23:08:00 +0000

Sometimes things work out the way you least expect. Carol's new computer came on Wednesday the 4^th and I thought we could be gone by Friday at the latest. Wednesday, as I noted, we had some interesting electrical occurrences with the water heater and the microwave. It turned out that the microwave was not a self repairing failure. Thursday we discovered that although the lights would light and the oven made the right noises, things did not get hot. Discussion with Samsung Tech seemed to indicate that the magnetron (the thing that makes the microwaves) was broken. The shocking news was that it was still covered under the original 10 year parts only warranty. Who'd a thunk? Then there was the matter of finding someone who could do the work and Samsung has no service support people anywhere near Las Cruces. Phoenix here we come!

But wait a minute, that truck over next to the fifth wheel behind us says “Richard's RV Service” maybe he will have an idea. In the meanwhile we have been searching the web for a new Convection/Microwave Oven to fit in our cabinet, no more than 24 inches wide. Not One! Richard listened to the tale of woe and looked at the oven and offered to call a local repair man who does this sort of stuff to see if he wanted to even look at it. The short answer is, 30 minutes later Richard brought his power screwdriver on board and undid the 6 screws on the front of the machine and slid the entire unit out in a matter of a couple of minutes. It has sat on two metal brackets with indented places for the feet for five years of hard road, secured by 6 little screws driven into the wood surround. We are waiting for the repaired unit to be reinstalled Tuesday. Then we will be off, slowly.

The weather has deteriorated. There is not a sign of blue in the sky, the winds have been nasty and the temperature peaked in the mid 60's this morning and has dropped off to the low 50's this afternoon. I know you northerners would think this is springlike, but here it feels like winter. The gray is too familiar, it feels like February. . . in Rochster.

What are we doing for entertainment? Well, we have spent the last couple of days moving all of Carol's data from the Mac to the PC and installing the necessary software. The real issue is replacing Adobe Photoshop with The GIMP. $700 or free which sounds like a better option? We are going to go with The GIMP (that is an unfortunate name, it stands for GNU Image manipulation Program). If Carol absolutely can't stand it, back to Photoshop. We have taken a hike in White Sands National Monument and we have biked down to the Rio Grande River, about 5 miles from our campground. We have met with a realtor and will be doing some sightseeing with her on Monday. Although we are not in the market, we have come back here repeatedly and keep saying we might want a place here, so now is the time to take a look and see if we can find what we want. That will be hard because we don't know what we want. It will have land so we have space for our coach and maybe a guest or two; it may have a house, or not. It will have some decent views, which are not hard to come by here. It will provide us with some entertainment and something to talk about. Neither of us is really ready to buy anything, but you never know.

The Kelter Zeitlin family have left for Rochester for Zvi's (that's Zvi Zeitlin, Leora's father) recital in Kilbourn Hall. They have caught the best of what Rochester has to offer for weather at this time of year. We expect that they will be back some time on Monday. It is unlikely that we will get to see them again this trip, but I am sure Carol and Leora will talk before we roll out of here. You never know!

Its Broken . . . Its Not Broken

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:22:00 +0000

ENOUGH!

A couple of days ago Carol informed me that the shower water was tepid. This is rather astonishing given that the water heater is set to “scald” and has no temperature controls on it. This is how a 10 gallon water heater can provide as much hot water as your average 40 gallon home water heater, you just use less and add plenty of cold. Not great for kids, but ok for those of us adults who are supposed to be able to be careful. But I digress. Clearly if the water from the water heater was tepid, it was not working. I immediately turned on the gas fired portion of the heater so my shower would be hot, but that did not resolve the issue of why the electric portion of the heater was not working. I checked every fuse panel in the coach looking for something that was wrong or at least said water heater. I found nothing. All breakers and fuses were just fine. Understand that getting to some of these can result in severe contortions, without the driver door I have no idea how I would reach the fuses above the driver's left foot. As it is I have to stand on a step stool on the ground and lean in the open door, but I digress again. Having crawled under and into a number of places I had not known existed I determined that it was beyond my capability to troubleshoot much less fix. Time passes. Just as I was about to find out who to hire to fix this I opened the cupboard doors where the switches are and noticed that the last person to switch from Microwave (keep that thought in mind) to Water Heater had left the switch in the unmarked mid position, neither microwave nor water heater was on! This switch ensures that we do not attempt to use the microwave and the water heater at the same time, as the current draw would exceed our electrical system's capability. This is the second time this has happened in almost five years of ownership.

