Hmm, it is now Aug 24 and I am not sure what has even been posted. I will start from where we entered the fairgrounds on Friday morning. This was very early. The actual convention gets under way on Monday afternoon with people arriving until Monday noon. We are in an area that will be served with electricity on either Saturday or Sunday morning depending on who you believe and the ground under us is sand. We will not have ready access to empty holding tanks or fill with fresh water until the following Friday. We are on strict water conservation in most coaches. That means any meals taken on board will be consumed on paper or plastic and meal preparation will be very limited to avoid significant use of water for cleanup. Grill it or order it in. Showers become a very brief event in a manner that only a US Navy sailor from WWII might understand. There is no readily available laundry so we will make do with what is on board, this not a major hardship as most of us can last a week between laundries anyhow.

Carol is excited about giving her Seminar on photo composition on Wednesday, but we have other things to do before that day arrives. We have agreed to be volunteers, on the Security Detail as it turns out, as part of attending with the Chai Chapter. Carol and I drew three stints of four hours at the entertainment venue for the “Big Shows.” Tuesday was New Odyssey in the Grandstand, an antique outdoor venue best used for watching demo derbies, which is its main use. Preserving any semblance of security became a joke. We had fun welcoming people, being sure they had their badges and ignoring the few who had forgotten theirs. The banter was lively and we enjoyed ourselves enough that we looked forward to the following night with Roy Clark. We had a fine time again, but he was well beyond any ability to entertain. I am not sure if it was recovery from hip surgery six months prior or the pain killers he kept talking about or maybe just age.

Given the weather, oh yes it had rained on Monday night and everything was a sea of mud, they decided to move the third night, The Lettermen, into the indoor arena. This turned into a nightmare for Carol and me. The arena had been used as a meeting room throughout the convention and many people were aware of the back way in to get to the main floor as a result. Unfortunately, that entry was not going to be available because it went right through the area reserved for the entertainers’ dressing rooms. We had to welcome people and guide them to the stands and prevent them from entering the main floor by the easiest route. Even worse this meant there was no apparent entry for those unable to negotiate stairs. To make it even worse we were not given directions to tell people how to get to the main floor without taking stairs. At first we were sending them into the area where the exhibitors were trying to dismantle their booths. Then we sent them into oblivion the other way. After we had misdirected several hundred people we finally got a route that was essentially “leave, walk around the outside of the building and come in from the other side.” Needless to say, many people were not at all happy with us. One man told me to “be nice and just let the man on the scooter in” I put my Security Hat on his head and told him “if you want the job, be my guest!!” That was the last I saw of him and I still have the hat.

Did I mention a sea of mud? There were outlying parking areas on grass that had several large coaches mired up to their bodywork, had they listened and stayed put there would have been no problem. We did not try to move until Thursday. It started to sprinkle again and we had to have the coach in place to be weighed at 9 the following morning. We moved Gee 2 to a front row spot, vacated by an early departure, just a few tens of feet from the paved road. We slept better that night. Our weights were just fine. The left front is 50 pounds heavier than the right. I told Carol that we could fix that real easily; have her do all the driving!

You will have to ask Carol about the seminar. I was there and thought she was brilliant and by far the best seminar presentation I had ever attended, I even stayed awake all the way through it. But then I might be accused of bias. It was well attended and she received many compliments.

We needed some time to ourselves by now. We set off to Hazen, ND. That is as close to no place as you are likely to get. You could look it up; it is on ND 200 30 miles south of Sakakwea Lake (that is NOT a misspelling, at least by me) and 80 miles or so West of Bismarck. The most important thing we did there, besides laundry and a lot of clean up, was to try out our new boat. Doesn’t every second home need a boat? We bought a 13 foot inflatable Kayak made by SeaEagle. It is in the form of a double pontoon boat with place for two seats on the fabric between the pontoons. It inflates in about 5 minutes with included foot pump and turns out to be a delight on the water. We found a spillway impoundment below Garrison Dam that had little current and was set below the dam and surrounding landscape so as to be sheltered from the wind. There we inflated and launched the boat and had a grand time exploring the rather small area and our new boat. It is a wonderful toy. It takes 15 minutes from car to water and a little longer to stow because it needs to dry for 20 or 30 minutes. Whenever we venture out where that might be water and time the kayak will be in the back of the car.

It was time to explore western ND. We headed for Theodore Roosevelt National Park at the extreme western end of the state. It features the ND Badlands and Grasslands as well as Medora. We had plenty of water and no reservations were available in the area so we headed for the National Park Cottonwood Campground. Arriving a little after the noon checkout time we found a glorious, huge site that claimed to be right on the Little Missouri River. I eventually did get to the river, but it was a bit of a walk. By five in the afternoon there was no place even in overflow for anyone to park. Our neighbor recognized us as having been at the Minot Rally and offered us a coupon that we had misplaced to the Musical at Medora. We trundled into town and picked up tickets to the musical and to the Pitchfork Fondue and Buffet that preceded the musical. From there we returned to the park and did a rather hurried circuit of the 30 mile loop road to get a feel for the place. Along the way we saw plenty of Black Tailed Prairie Dogs, some turkeys and several herds of Bison. At one point we had to stop because the Bison were taking their time crossing the road or doing whatever it is they are doing when they walk along the road.

We returned to Gee 2 and showered and got ready to go to the Pitchfork Fondue, well you may ask “What is a Pitchfork Fondue?” There was a very nice buffet line with plenty of salad and veggie to satisfy Carol and at the end of the line the staff was cooking steaks speared on pitchforks in huge drums. Better description: the staff was overcooking steaks. . . It was a lot of fun the music was country and Bernie and Marlene turned up to sit with us. They were attending a Spartan Chassis Rally in town. (For the non Rvers – Spartan is a manufacturer of Diesel chassis used by a number of different Coach manufacturers and they have clubs for owners just like the coach manufacturers). The musical was very elaborate. The amphitheater must have been 5 stories high and the backdrop, when the stage wagons were rolled back was the North Dakota Badlands. The production was really high end college level. The singing was good and we really enjoyed ourselves. The featured attraction was the Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats! Their act did nothing to forward the story of the history of Medora, but it was great fun. The show ran two hours and there was a five minute intermission, barely time to get to and from the restrooms, much less make use of them. The finale was TR riding horseback over the ridgeline in the distance followed by the National Anthem. It was very stirring.

