I know, I haven’t even written it and I know it won’t be the last, I think.

Today, Thursday April 25, had one planned activity. That was to finally see Fallingwater, the country house designed for the Kaufman family by FLWright.  It is a mere 3 miles from where we are staying. It is 90 years from where we are today. The Kaufman’s were a couple who founded and owned Kaufman Department Store. Those of us from Rochester may remember when they bought Sibley, Lindsey and Curr, know to most of us as “Sibley’s” They had one son who never married and had they had no descendants. 

As older people ourselves we wonder what will become of our “stuff” and how to downsize to relieve the burden from our children. The Kaufman’s had a great idea. They had built a marvelous house and a great art collection and they left the entire estate to a not-for profit to manage as a museum, they also left $5 million in the 40’s to maintain it and its 5000 acres. We get the benefit of that largesse. A house built in the 30’s that looks in many regards like it was built yesterday (without conforming to current code). Railings on a deck too low for any standard, so Mrs Kaufman could see over them without getting out of bed. Stairways with no hand rails. Passage ways too narrow for easy passage and so many more. 

The sound of the creek wherever you are on the property permeates everywhere. As soon as you open one of the many windows it fills the space. Here is Carol leaning over one of the many patio walls above Bear Run.  This is just 8 seconds.

We concluded by walking to a viewpoint to get this classic picture: Well maybe it will upload by the time I post.  Try this link for excellent pictures

A cup of fancy coffee drink set us up for the brief ride back to the coach to begin prepartions for a less than 4 hour travel day and another day arriving in Rochester and moving out of the coach for the summer. We need our luggage, already in the car and the perishables and the electronics for the first trip. 

I’ll fill in the details in a later post.

We left Lee in Columbus and were only two easy days to Rochester, but we had no desire to arrive before the end of April. There were a couple of places on our bucket list that had always been out of the way, out of reach because of lack of time. We have had an affinity for Frank Lloyd Wright homes and I mentioned earlier we decided to tour Falling Water and Kentuck Knob. The easiest place to camp for these turns out to be a Yogi Bear Jellystone Park. We have often stayed at one called Shangri La by the Creek between Rochester and Charlottesville and know how busy they can be in season. Late April in PA is not in season. 

This place is huge, with half mile between entrance and exit on the main road. We are located next to the Ranger Station (!). When I was exploring I found the golf cart rental center, there must be 100 golf carts waiting to be rented. There are 3 swimming pools. The closest large city is Pittsburgh which is an hour and a quarter away. 

The one sight we hadn’t planned on is Flight 93 National Memorial, about an hour away over mountain roads. We went there this morning. The field in Shanksville is just that an open field. If Flight 93 had not crashed there, it would still be just another open field. 

The Visitor Center was crowded with 3 school buses of children for whom this is ancient history and older people remembering what they were doing when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. There are memorabilia, and there are voices, the recordings of the phone calls made from the plane in the 34 minutes after it was taken left me in tears, again. We did not walk out to the memorial itself we did make a final stop at the Tower of Voices. It is 93 feet tall and has 40 large wind chimes, all different voices.

In the afternoon we went to Kentuck Knob a wonderful Unsonian home by FLW. The original owner lived in it for over 30 years and the current owner converted it into a museum with many of his own collected items in the house and. It was delightful visit with ice cream made by the dairy the orginal owner owned in the gift shop. The road is not suitable for any RV. The house is built into the top of the Knob.  For better pictures than I could take go here.

More tomorrow,

The Kansas City Gangster Tour was a lot of fun. Lots of mostly factual history of the period from 1920 to the mid 30’s. The bus ride never pauses between the dialogue from the lead gangster and the driver who is party to the action along with the interactive video. The only time anyone left the bus was when the “guide” got off to reenact a murder scene with multiple participants all by himself. We were all hysterical by the time he got back on the bus. It was 90 minutes of fun and history mixed together. 

We took a day to clean the coach and for me to attend a hybrid Board Meeting at Jojoba Hills. We took off down the road this morning in the face of storm warning, wind and under 5 hours later with fuel and lunch we settled in to a lovely Boondockers Welcome site with a lovely gravel pad and electricity. They are friendly people, as we would expect, The pad is alongside a barn. Since there is a threat of rain we disconnected the car and backed it into the site and then backed the coach up to it so I could reconnect it to be ready in the morning to roll without going out in the rain to set it up.

