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20260930 Wednesday and Thursday:
Dodie Fine and I met for a planning session, our first meeting in about a year. She had never seen the Motorhome that would be her home for the upcoming trip.
John Prince Park
4759 South Congress Avenue
Lake Worth, Florida 33461
20261008 Drive to Jacksonville, early dinner with Henry Rosenblum and Susan Ticker
Henry is a retired Cantor from Forest Hills Jewish Center. Dodie and Hank (he was Hank then) in White Meadow Lake in Rockway Township, NJ where he was the Cantor. Susie was Dodie’s neighbor before Hank became a Cantor. A friendship of many years.
20261009 Friday: Savanah, Mickve Israel Synagogue, Mrs. Wilkes lunch and Red Gate RV
Red Gate Farms – RV Resort
We reserved a nice overnight campsite at Red Gate. They supplied a mystery map, a cryptic text set of directions. Dodie and I circled the campground several times with no signs. It was dark and Dodie was a directions hero, I think. Our site, D7, had the number 7 in fine print in the dark.
Mickve Israel Synagogue Tour and Shabat Services
Mickve Israel is the third oldest Jewish Synagogue in the United States and the second oldest in Georgia. Members of the congregation came from England in 1733. Forty-two people boarded in England. Forty-one arrived in Georgia, of these, 34 were Portuguese Sephardic and 7 German Ashkenazi (Levites).
Mickve has a 600 year old Torah (5 books of Moses) that enscribed on specially treated deer skin that is rolled into scrolls. These scrolls are unrolled and read throughout the year, every year for 5000 or more years. The Hebrew trope (chanting of ritual readings) are diacritical marks that are carefully written with the text by specially trained scribes. There are no vowels recorded with the text so special training is required.
People who ritually read the text are called Ba’al Koreh. When an untrained person reads the text, they are observed by a trained Ba’al Koreh. This is commonly seen when a Jewish child reaches adulthood and a member of the minion, the group of 10 or more men required by Orthodox law to conduct a ritual service. Remember the line “whenever two or more are gathered in his name?” This was the Christian tradition of permitting ritual prayer,
Mickve is the oldest practicing Reform Synagogue in the United States. As Jewish tradition evolved, Reform Sysagogues let the path toward equal recognition of women. Woman were not previously fully integrated in the Jewish rituals.
Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room
When our friends found we were stopping in Savannah, several mentioned we should visit Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room. Founded in 1943 when Mrs. Wilkes purchased a brothel where she had been cooking individual meals for men, I presume, had become hungry for food after frequenting the room upstairs. Eventually word spread and people began coming for the food, an unheard of activity in the brothel community.
As she became more interested in cooking and found others were profiting from her skill, she began to manage a growing group of hungry eaters and grew the business. Eventually the clientele grew so large she could offer only one meal per day, from 11:30 am to 2:00. pm People (including us) waited up to two hours to be seated at a group table of 8 to 10 lucky people.
The food was served family style, there were no checks, no special drinks beyond water and sweetened tea that grew more modern into a choice including unsweetened tea. And the food . . .
Known for her fried chicken, the current owner states that “If Colonel Sander’s chicken were as good, he would be a General now.” That was an understatement.
Family style servings included grits, collard greens in two flavors, cabbage, okra as both a wonderful s#t#e#w (to get round the spelling checker), and the more normal fried. For those who want to skip the chicken, she serves pulled pork and beef s#t#e#w. Wonderful coleslaw, red rice and sausage, potato salad, squash and about 10 other dishes. Terrific biscuits, corn bread and gravy and more we can’t name because overeating destroyed our brains.
You paid on exiting, one price including tax and it was cash only. If you did not have cash, you signed an IOU and paid them later. They also had a frequently empty ATM machine.
Now came the only choice, peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream and a banana cream cobbler with a wafer.
This was a day ago and I’m still full.
Mickve Israel Shabbat Services
We came back for a 6 pm Cantor led service. Beautiful voice of older melodies, old enough to predate me. Almost everyone in attendance was a visitor with the regular attendees on Zoom, Friendly and welcoming people with white egg challah, wine, and grape juice.
The Mi Shebeirach (מִי שֵׁבֵּרַךְ) is a traditional Jewish prayer when congregants ask others to pray for healing of those in special need. One of Stu’s friends, Nancy Lenard is in rehab after what appears to excessive manipulation by a Chiropractor injured her spine causing lower body paralysis. We hold her in our prayers. Another friend, Harmony Hallack, a 10th grade student studying ballet, experienced the shock involving a student death and many injuries after a car jumped a median strip causing the school bus her friends were riding to cross the median strip the other way, hit a jeep head on, and kill the driver of the jeep. It is so far unclear what caused the initial car to lose control. Many injuries and two deaths with lots of referred trauma to even the lucky uninjured students. We pray for peaceful healing and for the schools to finally install seat belts.
The bus driver, Jessica Dye, was remembered in prayer. She was not the cause and could not avoid the accident once the rear of the bus was hit by the car crossing the median, We feel the special pain Jessica is experiencing from the injuries of she and her kids.
