All posts by Paul Goldberg

On the Road, Paul Goldberg Blog

Expect the Unexpected

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Not the most auspicious beginning to a cross country trip. Trying to leave our site the jacks on the driver side chose not to rise like magic into their storage cylinders. After a moment of consternation I got out the WD 40 and crawled under the coach to clean the shafts so they could retract. A minute later they behaved as hoped for and retracted to Travel Mode.

As we hooked up the Jeep on the exit road I thought I had followed the ritual to perfection, apparently not, as the Jeep was not in neutral when I did the “roll test”. With Carol franticly giving me the STOP signal, I did and repeated the process two more times. The last time I had the manual open to the instructions and followed them precisely, which worked – remember to keep the brake firmly depressed throughout the process. 

As we drove up the long but shallow grade coming out of Temecula on the I 215 the engine began to overheat. I nursed it to the top of the grade and finally into The Grove, the campground that Redlands Truck and RV maintains for customers. I was coming in for routine service and had them check out the cooling system. I just learned that the two stage clutch for the engine cooling fan isn’t working. It won’t switch to fast speed. We hope the part will be available tomorrow so we can get on with the trip.

None of this is really discouraging or even unexpected. The jacks do need to be cared for after a long pause and forgetting the rather involved procedure for getting the car into neutral didn’t surprise me. Even the failure of the cooling system was not unexpected and the likely cause is a relief since I have been imagining so many more costly and time consuming sources. 

Like living in an aging body, traveling in an aging motorhome has some unplanned failures and unpleasant surprises. 

opinion, Paul Goldberg Blog

Pesach on the Coach

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First Seder was fun and lasted longer than expected even though it was not really traditional. Instead of brisket I bought a Costco chicken to avoid the meat aromas in the coach, not to mention there was no place to cook meat since Carol had every pot, pan and implement in use making kugel and tsimus as well as the fixings for the plate. This year we had a couple from the park join us. They have had some experience since their daughter is married to a Jewish man and they have had seder with them. 

We had the “traditional” Reform Haggadah from 1974 and the Tablet Magazine Haggadah that came out a year or two ago. We are ordering more of the latter, we have had it with the almost 50 year old language and “order.” I don’t remember last year, but we had the new Haggadah and it was just the two of us so we didn’t get real focused on the book, doing it with new friends really opens the eyes. 

Table talk during and around the Seder has changed with the times. It is so different not having any children and so different in a world where the story of Exodus is being relived on our screens, in real life. It may have always been that way, but the it seems so much clearer today as the Ukrainians scramble for their lives out of cities being dismantled by artillery around them. I cannot imagine what it must be to come out of the cellar and find the world in shambles. Given Ukrainian history of Jewish mistreatment (hows that for an understatement) I at first had a hard time finding sympathy for them. But that was the Cossacks and the Russians even then. These people lead by a Jewish president are facing as horrible treatment as the Jews ever did and with the same amount of reason. Because they are the other.  Their Orthodox Church is different, their language is different and they demand to maintain their independence which only goes back to 1991. Putin wants their land for its assets and has no interest in the people who are only in his way.

Plans: We leave a week from tomorrow (Sunday) and after service in Redlands I only have two stops planned and the second is up in the air. We will spend the first night out in Quartzite unless we don’t. Watch this space for actual happenings as we roll. I do know we will be in Boston on May 19 – 21 and Providence RI May 22-23.

Jojoba Hills, Paul Goldberg Blog

Three Years Later

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Facebook just sent me a reminder of a post I put up three years ago https://goldberg-online.net/2019/03/ There is no Super Bloom this year, except in our park where we irrigate, there is little desert bloom to be seen. On the other hand the future of our community, while never in doubt, seems refreshed and growing stronger every day. 2020 was our roughest year in over a decade with 25% of our members leaving for a variety of reasons but all influenced by the pandemic in one way or another. We ended that year with over 10 vacant lots. Today we are looking at a growing waiting list and vibrant new – and younger – members filling in the empty sites and the holes in the volunteer ranks. 

