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.

Fast forward!

We left our desert beach and headed for the real California. First we stopped in the land of the lotus eaters, Desert Hot Springs at Sky Valley RV where we stayed last year. It ain’t great but the price was reasonable with Passport America and their hot spring fed pools are very nice. We camped on sand in an overflow area with water and electric, no sewer, for two nights. The people were pleasant as was the weather. We were vamping on our way to LA. Didn’t want to get there too soon, there is only so much big city we can stand, even with seeing Yechiel, Miriam and Azriel and Avtalyon. I had a very early flight to catch out of Long Beach for meetings and a Bat Mitzvah in NYC and we had timed our arrival to give us time to see the kids and get settled in before my departure.

The main thing we did in Desert Hot Springs was got to dinner and Billy Rieds which I enjoyed and Carol actually enjoyed far more than she expected. Getting to Dockweiler RV Park which is run by LA County Dept Beaches and Harbors is really easy once you commit to driving the freeways. However we did it, once we got to the 105 west bound we continued to the end which becomes Imperial Highway which ends, very conveniently, at the park entrance. Somehow, trying to stay on I 10 across LA did not work, we found ourselves off route on the 101. Using our mapping software and our FMCA Atlas I was able to construct a new route on the fly and we never missed a beat.

The park is both less and more than we hoped. It is essentially a large parking lot laid out with really large parking slots and all the facilities promised. I can look out my windshield at the Pacific, which is across one more row of RV’s and 50 yards of beach. If I turn the other way, inland I can see (and smell if the wind comes from the east) the second lagest waste water treatment plant in the US. Having taken care of the senses of sight and smell, we are just to the south of the southern departure runways of LAX, like a city block to the south. Planes are departing overhead every 60 to 180 seconds, the good news is that the traffic is so constant that, for the most part, we aren’t even aware of them. Neither of us has noticed any sleep deprivation.

Each day we get to the kids house and spend some time with the little ones and even have the occasional moment with the adults. Everyone has a schedule and we have fit ourselves into those schedules. The major excitement this week has been Purim. School was closed for Purim and the whole day was devoted to play. Erev Purim (the evening before, after sunset) we accompanied the family to their synagogue, which is a liberal orthodox shul, for Megillah reading. Each of us is required to hear the entire Megillah read in the evening and the next day. This reading was performed by a member of the congregation with appropriate voices and selection of melodies to keep everyone (well most everyone) listening. I recognized Ode to Joy from the 9th and the major themes from Star Wars, not to mention selections of liturgical music that were used for parody. I am sure there were many other melodies from contemporary music that I just didn’t get, oh yes there was a passage from “Walk the Line” as well. Everyone was in costume – I went as an RVer and Carol went as a tourist – the boys were royalty and I am not sure who Yechiel and Miriam went as. We made it through the first reading and were able to eat and get home in good time.

I will not replay all of our wonderings around LA. Carol and I have taken to finding new and interesting routes for our travels when we have the time to get lost or tangled in traffic. We have seen the Getty Villa, thank you to Jan Shapiro who had tickets looking for someone to use and the strength to escort us there, we took the kids to the Lebrea Pits (on Wilshire) and the Page Museum and we have tried to follow PCH route 1 from our front door to the I 10 twice, maybe we will make it the next time. We have managed to find our way around the area between the beach and Wilshire and beyond and are becoming savvy in the ways of LA traffic. There is too much of it and it is always stalled.

On Sunday morning the 19th we pulled up stakes and move about 30 miles east to the Pomona Fairplex for the next FMCA gathering. Carol will be giving her seminar on photo composition and then she is offering two critique sessions for attendees to bring images to share. I will report my perspective afterwards as we began a slow dash across the country. We leave CA on the 24th and plan to be in Rochester on April 7 with stops in Indianapolis and Cleveland.

Report from Pomona to follow almost immediately.

