Not to compete with Carol who just put up her latest post but today is a very special day. 55 years ago on a Sunday, Father’s Day, the first day of summer we were married. Some would say: How can you go about your usual day on such an important anniversary? I am headed off to lunch with my Monroe High Class of 1960 reunion committee leaving Carol to do her thing until 3:15 when we will head out to get in line for the line to get in to hear Jake Shimabukuro for the third time. The answer is we live as if every day is special as indeed they have been for 55 years. 

We celebrate in so many ways. Last night we had a magnificent dinner at a new restaurant, Native Eatery and Bar.  We will  burn way to much energy for 9 nights of Jazz Fest, tonight, after Jake, we will make our way to Eastman Theater for Steve Gadd Band and I expect we will end up at the jam Session at the Hyatt. Things will calm down after Jazz Fest with visitors from California, the Muellers, and then two nights in the Berkshires with the Londons from RI. The biggest, grandest celebration will be in December when we will travel with the entire family to Morocco. 

But first the jazz Fest! Still not sure what we will do between 6:30 and 8:00, There are many good performances we could sample if we can get in. Certainly after Gadd we could try to get in to Max for Sasha Berliner Quintet or Scott Sharard in the Big Tent. Watch for my post tomorrow with a report and the plan for tomorrow night.

We have been busy since coming back from Brown. We have had get togethers with friends and family, Meetings and events where we have seen people who we seldom see even when we are in town and doctor appointments. Oy! are we good at filling time with those. It seems that since we retired many years ago now, we have replaced work time with doctor time. Or maybe I’m just imagining that. 

I think we have it all under control now, not that we are going to be having fewer appointments, but we have a plan. After all we are in Rochester and have only three months to catch up with the medical people we have here before we return to our west coast medical team. 

Starting Friday June 21, our 55th Anniversary, we will spend every minute from 4:30 PM until ?? attending Jazz Festival concerts and jam sessions for 9 nights. We will celebrate the anniversary with a performance by Jake Shimabkuro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gaWuadgL3g This video has been around for a while, I may have even posted it in the past so here is another I haven’t posted https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj-Js1fp4y8  (not exactly what you expect to hear on Ukulele). Then we have main stage tickets for Steve Gadd Band.  That is just the beginning. Stay tuned as I report on what we plan and how I respond to what we actually attend. 

Last night we went with Joyce and Victor to Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival performance at Hunt Country Winery. The Abel Family Quartet with Richard Clark, viola, played two rarely heard quintets, one by Beethoven and the other by Dvorak. The performances were delightful and it was a joy to hear these two pieces performed live in an intimate setting.  We hope to attend more of the festival performances as the season progresses. The two Hunt Country Reds I had were not first choice for me (Alchemy and Classic Red).  While there a former student of Carol’s spotted her and came over to say hi.

Lest you worry we are short changing ourselves on a BIG celebration I will note that in December we are taking the entire family to Morocco on an Overseas Adventure Travel trip that will be just our family. Carol and I will follow that trip with a brief stay in Jerusalem before flying on to Ethiopia for a two week tour with Joyce and Victor. Oh, before that we are booked on a trip to Egypt in September including a Nile River Cruise. Between those two trips we will drive across the country, yet again. We are hoping to vary the route since we haven’t done this in the Fall before. So much for not planning ahead.

We stayed at KOA in Charlottesville rather than climb the mountain road and park the coach for just a few days. Although I am not a KOA fan, this place is excellent. The site was level, roomy and when I determined that the 50 amp outlet was not working they had a tech on the site within 30 minutes, on Sunday afternoon! who installed a new breaker and got us going. 

The primary reason for stopping in C’ville was that our grandson Alexander was graduating from Piedmont Valley Community College to go on as a Junior at University of Virginia next year. We got to see him “walk” and had a fine dinner and gathering with the family including Malena’s Mom, for which Carol and I were both grateful. Here are two pictures taken from way off with my phone of an almost recognizable blur taking his walk.

The next day we set out for Rochester with a planned stop at Shangri-La by the Creek in Milton PA, just over half way. This is a familiar stop for us as it is just the right distance for an easy break. As I was solo driver, the break was more important than usual. Fair weather a pleasant surroundings led us to extend for a second night so we could transfer most of the stuff we needed into the car before getting to Rochester. 

Another uneventful drive brought us to the storage spot I had rented in Victor NY. We completed the transfers and secured Geewhiz for longer term storage and got in the car as an impending rain storm finally broke over our heads. We left that storm behind as we crossed the ridge into the Rochester area and pulled into the parking lot only to find that the one elevator was stuck. I carried the frozen and refrigerator items up the steps to the 4th floor and stashed them in the appropriate places in the refrigerator then sat with Carol and others waiting for the maintenance team to get the elevator working. We were assured that in recent months there had not been any problem with the new system, it quit just as we arrived. An hours wait saw the elevator restored to service and we unloaded the car into the apartment and a day later we are still sorting and storing. 

