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

Left you all in Las Cruces and haven’t gotten back to writing since Monday. We took two days to go from Las Cruces to Jojoba Hills SKP Resort just east of Temecula California. The drive was uneventful with a stop in Date Land Arizona which is nothing more than a truck stop, a shop with several varieties of dates and many other products and a campground. We topped up the fuel just before entering California. We may manage to avoid fueling in California altogether.

As we pulled up to the Jojoba gate we were both very happy to be arriving in our West Coast Home. With the engine still idling as we prepared to disconnect the car to back into the site, our neighbors appeared to greet us with hugs and smiles. Other friends driving by stopped to welcome us home. It really is wonderful to feel so welcome here.

On Our Site

We have already volunteered to serve the New Years Eve dinner.

During the cross country run we discovered the washing machine was broken and leaking. 😞 After calling the service number posted on a sticker inside the door we were connected with West Wind Mobile RV Service and made an appointment for the day after we were due back. Mike showed up and verified my expectation that the washer was not repairable. That was Thursday. He said the soonest they could get to it would be Monday. Better than a couple of weeks, but. . . On Friday as the rains were soaking the region we had a call from the office, “Would if be okay if they came later in the morning as all of their other jobs were postponed because of the rain?” We couldn’t say “yes” fast enough. By 12:30 Friday the new washer was churning through its first load. I watched them maneuver the washer through the various narrow passages noting that the clearance ranged from friction fit to 1/2 inch going out the front door, over the passenger seat.  There was no damage to the coach in the process. They left the old washer on our concrete slab for me do deal with. The next morning I called Jim who handles recycling for the park as a volunteer and he stopped by five minutes later with his golf cart to haul away the carcass for recycling. Love this park!

We have been staying away from news as much as possible. We read some of the NYTimes in the morning while listening to NPR. The combination results in enough distraction that we don’t really focus on any of it. I keep sending responses to our congressman, Babin to let him know that he has at least two constituents who are way to his left – that would be centrist given his position to the right of  PEOTUS. He is not likely to change anything in response to our messages, but it feels better to do something. Since I am not going to join the millions surrounding the White House to prevent Obama from leaving (see Borowitz) there is not a lot I can do other than to voice my position on issues when they come up and try to figure out where my political contributions will have the greatest impact.

Seven days after leaving Colton’s in Niagara Falls we pulled into Siesta RV Park booked for 3 three nights. I cannot remember traveling every day for that long without taking at least a night break. It felt good to be able to stop. Even better we had an invitation for Shabbat dinner with Leora and Stuart. This is always a highlight for us. Singing, eating and fine conversation until late in the evening.

One topic was books we had recently read. Carol and I reported that as we pulled into Monahans Sandhills State Park we had just finished listening to “A Man Called Ove” and I was driving with tears streaming down my face as the book concluded. It so happened that the movie was playing at the local art house Fountain Theater just down the street from the campground. We agreed to meet there before the movie and have coffee together after the movie. The movie lives up to the book with a couple of subplots omitted (necessary to fit it into 2 hours. By the end everyone was in tears. This is NOT a sad film, the tears are more of joy for a wonderful end. I think that having “read” the book first made the subtitles easier for me then usual, I knew what they were saying since it was so true to the book.

We have been puttering about the coach trying to reorganize our storage since we were in such a hurry to get out of the Buffalo area last week. It is amazing how much space we have. Of course I left behind at least a dozen T shirts which opened up an entire drawer. I fear I will be replacing some of them soon as I shorted myself in the process. That remains to be seen. I finally got the solar charger outputs modified to meet the needs of the new AGM batteries. I called tech support only to find I had not read the fine manual and I just need to depress a button for a 4 count to enter the next menu level. And so goes my process of refamiliarizing myself with all the quirks of this motorhome.

It seems we have been getting to a fair number of films recently, even two in theaters. Carol really loves films and I enjoy many myself, but not with Carol’s avidity. I suspect we will be rather limited in movie theater outings with the nearest theater 14 miles away over twisty route 79. Driving back late at night is not our favorite thing.

Monday, tomorrow as I write, we will roll out on I 10 West until we reach Gila Bend then on to Jojoba Hills.