20261010 Lumberton North Carolina
Stu has been stopping at Roy’s Country Corral for years on trips up and down the East Coast.
Unfortunately Roy has passed from Cancer and his daughter was involved in a serious automobile accident. Thus, the place was temporarily closed.
We had a nice dinner at Village Inn Seafood instead. Southern fried catfish and flounder with excellent hush puppies (unlimited) and very good coleslaw. Not Roy’s home cooking, but quite nice.
We continued North in seemingly endless rain and wind to our favorite campground chain, Cracker Barrel.
20261011 Sunday: Greenbelt Park Campground, an Oasis near DC
It poured rain all day. We had planned to visit Georgetown and walk around the area, but gave up and went to the campground early.
Greenbelt Campground is a special place, located across from Goddard Space Flight Center it is a very quiet large area with only 172 nearly free campsites. No water or utilities are available. If you like the woods, enjoy the sounds of nature, and can afford $10, this is the place.
Dodie and I took a nearly 5000 step walk between the raindrops. It was so wet, even the birds were inside. Such a beautiful place so near a big city.
The park is a short distance from the Greenbelt Metro Station with a short Metro ride to DC and no traffic.
20261012 Monday
One high point of this road trip was lunch with Shiela. We stopped for a time on our drive from DC to New York, something I look forward to on every trip in this area.
Shiela and my brother, Bob, were married for many years and she remains my favorite sister I never had. They raised my three favorite nieces and I truly cherish the time when we get to visit.
After lunch, we continued to Denville, NJ, for dinner with Debbie and Ken. Dodie and Debbie, her stepdaughter, visited for a bit while Ken isolated the problem with the refrigerator and helped initiate the repairs.
We parked Josephine in Debbie and Ken’s driveway, made a salad and fresh bread to contribute to dinner. We ate, visited, ate and visited some more. I was so overtaken with the beauty that we have only a tiny shread of Ken’s Norwegian wood carvings in the photo above.. Ken uncovered the beauty buried in trees and produced hanging pieces of finished wood that looked, to my untrained but appreciative eye, as an artist in stone might have produced. Ken’s work is similar to Michelangelo since Ken uncovered the beauty within the wood with his skill and imagination.
20261013 Tuesday 19028 Steps
Breakfast was large, tasty, toasted bagels, lox, and Debbie’s fresh baked banana bread.
Debbie, Dodie and I walked around Indian Lake for close to two hours. Debbie is a dog lover, dog sitting for many of the neighborhood dogs. She knows the names of every dog and many of the people on the lake route. Everyone we met on the walk has a hug and smile for Debbie. Every dog greeted her warmly.
The lake route included about a block on the railroad line and were thrilled when two trains passed by the route, actually a gravel service road.
On the walk we met Ken who was in the middle of restoring an island he had adopted, mowing the grass, planting a flower garden, and rebuilding the dock.
20261013-7 Tuesday-Saturday Liberty Harbor, World Trade, Jordan, and Central Synagogue
We reserved two nights that ultimately became four nights in a unique campground. Liberty Harbor RV Park is a unimproved parking lot with limited electricity and water located a very short walk from one of the many ferries to Manhattan, landing a few blocks from the World Trade Center memorial.
We walked around Jersey City and arrived at a Ferry Dock. From the ferry, we walked to the World Trade Center memorial park. It is a quiet place of reflection.
202610`4 Wednesday
We took the E train subway to Central Synagogue for a scheduled guided tour. Unfortunately, the tour was canceled. We asked and pleaded with the guards and Levi, the guard with a heart, called and arranged for a brief visit to sanctuary.
Very soon, one of the Docents, Ronnee Segal, guided us from the Levi’s guard area to the sanctuary. What started as a short visit became an extensive guided private tour as Dodie engaged Ronnie is a lively discussion about their respective family histories.
Central Synagogue is a 3000+ family Reform Jewish synagogue with Friday evening services of about 900 to 1100 worshippers. I frequently watch them on Zoom.
We began our walk to meet Jordan for dinner and stopped in Bryant Park for a brief tour of the New York Library. Dinner was at Jack’s Wife Freeda at Laffette and Spring street. Advertised as a Mediteranean restaurant, we had Salt and Pepper Eggplant, Tofu with spaghetti squash, Eggplant sub sandwitch, and a chicken.
The eggplant sub was delicious! Everything else was very good.
202610`15 Thursday: Hop On Bus Tour of Manhattan, Central Park and Cruise to Statue of Liberty – 13,316 Steps and we enjoyed every step.
202610`16 Friday: Or Zarua and Central Synagogues
Scott Bolton, a childhood friend of Dodie’s daughter Jennifer, is the Rabbi of the 150 family Or Zurua Conservative Synagogue. The historic building was a shul before the previous congregation moved and sold the building to a church. The church was pleased to return the land to the Jews to build a traditional sanctuary with the bima in the middle and balcony seating for separate men and woman when requested.