I have believed my greatest strength that I could give to the park is my financial and marketing background. As I wrote three years ago I don’t have a lot of knowledge about the infrastructure in the ground beyond knowing it needs to work. I won my unopposed election to the Board and no one wanted to be Treasurer so here I am. But I am also working with committees that are rehabbing space and restructuring space utilization and catching up on infrastructure maintenance that has been left to long since I left that committee. 

I have superb people around me and great support from the staff. The Park draws in what it needs from new membership. We have a retired CPA auditor, a landscape engineer who managed slopes for California highways, a couple of civil engineers with knowledge of sewer systems and water systems. Most of these have joined within the past year! We have a large reserve fund and we are about to make use of it to refresh the 32 year old property. 

Some days I feel like am actually “working” and I don’t mind it. No one cares if I stop for a nap as long as I get my Board material to the Secretary in time to be on the agenda. – 21 hours left! and so far only one person has stopped by to get my signature for a project that will be brought to a vote on the 4th. Is it really April already? Our plan has us rolling out on April 24th. In my spare minutes I am building  a possible route through Albuquerque to Charlottesville (a whole lot of open space there) and on to Rochester to change clothes and head for Boston in the car. 

But I do get ahead of myself. At least three Board meetings before I leave and a few committee meetings too. I need to find time to play some Bridge and enjoy social time and a concert or two, we have tickets for the 23rd.

Jojoba Hills, Paul Goldberg Blog

and Life Goes On

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The time just keeps galloping along. Being on the Jojoba Hills SKP Resort Board of Directors as the Treasurer has filled a lot of my time. We are meeting twice a month and deadlines for motions and proposals is 5 days before. These deadlines are creating a flurry of emails, many requiring a response until the deadline is past. Some people in the park seek me out to influence how I will respond to proposals. This is to be expected, but each interaction requires time and thoughtful choice of words. This is not a complaint, I am enjoying all of it. 

I just came back from giving a tour of the park. It lasted 4 hours. The “Tour” is an opportunity to present the park to prospective members and to encourage, or in a limited number of cases to discourage, their getting on the waitlist. Encourage can take from 2 1/2 hours to 4 (apparently). The other is 45  minutes, barely enough to drive around the park and point out what there is. A tour by an “official” tour guide is required to even get on the waitlist. 

The community is very warm and friendly. Everyone we pass recognizes me in the tour cart and will stop us to introduce themselves and welcome the visitors. Several people have interesting stories to tell and particularly if the are Founders or just very long time in the park I will encourage them (as if they need any encouragement) to tell a bit of their story of joining the park, or helping to build it. On a warm sunny day with many people moving about, this adds to the tour time. 

I am busy, fulfilled and having a grand time.

 

Paul Goldberg Blog

Losses

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I haven’t had much to write recently. We’ve stayed in the park mostly with excursions in the area for music and entertainment, but limited because of the pandemic.

Through all of this we have kept a close connection with our childhood friend David Lovenheim. His family moved to Rochester whe we were in fifth grade. David and I went on through high school and as classmates at Brown University, He went off to Washington for law school and worked there as a Congressional Aid before returning to Rochester to move in around the corner from us. 

There were years when our sole contact was two birthday calls in the Fall and times when we were together. We could be apart for a year and pick up where we left off. Recently we joined with two other Brunonians, David and Toby London and the sixsome was on zoom every week for an hour or so. We have been close with David and Toby as well lately.

As the pandemic closed around us our weekly interactions became more intense. Then David (Lovenheim is the primary reference here) got sick with a difficult malady that took his recollection of where and when he was. It took more than six months for a neurologist to identify the problem and start treatment. Once on proper treatment he began a significant recovery.

Last Fall we all decided to meet in Charlotte NC for a grand in person reunion, and grand it was. We sat around the motorhome in the nature reserve where we were camping, we dined together we rented a pontoon boat on Lake Norman and David did all the piloting. He was looking forward to getting a home on the lake when his business became successful. Now all of that is in the past. He won’t see where the business goes and he won’t have the home on the lake and we are missing a wonderful loyal friend of over 70 years. 