Okay, I took the title from another RVers concept. Usually when we travel it is for the travel and we stop a lot to take in what there is to see. This trip is more about getting from Rochester to Jojoba Hills SKP Resort most efficiently. As I write we have just completed three back to back days of about six hours on the road. We are in Walnut Ridge Arkansas in the local Walmart parking lot for the night. By Friday night we hope to be in Las Cruces which will take three more days  with at least one of them well over 6 hours. We look forward to Shabbat dinner with friends there.

We did manage to have one more visit along the way. We stopped in Alton Ohio which is just southwest of Columbus and called my college roommate Leon who happened to be free and he came over with his wife Tinya and we spent a couple of hours just catching up with each other. I fear much of it was an “organ recital.” Other than some phone calls and words exchanged while filling the tank, a daily happening, it holds 100 gallons, we have had little contact with the outside world. NPR and a brief read of the NYTimes provides sufficient heartburn for any day.

Carol and I are both writing at the same time, I suspect there will be some relation between the two posts, check hers out at http://messageinaminute.blogspot.com/.

The coach is running beautifully. We are getting a lot of use out of the restored generator since the connection from the main engine alternator to our house batteries is in failure mode, er, it doesn’t work. Had a lot of sun one day and the solar panels did their job and kept the batteries topped up.

Looking back I realize I missed out on our trip into Washington DC between Covesville and Rochester. We drove in to Alexandria Virginia and left the car at the rail station and took the Metro into The National Art Gallery, East Wing. After an amazing 3 hours we dragged ourselves back to the train and picked up the car and drove to Steven and Daisy’s house to finally meet Oliver. He is a definite cutey at 10 1/2 months. They made a lovely dinner for us and we talked way too late and got up early to take bus and train back to the National Mall and the Museum of the American Indian where we met Anna Lee and Jerry our RVing friends from Sacramento who were in DC to spend time with their grandson Bennet. We had lunch at the Museum’s dining area which features menu items from all the Americas. Each of us was able to secure items of our own preference. Following the movie and a very good tour with a native from Columbia we walked the mall to pick up the Metro back to Alexandria to meet cousin Judy and her partner Ralph at Taverna Cretekos in Alexandria. This was the occasion for us to take our very first Uber. It works well, for us on that trip.

There is much more to report but I will save it for another time.

Well sort’a.

Friday morning we finished stuffing Ruby (the Jeep) with the rest of everything we had taken off the coach last July. She groaned as I put the last load in. We set off for Colton RV to reload and prepare for departure on Saturday/Sunday depending on which of us you asked. The first delay was waiting for one more part, a solenoid for the hydraulic system, don’t ask. It arrived and was installed by noon. The coach was parked in their closed for the season campground (Electric, no water or sewer) so we could begin reconstruction our interior. As I schlepped each bin/carton/package from Jeep to coach we unloaded and stored. It was easier than it sounds as we had memories of where most things went and had endlessly discussed possible new arrangements. We collapsed over a late dinner on board. We continued to store and arrange until we collapsed into bed.

This morning, Saturday, we seemed to be about done. I pulled in the living room driver side slide out so I could crawl under and rearrange the basement storage and put to use the new storage bins we had bought to move stuff off and back on the coach. With that task completed it seemed only natural to make sure we were ready to tow the car, especially since there were Techs around, just in case. Well it was a good thing as the connection between the coach and Jeep was fluky (very technical term, for it wasn’t working). It took a tech 10 minutes to diagnose and fix the problem, a blown tail light bulb – DOH! Now with the car connected and everything working it seemed expedient to drive the entire ensemble 4 miles to Wegman’s and stock up the food stuff. That only took 1 1/2 hours plus fifteen minutes to checkout and another 30 minutes to store it all away and have lunch.

There seemed to be plenty of time to make it to the Cleveland area so off we went. We had put out of our minds the shift to Standard Time. We don’t like driving in the dark, even less (more?) we don’t like driving in the dark and rain. Add 10 miles of very narrow back roads and I am on my second straight Strange Monkey Gin (I may get stranger myself). We are settled into the very spot we camped in in 2002 on our first winter trip in Goliath. Our water pump failed that night, I am not looking forward to a repeat.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we are meeting Carole and Jake for breakfast in the Cleveland area. We have made such stops to see them in the past as we pass by. After breakfast, well you will have to read the next post.

