A very quiet Sunday night at Birch Grove Campground near Iron River, Wisconsin, on the shores of Deep Lake (relatively speaking).  We had a very good sleep.  That is, until a heavy rain began hitting the top of our RV at 6:00 am.  Well, at least we know the RV is water tight because we were comfortable and dry with the heat on.

It seems that a number of RV parks we’ve been staying in rent out to seasonal campers who leave their RVs there all summer.  The owner of the campground at Iron River said some even park their RVs there year round and use it as a place to store them.  Though small, and certainly not secluded, the campground is on a beautiful lake where people avidly boat, fish, swim, and basically get away from the city.

We spent a couple of hours the next morning in the city of Iron River, all four blocks of it, mostly because it had a very important asset that we needed, a laundromat.  With clean clothes and the necessities of life, we headed to Bayfield, Wisconsin, a city near the very northern tip of Wisconsin on Lake Superior.  (A florist in Iron River across the street from the laundromat – where Sima had stopped in – highly recommended Bayfield as a place to visit.)  On the way, we visited the fascinating Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, a three-story building filled with exhibits and information on Lake Superior, and the history of the area and its original residents, the Chippewa Indians.  We ate lunch on the grounds.

Once in Bayfield, we decided to take the ferry, RV included, from Bayfield to Madeline Island, the largest of the 22 Apostle Islands on Lake Superior, and the only island that is open to commercial development.  After a 20-minute boat ride, we reached Madeline, drove to the middle of the island, found the Big Bay Town campsite, and reserved a spot.  The campsite is nicely situated in the woods, a short walk to a beach that has a boardwalk along the shore.  We took several walks around the area during the late afternoon and evening, taking in all the beauty that northern Wisconsin has to offer.  And it is beautiful!  Being in all this beauty is why we’re here; it brings a sense of quiet and peace.

Day 2:  The campground was so nice and the weather so perfect – it didn’t rain last night or today and the temperature was in the mid 70s – that we decided to stay an extra day.  We explored the town, visiting the tourist shops and art galleries.  The town is exactly what you might expect from a vacation/resort town: laid back, quiet, pretty.  While sitting and having something to drink, we happened to see a religious family walk by.  After striking up a conversation with this New Jersey family, we discovered a connection, a mutual friend – again, a small Jewish world.

In the early afternoon, we ate lunch in a park overlooking the lake and watched the sailboats go by.

Back at the campground, Sima used the bread machine for the first time.  We haven’t really needed it since we have been able to find bread and rolls with a hashgacha everywhere we’ve gone (although we have to look carefully at the labels if we want to buy whole, and not pre-cut, rolls), but since we were relaxing during the afternoon after walking all morning, she decided to experiment.  It was a time of firsts – Sima’s bread was a success, ah newly baked bread, and we made our first bonfire.  We ate the fresh bread watching the fire, what could be better?

Day 3:  After returning by ferry to Bayfield, we explored the city, whose main street is lined with unique craft, camping equipment, and other stores.  One of the most interesting was an artists’ co-op which featured the work of several local (“if they are close enough to drive here, they are local”) artists – in wood, glass, fabric, jewelry, etc.

And then, it rained, and rained, and rained.  As it pretty much rained all day, we drove most of the time.  We entered the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and drove through the beautiful Ottawa National Forest.  The road was lined with trees on both sides, there was very light traffic, and the feeling of quiet and serenity was everywhere.  When we arrived at Crystal Falls after leaving the forest, we decided to stop at Bewabic State Park, on Fortune Lake, Michigan and secured a campsite there.  Hopefully, there will be enough of a break in the rain tomorrow to see the falls that are nearby.  For dinner we had salad, tomato soup, and the leftover bread from yesterday – very good and just the right meal for sitting in the RV at night while it is still raining.  There is a comforting feeling here.

Possibly one of the more interesting side stories is that we have become fans of Walmart.  The mega store seems to have everything we need, including many food products with a hashgacha (thanks, again, to the CRC Kosher app, we have found Blue Ribbon out of Minneapolis mentioned in a previous post, Vaad Hoeir out of St. Louis, and Star K out of Baltimore).  I even got a haircut at Walmart.  As in the old TV commercial song, “Sears has everything,” Walmart does seem to have everything.

