Category Archives: Paul Goldberg Blog

Jojoba Hills, opinion

Onward into the Future

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jojoba Hills, Paul Goldberg Blog

In Jojoba Hills SKP Resort

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

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

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

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

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

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

On the Road, Paul Goldberg Blog

Fuel Costs and Other Thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On the Road, Paul Goldberg Blog

New Mexico

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The trip across Texas was uneventful. We stayed overnight in Oasis RV in Van Horn.  It provided what we needed, full hookups and a safe spot off the road, well just barely off the road. Having fueled before the stop we were able to get on the road with a minimum of hassle and continue on to Las Cruces.

We were set up in Siesta RV, site 13 (as usual), by 11:30 AM and had time to get to the concert at Good Samaritan Social Center where Amalia and the Camerata were performing. It was a delightful chamber music concert that concluded with three songs sung by Amalia accompanied by guitar.  We were enthralled and so pleased to be with Amalia and her parents Leora and Stuart the next night for dinner. It was a delightful stay in in Las Cruces.

Tuesday, as planned, We drove the 4 hours to Albuquerque to see Erica as time allowed. This included dinner on board and breakfast on Wednesday morning in town at Hannah & Nates before we set off for Meow Wolf.  Before I even consider describing it you might want to check out the web site. If exiting from a Victorian House through the refrigerator or the fireplace into another universe doesn’t tickle your fancy skip it. We spent well over an hour exploring the site and never got into the actual script that it flows around. We enjoyed it a lot. 

We did see an acknowledgement of Chanukah in the Plaza in Santa Fe:

As I write it is Thanksgiving Day, turkey and football games are not on the list. We did go to see Dune at a local theater. So much has been written that I am not sure I can add much. It really, really needs the big screen. Everything is large, huge even. The sand worm’s mouth swallows the entire screen. We went to a noon screening and the theater was lightly attended as you might imagine for such an early show on Thanksgiving Day. 

It is now Friday. We froze the water hose last night but there was plenty in the tank and the sun came out and everything is thawed.  Since we are leaving in the morning I will take the hose in tonight just in case. 

On the Road, Paul Goldberg Blog

Only Sort of a Plan

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Haven’t had much time to write for the past ten days. Also haven’t had much exciting to write about. Since we left Red Bay we have been moving along at a steady pace westward with a three night pause at Rainbow’s End in Livingston Texas. There we picked up the mail and got GeeWhiz inspected. The lights all work. 

We had a marvelous night at a Boondockers Welcome site in Mississippi. The place is a 10 acre pine forest with a space carved out of the middle for a homestead centered around the hosts’ motorhome. We were surprised to be offered full hookups (water electric, sewer) . Getting there was half the fun. The notes indicated the GPS probably would be wrong and provided directions which we failed to follow properly. On our second pass I trusted the GPS and it brought us right there.  It is always fun to wander lost on twisty 2 lane roads with the coach and tow’d. We had a lovely couple of hours chatting.

Coming out of Livingston we pulled into San Antonio KOA fairly early and decided it would be great to have a meal on the RiverWalk. Thinking about the traffic and parking and really wanting to have a drink, we decided not to unhook the car and got a Lyft to take us into the RiverWalk and then later to bring us back to the coach. Much more relaxing than dealing with rush hour traffic and parking. We ate at Yard House which is a loud bar with over 100 beers on tap. My Ahi Tuna was a delight as was Carol’s Kale and Brussels Salad. (the Brussels sprouts were in short supply) 

This morning we woke up with a sort of a plan. We were determined to travel west on US 90 rather than I 10. We planned to drive 4 to5 hours which would bring us to Sanderson TX. You could look it up, but it is a fly spec on US 90. There is an RV park there, but we elected to stop short of the town in a Picnic Area that we have stopped at once before. As we pulled in we noted another RV we had been following had also pulled in. After setting up we met Bob and his Umbrella Cockatoo, Glacier (it is pure white). They are traveling on their own with not too much of a plan.  Carol shared a photo of the bird on FaceBook.

Tomorrow I know we will pass through Van Horn Texas and fill the fuel tank with many gallons of diesel at some obnoxious price which will be reduced by our trucker’s discount card to $3.50 and will prepare us for Arizona and then California prices. 

Carol and I continue to spend time talking about what rig is next. The idea of the fifth wheel (a kind of trailer for those who haven’t asked yet) is fading into the background as they all have internal staircases.

A freight train is pulling past our parking spot as I am typing. Between the trains and the trucks on the highway it will not be the quietest night of the year.

On the Road, Paul Goldberg Blog

Red Bay AL

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I chipped a molar on the way here. It was Thursday. Calls to dentists within a 50 mile range were fruitless. They were booked and all were closed on Friday. My tongue was busy exploring the raw edge of the chip and making me just a bit nuts. I gave up until Monday. 

We spent the next few days with a shopping trip to Fulton Walmart. The closest real grocery with beer. Have I mentioned that Red Bay is in a dry county? We wandered around the campground meeting many of the other Tiffin owners who were waiting for their turn for service. Some like us had actual appointments with vendors and others were waiting for a call from the service center to have repairs performed. That part is all first come first serve with modifications too complex to explain here. 

