We parted company with the Bob and Pat and set out for Falcon State Park on the Rio Grand River where the Falcon Dam creates a large reservoir. It is midway between Laredo and MaCallen, if that helps at all. The Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) extends from Brownsville on the gulf to McCallen. It is called the Texas Tropics. It is the home of who knows how many winter Texans. Sort of Florida for the Midwest. The tropics dry out north of McCallen and so do the number of people. The nearest towns to us are Zappata and Roma with fewer than 10,000 each. The BIG city is Rio Grande with 11,000 and a Wal Mart and a HEB (not quite Wegmans). We have been here two weeks, reading, birding and schmoozing. If you are interested in the birding et me know and I will provide more information, we have seen many interesting birds, many of which you woujld have to go into Mexico to see if you were not here. They include Brown Jays, Green Jays and Kiskadees among others.

Tomorrow, Sunday February 25, we are finally moving out. It seems a shame as the weather has been marvelous this past week with day time temperatures in the high 70’s to low 90’s and the evenings cooling off to the mid 60’s. Other than deep into Florida we don’t see those kinds of temperatures, especially with the low humidity here. We will be descending into the LRGV and then following the gulf coast north to Port Aransas. Port Aransas has very little to say for itself, especially as we are not fisherman, but there is a county park on the beach and it will be a pleasant couple of days and then the plan is onward to Gulf Shores, AL where I can catch a flight out of Pensacola to Rochester and we may be able to visit family in Fairhope.

All plans are always subject to change. We actually got to Mustang Island (north of Padre Island and where Port Aransas is) but we stopped at the Mustang Island State Park because we had been talking with the Topfs and this is where they had decided to head. We are not directly on the beach. We are sheltered the frontal dunes from the wind and sand that is part of the beach experience. We still think we want to spend a couple of nights directly on the beach. Another year!

Today we took the car to Padre Island National Seashore and after a stop at the visitor center we drove on down the beach to find a place to enjoy our lunch and do some birding. We got to make a couple of new entries in the book and saw two Great Blue Herons sitting on the dune looking over the beach and out to sea. (Out to gulf just doesn’t scan). The day was clear and bright and the temperatures in the 70s, not to rub it in to much.

We hope the Topfs and Ploessers will be joining us tomorrow. Shelley had a painful experience injuring the shoulder she recently had surgery on and they had to delay coming north a couple of days. We are still playing with our schedule. I do not want to arrive in Gulf Shores on a Saturday as they may well be full, but by Sunday we ought to be able to get in. So we play around with the schedule each day.

Here is the route from Falcon to Mustang Island and beyond: just click on it.

The last posting had us preparing to leave behind the Anza Borrego Desert and head towards New Mexico and beyond. We are beyond already. To get here, “here” being Falcon State Park, Texas, we drove through Arizona stopping in Benson for an overnight. While sitting in Benson I checked into the Hogg’s itinerary and realized that they were in Karchner Caverns, just 30 miles from us and both of us were headed to RV Doc’s Campground in Las Cruces. My reason for going there was two fold. We wanted to visit Leora Zeitlin and Stuart if possible and RV Doc’s can provide service such as the Lube, Oil, Filter change we needed.

We spoke to Bob and Pat and agreed to meet at RV Doc’s and get together for dinner. We already knew that Leora and Stuart had crazy schedules for Monday night it didn’t seem likely we could get together with them. At noon on Monday we pulled into a New Mexico Rest Area for a driver change. As we pulled in we realized they had free wireless internet access so we logged in to receive and send email. While Carol was waiting for her email to send we heard a beep and looked over to see the Hogg’s ’03 Southwind pull up alongside us. As that moment the email went out. Had it gone 30 seconds earlier we would have missed them. During our greetings we discovered that we had a 2 PM appointment and they had the 3 PM for the same service at RV Doc’s so we skedaddled after a very quick lunch while they took their time.

Carol got on the phone with Leora and we learned that there was a faculty concert with percussion and tuba at the New Mexico State University campus in Las Cruces that she was planning to attend. The program was avant guard and the Hoggs came along with us. The second piece on the program was written by and Eastman faculty member, Sydney Hodkinson, performed by two Eastman graduates, James Shearer, Tuba and Fred Bugbee, Percussion. The piece “Omaggio” is an homage to Rayburn Wright. We went with Leora to the green room after the concert to meet Fred Bugbee and congratulate him on a wonderful concert. His performance of Marimba Fantasy Suite, Keiko Abe, in three parts, gave a new meaning to the instrument. We had never heard it played that way and I would love to hear it again.

We decided to stay on Wednesday night as we only needed two days to cross Texas and the Hoggs were staying on as well. We offered to take them to White Sands National Monument since they had never been there. It was cool and sunny and the last four miles of the eight mile road in the monument were closed because of excess moisture from the past summer’s and fall’s rains. We did go in to the nature trail and had a grand hike in the dunes. We also participated in a small rescue as a German tourist couple had locked their keys into their rental van along with their 6 month old infant. Fortunately, it was not hot and the baby seemd fine with all the attention. I had phone service (thank you Verizon Wireless) and got a call to 911 which brought out the Park Rangers with tools for opening locked cars.