Tonight we had a failure that is less explicable. Carol was 'waving potatoes for dinner. The cycle completed and the 'wave went dark. The control panel lights and the interior light would not light and there was no response to the control panel. Knowing right where to go now, I checked the circuit breaker for the 'wave and it was not tripped. I pulled the plug and used my circuit tester to verify that there was indeed 120 volts at the outlet. Stymied, I guess the microwave is kaput. I go to the Samsung web site and am defeated by typical badly engineered consumer website design. Nothing is straight forward not even the model number which is slightly different than that which is on the 'wave itself. I determine I will call in the morning, but I know there is nothing that can be done, it is broken and there is no warranty on a five year old microwave. I'll have to buy a new one. Or will I? When I gave up on my troubleshooting I left the 'wave unplugged since, if it isn't working it is better not to take the risk of fire. For one last time I plug it in. It lights up with the installation screen, do you want to use KG or LBS? We are back in business for the time being.

Stay tuned for the next installment.

Art in the Desert!

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 22:09:00 +0000

We have driven in and around Alpine, Marfa and Fort Davis, TX, several times and people have told us there was a lot of great art to be seen, but where! No one could give us any clue. So Monday, Jan 26, we drove 26 miles into Marfa to search for ART. Although we have been through in Gee 2 with tow'd attached and maybe once in the tow'd we had never come in late morning with the intent of really searching. As we walked around the central area of Marfa we noted that the name Judd appeared on many building, taking this as a cue we walked into an office under the words “Judd Foundation” and found ourselves talking to a conservator for Donald Judd Foundation. By now the name was poking at very old, long unaccessed memory cells. Rather than my trying to tell you about Donald Judd, the Chinati Foundation or the Marfa area myself I will let their websites and photos of the installation speak for themselves. I cannot show you my pictures as I signed a release that I would not publish them in any form, for the privilege of taking them. Them's the rules. First “The Block” and Donald Judd http://www.juddfoundation.org/spaces/marfa.html next the largest art installation we have ever seen is at http://www.chinati.org/ . On Wednesday we managed to get to Chinati in time for the the 2 PM tour which includes among other installations a Flavin installation that occupies 12 large barracks (actually six U shaped buildings with separate entrances into each leg of the U).

Although we drove back and forth between Alpine and Marfa several times and did a U turn to visit a winery, we never more than noticed a curious block building at the roadside on US 90 until we were flying by a 62 mph westbound for Las Cruces in the motorhome. As we went by this time we both noticed that it appears to be a very smart shop and the sign says “Prada Marfa”. There is no parking lot! For much more on this and on Donald Judd follow this link http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99130809 (do click on the "Listen Now" button if you haven't heard this) which by some wild coincidence was broadcast this morning January 31, 2009.

After that drive we pulled Gee 2 into the parking area of The Chinati Foundation to continue with the 10 AM tour which includes much of Judd's work – the 100 aluminum cubes in two “Artillery Sheds” and much much more. To complete the tour we had to drive into town and park the entire rig! To enter the Chamberlain building with yet another huge intense permanent installation. We had also toured The Block on the previous day and by now we were thoroughly worn out and ready for lunch and a quiet ride to Las Cruces. Lunch was at the Food Shark an old step van with a serving window under a huge permanent shed that is also home to a farmers market and benches that looked like they were designed and built by Donald Judd himself. If you are there it is an interesting lunch stop right in the center of town, next to the railroad tracks.