I must offer Kudos to the crew at Colton Auto in N Tonawanda, NY. Especially to Jesse to did most of the work and John, the body shop manager who made it all happen. The coach is beautiful and there is no sign we ever had a problem. We both highly recommend them for caring and concern and good work.

Pictures when we get some sun!

Seems this subject comes around about once a year. We drove from Rochester to Covesville VA in the Jeep, in a day and have been here since Sunday night. Carol and I have had to mesh with the family more than usual since we don’t have the coach to retreat to. It has been working out just fine. As I write it is Friday and we have plans to drive in to the UVA Grounds to see an original copy of the Declaration of Independence and wander on the Grounds. We hope that it is far enough away from the shopping zone to keep us out of trouble.

Given the presence of many chickens on the farm, Thanksgiving was celebrated with an excess of chicken and no turkey. All the fixin’s were wonderful from the cranberry chutney to the mashed potatoes – which made a wonderful pancake for breakfast too. We rolled away from the table by 4 PM and no one had any room for even a snack before bedtime. Alexander, Corey, Carol and I got very involved in batting a balloon around the living room. This simple entertainment continued for more than 45 minutes  until we were exhausted from laughing. Carol claimed her face ached from smiling and laughing. I must admit thta I too was feeling sore about the face from laughing so hard and for so long.

We have been suffering with smoke from two nearby forest fires settling into the Hollow. I can only imagine how much worse it must be for the Israelis being forced from their homes and communities as the Sabbath approaches and knowing that many, if not all, of the fires were intentionally set. Over the years so many of us have bought trees, forests with our contribution. On our trips we have planted trees ourselves to reforest a land that had been stripped of its trees in the decades and centuries before the founding of the State. To see those trees burning from arson is to see attacks on the very heart of Israel. The trees are important to moderate the climate and to preserve the land that Israel has been restoring. These are attacks not only on the State and the people, but on the environment.

Other very upsetting news come from the attacks on the Reform Synagogue in Ra’anana by ultra orthodox, why?

We got to the Small collection on the UVA campus where there is a display of many copies of the
Declaration of Independence including an original print of the broadside printed to distribute the news to the country side. UVA Small Library We were all moved by the installation and being in the presence of this document that is so important to our history.

More anon.

I haven’t talked about movies in some time and even less about politics. We had Trumbo (2015) sitting on our watch list for a while and kept forgetting what it was about. In short Donald Trumbo was one of the Ten, Hollywood screen writers who were blacklisted by the studios, under great pressure from columnists and congressmen. They were indicted for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” There was no “right” answer. “No” would have been met with “proof” of perjury and “yes” was met with a demand for who else was a member. I know this is old news, but the story of how Trumbo survived twelve years of black list and what it cost him is well told. Also it leaves me very worried that we now have an appointed member of the administration, Steve Bannon, who Southern Poverty Law Center says has no business in the White House https://www.splcenter.org/stephen-bannon-has-no-business-white-house and members of Congress who could create a modern day HUAC.

Moving back to the movies. The Black List was broken when Kirk Douglas made Spartacus and announced that Donald Trumbo was writing the script, already an open secret. Hedda Hopper went after everyone in sight to stop it or to prevent people from going to see it. The American Legion ordered its members to boycott and it was a box office smash. It didn’t hurt that John F Kennedy was seen to have sneaked out of the White House to see it. The movie is indeed a blockbuster, the cast includes, Kirk Douglas, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, Jean Simmons and Laurence Olivier. Also 10,000 troups from the Spanish Army and that is just half the battlefield. It is gory for its time and it is a love story and romantic for its time. It runs 3 hours 15 minutes. We got it from the library in an edition called the Criterion Collection. The finest piece in the extra material is a film made by the Hollywood Ten as they were preparing to go to jail for a year for contempt of Congress.The added material in the Criterion Collection made the experience far more than watching a movie, it even includes correspondence from the MPAA with their censorship concerns.

We did not set out to have a political experience, far from it, enough already. As I said Trumbo has been on our watch list for months. I would have preferred to have watched Roman Holiday (written by Donald Trumbo but the Oscar went to Ian McLellan Hunter who was not on the blacklist). Ricki and the Flash, with Meryl Streep is on our watch list, maybe that will be safe to watch.