The rain has stopped and after our morning routine, it was time to hit the road.  We drove down the Superior National Forest Scenic Byway to Minnesota Highway 61, a sparsely travelled road that follows the shore of Lake Superior.  Lake Superior is, by surface area, the world’s largest freshwater lake, contains 10% of the world’s fresh water, and is the largest lake in the U.S.

We are still awed by the beauty of nature in Minnesota and by the lack of road trash.  Minnesota claims to be the land of 10,000 lakes – they say so on their license plates – and seeing is believing.

Once on Highway 61, we stopped off at a rest stop for lunch.  We parked in a spot that overlooks Lake Superior and a small boat dock.

We then followed the shoreline into Duluth.  It was not our intention to spend time in large cities (Duluth’s population is about 86,000), but it was an opportunity to see the downtown area and we took it.

We arrived at Congregation Adas Israel, which is in downtown Duluth, during the early afternoon.  So with time to spend before Shabbat (which started at 8:48 pm), we walked to the main street and happened on some very interesting and unique shops: the Duluth Trading company, an upscale camping/clothing store with great clothes, high quality, higher prices; a Duluth visitors center where Sima got very interested in stories about the numerous shipwrecks in the Great Lakes; a huge second-hand store with antiques and books, which brought back so many childhood memories.  (We both recognized things that were very similar to what our parents had.  Why, I asked myself, did my mother make me give up my baseball card and comic book collections?)  I really felt old when we came upon two young women trying to figure out what they were holding in their hand –  I had to tell them it was an ice tray, where you pulled the handle up to break up the ice into cubes.

Further down the street we stopped into a coffee shop where they roast their own coffee beans and I found what I have been looking for since we started this trip, coffee brewing cones.  Of final interest, we found a throwback to the 60s, a hippie store with clothes and the largest selection of vinyl records I have seen in a long time.  The store has been in business since the 60s so I guess it has hardly changed.  No other comments necessary.

Shabbat, June 24, 2017 – first day of Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

Adas Israel left me with mixed emotions.  It is a struggling congregation, whose members are all aged 60 plus, and has a difficult time putting together a minyan; there was no minyan Friday night and barely a minyan for Shacharit.  The shul is 118 years old, very well taken care of (although, unfortunately, they are looking towards future financial problems), but the orthodox Jewish population has either moved away or passed away.  Like Moshe Yes’s song, “The Torah of Kiev,” it is a holy place of worship with hardly anyone there to be its soul, except for a handful of devoted people trying to keep it from being lost.  We found the people to be warm and caring and, regardless of the numbers, davening was with kavanah (no talking).  We then enjoyed a wonderful lunch: different fishes, including lox, cream cheese, bagels (Sima was very happy), salads, kugels, potato latkes, etc…, finished off with chocolate ice cream for dessert.  A meal fit for a Shabbat King.

We enjoyed many stories about the shul’s history (no, Bob Dylan did not have his bar mitzvah in the shul, but he was born three blocks away and moved to a nearby town at the age of three).

When other shuls within a hundred or so mile radius closed their doors, they donated many of their treasures to Adas Israel: sifrei Torah (they now have 11 or 12); an aron kodesh, which is in the downstairs shul where we davened (the beautiful main shul is used only on the yamin noraim); even the bronze memorial plaques, where small bulbs are lit to commemorate a yahrzeit.  We were also shown cupboards full of sifrei kodesh that were printed as far back as the 1890s.  What will happen to all of this if there is no one left to love them and this shul has to close its doors?

Downstairs shul:

Upstairs shul:

One of the cupboards

An interesting side story – in a conversation with one of the congregants, who also happens to be a drummer, I learned that his grandfather was the shamash of the shul I grew up in, in Chicago.  It’s a small Jewish world.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Rain, rain and more rain, and the forecast is for rain during the week.  We knew we would have times like this and at least we had over a week to get used to living in the RV.  One thing we have come to realize is that we did not bring enough warm and waterproof clothing.  Walmart, here we come.

We met with David Sher, the leader of Adas Israel and the person most responsible for keeping the shul going, in the morning.  He spoke some more about the shul he so dearly loves (he was married there and remembers full houses on Shabbat and holidays), and about the Jewish community at large, past and present.  He asked if there was anything we needed and I mentioned that we had not found grape juice or wine for Shabbat (although we still had enough for a few weeks).  He went to the cupboard and found us a bottle of Kedem grape juice.