As I write we are in Las Cruces and have had a delightful Shabbat dinner at the Kelter Zeitlin home with much family present and arriving and leaving. Marianne Zeitlin's brother Hesh and his wife Bernie were there from north of Truth or Consequences so we finally got to meet them. This morning there was a chorale concert of the NM All State Elementary School and Middle School Chorales on the university Campus. Amalia (Zeitlin, if you are keeping track) was performing in the Middle School chorale and we were delighted to be able to attend and listen to these two wonderful chorales perform. Tonight we are off with Leora and Stewart to El Paso for the El Paso Chamber music concert. Wow! We are finally catching up with our recent drought of fine music and adopted family.

Austin and . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 04:05:00 +0000

First, here is a link to my pictures from December 21, 08 to late January '09 (it may be too subtle click on the word "link" it is the link).

We returned to Austin for the 8th time to spend a weekend with Leigh and Patrick Rainwater. On Friday we spent some time at their home before heading out to dinner, a special dinner at Eastside Restuarant to celebrate Patrick's birthday. Saturday Morning we cleaned up and made minor equipment adjustments. We picked up Leigh and Pat for lunch and a round of Austin galleries and then dinner at Chueys a long time Austin favorite. Somehow, a week later, I cannot remember what I had for dinner that night, but I do remember that I was very happy with my choice and cannot wait to go back there. Sunday was to be the day of a long ride. Of the four of us only Patrick, who was raised in San Antonio, had ever done the entire Mission Trail. There are actually five Missions that date to the 1700's, the Alamo is at one end of the chain and the other four are spread out like beads over a sixteen mile stretch. We had all seen the Alamo so we set out to see the other four and the only 18th century European style aqueduct in North America near Mission Espada. The pictures of the mission and their grounds can be found at the picasa link above. We completed the tour in time for a late lunch and we followed Leigh's choice to the Liberty Bar in a broken down industrial neighborhood, almost under the interstate in a building that leans so badly that it seems to be a miracle it is standing. The food was up to the recommendation and we would all highly recommend a visit there if you get to San Antonio. It isn't cheap, but good food seldom is these days. To round out the day we took a decidedly out of the way route back to Gruene and the Gruene Hall, reputed to be the oldest active Texas Dance Hall. The music was free and the drinks were inexpensive, We did not get our money's worth at that stop. The music was not dance hall music and the crowd had too many small children and too many smokers!!!! (that will end soon). Once again we learned that there is a lot to do and see in the Austin area and plenty we have yet to get to. We'll be back.

We decided to hang in Austin a couple of days waiting for a replacement bolt for the Tow Defender, failure number three, I've about had it. Anyone out there want to try a used Tow Defender designed to keep the rocks off your towed vehicle and the mechanic in business? It is for sale at 75% off new price, after I get it fixed this last time. The part never arrived and we arranged to have it forwarded rather than invest another $40 in staying just one more day. We had waited for the mail so we ended up rolling out at 3 PM on Wednesday. This limited our choices of destination for the day to Fredericksbirg, a place we have stopped at several times. Carol announced that this stop would serve to renew our supply of orange peelers and provide a chance to stock up on some interesting salsas and hot sauces. We did not want to go back to the campground we had stayed at last so we threw darts until we chose Oakridge RV just south of town on 16. It is a delightful park and we decided to stay two nights so we could backtrack in the car to the Lyndon B. Johnson Ranch and Johnson City. The ranch house is newly opened since Lady Bird's death, she had life use of the residence when they made the gift to National Parks. We understand that over the next year or two more and more of the house will be restored to the way it was in the '60's when it was the Texas White House. LBJ spent a quarter of his presidency working here. The office has been restored to the way it was minus the red shag rug. Lady Bird had changed it to parquet and asked that it be kept that way (the rug is in storage should someone change his mind).