We know at 79 we are not immortal. Many younger people look at a death at 79 and say it was a good long life. Bull Shit! We are vibrant people, blessed with reasonable health and a conviction that we still have something to give to our family, friends and communities. 79 is just another way point along the way. 

On the Road, Paul Goldberg Blog

We Drove Where?

From Google Maps History 2021 travels. Many years ago Carol’s late brother asked for maps of our travels. At the time it was a nontrivial ask. Today Google Maps makes it almost too easy. If you think about our desire to stay warm it becomes clear that the northern route was late Spring into Summer and the Southern route was in the Fall. 

First stop West bound was Dyke Virginia where Dan and family now live on their large farm (15 acres) with space for their two horses. The moochdock space for us is a straight pull in (which results in an extended back out). From there we headed south to Charlotte for a reunion of friends and time with the Rainwaters, who have since begun to relocate to Asheville.

We got in a bit of a hurry leaving Charlotte NC after a week long delay for mechanical stuff. We skipped Louisiana altogether. We made four stops in Texas although only three show. Texas is that big and we needed some time in Livingston to pick up the mail and get the coach inspected. Then on to New Mexico to visit Leora and Stuart in Las Cruces and then to Erica in Albuquerque. This resulted in backtracking south on I 25 to get to Quartzite where we hung out in Hi Jolly camping area to limit our total time for the year in California to less than 180 days. We returned to Jojoba Hills SKP Resort on December 4 and finished 2021 there. We have enough diesel to make it out of California before we need fuel.

The eastbound trip had a hiccup or two. The first stop was Redlands Truck and RV to service the coach and set up the tow for our new Jeep. From there we made it to Albuquerque to meet Erica who flew in to scope out the town as a place to move to. A doctor suggested we return to Jojoba HIlls so Carol could have yet another test and so we did. When the results came back we were released to continue on. We returned to Redlands since the new brake system for the Jeep did not seem to be functioning as expected. They jumped on it the minute we arrived and determined that one of the parts they had installed had failed and they replaced it under warranty, total time was two hours! We stayed the night in their campground spending time with two other Jojobian couples who were there. 

As we ventured north and east we had wonderful experiences along US 50 headed to Lake Tahoe. It appears that most of the places we stayed and visited have been reduced to ashes. 

Colorado was the big draw for the next section of the trip as we visited Elly and Kelly from our trip to Thailand and Vietnam in 2013 and then moved on to Escapade in Rock Springs Wyoming. Heading north toward Nebraska we finally returned to elevations where there is more air to breath. Our next destination became Madison Wisconsin for a visit with cousin Mimi and finally a reprise of US 20 through Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. We gave up on US 20 in Buffalo as it was very local and very high traffic.

The map also shows a jaunt into Canada. We left the coach in storage and took the Jeep to Hamilton to visit Carol’s Aunt Dorothy, now 98 years old, and cousin Marilyn. Then to Toronto where we stayed with the Starkman’s and made a condolence call to Harvey’s younger brother Michael whose wife Stacy died recently. That was a tough visit. They are the youngest in their generation of the family. 

Back to Rochester and back on the endless, so far, cycle of time on the East Coast and then on the West coast with extended drives in between. 

Our travel plans for 2022 include Boston for a Bat Mitzvah, Jazz Fest in Rochester and Sicily in August. That trip has now been postponed twice.

Paul Goldberg Blog

Lost and Found

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You might think that after living in large homes (4,000 sq feet) and down sizing in a couple of steps to 300 square feet in a motorhome we would have far less space to lose things. To make it even less likely we have put up hooks for keys and most things have a regular storage place. However Carol does change things up from time to time just to get my attention. But I digress.

As our niece Erica pointed out, the new Jeep is a wonderful collector of lost objects which fall down between the seats and lodge under the passenger seat where they can only be found while sitting in the passenger side rear seat. So now when things go missing and they might be in the car, I get into the passenger side rear seat to see if they have found their way there. 