Carol has been recovering from her broken hip on a steady pace. She won’t be climbing any mountains in the near future, but she is getting around better each day. It is hard for her to see the improvements, but they are visible to me and I keep encouraging her. We are off to Brown Reunion on Thursday and will partake in whatever activities we can. For some reason I booked through Monday so I am not sure when we will return to Rochester as the last events of the weekend are on Sunday. 

Yes I can count by tens. 

As planned, Dan arrived Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning we picked Carol up at Highlands and returned to the coach at El Paso Roadrunner RV Park to begin the journey East. Our destination was open as we rolled out on I 10. We could either drive to Rochester as planned taking about 6 days or head to Charlottesville for grandson Alexander’s graduation from Community College with an associates degree. In either event we needed to take I 20 from its beginning on I 10. We stopped that first night in Monahans Sand Hills State Park, a park Carol and I have visited several times. We arrived after 7 PM and made dinner and took a short walk on the dunes. Up early and heading East on I 20. 

We entered Dallas at rush hour with me driving. Actually between Fort Worth and Dallas we turned on to I 30 bound for Texarkana. Actually we stopped in Greenville TX and Elks Lodge 703. The promised site with hookups was really at Cash RV Park 6 miles south of the lodge. It was not terrible and it was cheap. Leaving Greenville in the rear view mirror we finally left Texas for Arkansas. In Little Rock we exchanged I 30 for I 40 which brought us into Tennessee, just barely. For kicks we stayed the night at Graceland RV Park at the end of Lonely Street. Again we saw nothing other than that they tore down the Heart Break hotel at the corner of Lonely Street to build a parking lot.  Someplace in there we settled on Charlottesville as the destination.

We crossed Tennessee in a day stopping the night at Raccoon Valley  SKP Park just outside Knoxville. We have stopped at this park a few times in the past. Sunday morning we got up determined to make Charlottesville. We finally left behind I 40 and ran I 81 to I 64 to end in Charlottesville 1,892.6 miles later. Dan drove about half of those miles starting with never having driven the coach. It was a pleasure and a relief to have him as a wonderful co-driver. I doubt that Carol and I could have gotten cross country without his help. All that remains is two days from Charlottesville to Rochester leaving on Friday. 

We made Las Cruces in plenty of time on Friday to set up the coach for a three night stay and arrive at Leora and Stuart’s home in plenty of time to greet their family and friends most of whom we know from previous visits. For those who don’t know a Seder has a fixed order (actually that is what Seder means) that is followed in most homes. We learned it from our parents and Carol and I have lead many in our own home when my mother was ready to let it go to the next generation.

Since getting on the road we have experienced many variants from just the two of us in a campground to Sedarim (plural) lead by our children. This year also followed the “order” but with a musical family given to enjoying the humor to be found, or created, in the service.  We sang, laughed, addressed questions raised by the Seder itself until it was well past midnight before we returned to our coach. 

In the morning, for reasons I do not understand I extended the small awning over the door hoping to create some shade. Later I elected to retract it as the wind was rising. It came in 3/4 of the way and stalled. After much button pushing and attempting to spot the cause while standing on a ladder, I called Richard Mobile RV  since I cannot drive down the road with this awning extended.  He returned he call promptly and agreed to come by on Monday. We went about our business. A bit of shopping and wandering around Messilla which always results in some small purchase – Carol is wearing the new earrings at this moment. The salsas will wait for the end of Pesach. 

It is Monday and Richard has come and gone, the awning is in the storage bay needing a new motor which will be dealt with when time allows. After some other minor fixes Richard was on his way. As always I am grateful to know a competent RV tech who gets the job done with a minimum of fuss and for a reasonable charge.

Tuesday Carol has another fall. We made it as far as Van Horn Texas where we stopped at a garage to have Texas inspections on our vehicles. Carol had driven in to Van Horn, While we were parked she had a reaction to a med she was on. I was in the garage with the Jeep and she decided to get some fresh air. I found her sitting on the sidewalk, in pain. The Van Horn Culberson Hospital saw the broken hip on xray and transported her to University Medical Center in El Paso retracing the last two hours of driving. I followed with the motorhome towing the Jeep. I arranged with the hospital to park the coach in a back lot overnight. Security met me and directed to a parking place. 

No more detail needed, that was Tuesday, it is now Friday. The hip has been “repaired” and Carol just transferred to a Rehabilitation Hospital, Highlands Rehab Hospital. She has a private room and the facilities are gorgeous. I am with the coach in El Paso Roadrunner RV Park. We stayed here one other time in 2003. We met the Hoggs in the laundry. and became friends until they had to hang up their keys. It isn’t that we aren’t still friends, but they must stay in Canada for insurance reasons and it is a long way north of us. WE do talk from time to time but we miss their company. Hope you are reading this.

We will stay in El Paso until Carol can walk onto the coach on her own. Stay tuned!