Dinner that night was at the Paisano Café, a real treat if you are in Las Cruces. They do not have a license to serve wine. After dinner Stuart and Leora joined us for dessert and Bob and Pat left. We brought Leora and Stuart back to the coach since they had never seen it.

The only bad news from this stay is that RV Doc’s is closing, the land has become too valuable for development into condos to stay as a campground. We have stopped their almost every year and will miss it.

The next day (Thursday, February 8) we set out in a two coach convoy for Fredricksburg, TX with a planned stop in Ft Stockton giving us two 4-5 hour days on the road plus gas and food stops. Mid afternoon on the 9th we rolled into the Fredricksburg KOA

Friday February 2 we awoke to bright sun and warming temperatures as we bagan preparations to leave the LA region having said goodbye to the kids the night before. We took our time preparing for the road as we did not plan to travel more than 4 hours and hence did not need to commit to fighting rush hours traffic on the 405. Finally by 9:30 we had full freshwater and a full propane tank and the holding tanks were empty and clean(?) well flushed with clean water any how. With HAL reporting our route we set out for the Anza Borrego (I have been misspelling this until now) down the 405 to the 5 to 78 through Julian, CA and on to the desert.

As we rolled I remembered back to the last time we did this route and HAL had misguided us to the wrong exit for 78. I thought I had caused the problem by how I set the waypoint for the exit. This time I was extra careful about letting the software pick the exit. Aaaargh, same wrong exit, I knew it as soon as I got to the top of the ramp. HAL said go right so I went left. Still wrong. We wandered through some residential roads until I spotted a delivery vehicle and flagged him down for directions. He said “follow me” easier said than done I could not make the 180 in the intersection so had to go around the block to find him, there he was just before the overpass waiting for us. He lead us back on to the freeway and then off at the next, clearly marked, exit. Without even waiting for a thank you, he got back on going back north and we continued.

The misdirection was not over. We were headed into the desert expecting to dry camp so I wanted enough gasoline to be able to run the generator for several hours. We got off the 78 to get into a Shell station we had spotted from the road. Could not make a left turn into the station so we took the left just past the station only to find we still could not make a left into the station. We drove a mile or so up the street looking for a place to reverse course. Finally I saw a parking lot on the left and prepared to pull in to swing around. Darn, the entrance was chained, I changed the left turn into a U turn and with an inch to spare completed the turn and returned to the Shell station and then back on to 78 with a full tank (and empty bank account $2.67/gallon).

We drove on through Julian with out stopping as there was no place to park our 55 foot rig. After one wrong turn we started down the Banner Grade on 78. The last time we drove this 10 mile 8% descent, with more turns than a snake with a stomach ache, Carol was at the wheel, this was my turn. We made the turn on to County S2, one of the main highways through the Anza Borrego, and began looking for a place to spend the night. Agua Caliente County Park looked promising so we pulled into this desert paradise. I hesitate to publish this as I want to be able to find room here the next time we traverse the area. We are perched on a bluff overlooking mountains and desert. As we are at the edge of the campground, wild life is continually crossing next to us. We are in what is called the Hollwood Area and the row we are on is The Strip. We took a glorious 1.75 mile hike into Moonlight Canyon right from the campground. After returning from a four wheeling drive on the Overland and Butterfield Stage Road to the Canyon Sin Nombre dirt track we returned to Agua Caliente and went to the mineral water spa located there – true to the name the water is at 104 F – and soaked our bones and made some friends.

The next day we returned to the Canyon Sin Nombre and parked at the base of the slot canyon we had noted the previous day. We hiked up the slot
and following footprints and guidance from people we met we continued up onto the ridge and followed the trail to an overlook that gave us a vista of the S2, the Canyon Sin Nombre road and the Carrizo Creek area. The return to the car got a bit exciting as we did not want to retrace our steps and had been told about a wash we could descend to the road. After several false starts that led us down washes that ended in long drops into the unknown we found the trail that led into another slot canyon that did indeed bring us back to the road and our car. Along this descent we encountered a passage that we could only negotiate after removing our back packs and our hiking sticks. I left mine with Carol and descended first through a twisty slot with a vertical drop of 4 or 5 feet. There was footing and hand grips so it was not a fall, just a vertical descent with no idea where the next such descent would be. This turned out to be the last difficult passage. Carol handed me the bags and sticks, mine and hers, and made the descent easily. There are no pictures as we had other things on our minds. We returned to the campground after a stop at Palm Spring (an oasis, note the singular Palm), Further note keep all the way left on the road in and look for the left turn.

The hot mineral water and shower were even more welcome this day and after we cleaned up I turned on the TV to catch the last 9 minutes of the Super Bowl. At least our friends David and Bobbi in Indianapolis are happy!

I will catch up with our meeting with the Hoggs and Leora and Stuart in my next writing.

The forecast continued nasty and we determined to continue on west, but Sunday seemed like a reasonable day to do some exploring as we moved on. An article in Motorhome Magazine discussed a couple of “living” ghost towns in New Mexico that seemed worth visiting. They are Hillsboro and Kingston along State Route 152 which goes from no place to Silver City (almost no place). We cruised up I 25 after a stop at Stahmann’s Pecan Shop near Las Cruces to pick up necessary supplies, and way to much Blue Belle Ice Cream. Each of us ordered a single in a dish and ended up putting half our portion in the freezer for after dinner. We exited on to 152 and headed west, no choice as there is a large lake to the east.

