In two weeks we will be heading out on the road to resume our peripatetic lifestyle. For some details see previous posts. For sure we are looking forward to adventure travel with OAT to The Stans and road tripping to Newfoundland not to mention Xerox Rochester international Jazz Fest. I am also having feelings about leaving Jojoba Hills. I have attended several last committee meetings of the season in the past week. and at each the attendance is dwindling as others make their way north and east. We will attend our last Last Friday Dinner Dance for the season next week and start to say goodbye to friends, fellow community members who were strangers just months ago. Some we will see in other parts of the country as they and we travel. Others we hope to spend time with back here next Fall.

I’m not sure if I have written this before, but there is no way for you to stop me if you’ve heard this one  – just stop reading.

Some times Carol and I will be sitting around trying to think of where we want to travel next and how to get there. For example this summer we knew we wanted to go to NJ to visit Carol’s sister-in-law and our nephew and whatever family is around. I knew I wanted to go to Newfoundland. Starting from Rochester NY after Jazz Festival this does not seem like a logical route. It seemed reasonable to see if we could camp on Cape Cod, one of our favorite places and near my sister in Wellfleet. From there we would travel north to catch a ferry to Newfoundland (here after NL). About this time our grandson Corey sent an email wondering if he could join us on the motorhome for part of our travels. Of course we said no! Who wants pesky grandchildren along.  Right! Sure! After some back and forth we set up a schedule – damn, flights require planning. We will pick him up in Newark and after Cape Cod and some time in Boston we will take him to the airport to fly home and travel in his parents’ trailer, or maybe go to camp first. Then on to NL. The theme is Nor’East and family.

Wait! the family isn’t done with us. Avi, the youngest in California and a budding Jazz musician heard we had this Jazz Fest thing we are nuts for in Rochester and is “horning” in on that for a few days, got to get him his very own pass. When they read this we may be in for more trouble as there are still three grandsons who haven’t checked in and asked for time – yet. Well Alex asked, but hasn’t found a time yet. At least they haven’t asked to come along to The Stans with us 🙂 yet

But there are other kinds of themes we have built trips around. One year we were traveling in the car and I was playing Paul Simon’s Graceland on the radio. I probably can stop there. That trip got built around a visit to Graceland and Memphis. Once we got that far we continued the music theme with a trip to Branson MO. That trip was bracketed with stops at our son’s family near Charlottesville VA.

Early trips were not full time and were as short as three weeks and as long as three months. Winter trips were cross country and the “theme” was to find a different route and new places to sight see. Eventually we started looking for trips that covered new territory. On our way to Alaska – a classic theme trip on it’s own we crossed US 20 as we drove up US 101 through Newport Or and I said “we really needed to drive as much of it as we could since it passes about 15 miles south of our townhouse in Rochester NY on  its way to Boston Commons”. Five months later after returning from Alaska we picked up US 20 as it passes through Yellowstone and followed it to the border with Illinois. After a side trip to Madison WI we used Interstates to get around Chicago and rejoined US 20 where it intersected I 94 in Indiana. We stayed with it through Elkhart and Cleveland all the way to its intersection with I 390 south of Rochester. On other trips over the years we have driven most of US 20 east to Boston.

US 1 (often confused by Left Coasters with CA 1/Pacific Coast Highway) runs from north of  Calais ME to “The Conch Republic” Key West. It often runs through densely populated areas like Boston, New York and DC area. A couple of years ago we started across “The Lincoln Highway” also US 50 and got distracted somewhere in Colorado. We will get back to that one day. We have driven the length of US 90 from Jacksonville FL to its western terminus at Van Horn TX where it merges on to I 8.

Our winter theme for the coming year is not developed yet. We expect to spend the cold weather part in Jojoba Hills SKP Resort. Mostly October through April. But that plan is not even set in Jello yet.

We have been busy for the past 21 days. The major event was Escapade 57 in Tucson, well at the Pima County Fairground south of Tucson. On the way we made two overnight stops. The first, in Dateland AZ, was just an overnight stop. It is a truck stop and shop which we have stopped at from time to time just because we wanted to get off the road and Yuma, not exciting, is another hour. Our next stop was Catalina State Park north of Tucson. We got the last dry camp spot in the overflow area and that was with a reservation two weeks ahead! The route took us through Anza Borrego Park which is being inundated with tourists coming to see the superbloom. We didn’t stop for pictures as pulling our entire rig 36 feet plus 4 door Jeep is a bit much to try to stop when there are crowds. I did get some pictures in Catalina SP

This is the first of what may become an occasional series.

On a beautiful Saturday we decided it was time to get out of the comfortable shell of our life in Jojoba Hills. It has become to easy to chat with neighbors, play bridge and participate in various committees and other activities. Carol noticed that there was a Daffodil Festival in Julian. Long time readers of this blog may remember that we first visited Julian in 2003 or thereabouts. We have been back many times, sometimes just passing through and other times staying to camp. Some research (Google Map search) showed that we are at most an hour from Julian over  twisty mountain roads. Actually right on CA 79 which is the same highway we are on.