We stayed in Gilbert Ray CG outside Tucson for four days touring and relaxing with our friends Pat and Bob Hogg They are fulltimers from Alberta who, as I am sure I have mentioned, we met in an RV Park in El Paso two years ago. We hiked Sabino Canyon in the northeast part of town and we drove to Kitt Peak Observatory to tour several of the huge telescopes located there. We engaged in that all time favorite pastime of shopping in the RVer’s candy store, Camping World (magazine racks this time). We dined out a couple of times and a couple of times we had extended “happy hour” followed by light suppers on our own. One dinner was at the Bamboo Club, its location in a large mall adjacent to several other large new restaurants gave away its character as part of a chain. It is a new chain and it seems to be a copy of PF Chang. It is very good for what it is and I would go to another one if there was no local alternative.

The Hoggs travel is generally north to south and return while our route is generally east to west and return. They are members of an RV Park system and have to reserve well ahead to be able to take advantage of the investment, thus their itinerary is far more fixed than ours. We have found that we can more easily adjust our peregrinations to intersect theirs and for two years now it has worked out that we have met at this campground. They are thinking of coming east this fall and maybe we will get to entertain them at our “fixed base” in Rochester.

After four pleasant days in Gilbert Ray CG it was time to continue west. For anyone interested in the campground the images in the last post provide an idea of the nature of the sites. There is 30 amp electric only. Water and sanitary connections are centrally located (dry camping). The sunsets can be spectacular . Somehow it seemed that we just wanted to take the most direct route this time so we retraced a few miles to get on I 10 west bound to I 8 just south of Phoenix. We paused at Gila Bend for driver change and lunch. I note this for future reference as this is a reasonable stopping place and the rest area that is supposed to be at 223 does not seem to exist. We finished the day at Senators Wash LTVA. Actually we are in no mans land in a short term area that is adjacent to the LTVA (Long Term Visitors Area – BLM terminology for open land that is available for extended camping for a fee of $120/year). We have stayed on Mountain Time although we are a mile or two into California and are formally in the Pacific Time Zone. Most people here seem to do the same and call it Yuma Time.

We are dry camping on a beach next to a reservoir that seems to pulse with the rhythm of life as it fills and empties. It is a pumped storage facility. During the night when there is little electrical demand and irrigation requirements are minimal water is pumped into the reservoir. By day as demand for electricity and irrigation water rises the water flows out into the irrigation ditches through the same turbines that pumped it in during the night restoring most of the electricity that was used to pump it in to begin with. We awake each morning not knowing quite where the waterline will be relative to our location. We are camped above what is the long term high water mark, although it is clear that at certain times the water has gone higher. Also, the warning sign that says “Evacuate Immediately When Siren is Sounded” does give one pause. We are above the Imperial Dam and so not likely to be flooded rapidly.

The biggest disadvantage of this location is the lack of reliable phone service. For the 7 days we will have been here we have had to drive around looking for a phone signal. Connecting the computer is a joke. We will have to invest in satellite service for internet if we plan to do a lot of this. The hardware is $5,000 and the connection charge is $50/month or more depending on the service desired. I am not sure I can justify this for the week or two we are without service. Thus this posting will be put up when we get out on the road on Tuesday the 28th.

We have had the boat out on the Colorado River, I have ridden some bicycle in the sand here and we have done a fair amount of walking and hiking. Most of all we have sat and read and I have continued to do minor jobs and updates on Gee 2. The cabinet over the entry door which houses the slide switches, the battery cutoff switches and last minute items to grab as we go out the door such as flashlights, now has a gas strut to keep it open, why it wasn’t factory installed I have yet to figure out unless they just forgot it. I have hung the two magazine racks we picked up it Tucson. I have also made some other minor changes to improve comfort and usability. The next serious addition will be solar power and a couple of more batteries along with a more powerful central inverter/charger. Once these are in place I can begin to think about adding satellite internet. Who said a boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money? They never owned an RV with dreams of extended desert stays 

Today – Presidents Day, February 20 – we are in Tucson, AZ in the Gilbert Ray Campground which is adjacent to the Museum of the Desert and Old Tucson. As you can see it is really camping in the desert.