The next day, Sunday the 21st, we decided to visit the site of the Elkhorn Ranch which was TR’s home ranch in ND in the late 1800’s. The site is now a couple of hundred acres located halfway between the North and South Units of the park. Access to the site is more difficult than most national park areas. There is nothing left to see as the buildings were scavenged for material when TR abandoned the ranch in 1890 or so. We called the Rangers for guidance and directions. Here, in short form, are the directions we received. “Go north up East River Road which will become 702 for about 25 miles on good gravel. When you come to the abandoned school house there will be signs for two left turns and one right turn, take the soft left to the Mosser Ranch and proceed about ¼ mile until you see an abandoned white school van in the brush, park and wade across the river where you will pick up a double track. Follow that until you see a NP sign (white on brown) pointing the way to a mowed path.” He did not comment on the quality of the last stretch of road – unimproved would be a kindness. He did not say that there would be only one sign and it consists merely of an arrow pointing to the right with no indication of what it points to. We did as directed and eventually found a gate with a visitor log for us to sign in. The log was a single lined page and the entry on the first line was dated 11/04 and the last entry before ours was dated 9 days previous. We tramped around the area startling some turkeys and many other small birds. And we eventually arrived at the home site which is fenced off by the archeologists who worked the site in the 1960’s. We returned to the car and had a picnic lunch while we marveled at having experienced the place that was so important to TR in his recovery from the death of his mother and first wife on a single day. The lack of buildings and the relative difficulty of getting there made this a special spot for us too. If you are in the area, do make the effort, Carol and I found the hiking not too strenuous and the drive was great fun, the car is still filled with dust from the road after a week and a couple of washes.

On to South Dakota and the Mt Rushmore Memorial and the Chief Crazy Horse Monument. I hope I can get that written and posted soon as we are now in Mitchell, SD, the home of the Corn Palace. Go figure.

Some time far later. Actually, Sunday night Aug 14. I had best write this before I forget it altogether. After touring the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore we got back in touch with the Jim and Barb and headed for their cottage in Interlochen. This is the home of Interlochen Music Camp which is quite a huge facility with many campers who are gifted in music and various other arts. It turns out their cottage is just across a rather small lake from the camp and it is very lovely. After touring the cottage, Barb took us on a tour of the camp. Needless to say we were very impressed. We were so impressed that we want to begin discussions about the possibility of Josh (our eldest grandchild) attending next summer to explore his interest in flute more deeply. This is the first his parents are hearing about this (I think). After the tour We returned to their cottage and we had a delightful dinner on their pontoon bout out on the lake. This was capped off with an evening of bridge (an early evening on their part as we had miles to drive and are much earlier people in any event. The bridge was fun and Carol got back into her game better than she expected. I am very rusty but have always loved the game.

Our return to Timber Ridge found stragglers still at the campfire, but we quietly settled in and were soon asleep. In the morning we set off with no real idea where we would get to as we traveled up the peninsula toward the Upper Peninsula (hereafter U P) past Petosky and over the Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) Bridge. We crossed the U P rather more quickly than I had anticipated as there was little for us to do in a day. We don’t fish or hunt so it is really lost on us. That night we found ourselves in Bayside Campground 16 miles outside of Escanaba, MI. The buildings at the campground could do with renovation by dynamite, but the camping area was very nice. The people we met were very friendly and we made friends with Jean and Garret Mulder who were also on their way to Minot. Jean mentioned, almost in passing that she would like to join the volunteer organization when Carol mentioned that we would be doing that at the Rally. We parted ways the next morning with intentions of seeking each other out once we were in Minot.

The next night we made it to Saginaw, MN. The Saginaw CG has everything possible against it. It sits at a major turn in US 2, between both legs of the highway with a major rail line as its back property line. Across the street is a gas station/saloon/package store. The people we met were very nice. The owner dropped off a large load of firewood in out fire pit for no charge!! And the neighbors, as usual, were friendly. Traffic on 2 is actually quite limited and even the trains were few in the night. We slept well and were ready for an early departure in the morning. This day was nice drive to the Bemidji, MN area followed by a horrendous battle with an unnecessary detour. We had selected Hamilton’s Fox Lake Campground for its Passport America discount more than anything else. (For those new to this blog and not RVers, that is a 50% discount from normal price). We had three distinct sets of directions, two in the campground guides we carry and the third provided by HAL. We discounted the HAL route since the route numbers seemed to indicate improved dirt roads. The other two routes made life confusing. Having selected one, we ran into a “road closed three miles ahead” sign. We had no idea whether our next turn was in more or less than three miles. Fifteen miles later we returned to the closed road to find we could not go back to where the campground turn was and there was no other access to civilization for some distance. There was no way to turn around even if we unhooked the car. I zoomed in the range on my GPS and located some back roads that appeared to provide an “around the block” turn around albeit a several miles long further detour. Finally we got back to the original road closed sign and proceeded though it to find almost immediate access to the turn we wanted. With gas prices high and rising, 30 miles or more out of the way is far more frustrating than usual especially since we would not have time to explore Bemidji. If you wonder why you know the name, it is the home of Paul Bunyan and his great Blue Ox Babe and frequently the coldest place in the US. The campground is delightful. It sits directly on Fox Lake with sites in three rows facing the lake. There is water access and boats to rent and nice level grass sites for the motorhome. We had full hookups and could clean off the bugs and make ourselves ready to join the throngs in Minot.

Wednesday, August 10 found us up early facing our longest drive of the trip so far, 330 miles. In a car that may not seem like much, but by the end of that day we would have covered 1091 miles (detours included) in four days. This is not our usual mode of travel. We got up early and set out for Minot. Somehow both of us were ready for shorter driving shifts than usual and we found ourselves stopping and changing every 90 minutes or so. I took the last shift and extended a bit as I did not want to stop until I saw a gas station with $2.349. It took me a bit to figure out that the high test was cheaper than the regular because it has 10% ethanol. I have 45 gallons of the ethanol loaded fuel to burn off when I leave here and prices are much higher and climbing as we sit. I can easily see a $150 fill up in my future.