We visited the Barbershop Café in Hillsboro and bought a couple of items. The proprietor told us that the road was closed at Kingston, but there was plenty of room to swing around. Oh, he also told us that the 12’6” overhead warning was wrong. He was half right. The low clearance bridges, two, were posted on the road as 12’6” but on the bridge they were posted at 12’8” and there was plenty of clearance if we stayed to the center of the road. At the fork for Kingston the continuation of 152 was closed as promised and the fork into town (population 25) was covered with snow and ice. In order to make the turn we had to disconnect the tow’d and do a K turn keeping the drive tires on pavement. We returned to Hillsboro and took 27 south toward Deming, NM. There we found the Starlite Motel, Café and RV Park with plenty of room and we setup just as dusk was falling.

In the morning we discovered something else was falling as well. We woke up to find the road passing the RV Park closed and the grounds covered with white frozen stuff. Further inquiry lead to the information that I 10 westbound was closed to the NM border and from the AZ border through the Dragoon Mountains. We changed plans and Carol did laundry and I went out and made some friends.

Monday morning we were in touch with Norm and Shelley Topf. They were in Quartzite and heading toward Yuma. If you look at your map, Deming to Yuma is an easy (?) 8 hours on I 10 and I 8. With an early start from Deming we rolled steadily west all day. The Topfs and the Ploessers were settled into Pilots Knob RV Resort, a membership resort where, with a coupon which we had picked up at a fuel stop, you could get 4 days 3 nights free along with a free meal. The cost was listening to a 90 minute pitch to own a piece of the desert. We elected to bypass the sort-of-free for really free. Just down a desert road there is a Free STVA (government speak for a Free Short Term Visitor Area). The only requirement is that we obey the signs about where camping and driving are allowed. Thank you to the American Taxpayer. We enjoyed our stay there for 3 nights free with no sales pitch and no other amenities.

We took a day with the other two couples and drove into Algadonas, Mexico to buy glasses, meds (not for us) and lunch. With the new US protections against illegal immigration and other idiocy, the wait for pedestrians to cross has extended from an hour last year to 3 + hours this year. The wait for a car was just about an hour. They are reviewing passports now, although it is really unclear whether they are required, but they do not have scanners! This means that if they chose to review the passport they must key the data in for each one. It will get worse before it gets better. The only people being inconvenienced at this border town are US citizens and the business people in Mexico whose business is dropping like a rock as tourists learn how long the wait is to get back into the US. There is no wait at all getting into Mexico. Once back in the States we took a rest and went into Yuma for dinner at Brownies, claiming to be the place in Yuma where everyone eats. We spent Thursday doing some repairs and maintenance on the coach and going into Yuma for some groceries and some sight seeing.

We received a call from Yechiel at some point during this day that they would like us to join them for Shabbat with Les Duman, Miriam’s dad, who was visiting. A quick map check showed the drive was doable and a call to Malibu Beach RV Park secured a site for a week. Friday morning we got up really early, we were still on Mountain Time so our 6 am wakeup was really 5 am in LA. We drove back into Yuma to buy gasoline (for 30 gallons a $.50/gallon difference is worth going 16 miles out of the way). We spent the day driving across southern California to San Diego and then up through LA to Malibu. It was early enough in the day that the traffic was only dense, but moving. After setting up we got in the car to join them for Shabbat. Traffic was no longer moving on the I 10. It took over an hour to get to their house and we arrived just in time to leave for services.

We will be sitting here spending time with them and watching Azriel and Avtalyon so they can have some time off until Friday morning when we plan to leave for some place to be determined. Our site is grand and the rear end of G2 is hanging out over PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and we see the ocean from all but our windshield.

This is the view from the Ocean.

As I write we are in Ft Stockton, TX in the Parkview RV Park. We stayed here in 2003, 4 years ago and it looks as if no maintenance has been done since and it was in desperate need then. We may be here a while. Our plan is to move on to El Paso tomorrow for a front end alignment. I have noticed some unexpected wear on the front tires and have been informed that the alignment needs to be checked.. We may put that off until Monday as there are winter storm warnings with snow and sleet and ice pellets in the forecast for this entire area starting at 3 AM. I am not moving this rig if there is a likelihood of ice on the roads.

I am not sure how we happened to land here. As we left Birmingham it was clear that there was some severe winter weather in Texas. We figured to travel west through it as it moved east. With luck we might have to put up with a couple of days of lousy weather on the road until we got to the other side. The only problem I can see with that thinking is that the “other side” may be in Honolulu. It certainly is not between us and the coast and even if it were we are not moving out of a comfortable, albeit decrepit, campground until I can hope for clear roads.