Monday morning at 7 AM we pulled into Trevor Nichols Custom RV where Micky was waiting to take our interior apart so she could install new carpeting. In your house when you install new carpeting the workers start by removing the furniture. In the motorhome Micky did the same thing, however our furniture is bolted to the floor and it is not  a simple matter to slide it out of the way. Also the bed is a fairly complex structure bolted down with many bolts in unlikely places. She calmly unbolted and moved the pieces in a thoroughly organized manner ripping out not only the original carpeting but the later installed carpet which had been installed, badly several years ago. 

While  this was underway I called the first dentist on my list and soon had an appointment to be seen by Dr Nix at 11 AM. By 11:15 the sharp edges were eased and I was ready to travel on to my next dentist appointment in mid December in Temecula.

By  1:30 the entire installation was complete and the interior cleaned up and all that was left after paying was to drive 2 miles to the campground and put away everything that had come out of storage places throughout the coach.

Today, Tuesday, we drove to the Vanleigh RV factory in Burnside MS to tour the factory and look at some of their fifth wheels. GeeWhiz is not going away, we are thinking of planting a fifth wheel on our site to provide more living space while in Jojoba Hills. If this happens it will be a long time coming as we would need to decide what we want, order it and wait many months while planning and executing modifications to our site to make it happen.

In the midst of all these happenings I had a loss of sanity and filed my application to run for the Jojoba Hills Board of Directors. I was encouraged to run by a friend (?)  who had the chutzpah to call me to tell me to run without being willing to do so himself.  He’ll pay! 🙂  

none, On the Road, Paul Goldberg Blog

Cummins to Red Bay

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We hung around in Charlotte area waiting for our appointment at Cummins to see what was wrong with the engine and to get it fixed. We were able to pick up 2 additional nights at McDowell Nature Preserve. This is a park I will gladly return to even if it does lack on site sewer connection. I was able to get a site for 4 more nights at Crowne Cove RV Park, a commercial park that was only 2.5 times the price of the county park. With our appointment for 8 AM  Tuesday at Cummins we decided to move over on Monday afternoon so we would not have to face Charlotte rush hour. They had room and 30 amp electric for us. 

Good news, bad news. At 10 AM they took the coach into the service area and by 2 PM they had it back in the parking area all ready to go. The bad news was that the problem was operator failure. I thought that as long as the coolant was above the minimum line I had plenty of coolant. Wrong! It wants to be almost to the maximum line so that accelerating uphill does not expose the coolant level sensor. Lousy design I’d say, lesson learned after 9 years of ownership.

More good news. Monday night we were able to go to dinner at 300 East Blvd with Leigh and Patrick. It was lovely and we had a good time getting in one more evening with them. Tuesday afternoon we were planning to meet Terry and David for dinner, again, since they were returning to Charlotte for a day or two.  As we made plans to do some shopping, the big black beast that they drive pulled in across from the coach. They joined us on the coach for continued conversation until dinner time when we drove separately to Living Kitchen, a vegan restaurant. To his surprise David found the food to be satisfying and well flavored. From my point of view it confirmed my opinion that Vegan restaurants are fine choices for dining. 

The big surprise at dinner was when we asked for the bill. At couple sitting a few tables from us had witnessed our happy party and our sharing  “Happy Birthday” for Carol when the waitress brought out a carrot humus dish with a candle in it. They paid our bill and left before we knew.  A wonderful random act of kindness. 

With farewells  at the door we returned to the coach and departed Cummins the next morning to an uneventful drive to a stopover at a Jellystone RV park which will get a mediocre review only because how unlevel the site was. The next day, Thursday, found us arriving in Red Bay after yet another uneventful drive. We will be here for 7 to 10 days before moving on. The route from here is still in the thinking stage, we have time. 

In the mean time I have a chipped tooth that I hope to have addressed next week – every dentist in the area has taken Friday through Sunday off. I’ll live.

On the Road, Paul Goldberg Blog

Reunion

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A little history, this may be a repeat for some of you. David Lovenheim arrived in Rochester NY at #23 School in fifth grade. Carol and I were in that class. This was  1952.  David and I continued through high school together and on to Brown University. At Brown we met David London and eventually his wife Toby, Pembroke College. I’ll be a bit rude now and use last names to keep things clear. Lovenheim and I have been in sporadic contact ever since. More recently much more continuous as the Lovenheims, Londons and Goldbergs have had a weekly zoom gathering since early in the pandemic. Last year Lovenheim became ill, not with covid 19, and we became anxious to move from virtual to in person at least for a weekend. He is recovering well. His wife, Terry, helped us make this come true. We planned our westward travel to arrive in Charlotte NC and the Londons agreed to travel there from Providence RI and The Lovenheims came in from their temporary home in Myrtle Beach. 

We dined together Sunday, we spent a day in our campsite in McDowell Nature Reserve and a day on a pontoon boat in Lake Norman. We ended that day and said our goodbyes at the Embassy Suites where the Londons had a room.  