We pulled into Swenson’s RV on route 2 in Minot to join our friends from Chavuarat Yehudim in the pre rally get together. Swenson’s is an RV Dealer/Campground that does not know what it wants to be when it grows up. The campground is brand new – carved from a field in May of this year, and it really amounts to a gravel parking lot with side by side hookups. It is not the greatest, but it was available and we were all parked together. The location, five miles from our lot at the fairground, was also pretty good. We joined up with the Elowskis, Topfs, Singers, Dobrins, and Ploessers. The latter couple are not members of Chai, but met the Topfs in Alaska and became close friends. We had dinner together outside the Topf’s coach each bringing our own dinner. We all got into a frenzy of cleaning. I had to make the exterior as clean as I could get it without a ladder while Carol was busy scrubbing the interior. Our friends likewise were busy getting rid of the dirt of travel, in some cases several months including travel in Alaska. By Thursday afternoon the coaches were all clean and the refrigerators and food files were well stocked. We were ready to go into the fairground and we went out to Chinese buffet at the China Star. A couple of us were not real well that night. By drive time in the morning I was feeling much better.

At 9:00 sharp we rolled out of the campground in an impressive caravan of 6 clean coaches and 15 minutes later we were pulling into our assigned slots at the fairground, five miles away.

We set out on Tuesday August 2 at 3 in the afternoon with our usual well planned itinerary. It read “stop in Hamilton, ON for two nights to visit family; drive to Minot ND by Friday the 12th, by way of Canada, Michigan, Minnesota, sot of and then find ourselves in Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON for Labor Day Weekend. Well thought out and clearly workable, but lacking some details, so what else is new.

Crossing the border at Lewiston felt like the old times; “Where are you going? What is your citizenship? Who long will you stay in Canada? Have a nice day! We continued on toward Hamilton’s Confederation Park along the lake. We have driven by this park so many times without noticing its existence over the years. The 88 exit off QEW just before going over the Burlington Skyway Bridge leads right into the parks, well almost, we did miss the actual entrance because it looked like an amusement park no indication of a campground and after our recent stay at six Flags Darien Lake with our grandson Josh, we were not anxious to go to another amusement park, but I digress. . . so what else is new.

As we neared Hamilton it started to rain, no it started to deluge with great bursts of lightening and wind. Carol had to slow way down just to see the road. Later we learned about the plane crash at Pearson which may have happened in that same storm a bit earlier. It was as violent as we have seen and the thought of setting up in it was not pleasant. By the time we reached the campground the storm had cleared, the sun was out and we could set up and enjoy the grounds. We took the bicycles down from the roof and set out for a look see ride. We turned onto a paved path that follows the lake shore. It is a major Ontario Hike/Bike/Skate way that loops around the lake from Hamilton to Toronto and beyond. It is not entirely complete and we certainly were in no condition to bike to Toronto, but we had a nice ride and went back for dinner onboard.

In the morning we took another longer ride before breakfast as our morning exercise. It was delightful. We then set off to visit Carol’s Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Mel in their new condo. We used maps provided by Stan and Susie, our neighbor’s, who as Canadians had good mapping software for Canada, a lack on my part I shall have to make up before we do this again. Dodo is the youngest of the seven siblings in her generation and is now 82. It is wonderful to see her still active and interested in all kinds of things. Mel is aging a bit more, but is doing fine. After lunch and lots of talking, we left them to walk to the AGH (Art Gallery of Hamilton) just a few blocks from their new home. We had a too brief tour before heading back up to get the car to head for Marilyn and Al’s in Dundas. We found our way with only one extra phone call for help and had a wonderful visit, lovely dinner and then they came out to the campground with us to see Gee 2.

We left Hamilton by 10 the following morning and had no real idea how far we were going. The software seemed to say we could make Traverse City, MI in one day, but we seldom push as hard as the software assumes (I never remember to build in an hour for lunch and other stops and we do like to be off the road by 5 at the latest. As we cleared the border at Sarnia, ON (Port Huron on the US side) with less trouble than we had entering Canada it became clear we were not going to continue all the way to Traverse City. With much indecision and changing of minds – at 60 miles and hour – we picked Herrick Park in Clare, MI as our stopping place. This county park had little to offer in the way of amenities and even water was not piped to the site, but there was electricity which would be needed to run the air conditioner to ward off the heat. As we neared Clare it began to pour. As we approached the park, once again dreading setting up in pouring rain, it cleared and the sun came out. This felt like déjà vu.

Later, as we took a short walk, the lady from the neighboring campsite stopped us to compliment Carol on the nice work she did backing Gee 2 into the fairly tight site. Not a lot of women traveling with men are willing to do close quarter maneuvering for many different reasons, not the least are feelings of inadequacy which can be encouraged by male browbeating. I don’t get away with it and she handles Gee 2 just fine under most conditions.

It happened as we were traveling toward Traverse City, that I remembered that we knew someone who spent part of their summer at Interlochen, just outside of Traverse City, and I had the phone number with me. We called Barb and Jim Present and arranged to get together at their cottage on Saturday late afternoon. Barb provided us with plenty of ideas to occupy ourselves in the area and the important things to see. A short drive on Friday morning had us ensconced at Timber Ridge Campground about 15 minutes away from the center of the city. This was a very nice campground with many amenities that we never did get to take advantage of as we left early and returned late each day. The only problem was created by a large family, actually two families I think, with more kids under ten than I chose to count. As late as we returned they were still up at the campfire no9t more than 30 feet from our left front corner. When we got up in the morning, there was already someone at the campfire circle, they must have slept in shifts and they were not particularly quiet.

Quick tour of Traverse City (hereafter TC). The action takes place on Front Street. Friday night was a street fair with plenty of bands and food and booths selling goods from the shops. First we drove up the Peninsula which divides the bay that TC sits on into East Arm and West Arm , all the way to Old Mission. This is 20 miles. We stopped at a couple of farm markets and bought cherries and then we stopped at Chateau Grand Traverse winery for a tasting. We actually bought two bottles of Chardonnay and two of a Riesling. Their reds were quite unexceptional. After this we found parking along Front Street and wandered for a couple of hours before zeroing in a dinner which was at 310 located uniquely at 310 Cass Street. Dinner was fine and we can recommend it if you are in the mood for dining outside on the river and the menu works for you. I had Ahi Tuna and Carol had a wonderful salad.

Saturday we decided to worship by seeing the wonders of the area and we set off for Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore.

To be continued. . . I have an internet connection that is rather tenuous so I will post this from Saginaw MN (that’s right MN not MI) just west of Duluth. This is another story yet to be told.

That’s Macon, GA to Rochester, NY by way of Savannah, GA and Charlottesville, VA. Yes Savannah is out of the way altogether, but as I explained that is where the good guys of Dick Gore RV do their thing and so we went there. If you then line up a direct route to Charlottesville, you will pass through a lot of “there ain’t no way to get there” places. We went up I 95 to Florence where we turned more northerly on 52 and then, wonder of wonders we were on US 1, a portion we had not laid tire on yet. We passed by Darlington Race Track and knew we were in serious NASCAR country. Shortly before that I started the usual search for a campground to spend the night.