Next day, Friday the 19th. We slept in, had no idea we would be able to move on and didn’t have far to go anyhow. When we got up it was clear that the predicted storm had not hit, yet. We fussed around about whether to drive on to El Paso or not. Finally as all the other transient units had moved on we decided to roll as well. By 10 we were fueling up and getting underway. As we got going it became clear that if the weather held we could make El Paso in about four hours. Our appointment was for 8 AM on Saturday, but they are a first come, first served shop. It seemed that between the clear road and crossing the line from CST to MST we would arrive about 2 PM with a stop for lunch and more fuel. And so it was that by 2:15 we had G2 under the Firestone canopy in El Paso. Upon close examination and advice of the tire specialists, we decided to swap the right front for the spare. I wanted to buy another new tire, but no Goodyear G670’s were available and I was not about to mix tires on the axle. The worst part of the entire job was getting at the spare tire. It is hidden behind a panel that carries the license plate. All of the bolts have to be reached by sitting under the rear of the coach. Naturally several of the six bolts were corroded. Now they are all rust resistant and have wing nuts instead of hex nuts. The alignment and tire swap were completed and we were under way by 5 PM. These guys were good and they were pleasant and I would recommend to anyone who needs chassis service in the El Paso area to consider them.

We pulled into Roadrunner RV park just a few miles from the Firestone and set up camp. My very expensive Surge Protector paid for itself as I was setting up. I plugged into the podium 30 amp connector and went to the electrical bay to see how the power was coming on and saw for the first time and error message that the wires in the campground box were polarity reversed. It means that any improperly grounded appliance would have its outer shell connected to the hot rather than the ground, NOT GOOD! Besides, the unit won’t turn power on in the rig if there is an error. I got out and extension and connected to the adjacent box which was properly wired. We informed the office what we had done and they took that site out of service until it can be repaired.

When we stuck our heads out on Saturday morning the storm seemed to have missed again. It is cold but no precipitation and the roads are clear. We got dressed and went to Temple Mt Sinai for Torah Study and services. We were greeted warmly and enjoyed the study group a lot. The rabbi, Larry Bach, has a fine voice and lead the service in the chapel with many interesting melodies, a couple of which we had not heard before. His teaching before the service and his words during the service provided some interesting insights into the portion.

After services we went in search of visitor information and lunch. We found a Mexican restaurant with a buffet lunch that was really quite authentic. We were among the few non Mexicans in the place. I ate too much and enjoyed every mouthful. After lunch we chose to take a long ride through the mountains since the sun was shining and it is not a road we want to drive the motor home on. It was a beautiful ride until we came down out of the mountains into the plain which is being developed in front of our eyes. After shopping at an Albertsons were returned to the coach and rested over a late dinner and it is soon to be movie time.

Tomorrow off to New Mexico or?

We woke up in Baileyton RV with the idea of going to Pigeon Forge, TN. Can’t say for sure why one would even consider this to be a good idea, but we were vamping. The tour in Whitwell is on Friday and it was Wednesday and the total drive time to Whitwell looked like four hours. I had read about Pigeon Forge and knew it is the home of Dollywood and is supposed to be an outlet shopper’s heaven. It clearly caters to RVers as well, there are seemingly endless choices of RV resorts, campgrounds call them what you will. The good folks at Baileyton had suggested River Plantation RV Resort and not having any reason to disagree, that is where we went. I would go back to that RV park even more readily if it were not in the Pigeon Forge area.

Pigeon Forge and its neighbor Gatlinburg make up an almost continuous strip of accommodations, food, entertainments for all ages and outlet shopping. There are five Tanger outlet malls in the en mile strip and several others as well. It is January and like Branson, MO a couple of years ago we managed to hit the off season. Everything closes down after January 1 until mid February or March 1. There was only one show the night we were there, The Smith Brothers. Let us say we were moderately entertained and would suggest that if any other show were open try it first. We spent much of the afternoon before dinner and the show in the Arts and Crafts area of Gatlinburg and found much to be quite pleased with.

We dined at Ruby Tuesday which was next to the theater. What can one say about this level of cuisine? Had the coach been closer we know what we would have chosen. It wasn’t bad tasting, just bad for us.

Thursday morning found us needing to shop. Carol learned there is a Petite Sophisticate that has been reopened, now owned by Lane Bryant, how’s that for a contradiction. She found clothes to buy. Having shopped Manhattan for a day and and found nothing that even fit, this could be called a miracle. We gather our belongings and boarded our coach headed for Whitwell the hard way. No interstates for us. We had five hours to cover 150 miles by interstate. We chose the alternate route along the edge of the Great Smokies. It was fun for a while, but the towns were fairly ugly and closely spaced. Eventually we found our way to I 75 (for those who might try to follow, we left Seveirville on 411/441 and stayed on 411 S when they split) and on through Chattanooga, TN, right smack dab through the middle and out the other side and up and around Signal mountain into this lovely valley which contains Whitwell. In Whitwell there are no facilities for RVs whatsoever. On the edge of town we found a Texaco filling station and truck stop with a gravel parking area for truckers. They said no one would object if we stayed the night so here we are.

I shall tell the tale of Friday after it has happened.