After a tour of the Synagogue with Rabbi Bolton we started downtown ready for lunch. What turned into our favorite way to choose lunch was the smell and sight of the many different New York foods. Along the route we encountered an Amazon delivery bicycle, one of a swarm of bikes delivering goods.
The shabbat services at Central Synagogue began at 6 o’clock. Services were followed by a full course catered oneg across the street. The rainy night cut the attendance to about 700 people including youth groups from St. Paul, Minnesota and Indianapolis, Indiana.
202610`17 Saturday: Camp Catskills and a Hayride
The ride north from New York to the Catskills was full of fall color. Not much traffic in the normally crowded roads with lots to see.
The camp had a hayride for the kids. Dodie and I were right there with the other kids enjoying the ride around the campground. It was about 40 degrees and while the other kids were nice and warm, we, from the South, were under a blanket.
We arrivd at Camp Catskills to a lovely, quiet site with lots of trees. 
Dinner was a special treat, marinated spiced chicken, kasha and a lovely mango sauce made the perfect end of a lovely day.
202610`18 Sunday: Amtrak to Albany, Lunch at Blend and Brew – 6547 Steps
We woke up warm and cozy to 30º F outside! Hot oatmeal got us started.
We drove to Hudson to pick up the Amtrak to Albany, mostly for a ride along the river to see the folliage.
Albany was closed for the day,. We walked over several bridges from Rensselaer to Albany and the only place we could find open. Turned out to be a very small family run organic health food cafe. We had a private table in the entrance room. The acai bowl was terrific, made of coconut and lot of fruits. We were amazed when our freesh toasted everything bagel arrived overflowing with smoked salmon, cream cheese, lettuce and tomato.
The Uber ride back had a Google Maps on the dash — written in Mandarin for the oriental female driver.
202610`19 Monday: Lunch with Frank and Merle, Walkway across the Hudson, Ice Cream – 7903 Steps
We drove to Kingston, did laundry and provisioning. Frank ad Merle gave us a tour of downtown Kingston for an Italian lunch at Savona’s.
After lunch we drove to the Highland end of the Walkway across the Hudson. There was an RV capable parking lot right near the start of the walkway trail. The bridge was built on a salvaged railroad bridge that burned many years ago.
The walk included a large glass elevator that took us to river edge level with an interesting park.
We returned to the RV and began a search for our afternoon Dairy Queen treat, a few miles out of the way on the route home. Just as we started, we found a special ice cream shop and split a hot fudge sunday with coffee ahd cherry chip ice cream.
20261020 – 21 Tuesday – Wednesday: Kaaterskill Falls – 8525 Steps
Kaaterkill Falls has a series of many trails centered on a retired railroad that transported the lucky New York vacationers. A number of hotels, cottages and rooming houses were established in the 1800’s to swerve the wealthy and working class New Yorkers. Several remain as historic sites but the railroad exists only as a hiking trail.
We started bread and pasta sauce for dinner. They we hiked to Kaaterskill State Park and hiked to the site of the former Catskill Mountain House overlooking the Hudson River Valley.
20261022 Thursday: Drove to Ithaca and family dinner at Anne’s
20261023 Friday: Brunch at CTB and Hiking at Gregar and Vicky’s
Gregar gave Stu a front to back tour of College Town Bagels, a multi-generation family bakery since 1980. Anne, Dodie and Stu were treated to a brunch of fantastic smelling bagels with lox, cream cheese, chives, tomato and onion; Dodie had a speciality Sweet Rachel on hand cut fresh pumpernickel bread. In addition, Gregar suggested the Walnut Raisin dense dark rye bread.
Stu has been baking for about 60 years and the Walnut Raisin was a real treat.A\]
After lunch, Dodie and Stu went back to the “ranch” for a walk among the horses with Vicky.
Dodie and Stu posed with John Deere, ever sensitive to this being hunting season while we hiked up the hill for the view.
20261024 Saturday: Stewart Park, Jack’s Baby Shower, Vicky’s Water Pump,
Christy and Burns Concert
Dodie and Stu at Stewart Park on Cayuga Lake, Ithaca, NY
Jack Fidler’s baby shower with proud parents, Rachel and Andy
Vicky can now have running water when the power is out. Gregar and Vicky opened their beautiful RV parking spot for us during out visit. Heat, Water and the most beautiful view in the area.
Stu wanted to say “thank you” in his unique style:
Burns and Christy mellow original folk music
The husband and wife team with three contributions produced an evening of mostly original music. It was held in the Ithaca Unitarian Church, an acoustically excellent venue for soft, moving music. Noah, their son, performed an origianlly work.
20261025 Sunday, Horses, Taughanncock Falls, BBQ
Stu visited with several horses that each came to introduce himself in a language Stu did not understand, except for the part, “where are the crabapples.”
Gregar and Vicki hosted a bonfire and BBQ for the family.
20261026 Monday: Visit Andy and Rachel’s Hone and Start South
Click Here for Park 2, Travel South to Home
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