Having had 6 days of dry camping in Perry we really wanted the comfort of a water and electric. I found the only campground on our route, the Frontgate RV at Rockingham Speedway. I called ahead to make sure there was room and to verify the directions because the book was not really clear. Phyllis greeted us like a long lost friend and eventually said she would await our arrival even though we were going to arrive an hour after her normal office hours. She described the location as “across the highway from the NASCAR track.” What do I know? When we got there, on one side of US 1 is this mammoth stadium surrounded by grass. On the other side is a grass field with a small cluster of buildings. We had already taken a detour into a campground that was not expeting us as was not suitable for us, turning around required my guidance on foot and was accomplished with inches to spare. There was no sign of a campground, literally no sign and no RVs glistening white in the setting sun. There was a small American car poised, apparently, in the grass. Carol slowed and we passed the driveway as we rolled. The car gave chase and met us as we turned into the next driveway. A picture is worth many words.

We stayed alone until the next morning as they started preparing to run trials with three dragsters on the quarter mile strip just over the berm from us.

We left at our usual time, between 9 and 9:30 and set out for Malena and Dan’s house. The route was made up of several roads that look like a straight run on the map. By lunch time we were settled in their driveway after a minor contretemps with a fence. Most damage was to the fence with my ego coming in a strong second. The piece of garden I have been using to complete my turn in the cold of winter had turned into mud. The front wheel slid into it and I went sideways into the fence, taking out a couple of boards and the remains of my ego. The fence is mendable, the marks on the coach are on the same panel the hit and run driver messed up so Gee 2 is no worse off and I will slowly recover the belief that I can place the motorhome anyplace I want to with in a couple of inches. Our visit lasted from Wednesday afternoon until our departure on Sunday morning we attended a school assembly and helped prepare a new garden. I walked up and down the hills that are called the road and driveway and Dan and I took a wonderful hike up Humpback Rocks on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

When we first arrived I called Bill Freedman, a classmate of ours from 23 school and Monroe High. He came over on Wednesday night and we had a grand time reminiscing. I hope on another visit we will get to meet his family. We told him the story of meeting the Robbs in Austin Texas and Bill was fascinated, he asked us to tell Ed that we had met him. Saturday night we went out with the Robbs and as soon as I mentioned Bill Freedman, Ed first asked if there was anyone we didn’t know and then he told us of his relationship to Bill. Charlottesville really is a small place and 3 degrees of separation might better describe it. We went out to dinner with the Robbs and we went to Staunton in hopes of avoiding contact with the public since Ed is very well recognized on C’ville. We almost made it, there was a party at a table near us and several of the participants were retired State Troopers who knew Ed.

Sunday morning found us mounted up and ready to roll to our fixed base in Rochester. An uneventful trip was broken in Painted Post, at the new Super WalMart, where we spent one last night on the road before driving into Rochester. The food is in the house, the clothes are in the washer and the outside of Gee 2 glistens with the wash I gave it.

This is the end of the Winter ‘05 blog. Spring is here and our next major trip will be in August, if gas prices don’t go over $3.00 and gallon.

Monday the 28th of March, I opened my eyes and looked at the top of the refrigerator from where I lay in bed. It looked wrong. The light pattern indicating operating mode showed that it was operating on propane. In my sleep dazed mind, I processed this information and wondered why. The obvious answer surfaced, we did not have 120 volt AC current available. The rain and the storms could have had that result. A quick look out the window told me that this was not throughout the campground, the power lights showed on most pedestals in my viewing area. There was nothing to do but check out our own pedestal and power source. Problem! There was adequate power to the outlet on the pedestal. I could get 120 volt AC from the generator, but not from the shore power cord. I checked the various fuse boxes and circuit breakers to assure myself that we had not simply tripped a breaker, no such luck.

Time to call Fleetwood, they don’t even open their Customer Relations line until 6 AM Pacific Time, it was 7:30 AM EST. At 8 I called Brandon Shepard at Meyers and discussed trouble shooting alternatives, but he had nothing new to offer. By 9:15 the Customer Relations folks had not responded to my voicemail so I called them again. Theresa answered ON THE MOTORHOME LINE and walked me through the trouble shooting guide to the same result. She agreed to help locate a Fleetwood Service Center and eventually directed us to Tall Paul’s Campers in Macon. First Boo! Tall Paul’s Campers only handles trailers, trailers that do not have 110 volt circuits. They only work on 12 Volt. Theresa had told these people that I was pulling a trailer with a 12 volt problem, she did this with me on hold waiting to be conferenced in for directions.

A cheer! Johnny B and his buddy completed the diagnosis, located the Transfer Switch and pointed out the burned smell emanating from the area. They had no parts and no training to complete the repair. While Johnny was reviewing options and waiting for a call from Fleetwood that never came, the other guy went up on the roof with me and put sealer on two small rips in the caulking that had let some water into the coach the day before. They suggested that I contact Newcastle RV in Bryan, GA as they ought to have the ability to make the fairly simple swap of transfer switch for a new one. A call to Newcastle resulted in the second BOO.

Their response was that they were booked until May and with prodding they agreed that they would work on the coach for their Emergency Rate of $97.50 and hour as opposed to the warranty rate of $79.50 that they would get from Fleetwood. I told them that I was less than pleased by their lack of willingness to service RVers in trouble on the road. This will be posted on RV.net and sent as a letter to the RV magazines. No dealer that refuses to make room in its service schedule for away from home RVers should have any business from any RV buyers. Aavoid Newcastle RV in Bryan, GA and send them a message.

Johnny B was not done. He had worked at Dick Gore RV in Savannah and knew the overall service manager, Ron Bolen. I called Ron, explained my problem and he said “bring it in, we will either fix it or set you up so you can draw power overnight and complete the repair in the morning.” A great big cheer for Dick Gore RV and Ron Bolen. We pulled in 3 and a half hours later (it is 180 miles) and after I explained to Kresta, the Warranty manager, what Ron had said, she had John Smith reschedule his work load and get right to our problem. Within minutes he had found the burned wire which resulted from a badly execute crimp at the factory and which had taken out the transfer switch. The switch it turns out is manufactured by World Friends Company (WFCO) a Chinese firm. They are first being used on the ‘04s. The part is being shipped overnight from California for installation today. No parts depot has this part in stock, it is coming from Fleetwood and it was too late to ship from Pennsylvania, but still time to ship from California, go figure!