We stopped in town to do the shopping mentioned above plus a new fry pan and returned to the campground to prepare dinner. I began preparations for departure the next morning and I was in front of the coach taking down the sunscreen while a new neighbor was busy setting up in the adjacent site. He said he and his wife were headed out to Wal Mart and they got in their truck and drove off only to return in less than five minutes. I was still outside and suggested to Max that I had never seen a shorter shopping trip in my life. He said their was a social hour in the Rally hall (generally a large bare room rented out to groups who want to hold a rally) and that was far more important than shopping. He invited us to come along as it was an Escapee Rally (Chapter 11) and all are welcome. Being Escapees we accepted the invitation to social hour. We ended up staying on for the weekend with the Alamo Chapter of Escapees and joined the chapter at the business meeting. Carol became a song leader and together we became known as the dancing couple. I also learned to play the spoons. The theme was Redneck Wedding and we had a ton of fun. They are a bunch of really great people.

We moved on after the “hitch up breakfast” this morning and are settled in Alpine Texas (use your google earth to see where). We are no longer planning to camp in Big Bend this year. Just a change in mind. It seems I thought Carol wanted to go there and she thought it was my idea.

Across Louisiana in a Day or Texas Here we Come

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:47:00 +0000

We got up with the bird songs on Monday and after showers and breakfast we took a couple of mile round trip walk up to the abandoned town site of Rocky springs. Finally we left for the final miles of the Trace into Natchez.. Foiled! Route 61 has exits from the Trace marked North and South, but there is no sign to indicate that the Trace itself continues if you follow the sign for North and stay to the right.. As we wandered through Natchez following signs for the Visitor Center we found the southern terminus of the Parkway. What a let down, it just ends. There isn't even a sign that says, “The End” or “The Beginning” for that matter. We drove north on the Trace to where we had left the Parkway so we could say we have now driven all the length of it and then stopped for lunch.

Next we headed back through Natchez to pick up a bridge to Louisiana to continue our trip west (the Mississippi River was in our way). As we rolled, we decided to see if we could stay the night in the Natchitoches (for those whose memory is short or new to this blog that is pronounced Nakatish) Wal mart. After a bit of a skirmish with Germaine (the GPS) which resulted in my driving the coach right through the old brick paved Historic Main Street which was never meant for as big a vehicle as Gee 2. We determined that we could stay at the Wal Mart, but really didn't want to since we did not want to be in Natchitoches without enjoying the town, which would have meant leaving the coach unattended for several hours, and the parking lot was really busy and on a very busy main street. (deep breath to recover from the run on sentence) As we thought about it we decided that maybe we could get to Nacogdoches, TX (same tribe, different location) where we were planning on a tour of the ForeTravel Motorhome factory. We rolled on.

As we neared our destination in the dark once again we failed to heed Germaine and then we did pay attention it was to our dismay. According to good old paper maps we were to stay left onto Rt 59 when it split off from Rt 84 which we had been following for many miles. At the junction, Carol could not read the paper map in the dark so we stayed on Rt 84. Almost immediately the GPS began its “Recalculating” routine and we knew we had blown it. I thought to try a U turn to recover, but not being able to see how deep the ditch on the far side was, I hesitated. Germaine came up with an alternative. We followed instruction to a FM route (in Texas that is Farm to Market and could be most anything). Then she called for a turn onto a four digit CO (county) route, I began to get nervous. An approaching pickup truck flashed its headlights repeatedly, this announced the end of pavement and indeed the end of the road. There was a turn and Germaine urged us on. The road was narrow and dirt. Had we not driven the road to Dan and Malena's many times I would have stopped and broken the tow and backed out, but we are used to dirt farm roads, we kept going convinced that this route must return us to US 59, Germaine said so. The cows did not immediately agree. We encountered three of them wandering the road as if it was theirs, which it was! They did not wish to moove out of our way. Finally they let us pass and we continued for 2 more miles wondering if this road actually would continue as promised. It did, We got out onto US 59 and found our way to the ForeTravel plant where we found one of the 70 hook ups with water and electric, in the parking area and collapsed for the night.

In the morning we saw the construction of a high end motorhome. They build the entire chassis and body as a single unit. They buy many parts, but the chassis, body, cabinetry, upholstery and all the wiring are done right there. We are convinced that our next motorhome will be a ForeTravel. They are amazingly well constructed and all the cabinets are solid wood and they pour their own solid counters and floors. All the plumbing fixtures are high end residential and the attention to detail is very high. We did take a test drive and that really sold me. Of course, having only driven diesel twice for a grand total of 10 miles, I am easily impressed.