I have spent this morning being Mr Fixit. I had to tighten the rear medicine cabinet door again as the screws keep working loose. I may have stopped that with the infamous toothpick trick, we shall see. Our friends noted that I had a backup light that was out, so I replaced the bulb. In Falcon SP we had a bee problem. They invaded our Fantastic Fan (for the non RVers this is a very quiet, very powerful ceiling exhaust fan). I thought I had eliminated them by running the fan on high. It did get rid of most of them, but it left behind a fair amount of bee parts on the fan blades, also the I had not cleaned the screen, ever. All is now spotless. One of these days I will tackle the nonfunctioning connection to the running lights on the car. I have dealt with that by not running after dark and if I had to I turned on the car lights and ran the battery down a bit.

Retracing our route through Texas: we left Seminole Canyon Historic SP on the 12th and made our way to Davis Mountain SP just outside of Fort Davis and about 18 miles from McDonald Observatory which we visited last year. WOW! This park is located in a canyon with an amazing Inn at the far end, Indian Lodge. It was constructed by the CCC in the ‘30’s and after a period of neglect in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s it has been restored to the original standard. The campground is quite lovely with roomy, fairly level sites and all the hookups you could want.. The thing to see here is the Montezuma Quail. We never did see any, I guess they heard about Cheney and all went into hiding. We did see many other birds and the deer were in the campsites begging for food. We obeyed the law and did not feed them, although others were totally ignoring the law. We drove up the Skyway Drive and left the car at the top to hike on over to historic Fort Davis. The altitude changes were fairly significant and when we reached an overlook with this view we decided that it would not look any better from up close and turned around to return to the car. Along the way I had turned an ankle which is still sore, but not so sore asa to slow me down any.

While in Davis Mountain we learned that Dan Rather was coming to Marfa, 26 miles away, to pull the switch to turn on a new Public Radio Station, MPR (Marfa Public Radio) 93.5 should you ever be in the vicinity. We did not run down to that, but we did by tickets to a benefit concert being given by Willie Nelson in Alpine, 26 miles away, also 26 miles from Marfa. It was great fun although I am not sure why many of the people were there as they seemed more interested in hooting, whistling and generally being rude than paying attention to the concert, I must be out of date, I thought one went to hear the performer and enthusiastically cheer his performance.

The next day we headed on out toward Tucson, but with a planned stop in Las Cruces, NM. We called ahead to Leora Zeitlin and Stuart Kelter, Leora is Zvi and Marianna Zeitlin’s daughter, they are close friends in Rochester. After some wine and conversation with Leora and Stuart we went to dinner at Mix, a restaurant not to be missed if you are in the area and love Pacific Rim food. I raised the subject of Shabbat service at the synagogue and they very graciously invited us to Shabbat Dinner at their home. This was a great pleasure as we have not had anyone to share Shabbat with since we left our kids in Virginia. Leora and family, Thank you again, we really enjoyed the haimish Shabbat.

On Friday we drove to White Sands National Monument, about an hour drive. The sand is so white that it looks like snow and it is only when you get out of the car that you realize it is not a winter wonderland. We decided to begin a 4 mile loop hike. Before the hike we had a picnic lunch in a park shelter. I saw a Horned Lark near the shelter and tossed a piece of tomato near it. That became our lunch time entertainment as he worried at the tomato for the next 15 or 20 minutes. We did not plan to complete the loop as we did not have the time, we decided to go as far as we could in the time allowed and then turn back. About five minutes into to the hike we were overtaken by the Ray and Darlene who were camped next to us in Sunny Acres Campground. We enjoyed having another couple to hike with and were a bit sad when we had to turn back. Shortly after we turned back the wind picked up and began to drive clouds of the white alkali sands into the air. We hurried back and got in the car for the drive back to Gee 2 so we could shower and prepare for Shabbat.

Saturday morning, early, we moved on to Tucson to join Bob and Pat Hogg for a few days.

The drive to Seminole Canyon Historic State Park was uneventful once I pulled yet another screw out of a tire, the left front to be precise. No loss of air and everything was just fine. We arrived just before the office closed and after paying found our way to the campsite which, as we remembered, is situated on top of a rise subject to whatever breeze or wind may blow. Gee 2 is clearly visible for miles around, from US 90, from the visitor center and seemingly whenever we look in that direction. There is no digital phone service, no NPR and for some reason my satellite dish will not lock into satellite 119 so no news.