Historically, Julian was founded as a gold mining town in 1869. AS with so many such towns is flourished and failed. But they have a great climate for growing apples and today are know for apple pie, cider and great local apples. The demand for their apples is great enough that the only place they can be bought is in Julian and there mostly as apple pie, or maybe APPLE PIE. There is Mom’s Pies

I have been active in stuff that is fun for me. Finance, Marketing and technical Future Planning are keeping me occupied when I am not playing Bridge. The other day I went down to our Boondock area with Bud, one of our lead tech gurus, to see  if changing out the modem on the wifi antenna serving the area would restore service. Mostly I watched him so I could do it myself should the need arise (first I had to know where it is). While we were working a visitor staying there stopped by with questions about the service. I reassured him that we were working on getting it restored. Shortly after that the last reboot took effect and the signal and the internet connection came up. I stopped by to tell him, but he had already started it up and said how happy he was. Later at our weekly Monday Meeting in the segment where we welcome visitors (as well as new members and returning members) the visitor finished his introduction by thanking me for fixing the wifi. I was embarrassed to say the least as Bud had done the work and I had just done the talking.

The scenery here is magnificent

I guess we have been having too much fun since our trip to San Diego. I seem to be making an effort to get in as much trouble as I can and Carol is playing right along. She is now Assistant Secretary of Hilltoppers, our social organization. Also she is chairing a 4911 committee which is to provide helping hands like guiding an ambulance or just sitting with the person until help comes, when someone needs 911 help. It seems she is having meetings someplace every day now.

I decided to get my hands dirty in a different way. I have started going to J-Cat meetings three mornings a week at 8 AM to get assignments to fix people’s phone’s, internet connections and even TV reception issues. We actually have wires to every site carrying all three services – well the phone lines also carry internet. This has also gotten me into the discussions regarding our upgrade to television in the park, both in the service provider and in the actual cables in the ground. My first solo call was a report of “no dial tone” I resolved that by moving the phone line from the non functional pair to the appropriate functional pair (I unplugged it from the wrong jack . . .). I have also volunteered for other committees involved in the connected future of the park and one mysterious committee called “S” Drive. I hope it has something to do with computers.

Just for laughs and giggles we have had a bout of “Perils of Paul” this week. I drove into town to complete my last interview with a prospect for Brown University (they are getting younger every year). After a delightful hour of conversation we parted and I returned to the Jeep which would not start, it was clear the battery was kaput. Being ever resourceful I had a set of jumper cables in the back and was able to recruit a friendly soul to let me use his battery to get me going. I wanted to call Carol to let her know why I was running a bit late. I discovered my phone had rebooted with out asking my permission. When I went to enter the password, the “Done” button at the bottom of the screen would not work! It turns out nothing on the bottom row of the screen would work, not even the space bar. I got back to Jojoba Hills with no further incident. I parked the Jeep by the shed so I could hook up the charger I somehow didn’t trash when we sold the townhouse. The following morning it was still dead and a neighbor came over with a jumper starter thing no bigger than a box of cigars. It worked! I now own one! I also own a brand new battery and new terminal clamp to go with it and everything is working. Oh I also have a new phone with twice the memory (still not enough I fear).

We are looking forward to driving the Jeep over the mountain to Palm Desert on Sunday to see my classmates from Brown, Toby and David.

This was the rallying cry of our group calling ourselves Progressive Senior Patriots as we joined the Women’s March in San Diego. More than 40 of us joined the march from our home base in Jojoba Hills SKP Resort. We wore yellow hats to distinguish ourselves from the thousands of other marchers.

Disembarking in San Diego

We stayed pretty much together throughout the two hours of the march and certainly saw people of all ages and backgrounds. Although we were prepared for counter demonstrators, we saw none and everyone was peaceful and friendly.

Where has this past week gone? It has been pouring all day here in Jojoba Hills in the high desert – probably close to 3″.

Back tracking: Just over a week ago we pulled into the parking area of Windmill Tours just west of Palm springs. We met Victor and Joyce there as planned for a tour of the wind farm they had found out about from yet another friend. I took some pictures of the wind turbines, but even with people for perspective there is no good way to show the size of a turbine with blades that are 125 feet long on a tower that is over 250 feet tall. The most impressive thing I learned is that each turbine is autonomous. It senses wind speed and directions and adjust its own direction and the feathering of its blades to make the best use of any wind.

We had happy hour on the coach and dinner out after which we turned in for an early day on Sunday. Sunday we drove to Quartzite, a locale known mostly to RVers. this town of fewer than 1000 in the summer swells to massive numbers, over 100,000 most winters as RVers from all over the west flock in to attend the Swap Meets and Big Tent show while camping for free in the desert. We wandered and we shopped and we had lunch at the Quartzite Yacht Club before heading back to our coach in Indio for happy hour and dinner out – there is a theme here.  But not before taking the Jeep off road past the La Posa Long Term Visitor Area (LTVA) on BLM land. We forded a dry wash and climbed a hill and the descent was more exciting for some than the ascent. All well within the Jeep’s capabilities. The ride back to Indio was uneventful. I have no pictures, Carol and Victor do.