Coach Update: The date is now December 1. I had a long talk with John, the body shop manager, and they are just getting ready to paint. He figures they need a week. There is no way we would be able to drive it to Virginia leaving next Tuesday. We are going to take the car to Charlottesville and have a great time there and see people in DC. Then back to Rochester for a day before picking up the coach and taking a day to settle back in before heading out on a northerly route dependent on how the weather looks. Wish us luck.

I have given up reading the NYTimes for a bit. I won’t read political rants on FaceBook. I’ve had it. Nothing I do or say is going to change the basic facts. The country will go on about its business, people will be worse off or better off and I want to get out in the desert with a whisper of internet to stay in touch with friends and family and find beauty in the plants and animals that make their own way unconcerned about affairs of people. Yes, I know we are changing the very places they live. So much damage has been done already. . .  argh, there I go off into politics without even meaning to.

I long for the feel of the road beneath our tires, knowing that we will find a place to stay the night, or a week, or a month if it suits us. To connect with people we have met living the same life and share a happy hour and a pot luck meal. To meet new people who will join the ranks of our extended friendship circle, or occasionally people who are interesting for one time only (ref: The Moon is Harsh Mistress, Heinlein).

Hmm, maybe just to sit quietly and reread some Heinlein and Asimov and Niven, not sure I am ready to reread Orson Scott Card again. Michael Connelly has a new Bosch story out, can I wait for the price to come down or will I just buy it and get on with it :)?  Carol says “get it from the library”.

Yes I know I am rambling. It comes from sitting and getting accounts current and hanging more pictures in the apartment so they will be up when we come back in the Spring and reading too many posts on RV forums. I will just let this ramble on for a bit more.

Just read about the 7.1 earthquake in New Zealand. Were we really there, just six months ago, in those very places. Saw Kate on FaceBook proclaiming they are well and unhurt, we first met her at Steven and Daisy’s wedding and then in Wellington for a day as we were passing through. The forces of nature are not to be toyed with. The pictures are horrifying although the death toll so far is low.

Enough words, how about some sunsets?

Itchy tires is a syndrome caused by staying in one place for too long. We have been in our apartment since our return from Africa September 19. That is more than 6 weeks with only two brief trips out of town. We were in Syracuse for a day and a half for my aunt’s memorial service and we had a couple of hours in North Tonawanda (Niagara Falls area) to see what was going on with the coach.

The primary symptom is endless reading of RV blogs by others, reading and responding to forum postings (rv.net/forums, tiffinrvnetwork.com and irv2.com). I am even deeply engrossed in a selection of Facebook groups dedicated to various aspects of the RV Lifestyle. Last night I even watched a video replay of a live presentation about lithium batteries for the house electric supply. No way am I even considering the expense of such a conversion which would take over five years to recoup/justify.

Another symptom is early morning wake ups thinking about the chores needed to get underway again. We took so much off of GeeWhiz that is a chore to keep it separate from the stuff we leave in the apartment. I am even rethinking all those hats I sorted last week which was really part of the process of getting ready to roll. Maybe once we roll I’ll sleep more soundly. After all preparing to move on in the coach does not require any decision making about what to take, everything, and it is all has it place for being underway.

I’m even writing this post, which if I look back over the years seems to be a harbinger of time to move on. But! I talked to John at Colton yesterday and he is slipping our November 15 departure date, he thinks. They have the new front cap installed and they only need one small part before they can put the generator back in and well, there are a world of small parts that still need to arrive. Meanwhile the compartment doors are in the process of being painted and other work is proceeding.

I am trying hard to live with indecisiveness. We will leave when the coach is ready and not a minute before, also not much more than a minute later. In reality, I suspect we would be sitting in Rochester even if the coach were merely in storage for now. We have friends to have lunch and dinner with, we have concert tickets and so many other wonderful activities right here. Carol has let the refrigerator and pantry drop to the lowest point we can remember. We are eating out so much and preparing to travel. Indeed we will need to shop soon just to be able to have breakfast in the apartment.

Life is good and I have learned that Itchy Tires is a syndrome with an easy and lasting cure: Get on the Road!