We came here first, a couple of years ago because it is as far as one would choose to drive in a day from Falcon SP. We stopped here for lunch last year, but did not tarry. We had heard that there were wonderful pictograms to be seen in a cave that is only accessible by guided tour, to protect the art from vandals and graffiti creeps. I guess that each of the last times we were here the tours were being given on some other day and we had reasons to move on. This year was to be different. Tours are twice a day Wednesday through Sunday at 10 AM and 3 PM, we got here on Thursday afternoon. Friday morning found us walking the mile from the campsite to the visitor center to join the tour, $5 per person. Eight or ten of us set out to follow Dean, the volunteer guide, into the canyon where we were enlightened about the possible sources of the pictograms and the natives who scratched a living from the desert as hunter gatherers. I have many pictures of this art, but the images are faint from exposure to the air and stress of water perking through the limestone substrate for the past 3,000 years give or take, so here a just a couple to whet your appetite. I have used some digital magic to make the images visible without distorting the color any more than necessary. As you can imagine the color changes with the light from minute to minute in any event.

As Dean talked he mentioned another cave with drawing not very far away that is protected by a private foundation. The images are reputed to be more vivid and the descent to the cave more difficult, ah ha a greater challenge for Carol’s wonderful new hip. We drove to Langtry. TX about 20 miles west of here, to see the site of the home, Saloon and office of Judge Roy Bean, “The Law West of the Pecos.” I will leave you to dig up the many stories of his antics if you wish. He had no jail so his only punishments were hanging or fines. He is said to have used both liberally. On the drive back from Langtry I spotted a sign for White Shaman Tours and pulled into the gate to get the phone number. There was no response, but during Happy Hour with Gary and Vicky Shrope aboard Gee 2 we learned that they were going and the tour was every Saturday at 12:30. We agreed to meet at noon and go together.

If you have any interest in the prehistory of this land, if you have any curiosity about the lives of the Indians of the lower Pecos, if you just want to see great rock art, go out of your way to visit this area. The art in this one cave is enough reason to come here. Combined with the art in Fate Bell the trip is worthwhile. It is just around the corner by Texas standards, Greg, the tour guide at White Shaman, and co founder of the foundation, drives in weekly from San Antonio, only five hours away he says. There are other caves and tours available and we will be returning to see them in the future.

For now here are just a few pictures of the art in White Shaman.

This is the route to the shelter

This last is the White Shaman

We have not rolled a wheel on Gee 2 in 14 days. Other than storage, this is the longest that Gee 2 has stayed in one place since we got it in June 2004. We never stayed anyplace longer than a week with Goliath either. We are learning to relax and take our time. Of course we have had so many things to do that relax hardly describes our average day. Carol is working on her seminar when she isn’t writing or struggling to get online. It’s that Mac thing; it won’t play nice with my PC and share my WiFi nicely.

A quick report on the tire issue that I started with in the last journal: The tire repair truck finally arrived and they spread out their tools, like a surgeon preparing for surgery. The leader marked the area of the bolt head in the tire and then extracted it with a pliers, here it is: it was all very anticlimactic, there was no whoosh of escaping air and it appears that the only result is an additional hole in the tread surface and no penetration of the tire body.

I will not bore you with a recitation of all the birds we have seen, it is well over 50 species. Here are pictures of a couple, the Green Jay and the Chachalacka. That is not a typo. Both of these birds are not seen more than a few miles north of the border with Mexico and not in many places along that border.

In addition to the javalina (peccary) wandering through the sites we have seen deer and tonight as I was reading email I looked out the window and saw a bobcat run from under Gee 2 to the Winnebago across the street, no photo, I could barely get the words out and it was gone.

We will most certainly come back here in the years to come. For now we are packing stuff away in preparation for a reasonably early departure. We plan to travel US 83 to TX 227 to US 90 in a northwesterly direction through Laredo and Del Rio and spend tomorrow night in Seminole Canyon State Historic Park on the bluff above the Pecos River.