Monday I had thought we would go right to Anza Borrego, but as most of our plans are in Jello, it occurred to me that a jaunt to Slab City might be interesting and only 70 mile or so out of the way. Our first stop there was Salvation Mountain.

From there we wandered deeper into the Slabs following intriguing signs to East Jesus.

Even Amber has painted toenails!

We left Slab City and headed for Anza Borrego with a stop at Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wild Life Refuge where we hiked out a bit and saw the many birds resting there. Finally we made it to Anza Borrego where we took the four mile dirt and sand road in to Font’s Point which is a great overlook of the valley. We found some kind souls to take a group picture of us with the rugged terrain in the background.

We are settling back into life in Jojoba Hills getting involved in too many activities and generally keeping busy. I even have joined the tech group, called J-cat, which meets every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8 AM to field the tech calls in the park about cable TV, internet and phone – yes we actually have wire line phones at each site, necessary primarily to reach each other and 911 – cell phones could seriously misdirect a response also the wires carry our internet connection. I am not giving out that number as it is useless unless one of us happens to be in the coach.

If you know me, you know I am very unhappy with the direction our Federal Government is headed. I find that my tolerance for the news, has reached the lowest I can remember in my life. I log in to NYTimes and scan the headlines, turn to Opinion and then to Tech or Science or anything but the front page. We turn on Morning Edition on NPR and proceed to not listen to anything but the special features. I cannot even begin to number the people on Facebook who I have muted or blocked because I really cannot believe they mean what they pass along or if they do I don’t want to know. Some are people I enjoy spending time with, especially in the park where it is considered bad manners to talk about politics or religion in the common areas. Sex is not an issue given our average age. I even try not to pass along posts and such that reflect my views because it is altogether too much, I fail at this more often than I like.

Geology! Too many coincidences. I picked up a book by one of our members “Memphis 7.9”, by Sam Penny, which is a work of fiction exploring the very real likelihood of a major earthquake on the New Madrid fault and the possible implications for the entire environment of the US and beyond. Last night during dinner we had Smithsonian channel on (I said I am avoiding news) and the show was devoted to the Super Volcano that is Yellowstone NP waiting to blow up the entire western middle of the North American continent some unknown time in the future maybe distant and maybe not. All of this while sitting near too many fault lines in southern California and hearing about earthquake swarms near Salton Sea, not far from where we will be in 9 days.

I suggested to Carol that we may need to rethink our normal food stocking arrangement. She thinks the ideal way to shop is just before there is nothing left to make a meal out of in the coach. This mean that on any given shopping day we are buying what we plan to eat in the next 5 to 7 days. There are a minimum of staples in the cupboard and enough wonderful fresh fruit and vegetables to consume before it is no longer fresh. I keep our tank of diesel full! I top off the propane tank weekly. I keep our 90 gallon freshwater tank full and turn it over every couple of weeks. And I keep our holding tanks relatively empty, I can dump the black tank in five minutes. In the event of disaster the coach is ready to move in under 30 minutes. But, if it is near the end of a shopping cycle, we will have very little food with us. I am not paranoid, nor am I a prepper, just thinking things through.

On a happier note Yechiel and family were here for a few hours on Sunday and the boys had their mountain bikes along and even in the cold they were delighted to hit the trails in and around the park. My favorite sight was Avi starting out on the dirt taking the steepest trail in his field of view. I can barely ascend that trail on foot without my hiking sticks. He made it about half way to the top before losing power and traction. Dan and his gang are in Glade Park CO (just outside Grand Junction) keeping warm and enjoying the company of Malena’s sister and brother-in-law. And we will head for Indio CA on the 14th to meet up with Joyce and Victor who are in Palm Springs for the film festival now.

I was about to say “we don’t let any grass grow beneath our feet” but given that we are in the desert, even with the rain, there is no real grass to be seen.

What a marvelous opportunity for us to stay in James’ 19th floor loft apartment in the middle of Down Town LA with their two cats, Foo and Herschel. We enjoy cats, having lived with some over a period of more than 25 years, but we haven’t lived with any for the past 20 years and had gotten out of the ritual. These guys are 18 and 14, elderly gents in cat years, and mostly have their own territories and don’t require much from the human residents but fresh food and clean litter.

We immediately headed out for a walk finding that there was no way we were going to get into the Broad Gallery that day so we went into the Museum Of Contemporary Art (MOCA) where we got lost in the exhibit for a couple of hours. The first piece to capture me was

 I have been enamored of Miro’s work since I wrote a paper on him for a course at Brown. We walked back to the apartment through the Grand Central Market and enjoyed exploring the shops and restaurants as we walked. After feeding the cats and refreshing ourselves we set out for dinner having been told by James about a vegetarian restaurant nearby. It took some more wandering to find PTY where we sat outside under a heater and had a wonderful meal.

On Friday we started out with a walk to the Geffin at MOCA in Little Tokyo. The exhibit there is entirely Doug Aitken’s work. These are mostly large installations