This travel style is limiting our time to follow the news. While we are rolling we mostly are listening to audio books or other favorite shows. Of course once we stop we do catchup and morning is usually NPR and NYTimes with breakfast. 

Several days have passed. We moved on to Lake Haven Retreat, outside Indianapolis where we met Terry Lovenheim and went out to dinner. We had a long pleasant talk over dinner and and returned to the coach to prepare for another travel day.

This day found us at Alton RV outside Columbus OH. We have stayed at this park in the past to visit with Lee Cherney. Just a reminder, Lee was at TBK Sunday School with Carol and me going back to 1st or 2nd grade. Later we ended up at Brown together where we were roomates for 2 years, one year in the dorms and senior year in an apartment with Jon Kerner of blessed Memory. We have stayed in touch all these years. 

Although we were within 8 hours of Rochester we decided not to rush back yet. We are spending two nights in Erie PA KOA before completing our exporations with the aforementioned trip to tour Fallingwater and Kentucky Knob, two Frank Lloyd Wright homes. After those tours we expect to take two days to get back to Rochester. This should land us in the apartment on Saturday April 27. 

That will terminate our immediate travels in the motorhome and leave us two trips in the car to Boston and to Providence two weeks apart with a graduation in Rochester in the middle of the sandwich. 

The coach has been running fine so far and Carol has been taking her two hour shifts with aplomb. The audio books and other entertainments help the miles fly by.

Watch for posts from family travels coming soon.

After the obvious notion that our age has slowed us down just a bit and we don’t have to be “doing” every minute of the day comes the rest of the stuff.

As I was making plans with a friend for a get together in Cleveland, he reminded me that Pesach (Passover) was that night – oops. I guess we will be enjoying that in a campground someplace. Someplace then became a question.  I had forgotten that we were entering the Northeast a land where camping is very seasonal and the season starts either April 15 or May 1. Most of the places near Cleveland that I tried do not open until May 1. The one that is opening April 15 has only 7 sites and is fully booked. 

There is no reason to stop in Cleveland if our friends are not available so we will move on to Erie PA. I don’t think we have ever stopped there. It is a KOA, not our preferred venue, but mid week while schools are open it seems safe. This puts us within a short day to Rochester if we choose to do that. 

After some more working with my trip planing software and the phone I have gotten way ahead of myself and have booked almost all the stops we need for the rest of the trip. I just added a side trip to Fallingwater, the FLWright house. Its only 176 miles out of the way. We have promised ourselves a stop there many times but never had the time. We just made the time.

Another thing I forgot. This planning takes time, especially booking reservations, something we seldom have done. Also I needed to debug the windshield and front of the coach after 2,000 of driving. 

Tomorrow We will join a bunch of Kansas City Cornellians for a Gangsta Tour of Kansas City. Our friends, the Lustigs, are both Cornellians and they invited us. Another thing I forgot, Look up Brown Clubs as we travel.

If you have read these messages you know we get “into” highways, that’s US highways, not interstates. As we left Las Cruces on US 70 we eventually transitioned to US 54. Typically US highways run N/S or E/W For some reason when they laid out US 54 which is designated E/W (even number) they actually ran it NE from Las Cruces, that is on a diagonal. 

It was fun as we traveled across NM on that diagonal for 3 nights. The road traversed many grades as we climbed to the High Plains.  Then today we crossed from NM to TX and then on into OK across the Panhandle to KS where we spent the night at Mid-America Air Museum, our third time stopping there. Today we continued on US 54 which eventually merged with US 400 into Wichita KS. Tomorrow we will bid farewell to US 54 and get on I 35 to KC. I could post a boo to taking the Interstate,  but there really is no better route to get us there for a get together with Dianne and Marty, friends from sometime in the 70’s 

Even more than our addiction to highways is our addiction to keeping up with friends from forever ago. We will stop to see a college roomate, Lee, who we actually have known almost as long as we have known each other (first grade) and a friend from Rochester who moved away to FL many years ago and recently moved to Cleveland so we can visit. Visits in FL required a trip to a state we choose not to enter. That has nothing to do with politics!!! It is flat, crowded and humid.

I’ll report on highways and friends as we go.

