RV Livin!

So what's it like to spend 7 weeks sleeping in a van? Here are some snippets of RV living. We've learned a lot.

Like what it feels like to lift your head from your pillow in the morning and see morning light reflected on a misty lake. (This was our view this morning from Camp Weequahic, where we slept in the van.)

Or this...

Or this...

You take a few minutes to figure out where you are...

Make your bed...

And get your coffee. VERRRRY important. At every campground, Mark asks:

1) Do you have flush toilets.

2) Do you have wifi.

3) Do you have coffee.

While Mark puts in a few hours of work -- usually at a picnic table or, if the flies are going crazy, in the van. I head out for a 45-minute run. Sometimes dirt roads, sometimes paved streets, sometimes cornfields, sometimes sidewalks, sometimes just me and the trucks. Sometimes I'd run by cattle and they would chase me along their wire fence, sometimes it would just be me and a biblical swarm of locusts. My favorite runs would end picking wild blackberries or raspberries along the side of the road. I'd walk for about 10 minutes just stuffing my face with 4 or 5 handfuls. No joke.

Then I'd boil water for my decaf Folgers instant coffee (we have different coffee standards) and a pouch of instant oatmeal, sometimes with fresh berries or whatever we picked up at our version of a grocery store.

You see all sorts of animals you've never seen before...

Signs at the campground can make you smile, like this...

And this...

Then after we hit the road for 3 or 4 hours of driving and sightseeing, we see the welcome sign at our next KOA. It truly is a welcome sign.

After we scope out the toilets, Mark tries to get more work done while I cook dinner on the 2-burner propane stove. This night was quinoa with red dal and chick peas.

We enjoy watching RV life all around us. RV living is very laid back, as you would expect. Very simple and uncomplicated. Kids ride bikes at 6am, enjoying the freedom, not seeming to mind the relative solitude.

Dads shoot hoops while kids swing and daydream. No whining, no "pay attention to me," no disrespect.

A guy practices soccer moves, on his own, perfectly content.

Grandmas take out the trash holding hands with their grandkids, chatting, smiling, I hear no whining.

Men wait (patiently?) to get into the bathroom.

A typical shower. Yeah, we wear flip flops in them.

And a less luxurious but typical communal men's room. Admittedly hard to brush your teeth with a mask on.

Families sit around and just talk and play games. Rare to see phones or ipads.

Kids feed their dogs.

Kids take out the trash.

A wiffleball game that lasts almost an hour.

Some nights we get lucky and a neighbor breaks out a guitar. Meet Pappy. He's proud to tell Mark and I that he's recorded a few songs. Click here for a sample of Pappy on Napa Time, his "stage name" lol.

Then Mark crawls into bed and is amazed to see how limber he is becoming. If he reaches far enough he actually CAN touch his toes. Whaddya know.

More berry picking in the morning...

We call this photo "Still Life at the KOA": Laundry night quarters, the sock we always forget to wash, a Bloody Mary with an old sausage and a stray piece of celery we found in the fridge (where did it come from?), and enough ice for my water and his drink. Ahhh, a luxury.

Icing our dinner wine 'til it's just right. A bag of ice is the best $2.50 you can spend on a summer road trip!

And especially useful on nights that are SO hot you put ice in your already cold beer. Tastes awful but feels great going down, especially when it's 107 degrees at night.

Yes, we've learned a lot on this trip. About simplicity, beauty, patriotism, compromise, and companionship.

And automotive repair!! Made it the whole trip without any major breakdowns until today, at 4:00, when the van began to overheat (AGAIN) and we made an emergency pit stop at Pep Boys in Philadelphia. The van is tired and so are we. It's time to head home. Tonight we'll sleep in Tenafly. Will it be in our beds or in the driveway????

The Road Home

Relax. No history lesson in this post, but kudos to the People of Illinois.

Clearly, Lincoln was their favorite Republican.