Here are some pictures that Toby and I took I’ll add more as I receive them.

It was a great reunion and we hope to see each other again someplace, some time, sooner rather than later.

In the mean time I am in a Goodyear Tire with a slow leak on a tire on the Jeep. We are also waiting for an appointment with a Cummins dealer in Charlotte to find out why the engine has quit on us at speed on the interstate. Losing power steering when the engine quits on the motorhome at 60 mph is frightening. I have spent some time rescheduling everything that was planned for the next two weeks to accommodate the delay which is still unknown until they can connect to the onboard computers for diagnoses, which will happen on Carol’s birthday next Tuesday.

This is enough for one blog.

 

In Virginia, Paul Goldberg Blog

A Birthday Weekend

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The second day of travel was again uneventful and we arrived at Malena and Dan’s late afternoon to set up for the next ten days. Well nothing can be totally uneventful, and you would hardly expect us to have everything work perfectly. So the 50 amp power box Dan had installed a year ago, which worked fine then, would not provide 50 amp power for the coach. After some monkeying around, diagnostics and attempts to fix really, we gave up and I plugged into the 20 amp receptacle which works just fine. Go figure. Today I picked up a replacement 50 amp circuit breaker and we will find out if that solves the problem.

I have been out wandering with the horses when Malena and Dan are working with them. We have walked the perimeter of the property and we have sat and talked and eaten and talked. Today is a work day so we have been pretty much on our own. I have caught up on some chores, replacing a broken valve handle and relaxing. 

Yesterday was Birthday Day. Corey was borne on the 16th, but he was working serving donuts and coffee at a wedding so his celebration was yesterday along with mine. He is 19  and I am not yet 80. We had some excellent gin and oysters and magnificent  steaks. I had best not forget the roasted potatoes with garlic. We sat around and talked until we couldn’t keep our eyes open and called it a night. 

There is little planned for the balance of the week. We will have lunch with Bill Freedman, a classmate from 23 school and Monroe High tomorrow. Some of us will take a walk on the Blue Ridge. At some point I expect to get up on Galopin for a walk around the paddock. I haven’t been on a horse since our trip to the Pantanal in October 2001 – that was an interesting time to be traveling out of the US. Here is the blog post from that trip.   I couldn’t sit down for two days after that long ride. 

More soon.

In Rochester, Paul Goldberg Blog

Departure Date Nears

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We are leaving Rochester on October 13. Part of our preparation for leaving is getting in last minute visits with people we haven’t seen on this trip and taking in some culture as well. We saw Vietgone at  Geva Theater on Saturday. To say more would require an entire blog post. We found it difficult but well done and an excellent production. Our friends left at intermission. We are going to another Rochester Philharmonic concert and taking our grandson Josh. Dinner before with the Humms and Josh. Numerous other luncheons and dinners as well.

We actually have the first month of travel planned. Since we are meeting people as we go and have appointments for work in Red Bay, we were forced to back into a schedule. I even have made reservations for every one of those nights. We are staying in everything from commercial parks to state parks to Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Host sites. Our ultimate departure from Red Bay will be driven by the completion of work we are having done. My only problem is building a route west from Red Bay that we haven’t taken yet, that avoids the Natchez Trace Parkway – just because we have done it so often – and gets us to Las Cruces and Albuquerque NM. I also want to avoid the New Orleans area and stop in Livingston TX too. Oh yes Dora, a name from the past, has moved to the Dallas area and we need to go there to make a stop as well. 

I have been reading some of my posts from the past just to refresh my memory of routes, places and failures. Looking back I realize that our previous coaches had more show stopping failures than GeeWhiz. Our first coach, Goliath, had to be towed twice in 3 years. The Southwind, G2, never did have to be towed, but it had its share of failed parts as we traveled. We actually almost ripped the receiver off the frame in Alaska. Today all of those stories are great fun to tell as we sit around and share experiences with other RVers. If you want to see the old blogs you can read them here by looking at the archives in the left column. To see the ones before October 2017 with the pictures use xctraveler.blogspot.com Even earlier writings can be found in the menus at the top of this page. 

I am looking forward to getting back on the road. I hope we can keep our commitment to ourselves to enjoy the travel and find new and interesting places to explore. We sat recently with friends who are contemplating an 8 week cross country car trip and came to us to discuss logistics and routes. As we discussed routes and ideas for travel I kept coming back to the idea of themes, some would call them bucket lists. Highways to drive, state capitals to visit, parks to see etc. I thought about one cross country drive and how much one could see and how much more would be missed. Travel in January and February really leaves out much of the country north of I 40 – some would say I 20. We talk about the 3,000 miles from coast to coast but we tend to ignore the 1,500 miles from Laredo TX to Duluth MN. How many places must one cross the Mississippi to say you have really seen it. We have driven much of the river’s length, but that leaves out the vast plains and mountains to the west and the stretch across the mountains to the east and on to the coast. In looking at my routes and maps I realize that in over 20 crossings we still have barely scratched the surface of this great country.