The coach was in and out of the shop in about 4 hours. We hit the road – again. As we began the long climb the engine temperature stayed right where we hoped and we crested the grade to Chiriaco Summit where we paused for lunch. With a fuel stop in Quartzsite we pulled into our favorite piece of desert, Hi Jolly, where we set up for the night.  In the morning it was a simple matter to pull in the slides, retract the levelers and keep on moving.

Mid afternoon we stopped at South Forty RV Ranch and did nothing but a bit of shopping while we took a down time. Other than missing our Tucson friends we were back on the schedule I had laid out months ago. The next day brought us into Las Cruces NM and Hacienda RV Ranch which is our new go to place in Las Cruces since Siesta has closed to short term stays. Assorted reactions to medicines resulted in our staying in Friday night with Miriam DG who had flown in from Los Angeles. Saturday was not very Shabbat like as we crammed in some touring of the area so Miriam could get an idea of what Las Cruces is like. 

Sunday, after a brief family Zoom and lunch with Leorah and Stu we headed out for a Sefardi concert at Temple Beth El. We met up with Leora and Stu again at the Temple. We had decided to double down on music so as 6 PM approached we ventured into Double Eagle Restaurant on Mesilla Square for a perfomrance of Cammerata Del Sol  string quartet founded in part by their daughter Amalia who is a splendid violinist. We said goodbye to Leorah and to Amalia who is off to a program in Israel this summer. 

We drove back to the coach where Miriam packed up almost everything in preparation for a shuttle pickup at 7 AM. Later that morning we rolled out for what is planned to be the shortest day of the trip, 90 mile to Tularosa Winery, a Harvest Host stop in Tularosa. I’ ll let you look it up on Google Maps for yourself if you are so inclined.

During the course of these days, Dan called a few times trying to catch us with a minute to talk. He finally caught us and got to tell his news, they have just bought 240 acres of good farm land on the otherside of the Blue Ridge from their current location. They have a long route to go to get from farm land to house and facilities for the horses. It will be fun for us to watch. I’m sure there will be a nice RV pad if we are still able to handle the coach.

Three days of nonstop rolling should have us in Kansas City area by the 12th. I am still attending various board meetings for Jojoba Hills as we keep rolling along. 

We settled in to the Salt lake City KOA which we last stayed at in 2015. It hasn’t changed in the past eight years in any noticeable way. It is still close to the Temple District and it turns out to be very close to Azriel’s apartment, maybe 7 minutes away. 

I guess I’m not a great picture taker. Carol has many pictures and has posted them on Facebook. This was a special visit. He is our second grandson to get out on his own. He is much further from family than Josh and he is living in his own apartment with a job that is great for him maintaining regional jet aircraft. We had him at the coach two afternoons – he works 9 pm to 7 am 4 days a week – and had dinner with him before taking him back to his apartment to get ready for work. On Monday his girlfriend (I’m not sure anyone use that term today) came in by train from Grand Junction to spend the week before her class on diesel mechanics resumes in July.

We took a drive together to the Salt Lake State Park at the soouthern  end of the lake right next to a major copper concentrating plant. Then we went out to dinner at Laziz Kitchen. If you love Mediterranean food in a simple atmosphere, this is the place. I would love to go back and eat my way through the menu. I had a Mediterranean Salad plate with Kafta as an added protein. The salads were fresh and tasty –  but enough this is not a food blog.

Carol and I spent two two hour sessions with superb guidance in the Family History Library working through one brick wall I have run into in my geneology work. We know the family name was Sklarof (SP) before it was Goldberg. We know my grandfather’s mother came over as Mary Goldberg (or took that name upon arrival). There is a big space between saying “we know” and collecting documents to prove it. I’m closer, but not there yet. What I learned were techniques and the need for persistence. 

Today, Tuesday the 27th, we began our trek back to Jojoba Hills. We were on the road just about 5 hours and there were no events worth mentioning. We stopped for fuel, propane and lunch and to change drivers in Filmore and we are now at Temple View RV in St George UT. We have barely left the coach beyond the need to setup, it is HOT. I expect in the morning our prep for departure will also minimize time outdoors. The plan is to get to Barstow where we will stay at Slash X Cafe, a Harvest Host site. Supposedly they will be closed so we will just pull into their large yard and stay the night. It there is anything different I will report. 