Well Carol’s “message in a minute” really tells it all. I have been to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and to Aushwitz/Birkenau and Terezen. I have friends who are survivors. I think I am experienced in how I am moved by the appropriate retelling of the horrors of the Holocaust. I have never before been told about the horror by 8th graders from a school so far from my experience that I cannot even place it. Whitwell TN is middle America, poor middle America. The coal mines are closed and when we asked the children where people worked they said Hardy’s! There is no apparent industry in Whitwell and Chattanooga is over the mountain. We had the chance to look at the letters they have received from around the world, including hate mail denying the Holocaust and one letter in particular that condemned the project because if the “Johnny can’t read or write, what good is it for Johnny to understand this nonsense”. It is all there and the kids are great and the project has a life of its own.

On into Birmingham, AL on Friday. We set up in the Birmingham South Campground in Pelham (south of the city) and had a quiet Friday night. Saturday morning we went to Torah study and services at Temple Emanu El. The rabbi is Jonathan Miller, son of our late rabbi Judea Miller and Anita. We had a wonderful time at Torah Study and enjoyed the discussion of humility based on Rabbi Telushkin’s book (title not remembered) which they are using as their study guide this year. After service and a light lunch for Kiddush to honor a baby naming, we proceeded out into the neighboring 5 points area where we mailed some stuff at the UPS Store and shopped as usual to no avail.

We returned to the campground in time to prepare dinner and relax with our computers and reading. We still were not sure where we were heading when we left on Monday. Sunday dawned beautiful and warm. I felt the need to do maintenance work, much of which had been deferred for periods of a day to a couple of months. Of course any time there is maintenance to be done something needs to be bought. I needed distilled water for the coach batteries, a backup light bulb, anyhow you get the point. I spent much of the morning and into the afternoon dealing with most of the maintenance items I could do without a shop. I have learned that the caulking on the roof is abominable. So every month or so I get up there when it is warm and dry to see where my next leak is likely to come from. Out comes the caulking gun and I hope I have prevented the next round of leaks. I now have two working backup lights and the batteries have enough liquid to satisfy their needs. Oh yes for about 12 hours the front of the coach was nice and clean.

At 5:15 we met the Tesslers, Franklin, Debbie, Adam and Alyssa at Cheesecake Factory in the Summit Plaza. We had a delightful time with them and remembered why we had enjoyed spending time with them on our trip in Israel last summer. As we returned to the campground it was clear that the weather was going to change and we had to decide where we were going when we pulled out on Monday. The decision was made to head for Houma, LA, sort of. This left open a variety of alternatives and as the hour started to get late and the temperature descended alng with lots of water, we changed our destination to KOA West in New Orleans. The traffic coming across I 10 at 4:45 was dreadful and we finally got in just before 6 PM. This gave us time to setup change clothes and head for the French Quarter. There was a restaurant there that neither of us mentioned to the other, but both had in our mind, Oliviers. We found it easily and only then did we both acknowledge that it was what we had had in mind all along. Dinner was delightful and we walked the length and half the breadth of the Quarter enjoying the cool mild rain and nearly empty streets.
It is hard to believe that we were in the French Quarter last night. We are now camping (?) on the side of State Route 82 just outside of what was Holly Beach, LA. As we drove along the strip of the “Cajun Riviera” it was hard to imagine that a there was a town here. All that is left is some foundation slabs some with trailers parked on them and the roads. There is almost no sign of any of the former structures. I located the Tides Inn Campground by its GPS location. There is no other reminder of its existence. Katrina washed over this gulf shore area and erased much of it. There being no place here we just pulled off the road where the shoulder is three lanes wide and made ourselves at home. I doubt there will be much traffic tonight. Dinner ala Carol was as wonderful as any we have had out.

We set out on January 2 of 2007 with some additional trepidation. The weather and the other drivers and what have we forgotten were added to by “how will Mom fair at the Jewish Home of Rochester in our absence? Since my last posting to this blog from Israel my mother has managed to “graduate” from her lovely apartment at the Summit Center, an independent living environment to a skilled nursing room at the Home. In most respects she is better cared for and more protected than she was when living alone, but she is also less able to speak up for her own needs. We have provided her additional aids and can with but hope for the best and plan to visit as we can and call as often as seems reasonable.

Some notes on technological changes that are affecting our travels and communications. We now have all our wire line phones forwarded to our cell phones so no more checking the voicemail at home and the office, but it does mean that interesting calls arrive at strange times from people who do not expect to find us driving a 36 foot motorhome in heavy traffic when they call.. We expect to find many more campgrounds offering free or low cost wifi connections. And connections through my phone continue to provide the final backup for connection so long as we are in Verizon territory. With all of this the weakest link will be my taking the time to write and post. Technology provides the tools, but the human must still perform.

Travel to Charlottesville was essentially uneventful. We arrived in daylight in temperatures in the 50’s and had everything set up before any of the C’Ville clan arrived home. As planned, on Friday Dan and Malena left for a wild and crazy weekend in NYC and we became the most blessed people on earth, Grandparents watching over the grandkids while the parents get away. The blessing runs both ways. We had a great time. The birthday party at the Charlottesville Skate Park gave me a chance to show off my ice skating abilities (only 30 years of rust) and teach Ali (as Alexander prefers to be called this month) some skating techniques – falling without hitting the head – turning the corner without falling, you get the idea. No damage done to any of my vulnerable parts.

We then had a visit with Gretchen and Ed Robb and the boys finally got to meet the horses and play in the Robb’s barn and home. Could not believe the weather, who would go ice skating in January with the outdoor temperatures pushing 70 under clear blue skies?