Later that day we left for Livingston, TX, Escapee's Rainbow's End home base, knowing we would find a warm welcome. We are settled comfortably for three days when we will leave for Austin to spend time with Leigh and Patrick. Today I found that the vent cover on the bathroom vent was disintegrating and I needed some other spare parts, so we stopped at Joel E West RV and picked up the parts I needed. After an extended shopping trip to Wal Mart, we returned and I changed out the vent cover, replaced the porch light cover and had a beer. Enough of this work stuff. I needed a break at 5 PM.

More when we leave Austin for . . . oh we haven't gotten to that yet.

Changing our Mind and Direction on the Fly

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 04:05:00 +0000

Some people make a plan and follow through with it. Some make no plans and wander aimlessly. We make partial plans and change them as we see fit. Some times that results in changing our plan as the highway intersection approaches (actually we approach the intersection, but the scotch and wine are speaking). In this case we set out for Huntsville, AL to see the Space and Science Museum there. Somehow when we made the plan we assumed that finding a nearby campground would be trivial. As we prepared to roll out from Pigeon Forge we started looking and could only find two in the vicinity and both are state parks. Rather than wait for someone to wake up and return our call we set out assuming we would hear before we got there. Carol called the Space Center Museum and found out there is a campground on the grounds. It is not in any of our extensive collection of resources nor is it mentioned in any of the literature or on the web site. I guess you are supposed to call and listen to a really long phone message and wait to hear item 5 which offers the campground as an option!!! Carol called the campground and while she was talking the state park returned my 3 hours earlier call. I told them thanks, but no thanks.

We planned a driver change and lunch stop at a rest area that turned out to be closed for renovation. I pulled on to the shoulder there and we had a quick lunch and driver change. As Carol set out I started reading an article about the Space Center looking for a real address or highway intersection. While reading I came across a story about Scottsboro, AL and a special shop. It is the Unclaimed Luggage Center. If you want to know where the suitcase you lost and never recovered on a flight finally came to rest, this is where it ended up. When I looked at the map I realized we were passing right by it on the way to the Space Center in Huntsville. We decided right then to stop there and so we are now in their overflow parking lot with the permission of Gary (Loss Prevention)) to spend the night, having spent more than a night camping would have cost. I have a new iPod, we have a camera for (daughter-in-law) Miriam a set of Tefillin we could not leave there and books. All of these goods were found in lost luggage, airplanes after everyone has deplaned and left and airport lounges. Rather than my regaling you with stories of what has been found go to www.unclaimedluggage.com. Think of a department store stocked from lost luggage. Prices are set at 30 to 80% off retail. I found an old SciFi hardbound priced a $4. I looked inside the cover and found it have a bookstore notation of $2. At the register I pointed this out and with a call to pricing they dropped the price to $1.

You really do not want to know what they have in the electronics area. There are so many headsets of all kinds, including the Bose headsets that retail for $300 that it is hard to imagine. They claim that their inventory is low at the moment. Enough! In the morning we will set out for Huntsville. For now we are happy to be in the overflow lot next to the cemetery. They open at 8 and I may have to sneak in to see what new has been put on the shelves.