Not your standard tourist stop for us. The primary reason for coming here was to spend some time with Azriel, our grandson, who has been working here for a couple of months. Since his normal hours are 9 PM to 7 AM Wednesday through Saturday (Sunday morning) we have been seeing him from about 4 PM to 7 PM. Carol is seeing to it that he is well fed. It is really great to have this uninterrupted time with him. So far he has come to the RV. It turns out that the SLC KOA is less than 10 minutes from his apartment. 

The other bucket list item for this trip was to take some time att the Family Research Library, a genealogy project of the LDS Church. I knew I needed a “brick wall” to bring to get some help. Tracing my paternal grandfather’s immigration and verifying which set of parents in Russia are his – my ggrandparents – has been a great exercise and a major learning experience for me.  Both experienced researchers gave me over an hour and plenty of new tools for me to work with. I have food for several hours of research on my own (more like days).

One other lesser goal was to replace a pair of very worn out shorts. I hate shopping and seldom ask Carol to do it for me. I found an REI not to far away and bought a new pair of shorts and new shirt.  

This is hardly the kind of exciting travel we are following with so many of our friends touring in Europe and other places far far away, but it is our travel for this part of the summer.

We have been married 59 years, today.  An oft told story, my roommate Jon Kerner was supposed to be my Best Man, but he chose to marry Peggy on the very same day, 400 miles away. He is no longer with us but we cherish the memory and the continued connection to Peggy.

We celebrated last night, the 20th, in Las Vegas, maybe the last place we would choose, but there you have it. We decided to visit our grandson in Salt Lake City and the way the schedule worked a stop in Las Vegas made some sort of sense. We pulled into las Vegas midafternoon coming from Redlands Truck and Motorhome. It would have been an easy 4 hours were it not for some major construction which added at least 15 to 30 minutes. We set up and had a snack before calling for a Lyft to take us to NY NY for the show. It was an anniversary trip so I paid for front row VIP tickets. The stage is a thrust design so we were right next to a stair that the cast used to get on and off the stage and often to perform right there on the floor in front of us – not more than 2 feet away! It seemed that no one really escaped that kind of closeness as the entire hall seemed to be the stage. 

The comic, a throwback to the Catskills made his standup by picking out audience members. When he picked on Carol he got what he was looking for, a 59th anniversary and some fund stories. Some of his stuff does not bare repeating.  We loved the show and would certainly recommend it to anyone who has not seen 14 variants on Circe du Solei. We cabbed back to the coach and after a good nights sleep set off for Salt Lake City.

I misjudged and misread my mapping software. We were on the road for 8 hours and 7 hours was on the move. Mostly we were moving right along although naturally there were some construction slowdowns. We rolled into the SLC KOA at 7:30 Mountain Time. and  by 8:30 we were set up and had eaten something – peanut butter and jelly for me. 

We violated our drive time standard of  two 4 hour shifts and done. After each of us did 2 hours, I took the wheel for the what turned out to be 4 more hours. Somehow I was energized and did not fell exhausted as we pulled into the KOA.

Good Night

We have stopped in Las Cruces to visit Leora and Stuart as has been our custom over the years. After three days without pause it also has given us a chance to clean up a bit and restock groceries. Hacienda RV Resort is an acceptable campground. I can see I 10 traffic out the windshield from our site and the rail crossing nearby is quite audible. 

Last night as we were preparing dinner neither of us wanted to turn on the election day news. We went to sleep in ignorant bliss. This morning we both hesitated about turning on the local NPR station not knowing what to expect. We are still breathing evenly. I’ll let it go at that.

Our major topics of discussion are planning the next 700 miles of travel which will put us on our site in Jojoba Hills. When to stop; where to stop; how long to drive each day. I do know we will stop for fuel in Yuma, our last fuel stop before Californian. With careful planning we may be able to avoid paying California price for diesel at all. Our next planned RV outing is in Arizona and we should have enough fuel remaining to easily return there.

Our next planned travel is the cruise to Mexico from San Diego in December. That is a 7 day “practice” cruise. We continue to explore other trips for Spring after the RV trip to Escapade in Tucson AZ in March.  

I expect my next post will be from Site 801 in Jojoba Hills SKP Resort.