The people at Dick Gore RV have been very helpful and pleasant. The experience is of course trying for us and we have been working very hard at maintaining our sense of humor. After all we did get back to Savannah, GA in a most unexpected way. We ended up at Whispering Pines Campground which we stayed at here on our very first extended trip in the summer of 2001. Going through the journal as we drove here I remembered that we had gone to dinner at The Bistro Savannah back then and had liked it so much we went there twice in our three nights in town. That is where we had dinner last night and it exceeded our expectations. I am so glad that we “let the smoke out” of that switch so we could have this experience.

We pulled into Dick gores at 10:45 AM as planned and they immediately pulled us into the service area and John came on board with the new part. By 11:45 we were on the road with everything working just fine. Big thanks to Kresta, John, Alan and all the people at Dick Gores RV for taking good care of total strangers in need of emergency service far from home. They are good folks, and I will shop in there stores in Savannah and Florida when I am near and have a need (or a want).

I am posting this from the comfort of Malena and Dan’s living room. I have some fun stories to tell about our trip here in my next posting.

We went back to Paradise Lake RV Park in Tifton, GA to be able to meet the Fingerlakers the following morning. The park was filled with coaches with the FMCA “goose egg” fore and aft. Everyone was headed for Perry. In the morning we joined the exodus and drove up the road to Cordele. As we pulled into the WalMart parking lot, we noted that there were a lot of RVs there already. A call to our leader, Walter, sent us up the highway to a rest stop where we finally met up with 15 of the coaches we were to caravan into the grounds with. I took my place at 15 with two behind me and we rolled out onto I 75 nose to tail. Later in the day we saw a caravan of 60 coaches roll into the grounds. We saw a sign on one coach that it was in a group of 250. I would not have wanted to anywhere near that group when they were rolling at 60 plus mph.

As we entered the grounds we paused long enough to disconnect our tow’ds and then we were guided into position in a herring bone pattern with our front ends almost touching. There was enough space left to park the tow’d, open our sides and set up a patio area.

Here is the view looking down the inner area.

The inner area became happy hour row. Later it became the walkway out of the mud. Saturday we set up and got to know the group we were traveling with. Walter Linden and his wife were very kind and made us feel very welcome. We got to know Sherry and Tony Wilson quite well since our patio areas were touching. That first night we got together with the Wilsons and two other couples and went out to dinner.

Waiting to be seated

During the day we wandered around the grounds as caravans were pulling in. I had been in touch with leaders from the Chai Chavurot Yehudim Chapter, the first Jewish Chapter in FMCA and knew they were in the Volunteer area someplace so that was where we wandered until we found the group. As we knew, but had never had proven, we are not the only Jewish RVers out there. This group has 120 member coaches – in FMCA we do not count people we count coaches no matter how many people are onboard. There were something like 18 coaches that came in with them.

Carol kept telling me that this was our first rally and we were not going to plan to attend them on a regular basis. I kept saying OK and “sure” and wondered whether we would even want to stay through this one. Sunday was a kind of lost day as the exhibits were not open and the rally had not started yet. Again we wandered and met people and talked. At one point a service truck for an awning manufacturer came by and I flagged him down and arranged to have awnings installed over some windows to provide shade should the sun ever shine and let us open the windows in the rain. This was the beginning of a spending spree the likes of which I have not experienced before. We have a lovely coffee table and several maintenance items that I had been looking for and when we get home, a screen for the windshield and other items we didn’t know we needed. There are a couple of items that remain to be bought.

Very early Monday morning we got in line to sign up for a driver safety class that only admits 300 participants. We were among the last 30 or so to enroll, everyone else got there at 6:30 AM we waited until 6:55, they didn’t even start enrolling until 7:00. Between this course, a Weight and Tire safety course and a Fire seminar we learned a lot and learned that we were not always being as safe as we could be.

Tuesday it rained, I should say it poured. The downpours were not long, but they put a lot of water on the ground. We were all parked on grass in huge fairground parking lots. The roads began to turn to mud. We started to worry about how we would ever get out. The rally went on and we were promised that this quick draining Georgia clay would dry and be sold for our departure on Friday if we didn’t panic and try to move about while the ground was soaking. The roadways became almost impassable. We took to walking the lane between the fronts of the coaches to stay out of the mud, foot traffic did not stir it up.

Monday night Chai Chavurat Yehudim went out to dinner together and had a grand time. Thursday afternoon we had a potluck dinner and Purim Spiel

in the Volunteer area with them before going to hear The Oak Ridge Boys (a gospel country group!). we also spent time with the Fingerlakers. Along the way we met Dottie and Larry Humm. We had met them recently at a Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra concert, their seats are near us, and we had no idea they would be at this Rally. We were in the same Driver Safety, Part 1, class. When we talked it turned out that we were going to the same campground after the rally to do laundry and clean up the coaches before heading north.

Thursday night the sky was clear, the moon was full and there seemed to be no reason to hurry in the morning, we only had a 60 mile drive and did not want to get aggravated fighting through the 5,200 family coaches plus another 1,000 coaches for sale for space on the highway. We turned in with full grey water tank and half full black tank and half a tank of fresh water and planned to sleep in. At 5 AM we woke up to the sound of rain. By 5:15 the rain was joined by a chorus of large gas engines and larger diesel engines starting up. I went outside to be greeted by the site of coaches moving out. I was not clear to move easily so I determined to wait. While waiting I put away everything I could and Carol set about making the interior ready for travel. The Bluebird that had me thoroughly blocked from the front offered to back up a few feet which would free me to pull strainght out onto grass and drive right up a clear lane to the road. I have never run the departure checklist so fast.. With in a matter of minutes we were underway. A brief stop on the grass let us hook up the tow’d and we rolled.

We had not had time for breakfast, we had no idea where we would stop. We had directions to Lane’s Packing, a peach orchard, that was not out of the way. We headed there and pulled into a large empty parking lot at 7 AM. Not 15 minutes later the Humms’ and their friends Jim and Mary pulled up along side us in the parking lot. Pure coincidence. Very few other coaches stopped there by the time we left at around 10:30. Did I say we shopped and bought some stuff?