On Tuesday, the 8th we got under way southbound. We have two immediate goals. We plan to stop in Whitville, TN, the home of the Paper Clip Project. If you are not familiar with it, just google “Paper Clip Project”. Then we want to pay a visit to the Tessler family who we met on our trip to Israel last summer. Since we had plenty of time to cover the distance, we set out down the Blue Ridge Parkway, one of our favorite wanders. The forecast was grim, snow, fog etc but the weather as we got on the parkway was clear and sunny. An hour and 40 miles down the road the forecasters appeared to be right and the sky was darkening and the wind was picking up so we descended to route 11, giving our mapping software fits as it thought we ought to be on I 81. After our lunch break in Natural Bridge we agreed with Maggie (used to be HAL, but the new computer sounds better as a woman – go figure) and got up on I 81 as the weather continued to deteriorate. We decided to head for Baileytown RV Park in TN where we have stopped before on this run. We saw a sign that there was an accident 100 miles down the road and the right lane was closed. We thought nothing of it as that was almost two hours away including a stop for gasoline, propane and dumping the holding tanks. WRONG!! As we pulled out on to the road after the fuel stop it started to snow. As the snow let up traffic began to congeal and at mile mark 50 we came to a standstill. The accident had been listed at mile mark 42!. From there we crawled at an average 4 mph (8 miles 2 hours). Carol and I changed drivers twice without pulling off the road, easy to do at 0 mph. We finally saw the accident and it was a horrible tangle of two 18 wheelers, I am sure someone did not survive. As we pulled clear of the scene in the growing dark it began to snow in earnest. For the next 70 miles we had alternating clear and snow. Once we crossed into TN it seemed to be more clear than snow.

We are set up in Baileytown RV Park, just a bit later than planned and have had dinner, we will turn in soon.

Yesterday, Tuesday, we pulled out of Amarillo, TX and headed for Oklahoma. We had a few goals. First we have not seen the National Memorial at the site of the Murrah Building, second, we had not stayed in Oklahoma in an RV so there was a blank on our door map to be completed and finally to cover as much territory as we could without going crazy.

We swung off I 40 into Oklahoma City with the assurance from the Welcome Center that there were accommodations for RVs. Well there are, sort of. The roads are wide enough for us to drive by the memorial and continue on through back on to the interstate. The signage directing visitors is almost nonexistent and there is nothing indicating anyplace for a visitor, especially a visitor in a 36 foot RV, to stop or park. This is the least welcoming National Monument we have ever tried to visit. We did see it at 5 mph, next time I will drive so Carol can see it.

We continued on down I 40, I 44 is more direct but is toll and heads too far north for our further plans. We did not have to work at stopping before leaving Oklahoma, it is a very wide state, although we have made it all the way across in a day in the past. We dropped a bit south in the Lake Eufala area, about 60 miles from the Arkansas border, to a Passport America campground on the lake – Terra Lake RV Park. Cheap is Cheap and $8.50 for the night did seem cheap in this day and age. We had all the hook ups we wanted and what more can you ask. The lake was missing! Drought will do that. It is 6 ½ feet below normal.

Early in the morning we were rolling, back to I 40 and then east, and then east and then east until we found a short cut on AR 64 then east back on to I 40 through and around Memphis and on to US 70 which has brought us to a Wal-Mart in Huntingdon, TN where we are spending the night.

Writing now in our den in Rochester I am trying to catch up. We rolled out of the Wal- Mart headed for the Land Between the Lakes (LBL) in Tennessee and Kentucky. This was written up in the March issue of Family Motor Coach Magazine which we received while at Yechiel’s (I am not sure those who are not FMCA members will be able to reach this site). We reached the entry mid morning and began a slow drive up the Trace which is the central road through the area. We turned into the Elk and Bison Prairie and paid our $3 entry fee. We saw a bison herd immediately, but we are a bit blasé after the large herds we saw last summer. About half way through the drive we came upon this herd of elk

The Hillman Ferry Campground where we set up camp for the night is at the north end of the LBL area. It is quite nice with many sites and clearly very popular in season. There were a lot of local people setting up camp there on Thursday as we got there. This is an area we would like to return to. We discovered that many “back country” areas have space for RVs and the only thing lacking is hookups. Clearly this presents a time limitation but we will look into it next time.

Friday we broke camp early and headed for Indianapolis, IN for a visit with Bobbi and David Lovenheim. We had extended time with them. Gee 2 was set up in the Indiana State Fairgrounds, not far from downtown Indianapolis and in the midst of a huge horse show at the fairgrounds. This also was over the Final Four weekend and as it devolved there was a major storm with possible tornados while we were there. Serious damage was done not far from Gee 2 while we were safe in the Lovenheim’s basement.