We then headed to Wisconsin to find a campground with water and electrical hookups, hunker down, eat good food, drink good drinks, maybe watch a DVD, and wait out the weather.  We drove down a scenic highway and noted how different Wisconsin is from Minnesota.  There are many more cultivated fields, cows, and farm houses here.  Our GPS found us the type of campground we needed.  It’s interesting – we really don’t have any reservations; we simply hope to find what we need along the way.  We don’t plan too much except to head in a general direction.  This is so unlike us, ask our kids.  “And away we go.”

After a beautiful last walk this morning in Rice Creek Chain of Lakes, we drove about 275 miles north and arrived at Voyageurs National Park.  As I look out my window, we are totally surrounded by forest, staying in the (Chief) Woodenfrog State Forest Campground.  Either this is a very secluded campsite or no one else is here.

Voyageurs National Park is in northern Minnesota, near the Canadian border.  It is a water-based park, with 500+ islands and 655 miles of shoreline – in total around 218,000 acres.  Named after voyageurs, the French-Canadian fur traders who were the first European settler in the area, the park is notable for its boating, fishing, and amazing scenery. The quiet of the waters, the green of the trees…. It brings a sense of peace.

Here, in Woodenfrog Campground, we have a chance to see exactly how self-contained the RV is, as there are no hookups here.  (But there is Internet throughout the park!)  The RV has two AGM batteries (in addition to the Dodge Promaster engine battery) that are powered by solar panels, a gasoline powered generator, and the alternator of the Promaster’s engine.  We have a 2/3s-full fresh water tank and empty black and grey water tanks.  We also have enough food for quite a few days.  We are only here for a night or two, but it’s a good test, never-the-less, of our being self-sufficient.

We like to walk, but every 10 minutes it starts to rain, (yes, folks, it does rain – a lot – in the summer here).  That’s why everything is so amazingly green.  We took a chance and did take a walk in-between rain showers and ended up being very lucky.  As soon as we returned, it started pouring again.

A quiet night, a cup of chamomile tea, a good book, the two of us.  “I think I’m going to like it here” (Annie).  FYI: sunset is at 9:20.

Day 2: After a great night’s sleep (I do sleep better here), we woke up to a sunny morning.  After davening and breakfast, we took a walk to an indescribably beautiful lake, Kabetogama Lake, where we could see some of the islands that make up Voyageurs.  It sounds like I keep repeating myself when I talk about beautiful scenery but the hits just keep coming, and, after all, that is why we’re here.  When they wrote the song “America the Beautiful” they knew what they were talking about.

After some more exploration, we walked to an overlook and hiked to Beaver Pond (nobody home).  We then decided to figure out where we wanted to be for Shabbat.  The campgrounds here were too rustic for us to be comfortable, even the private ones.  After calling around we found two options: a campground at Two Harbors, Minnesota on Lake Superior, which had full hookups and a cancellation for the weekend; and a 118-year-old modern orthodox shul in Duluth – the person Sima spoke with said we could park in the shul’s lot (no hookups) and join a congregational lunch on Shabbat.  We decided on Duluth.   More on that after we have the experience.

We have chosen to drive to Duluth via the Scenic Byway of the Superior National Forest; this will take us to the shores of Lake Superior, and we will then drive down the coast to Duluth.  We drove today (Thursday) to the beginning of the Byway and found a campground.  Here we will stay the night in a quiet, wooded area, again surrounded by trees and the sounds of nature.

For those who have asked, we will be posting more pictures and responding to your comments, as we can.

Bill and Sima

There was a movie “Finding Forrester” in which a famous author was instructing his protégé that the way to begin writing is just to sit down and write anything that comes to mind.  Don’t think, just write.  Using this technique seems to work for me and that is how I am writing this blog, with the added advantage that when Sima sits down to add her thoughts, she edits mine.

Today has been a day filled with good fortune.  Everything seemed to work out for the best.  In the morning, while waiting at the RV dealership to ask a few questions about the operation of the stereo system, our license plates were delivered.  We quickly prepared the RV for travel, bought a few extra food supplies, and hit the road.