On the motorhome small items seem to slide out of my pocket and find their way into the mechanism of the sofa bed. I always hope they stay on  top of the foldout mattress saving me from having to open the bed. Two days ago my pocket knife found its way there. Fortunately, after a cursory look in the places it was supposed to be, there are more than 2, I decided to check the sofa and there it was, whew!

Today presented another test of, well lets just say something got lost that should not have gotten lost and even worse, it wasn’t. I’ll unravel that now. But first, last year we had only one key for the padlock for our shed. I made it a point to always leave the key in the padlock in a particular place when the shed is unlocked. At some point I managed to violate that simple principal and lock the key into the shed. A helpful park member came over with a hand held cutter and proved just how little value that lock was by slicing it open in a couple of minutes, which included getting the cutter out of its box and mounting the battery. 

I went to town and bought a new lock, actually the same worthless lock. After all, I’m only trying to out honest people and direct any thieves to a shed with a less formidable latch and lock. As expected this lock came with two keys so we are far less likely to lock both in the shed.

At some point today I went to get one of the keys to check on something in the shed. Neither was there! I went to the shed and found it unlocked and there was a key in the padlock on the shelf where it belongs. Where was the other key? Carol and I took all the keys off the key rack and looked on the floor and in the crevices during which search I turned up a key I didn’t know was missing. I then searched pants pockets and the sofa under the cushions. No key. I remembered seeing a key ring, not related to the missing key, in the car and went to get it, also checking under the passenger seat from the rear passenger side seat, just in case. I brought the key ring into the coach to put it on the rack where it belongs and there was the missing key, hanging on the rack right where it belongs. GeeWiz has a poltergeist and that is my story and I’m sticking with it. Carol is disagreeing with me. She says it was Harvey the Rabbit.

Jojoba Hills, opinion

Onward into the Future

Okay, so the title is a bit pompous. It’s after 10 PM and I shouldn’t be starting this now but I am and I will likely not finish before tomorrow. 

We ended 2021 with a bang and I hope not a super spreader event. We gathered about 150 of our masked and vaccinated members in Friendship Hall for an incredible dinner and great dancing until midnight – New York time that is. So many of us volunteered in the serving that it would be best to say the community did the work. Our team of volunteer retired professional chefs and their helpers prepared a meal of salmon, beef, potatoes and asparagus that was pleasing to the eye and the palate and the veggie offering was also excellent. 

The band started as the main meal service ended and Carol and I were on the dance floor for most of the numbers.

Things did get a bit silly when Georgia requested the Bunny Hop and many of us dug into childhood memories and joined in. 

We slept in and then after weekly chores tried to decide what to do with this unplanned day with gorgeous sun and a heat wave, temps were headed into the mid 50s. Are we really in southern California? We decided to take a ride. Do we turn left or right, North or South? There are some roads off of CA 79 that we have not explored, so we decided to see what we could see. An abandoned Buddhist Retreat Center for one, camels in a farm yard for another. We didn’t take pictures of either since the grounds of the retreat center were fenced off and the camels were behind a high chain link fence. 

Eventually we found our way to Borrego Springs where there was a musical event in the Christmas Circle – that’s a place not an event.  We couldn’t stay long because the singer was so off pitch it was painful. We swung by a couple of our favorite boondock places just to see  if they were occupied and I turned the wheel over to Carol for the return. 

This evening I finished reading “Israel a Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth” by Noa Tishby. She spoke at a Jewish Federation event in Rochester and they kindly sent me the book. I would like to have everyone I know read it! Other than her own story I did not learn anything I haven’t known for many years. I take that back. I did not know how the BDS movement was funded. Instead of  many small contributions it is funded from a large Arab organization in the US . It derives its ideas from the Arab Boycott of Israel that predates the creation of the state by the UN in 1947. 

Back to the super spreader New Years Eve party. It is happening. After 2 years of very few cases in the park, we are aware of several cases among our staff and a growing number among our members. All large gatherings have gone back to Zoom for the time being. Neither Carol nor I are showing any symptoms and to the best of our knowledge our table was not among the source of the infections.