Monday morning we headed out knowing we were expected in Cleveland on Wednesday. Where to stop? I have always wanted to visit the National Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton and Carol conceded to viewing too many warplanes to please me. The museum is gargantuan. For a sense of size, in the third hangar space there is a B 52 and a Cargomaster C 133 (not sure about the exact designation) as well as representatives of every plane, munition, remote guided plane, what have you, that the Air Force has had in its inventory since the beginning of the cold war. We have pictures, but none of them do this place justice. Here is a shot taken from under the wing of the B 52:

As we settled into Beaver Hollow CG in Springfield, OH for the night we called Lee and Tinya Cherney who live in Columbus, OH. We managed to connect and agreed to meet them for dinner the next day. We moved Gee 2 to Berkshire Lake CG just north of Columbus to be closer to Columbus and to Cleveland for departure on Wednesday. We have stayed at this camp ground before, on our way to the Indy 500 in 2003. It is fine and might be really nice in season although it does seem to be a bit “organized” for our needs. The Cherneys have been through some difficult times and it was good to see them and have a pleasant evening together.

On Wednesday it was on to Cleveland where we decided to stay at Indian Spring Camping Resort in Geneva-on-the-Lake, OH. It is a bit out of the way, over 40 miles east of Cleveland, but it is open and it is a known entity since we have stayed there twice before on winter trips. The accommodations are sparse, no water on the sites, and it is really pricey, especially since none of the expected amenities are open or useable. We had a great visit with Carole and Jake Slepian. Wednesday night Jake was home in time for us to go out to dinner and have a really good time. Thursday we went with Carole to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. We spent 4 and a half hours there and might have spent more time had we not been exhausted and they were near closing. Here is what the building on the Cleveland waterfront looks like.

No photos are allowed inside and there was too much to see anyhow. Jake did not make it home for dinner on Thursday. He spent more time with patients then he had planned on.

Friday we cleaned up and drove to Rochester. The trip was uneventful and we joined Mom for dinner. The journal is closed for now.

On Friday we got a decent start out of Pomona. It was a beautiful warm day and we followed our plan precisely, a rare happening. By mid afternoon we were pulling in to Mayflower County Park just north of Blythe, CA. This park had been suggested to us by a passing RVer at Dockweilers who had spent some time there. We stopped first at Hidden Beach RV Park and selected a site and paid for it, they had a laundry which the county park didn’t. As we pulled up to the site it became apparent that the person who was responsible for irrigating the area had turned on the system and forgotten about it. All the sites it the transient area were under an inch or more of water. I went back to the office got a credit and moved on to Mayflower.

Boy, are we glad we did that. If you are looking for a wonderful quiet place on the banks of the Colorado River with some of the nicest RVers you are likely to meet (that is going some) this is the place. The sites have plenty of space and there is shade and sun and families and older folks and long time residents and transients. It is a great mix. Also the sound of the birds was fantastic, especially after three weeks of no bird song at all. The first bird we saw was a Vermillion Flycatcher (I am not counting all the various black birds). The next was a Great Horned Owl perched on her nest hatching her brood. Dad was flying about in the neighborhood and hooting to let us know he was around too.

I set up everything for are campsite even though we planned to leave the next morning.

It was great to have the awning out (and need it) and our rug and tables and chairs. We sat around and read, when we weren’t talking to neighbors, and at dinner time I grilled myself a steak and some veggies and a veggie sausage for Carol. We were kicking ourselves for not finding a way to stay on for a few days. However we were staring at 2,400 miles and two weeks to do it. If we took a couple of extra days now, we would have no slack whatsoever to play as we went. We will get back to this campground in the future.

In the morning, we took our time getting things put away for travel. By 9:30 we moved out and drove 6 miles to a supermarket to restock after spending the week in Pomona without buying any supplies at all. We then drove another 7 miles into Arizona and our first Flying J of the return trip. This stop took almost an hour to buy 30 gallons of gasoline. The line was long and the first person in line seemed to have no odea at all that there were others waiting. Even after he finished pumping he continued to clean the front of his coach with the window squeegee. Finally we were able to fill the tank and get on down the road..

We left I 10 behind shortly and turned north on AZ 60 to 89. the signs along the way provided constant reminders that trucks over 40 feet were banned from the road ahead. After Carol took the wheel we learned why the long trucks were banned, the road twisted back on itself like a snake coiling up to sleep. Speeds over 35 mph were not possible over much of the road. Elated and a bit tired we pulled into Point of Rock RV park just outside of Prescott, AZ where we spent the night.

Sunday, March 26. We go on the road again fairly early. I had stopped at the office and been convinced that taking Gee 2 up 89A would result in gnashing of teeth and frayed nerves. The turns were tighter than what we had encountered already and stone walls came right down to the road. Not being totally without commonsense we elected to take the slightly longer in mileage route up 89 to I 40. This put us on I 40 about 40 miles west of Flagstaff rather than coming right through Flagstaff. I your car you might be aware that I 40 had some hills. We got in line with the trucks and spent a fair amount of time in the right lane at speeds well under the limit of 70. Actually we passed a lot of trucks as we were able to sustain 50 mph or so most of the way. I was seeing $$$ spewing out the tailpipe as we climbed at 4000 RPM. Somehow at the end of the day when we filled the tank our mileage came in just a mite below the norm (since you asked that is 6.5 mpg).

As we rolled we looked at our maps and discovered that we were about to pass the famous Meteor Crate only five miles south of the highway. Since we would get there at around lunch time, it seemed reasonable to make a stop for lunch and decide from there what to do. After eating in their parking lot, we went up to the window and decided to fork over the senior’s admission fee of $13 each (this is privately owned and operated) for access to the crater and a tour and movie. Our guide was Kate, a fulltimer who workamps with her husband across the country.