We pushed on to Forsyth KOA where we have spent three nights and in the morning we will head for Charlottesville and hope to find someplace interesting to visit along the way. Carol had attended a digital photography seminar and many people were disappointed that he did not talk about composition and picture taking. Carol sought out the organizer of the seminar programs and has spent much of the last two days developing a seminar proposal for a program to present in Minot, ND next
August. We are also looking into regional seminars for her to offer her presentation. If that goes well, I may see if I can develop a financial planning seminar that meets the needs of FMCA members and will pass compliance. Are you reading this Perry? It could be how we plan our travels in the coming years, or not.

Don’t you just hate it when Friday the 13th falls on a Sunday? It was not one of best days. We left South Padre Island with mixed feelings.

The beach was nice, the wind never let up – 20 miles an hour from the south – except for a grey and cool period. And the Texas Spring Break was filling every available nook and cranny with people. The brief period before these arrivals was great. The county park was a lovely if crowded campground and the people around us were very nice. It was a very short walk from our door to the beach and the beach runs forever. It is not likely we will hurry back; there are other places that are more pleasant and less crowded with less wind.

As we drove up US 77 the traffic was heavy, but moving right along. There were a lot of people on the move on this Sunday. Somewhere near the middle of King Ranch which 77 cuts through for miles, there was a Border Patrol Inspection stop. As we formed into two lanes and moved toward the inspectors, a car swerved into our lane, pulled up way to the right of the lane and stopped with his four-way flashers on. Not knowing what was happening I pulled way left and moved up along side. He pulled in his side view mirror and signaled me through. The clearance was very tight. It was so tight that the minor protuberance of our water heater cover coupled with a twitch on the wheel, or maybe a bump in the road, reached out and snatched his mirror (which he had let go of) off of his car. It was not pretty. I pulled up after the inspection area and waited for him. We were both angry. We both cooled down and exchanged paperwork and went on our way. Two days later there is no apparent sign of the contact on Gee 2 The black marks rubbed off and I removed and straightened the grill cover that got dinged. We shall see what the damage to his car was, probably more.

Two hours later with Carol at the wheel we pulled into a gas station. I think it was Victoria, TX but don’t hold me too it. The station was tight and I got out and guided Carol into a perfect location to fill the tank. The fill cap is on the very back of Gee 2 set in a couple of feet from the left edge. This almost always requires an outside spotter. Also, this is ten feet behind the rear axle. It really swings to the side when you turn the steering wheel. After we filled, I offered to get down and give some guidance as we pulled out into traffic. Carol told me to stay seated – driver is boss! (She explains she thought I intended to go out in the street to stop traffic). As she pulled forward she began her turn to line up with the exit and big pickup trucks kept blocking our way even as they wanted us to move so they could get to the pump. In the distraction neither of us remembered the swing and the left corner hit the big RED post that protects the pumps. I got down, surveyed the damage and had Carol pull the wheel the other way to clear the car (tow’d ) out of the pump it was almost hitting. Still flustered I jumped back aboard and failed to comment as Carol pulled the wheel back to the right to get to the far driveway. THUMP! THUMP! from the rear. Traffic cleared at that moment and we pulled into it and immediately entered the expressway. We pulled onto the shoulder as soon as we could and discovered that we had taken a fair amount of RED paint with us on the rear of the coach and the side of the car.

The intense application of elbow grease and strong detergent has removed almost all sign of the paint from both vehicles and a new marker light cover graces the left rear corner of Gee 2. The RAV 4 will require some professional attention at Vogel’s upon our return so Carol’s “beautiful munchkin” will be restored to its virginal glory.

The weather on the 13th was lovely and hot, Carol’s favorite kind of weather. It would have been nice to stop and enjoy it, but I wanted to get past Houston while the traffic was still light (only by LA standards could that be called light). Using our campground books, we located a likely overnight stop in Winnie, TX (yeah, I haven’t a clue either). It was a very nice parking lot with grass between paved parking slots behind a motel next to I 10. For a dinner appetizer I scrubbed at the RED paint, removing quite a bit. In the middle of the night I had a bad thought and woke up to find the refrigerator was not cooling and freezing adequately, by now it was the 14th but it had started on the 13th. I removed stuff that really didn’t need to be in the freezer to let air flow better and pushed the temperature control to its coldest and prayed it would be alright in the morning. It was. We must have not gotten the door closed fully at some point. We will have to defrost it soon.

Now fully past the 13th the weather brightened again and we moved on down the road. Not being able to take the tedium of I 10 across Louisiana, not to mention the lumpety, lumpety of the road (familiar to anyone who has traversed western Louisiana and eastern Texas on the worst Interstate in the system) we turned off onto the Creole Trail, route 14, across the Creole Country of southernmost Louisiana. It is low flat land mostly at 0 feet above sea level with rice paddies and oil and gas fields as far as the eye can see. The high spots are the bridges over the bayous and the people are very pleasant and friendly to us northerners. We made our way to Morgan City, the Lake End Park city campground and found a spot we want to return to. Here is a picture taken through the windshield before the clouds came the rain began to fall. I built a campfire and we had cocktails at the fire once Carol was satisfied she had removed all of the RED that was removable without application of power tools. This is the first time we have had the weather and the time and space to build a fire. It was very nice.

Today we took a tour of an offshore oil rig. It is the first one built called Mr Charlie. The tour was very interesting and it was exciting to go out onto the drilling floor, even if it is only used as a training platform these days. The equipment is massive and my respect for the “roughnecks” who make their living working in this very dangerous environment is greatly heightened. I am appending some pictures taken there.

Tomorrow we will move on. The weather is not good enough to hold us and we need to be in Cordele, GA, at the Super WalMart, Saturday morning at 9:30 to link up with the Fingerlakers to caravan into the Rally at Perry Georgia.

Here are Carol and me enjoying a picnic stop some place in the Anza Borrego State Park along S 2 in California.

I’ve been trying to keep up with our travels and have skipped over a fair amount of stuff as we went. In Julian, as we pulled into the campground, the office was closed and we were wandering around looking for a place to camp when a truck headed out of the area pulled up along side us. I rolled down my window and greeted our soon to be neighbors for the night and asked where the overnight area was. Dale and Carol (his wife Carol not the Carol that rides with me all the time) had just set up and pointed out the area they were in. We found a nice reasonably level spot that was not under water and set up. Carol prepared dinner while I tried to be useful. After dinner we went out for a walk and saw that our neighbors were back from their expedition and we invited them over for a class of wine.

According to their email they really enjoyed the Yellow Tail Shiraz and in the morning they gifted us a bottle of “2 buck chuck” as a thank you. For those of you who have never been in a Trader Joes, they sell a line of wine named Charles Shaw for $1.99 a bottle in California. Hence the name “2 buck chuck” – it is better than many wines for which I have paid much more and it is enjoyable enough on an evening in a campground.