Jojoba Hills, Paul Goldberg Blog

In Jojoba Hills SKP Resort

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I see I left my “story” in Tucson 3 weeks ago. The remaining drive to Jojoba Hills was uneventful arriving with a full tank of propane and 3/4 tank of diesel fuel and likely to remain so for the next few months. 

With me on the ground providing guidance and Carol at the wheel we backed the coach into place in a single smooth move. It took us a few years to actually figure out the best way to do that. There is an allowance of about 6 inches for easily spotting the coach. Opening the door stops about an inch short of hitting the front column of our awning, as planned.

Enough about trivia. I’ve been working with the Finance Committee on getting the budget prepared for the coming year. It will be presented for approval at the annual meeting where I will be elected to the board of directors for a three year sentence. . . er term. Given my long term activity on the Finance Committee I, expect to be asked to serve as Treasurer. Something to keep me away from the Bridge Table. Our budget is over $1,000,000 with a substantial Reserve Fund so the responsibility is not trivial. Fortunately the Finance Committee does the bulk of the grunt work with the numbers. 

Carol has opened her mouth a couple of times about the condition of one of our public spaces. I will leave it up to her to tell the gory details, but this job makes the work on the Boondock bathhouse look like practice for the big time.  At least she will stop pestering me about what she will do for volunteering. At the moment she is in the Mailroom helping to distribute the incoming mail into our mail boxes. This is no minor job 2 days before Christmas. 

We have no travel planned as of now unless you count our trip to Sicily which has now been pushed out to August. There are friends to visit in Palm Springs area, a relatively short drive away and lots to do in the area. I went to the card room and there were no other Bridge players present. It is chill and raining and many are out of the park for the holiday. 

Tomorrow we are going into town with friends for Chinese food. They’re not even Jewish and I am not sure they get the significance. For a long version of the story read this with acknowledgment to my brother-in-law David Coen who sent it on to me.

On the Road, Paul Goldberg Blog

Fuel Costs and Other Thoughts

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We are in Tucson AZ and will be here for 4 days visiting friends who used to live in Jojoba Hills and doing some touring in places we have been before.

So far this year we have driven just over 10,800 miles in the coach and I have bought 1308.05 gallons of diesel fuel for $4,124.61. The average price per gallon was $3.15. I have not bothered to note the actual price per gallon for each purchase,  but the information is readily available since I have purchased all of my diesel through a trucker discount program (TSD) which provides a record of pump price, discount, fees and net price paid.  The average MPG is 8.28.

As I was looking at my next two fuel stops I see $3.90 in Arizona and $4.70 if I should need to purchase fuel in California. These are trucker’s discount prices at major truck stops. Question I am asking myself. Do I plan on filling the tank before parking for 5 months in California or do I go in half empty in hopes that diesel prices will not continue to escalate? It is reputed to be better for the fuel to store the tank full. The tank holds 100 gallons of fuel. 

Although campground prices have escalated as well, the cause is different and the impact is less. HoweverweI have spent over $5,000 on campsites  About $26 per night including no cost nights spent moochdocking  boondocking or staying at Harvest Hosts sites – I have not counted the cost of goods purchased at those sites as camping costs. I would have bought wine anyhow. There were several sites that cost over $100 per night! Location, Location etc.

If you add modifications purchased and maintenance performed the cost of this life style really does mount up. This is not a complaint, the cost of maintaining a fixed home is also rising and even though the value is rising, a replacement home is also rising. Given the shortage of parts and workers, the value of our “depreciating asset” has risen also, should I choose to consider that as an offset. If you care to know, I paid about $250K for the coach in May of 2012 and the Bluebook today is about $140K.

These numbers are among the most common questions I get when I meet RV wannabees, especially those who think it is a less costly life style than renting or owning a house.  Also the curious are interested in the costs. Clearly our choices including the kind of RV and where we stay and how much we move impact those costs. 

I have been tracking these numbers since our first trip in the summer of 2001 in Goliath. They are all on separate sheets in a single spreadsheet workbook. I am not generally OCD and I even stopped photographing every site we camped on many years ago. Somehow tracking these numbers satisfies my need to track something. 

I hope you haven’t been bored if you even read this far.