The next morning, Saturday, we took a walk to stretch our legs and walked back through the store. Fortunately we found nothing more to buy so we bid the concierge fair well and hit the road for a hefty 42.5 miles which brought us to One Tranquility Base, the campground associated with the U.S Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Al. We set up quickly and headed for the Museum. It was a cloudy day with forecast of rain and the temperatures were in the high 50's to low 60's. I report this weather not to taunt those of you freezing in the north, but the museum is a rocket museum and this entails a fair amount of walking around outdoors to see everything. Economic hard times rear their ugly head, especially here. Our first indication was the big sign that National Parks Golden Age Passports are no longer honored. The price for us jumped from $6 to $21.5 with a coupon and including the Imax film. We paid! I had checked out the museum on Google Maps while at Dan's and in the satellite view the surviving Saturn V rocket can be seen on its side out in the open air. When we got there we learned that it has been built into a museum building in it entirety. This makes for one very long building. The first two stages are on giant frames and the remainder are suspended from the ceiling. The history of the development of the ability to send men to the moon is highlighted in exhibits of actual artifacts that line the hall. Out in the Rocket Park, there is one of almost every rocket that has been part of NASA or the US Army's inventory on display, from Jupiter to Juno to Atlas to Nike Ajax and even an antique Nike Zeus (our Boy Scout Explorer Troop went to the Niagara Falls Air Force Base to tour a Nike Zeus launch site shortly before it was decommissioned). We spent close to five hours there, including lunch in the Space Camp Cafeteria (the main food court was closed). We returned to One Tranquility Base so Carol could take a nap and I could putter around. We no sooner got settled in Gee2 than it started to pour and thunder and lightening. Carol slept and I marveled at our good timing. We had dinner on board, got a good night's sleep and a late start the next morning.

Sunday morning the 11th found us ready to move on. Our route took us through some territory we don't remember, across I 20 to Jackson MS where we picked up our old friend the Natchez Trace Parkway southbound to Natchez. We stopped for the night at Rocky Springs Campground for our third time. A reminder for those who appreciated good mystery stories, Nevada Barr bases all of her stories on the struggles of Anna Pigeon, Ranger, to catch the bad guys while not becoming one of the victims. Several of her stories are based on the parkway and she (Nevada Barr) has made this area her home. Rocky Springs is the scene of one of these stories and we have walked the ground and she has not used any literary license in her description of the place.

For those interested in camping details, there are maybe 20 sites with no facilities other than what you bring (and what you must take away with you). The price is appropriate for the lack of any facilities, nothing. It is at mile 54.8 on the Parkway. We highly recommend it. There are several nice hikes and we will take one in the morning before leaving. We are not sure where we are headed yet, but we will have a plan of sorts before we turn the key, if Carol has anything to say about it.

Oops and a day on the road

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:11:00 +0000

We kissed the boys good bye and said our farewells to Malena and then Dan as they went off to school and to work. With the place to ourselves we got the coach ready for the road and set off with Carol taking the lead down the road to warn of cars and trucks headed the other way and of tree limbs that might have fallen between Dan's departure and ours. The drive down the 1.8 mile stretch of dirt road was uneventful until the last couple of hundred yards when five deer bounded across the road in front of the coach and behind Carol in the car. She never saw them. My heart rate accelerated like it does when I peak on the treadmill. They had it timed quite nicely and I merely had to slow the coach to somewhat less than my heart rate.

In the driveway of the Church of the Hookup/Disconnect (a small Baptist church which is a tenth of a mile up Heards Mountain Rd from US 29 with a very nice driveway) we aligned the car and had it completely hooked up with the exception of one hold down when I looked up and noticed something was very wrong. There were no bicycles in the bike rack on the roof! “Oh Darn!” I said. We decided that this was a practice hook up and disconnected so I could drive the car back to Dan and Malena's and put the bikes on the roof rack and return to Carol to complete a "for real" hook up. For a wonder weverything worked, including all the lights AND the breakaway switch. The rest of the day was fortunately boring. 373 miles of uneventful driving that brought us to Walden Creek Campground in Pigeon Forge, TN

I will report on what we found to do here in another post, on another day.

Oh yes there has been some excitement. I have been engaged in an email discussion of possible responses to Israel's attempts to dislodge Hamas from Gaza. Since I believe that there is no alternative for dealing with people who want all of the Jews removed by any means from the State of Israel and others believe that we must talk while they destroy us, the conversation has not gone entirely well. I would not choose to live in Sderot or Ashdod or anyplace within the reach of Hamas' rockets knowing that there are no real targets and everything and everybody is a target. It is the Government of Israel's duty to provide security for it's citizens living within its borders as defined by the UN and recognized by most of the world.

Stepping down from my soapbox. I will try to keep these matters out of this blog in the future.

More from Charlottesville

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:17:00 +0000

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.

In Charlottesville

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:08:00 +0000

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.