The last couple of days have been frustrating. We are trying to get east so we can get to Perry, GA on the 19th without getting so far east that we have to encounter cold weather too soon. Also Texas is a very large state in case you haven’t heard. We left Las Cruces, NM (30 miles east of El Paso) and stopped for gas at the border and encountered a long line at the pump and an even longer line inside as the computers were working a half speed, the staff of that “Flying J were not keeping up with their computers. 45 Minute later we pulled out and drove two miles to get to a brand new Camping World to pick up some items we were looking for. It was major disappointment, this newly opened store in Anthony, TX is half the size of any CW we have been in and was so poorly stocked that we did not find much of what we wanted to look at. Camping World should not have permitted their name to be used on this store.

Finally we got moving down I 8. As you might guess we could not bring ourselves to cross Texas on an interstate. At Van Horn we picked up US 90 and headed for Falcon State Park, 550 miles away. We did not count on getting there that day. We passed Marfa, the home of the lights in the field that we didn’t see when we stopped there one night, Alpine and Marathon. After that the towns become so small that they don’t have dogs (I haven’t got the foggiest notion where that came from). In the dripping rain and fading light we decided that a campground would be more comfortable than a wide spot in the road picnic area and we pulled into Canyon RV on the edge of Sanderson (can’t call it the outskirts since there are none – the edge is a good definition on one side of the campground is Sanderson on the other . . . nothing). Anyhow, the owner escorted us to our site and then commented that I had no lights on the back of the motorhome. Baaad news! Sure enough, although I had brake lights and turn signals all the marker and parking lights were out as were the parking lights on the tow’d. Called Workhorse and they pointed me to a service center in Mission, TX, just 400 plus miles down the road. I called and spoke to Doug who said “come in when you get here.” In the morning we set out for Falcon SP a bit late because we had to chat with our neighbors, one from Romulus, NY and another with an old (mid ‘70s) Vixen MH. The day was bright and the temperature rose all day. Mid day we stopped to change into shorts and kept on moving. At 6:30 PM with 15 minutes of daylight left we pulled into the park and found it more beautiful than we remembered. The shame is that we had to leave first thing in the morning to get the lights fixed.

The lights are fixed and it is raining and we are in Bentsen Palm Village, a two year old RV resort outside Mission, TX. The problem with the lights turned out to be some lousy connections in the connection cable. Somehow the screws that hold the wires in the plug came loose and they were shorting out. It took the hand of Doug, the service manager, to make the diagnosis. The techs were looking all over the car for the problem once they figure out it wasn’t in the motorhome. Doug told them to pull apart the plugs first, sure enough that was it. As we drove away it was with a sigh of relief that didn’t last an hour. When we checked the lights again they were not working right. I had a bright idea and switched the connector cable end for end and that resolved it. One end of the cable had been rewired at Meyers Campers and they did not get it secure and the cable is not a straight pass through anymore. Now that I know, at least I can keep things straight.

We planned to spend the night in Bentsen State Park and were shocked to find a closed gate across the entrance with no place to turn. They have turned the entire park into a bird sanctuary and no longer permit vehicle entrance. They have no advance warning on the road. A ranger saw me coming and let me through the gate to the former entrance turnaround. Some welcome! The resort we are in is just outside the gate. It is quite nice, I think, it has been raining since we got here and I have not been out since we set up.

We finally had to leave LA and the family and begin to trek eastward. It wasn’t easy, and I am not referring to emotionally. The roads that would have provided a more direct route out of Malibu were still closed. We had to head north (really west) on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) because there was no place to go to the south PCH was closed as was Malibu Cyn. The routes to the north were impassible because they were too steep and were closed to vehicles weighing over 8,000 pounds (we check in at about 21,000 pounds even with my reduced personal weight). We went almost to Ventura before we could finally turn north to pick up the 101. All told we spent three hours covering 50 or 60 miles trying to get out of LA.

We finally broke out of the congestion on the 5 as we neared our turn at Ensenada to head inland to Julian. HAL hiccupped. I had failed to double check the location of one VIA and HAL took us on a special excursion that had us doing circles in Ensenada. We had to disconnect the tow’d to get turned around and out of town. This is a very special happening and leaves me less than thrilled, not to mention the people in cars trying to get past us as we pulled the cables and pins, then moved the car out of the way and then finally clear Gee 2 and get it turned around. We made it to Julian and Pinezenatta Trailer Ranch by late afternoon and settled in for the evening. We did go into Julian in the morning to buy an apple pie, a specialty of the town. It was worth it, we got one with plain crust (the crumb top has more sugar and is too sweet as we learned last year). It lasted three days.

From Julian we drove through the Anza Borrego State Park with Carol taking us down the Banner Grade (6 miles of twisty 7 to 10% descent). That is quite a ride. We kept going and made it to Yuma, AZ before nightfall. We signed up for two nights at Suni Sands RV Resort just across from the airport. It was awful. We had less room than in Malibu Beach.
Out the back gate of the Resort was a walkway to WalMart. Time to get a life. During the day we drove out to the Imperial National Wildlife Reserve along the Colorado River, above the Imperial Dam. While hiking in the Painted Desert Section of the reserve we met a couple who were boon docking at the Dam. They explained where they were and Carol and I decided that it was time for us to have a different experience. On our way back to Yuma we drove into the LTVA to see what it was all about. LTVA means Long Term Visitor Area and is a BLM (Bureau of Land Management – Department of the Interior) designation for a place where it is legal to camp for up to five months for a fee that amounts to $160. Near the LTVA was a Limited Use area which has a daily use fee of $5.00 (reduced by half for holders of Golden Access Passport) or a weekly or seasonal fee.

We liked what we saw and returned the next day with Gee 2 and picked a spot where we felt we could be comfortable. We were not alone, but everyone was friendly and we had several interesting cocktail hours and Carol and I had a chance to try out a Folboat Kayak that Jay and Joan Becker had brought along. It was fun. We will never return to Yuma for camping. The Limited Use area is only 30 miles away and for the space and the price it cannot be beat. Thank you all for paying your taxes, Carol and I are enjoying the benefits. After four days of limited phone service and no internet, we decided to empty the holding tanks and refill the freshwater tank before moving on. As we prepared to roll our only plan was to move east.

