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.

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.

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:

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.

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

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

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

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

From August '09 Trip NY and VT

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

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.

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

From Winter 09 Vol 2

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

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.

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

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

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

From Winter 09 Vol 2

From Winter 09 Vol 2

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.

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.

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.