We make it through Chicago, Mark spots the Route 80 sign, and we're going home.

Click here.

So while that's what the sign said, this is how it looked in Mark's head:

Here's our trip for the next 3 days:

Stop for gas at the end of each day so Mark can binge on some gas station TV.

(Have you seen these gas pumps that show little TV shows while you pump gas?!?).

Rinse. Repeat. See you tomorrow for our final day on the road.

On Wisconsin!

After a lovely afternoon strolling around Duluth, Minnesota (cute city!) we crossed the Saint Louis River into Superior, Wisconsin. Mark has landed in the Motherland.

Where the streets are lined with socially-distanced yet neighborly lines for fresh sweet corn, sold from the back of a truck.

And is just down the road from the local "Trump Shop" -- these seem to be a staple in every midwestern town.

Our first stop is Eau Claire, a city Judy wanted to visit cuz she heard they have a great music scene, which they DO. As we strolled through the town, outdoor speakers mounted on street lights played non-stop music from local bands. How cool is that! Click here for a taste of Them Coulee Boys (Cayamo 2020, Egg, woo-hoooo!) and check out the video below.

The highlight of Eau Claire was seeing my Weequahic pickle buddy Mary Jo Hanson, husband Wayne, and DH superstar Meg who had just gotten engaged! Mary Jo is as much a Food Fairy at home as she was at camp, treating us to her homemade bread, Wisconsin cheeses, jams, her pickle recipe, and salted maple caramels. This is a special family.

Next Stop: northern Wisconsin to visit the town of Oconto, where Mark's dad grew up with 8 brothers and sisters. On the way, we stopped in Marinette, a small city his dad had traveled to each Friday night for shabbat. This is also the city where Mark's grandparents and many aunts and uncles are buried in the cemetery, alongside old friends the Hammes's.

Marinette's Jewish community is no longer active, but the cemetery and synagogue have been kept up beautifully.

We then took ourselves out for a good old-fashioned fish fry. Showed up there STARVING, and as you can see I didn't hold back. Standard fish fry fare: fresh perch that our waitress said was "to die for," served with their signature tartar sauce, truly home-made baked beans, cole slaw, rye bread already buttered, baked potato with the works (but I ate all Mark's fries), and Mark had beer cheddar soup to start. No regrets!

Then headed to his dad's hometown, Oconto. POPULATION: 4,513.

This is the home where his dad, aunts, and uncles were all raised (our Sam is named for uncle Sam and uncle Leonard). The yard on the right was the junkyard, which the Aronson's owned along with the clothing store, grocery, butcher, and a dairy farm.

This is the beer they drink in Oconto. We bought two 6-packs for $8.49 total, including tax (one is for Sol).

We stayed in the Oconto RV Park, a slight step up from the Oconto Motel -- which DID boast VACANCIES with a flashing neon sign, BUT too bad it wasn't hotel night.

Heading to Milwaukee the next day. You knew this detour was coming...

It's like we're on auto-pilot; the van just knows where to go...

We then make our way to Mark's hometown of Milwaukee. This is what we saw out our window for the entire day: farms - cows - corn - cows - farms - Trump signs - cows - corn.

On to Brew City to spend the day eating, which is what we always seem to do in Milwaukee. Judy's favorite Milwaukee band: Dead Horses. Try'em!

So we start by eating a very late breakfast of Super Hoppel Poppel at Benji's.

Menu: "Scrambled eggs blended with crisp browned potatoes, fried salami, green peppers, onions, fresh mushrooms, and your choice of cheese."

Followed by a trip to Kopp's for frozen custard. Flavor choices: Banana Cashew Chocolate Chunk and Cookies 'n Cream. Judy went Banana, Mark went half & half. For those of you who've never read the plaque under the cows, take a look!

And after fish fry, Super Hoppel Poppel, and Kopp's, Mark took full advantage of those healthy roadside produce stands in Illinois, our next stop.