The first stop turned out to be Benson, AZ at the Pato Blanco Lakes CG where we have been twice before (maybe three times). We had laundry to do, a meal to prepare and too much internet work to catch up on for it to be a restful evening. Eventually it all got done. The campground seemed quite empty to us and we attribute that to the wet, cool season so far, but the sun was still shining for us. We arrived there with more bugs on the front of Gee 2 than I had ever seen on Goliath. We had driven through storms of bees. The sound of their bodies hitting the front and the windshield had been shocking. During a fueling stop at a Flying J, the talk up and down the waiting lines was about the bugs. It would have to wait another day before I could clean them off.

Over dinner I told Carol that I really wanted a steak dinner and I wanted it at La Posta in Las Cruces, NM. We figured it would be a short driving day, but it would give us a chance to catch up on cleaning and maintenance items. We agreed. We have now returned from that meal. Naturally Carol did not have steak or any other meat, but I did. It was grand. I am quite full. Back to veggies tomorrow. La Posta makes no pretenses; they serve good quality food, prepared in Mexican manner with plenty of chili, red or green, your choice, on everything. During the afternoon, I had devoted myself to removing all of the bugs from the front of Gee 2. Washing is not allowed here so I just removed bugs and all the associated dirt from the front and the lower sides. I feel better having some relative cleanliness. It’s amazing, I can go for days with a filthy car in Rochester and it hardly bothers me, but when Gee 2 is dirty, I get very anxious to get it clean. Oh yes this campground is RV Doc’s, we have stayed here at least four times. It is not the greatest, but there is adequate space, the internet is free, the sites are level and the location is perfect for our wants.

Our goal for the next couple of days is to make it to Falcon State Park along the Rio Grande in Texas and then to head for Perry, GA. I will let you know our progress as we have service.

According to plan we pulled into Malibu Beach RV at 1:02 PM, in time to register without causing any complaints about early arrival. These people do not seem to understand that we are customers and they are in business to provide us with service that will encourage us to return. I will not blame them for the rain which began as we arrived and continued for five (5) days with very little relief. But they were less than accommodating. There idea of explaining their rules comes across as if they expect everyone to be rude and inconsiderate and the rules are to be enforced with an iron fist. As an example, as we were position Gee 2 on a none too spacious site, Carol left the RAV with two tires on the pavement while she guided me. A resort attendant stopped by to tell her that she must park with all the tires off of the pavement. Given the width of the pavement it seemed obvious that if we didn’t want to get hit we would pull off as far as we could, once there was someplace to pull to. Here is the view out the windshield after I finished setting up:

Because of our rescheduling we needed to change sites on Tuesday. I suggested that I might move as soon as the previous renter moved out. The man at the desk said “no you must wait until 1 PM.” I was about to lose it with this nincompoop when the manager stepped in and said that since no one would be inconvenienced and we had to help care for the grandchildren, we certainly could move as soon as the site was clear. Yesterday Carol went to the office to let them know that we were moving at 9 AM since the site had remained empty for five days and the same guy tried to tell her we couldn’t and again the manager had to tell the power hungry one that it really was okay. Oh, the site we had to vacate is still empty.

Rain! If you have seen the news, you might have noticed that it has been raining in Southern California. It has rained in inches per hour fashion on and off since we got here. In fact from Friday until Tuesday night it rained over 8 inches in places. Given that normal annual rainfall is 10 inches and they had 30 inches in January this is overkill. People live on the sides of sand and dirt cliffs that turn to mud in the rain. Roads are cut through these bluffs and through canyons with steep sided walls. All of these bluffs are poised to slide to a lower place given any chance. In Rochester we have a furnace Red Tagged when it an inspector finds that it is dangerous. Out here they Red Tag the whole house when its location becomes precarious due to sliding mud, either under it or above it.

Last night, Tuesday night, we left Miriam and Yechiel’s home at about 8:15 to get to bed early. We had to be back by 5:30 so they could get off to the hospital with Azriel for a small medical procedure (which has gone just fine). Depending on traffic the ride has taken as long as 50 minutes, but generally it is about 30 minutes. As we turned on to PCH (Pacific Coast Highway also CA rte 1) we saw a sign that a slide had closed the road. I said “they must have cleared it by now” – wrong! As we approached Topanga Cyn (that’s California for Canyon) Road I knew I was wrong because there were lights and barriers all over the place. There is no real alternate to PCH at this place. We turned up Topanga Cyn, which was going to be closed in 15 minutes so the flagman could go home, and called Yechiel to see if he could look up an alternate route. His map was not fine enough detail and he had little enough knowledge of the area that he could not help us. I knew that, if I could get to the 101, I could get to Malibu Cyn Road which would bring me back to PCH past the slide. I did not have any assurance that Topanga Cyn would get me there. Eventually I got to the flagman and he said we could indeed get to the 101 on this route. He did not have time to tell me that I would drive 16 miles of road to cover 6 miles as the GPS points. We got to the turn for Malibu Cyn and I said to Carol that this road had been closed by a slide in the morning. “Surely it must be open by now” – Wrong! Five miles from the freeway (FWY) there was a little sign in the middle of the road “Road Closed.” I turned back just a bit desperate by now, so desperate that I pulled into the first gas station I saw to ask for directions, without any prompting from Carol. To our great good fortune there was a police officer filling his vehicle and he said that just a few miles further North (sure looks like South or West to me on the map) on the Ventura FWY (the 101) I would find Canaan, well that how I heard it, it really is Kanan and it was a straight shot south to the PCH. Straight shot relative to what, he did not say, in this case 13 miles of road to cover 6 miles as the GPS flies. We got back to Gee 2 at 10 PM.

Since we had no idea what the morning would bring, we set the alarm for 3:30 (who said this is a vacation?) to allow plenty of time to get to the house by 5:30. We retraced the route up Kanan to the 101 to the 405 to the 10 (I know back east that would be route 101, to I 405 to I 10, but Californians use the definite article for all of their major roads) and arrived in just under an hour, about 5 AM. Fortunately we had keys and let ourselves in quietly to await their waking up.

They were off by 6, the doctor got the timing wrong and they were waiting for her until 8:30. Carol has taken Avtalyon to a Mommy and Me program and I am alone with the computer and the cat. The SUN HAS COME OUT!!! I can see mountains and the Hollywood sign. The sky is blue and I didn’t have to take and airplane up to 30,000 feet to see it. In two days we will begin driving east into the back side of the storm that has passed over us. I will drive slowly and hope not to catch up with it.

Here are some family pictures:

Avtalyon, 20 months old

Azriel, 4 years old

Avtalyon with Bubbeh