The crater as formed some 50,000 years ago when a modest sized meteorite (150 feet in diameter it is conjectured) plummeted to earth at a fairly step angle. It is very well preserved as there is no rain in the area and thus little water erosion and almost no plant life to bury the crater or change it or disguise it. It has been a mine site (no success on that score), a movie site, an astronaut training site and even the site of a real plane crash. I did not take any aerial shots as I did not have a plane no [icture taken from the ground will do it justice. Go to http://www.barringercrater.com/ for photos and more information.

Kate and others told us that there would have been problem coming up 89A, it just would have been slow. Oh well we will try it another time and go on into Sedona in the process.

We spent the rest of the day driving east and we stopped in a Wal-mart parkinglot in Gallup, NM for the night. Monday we rolled out early and with nothing to prepare to get underway we breakfasted and were on the road by 7:50 MST and pulled into Amarillo, TX 437 miles later at 6 PM CST. We are in a KOA and the WiFi is free if you can see the signal. For some reason this time I can and Carol cannot. Go figure!

I think I am getting redundant, but we are still here. I cannot say much about Pomona or Lavern (the town adjacent to the exit from the Fairplex closest to where we are. Um, Fairplex, a California name for a Fairgrounds, actually the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds. It is situated on the edge of Pomona conveniently near the I 10. It contains what may be the single largest paved parking lot I have ever seen. We have about 4,000 motorhomes arranged on this parking lot in camping herringbone and the lot seems to be about 40% empty. We are located at the last row in our section very near the NHRA Drag Strip (second time for us next to a drag strip) right at the starting line. The lot extends the entire length of the strip (quarter mile) plus the outrun. The distance from the strip to the other edge of the lot seems to be about the same, call it a mile square.

The trip from our coach to the center of activity is a 10 to 15 minute bike ride, a tram ride can take 10 minutes, or if you get on one that does the entire serpentine route past every coach on the way it could take 30 minutes. We rode our bikes it whenever possible. When Carol was doing her Seminar and her Workshops she was able to use her car and park near the seminar building to reduce the distance she had to carry computers and equipment.

The seminar on Photo Composition: Taking Your Best Shot went very well. The room was a large meeting room in the hotel adjacent to the Fairplex and as such it was warm and the sound was good. All the equipment promised was present and worked as expected. Carol was brilliant as usual and the 175 to 200 attendees were captivated and never moved (as proud husband I believe I am permitted to enlarge on the success just a bit). In fact the attendance was excellent and the questions were very good. The next day she gave two workshops where attendees were encouraged to bring there own images for review and discussion. The workshops went fine if you ignore the fact that for the 8 AM gathering the door was locked when we got there and when we got to the room it was bitter cold and there was none of the promised equipment. One other features of the Fairplex is a horse track and the meeting room was set up in the Pari-mutuel betting room. Of course we had great access to the grandstand level of the track and the view over the track to the not very distant mountains covered with snow was just grand. It was even better a day later when the temperatures finally got over 60.

We are in California, in case I hadn’t mentioned it. We are at a motorhome convention. It rained on Tuesday night, a lot, and it was cold really cold for these parts, below 45 overnight and not over 55 in the day. ENOUGH!

I did mention something about spending money here. This is always part of the entertainment. There is the opportunity to spend $1,000,000 on a new coach – didn’t do that – although some did. There are goodies that make life more comfortable on the coach and we are so comfortable that we didn’t buy those either, well nothing big. Then there are safety items. We have driven our motorhomes a total of about 70,000 miles over five years with no supplemental braking system in the tow’d. This results in extended stopping distances and in some cases may even be illegal. I have resisted buying a system because the type that can be moved from car to car easily has to be installed and uninstalled each time you hook up or disconnect. I did not like the concept, but didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a permanent installation in the old tow’d. Last year when we bought the Toyota to tow I decided to investigate a permanently installed supplementary braking system. When I finally saw the one I had decided on being offered for installation here I ordered it and had it installed the next day. For the RVers among you, I bought the US Gear vacuum assist unit with a charge line to prevent running down the tow’ds battery. I hope I have nothing more to say about it as we drive the 3,000 miles to Rochester over the next two week.

We have made a umber of new friends, especially Beverly and Dan Armstrong who we first met at Sky Valley and then at Dockweilers and have had some nice times with here as well.

The entertainment was variable. Debbie Reynolds is old and shows it. Her humor was off color, not appropriate for the audience. A number of us thought she was drunk or otherwise impaired, although I guess the cold could have accounted for her slow start. The last night was the Bobby Vinton Show. He is very intense and really put on a grand show. The venue is the grandstand of the race track and he came into the audience and eventually made his way to the top of the grandstand. It was very enjoyable and he sang all of the favorites “Blue Velvet” “Blue on Blue” “Roses are Red” and far to many more for me to catalog (or remember).

On Friday morning we will push out into the edge of LA traffic heading away from the center. We hope to be in Blythe, CA when we set up camp next. At least that is the plan at 10:15 PM.