We headed for Minneapolis-St. Paul, as we needed a keilim mikvah for a few items that we bought after arriving in Iowa.  As long as we were in the area, we decided to experience Mall of America.  Whoa, four floors of 570 stores and restaurants and an indoor amusement park that is the dream of every little kid, and some big kids too.  This was the definition of sensory overload, too much to see, too noisy, and too big.  After about two hours we had had enough and left; it must be for the younger generation.

Next, we looked up the address of a mikvah, put it into our GPS, and headed for St.Paul.  When we got there, no one was home.  When I say home, I mean home – it was in a house in a residential neighborhood.  We weren’t sure we were in the right place until I found a sign behind a bush saying mikvah.  Sima found the phone number of a Chabad rabbi listed for the area.  The first time she called, no one answered, and she left a message.  The second time, she got through to Rabbi Mendel Feller who was waiting at the airport for a delayed plane and just happened to check his cell phone.  He arranged for us to be able to get in.

About 45 years ago, while working at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, I was asked to drive a Rabbi Moshe Feller to the Rhinelander Airport and wait with him until he got on the plane.  While waiting we began to talk and he asked if I knew how to put on tefillin. I replied that I was absent that day in Hebrew school.  You guessed it, he taught me how to put on tefillin at the airport and I have never forgotten that day.  I always connect that experience with being the first spark that started me on the road to being a baal teshuva. Because of that day, I have a wonderful wife, two daughters, two sons-in-law, and five grandchildren – we all live in Israel, and are shomrai mitzvot.  Rabbi Mendel Feller is, I believe, his son (did not have a chance to ask).

When Sima wrote Rabbi Feller the next day to thank him for his help, she related this story, and his response was “Wow!!!”

After St. Paul and a harrowing experience with rush hour traffic (actually I’ve been in worse, but not driving an RV), we found this amazingly beautiful RV campground on the side of a lake – Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Park Reserve. After a walk, dinner, and a good night’s sleep, we decided to stay an extra day.  Again, we are retired and have no schedule to keep, so when we find a place we like, we will enjoy it to its fullest.

Day 2 at Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Park Reserve – a beautiful, well kept, clean, wildlife preserve, with forests, seven lakes with swimming, boating, and fishing, a golf course somewhere, and a campground where the sites are not crowded.  This is why we stayed the extra day.

Though it rained last night, the day was sunny and comfortable for hiking. With two extended walks and exploring two different trails, we didn’t find a single piece of trash.  I think the only frustrating part is that we still don’t have great cell phone and Wi-Fi connection.  We were able to get two posts out to the blog in the afternoon but have no reception in the evening.  Either the cell towers get off of work at 6, or there are too many people streaming Netflix.

On a personal note: Traveling in the RV is something I have wanted to do for a long time and feel blessed that I am able to do it now.  In the short time that we have been traveling, we’ve met couples that are 10+ years older than we are doing the same.  For the most part, this has been a very relaxing time for us.  Point being, the term “do it while you can” seems to have greater meaning for me now.  One good thing about modern technology, we are able to stay in touch with the kids while we travel.

Bill and Sima

Just outside Forest City is Pilot Knob State Park.  As we are still in the area, we decided to take a ride there and walk around.  We elected to stay on the road that winds through the park (sparsely traveled, and we seemed to be one of just a few walkers) instead of the trail, as the ground was still wet from the rains.  Winding through the quiet forest was a delight for the senses.

Founded in 1923, Pilot Knob is one of the oldest parks in Iowa and its focal point – the Observation Tower – is the second highest point in the state, at 1450 feet.  From the Tower, one can see for approximately 40 miles and thousands of acres of farmland.  The tower, built during the Depression, was part of a program to put people to work.  A first impression was that it was a Crusader citadel, though wrong time and wrong continent.

Pilot Knob is truly beautiful, and one of many state parks in the area.

Sima continues to get more creative in working in our mini-kitchen; a challenge to be sure.  There are still other things we need to learn about the RV and how to use it but, little by little, we are mastering the technique.

Bill and Sima

Friday afternoon, we still did not have Internet connection, but we are hopeful that this post (and the previous ones) will get out soon.  This week we plan on looking for somewhere where AT&T will work.  We hear Minnesota might be better than northern Iowa.

The day was spent at the campground, where we prepared for Shabbat.  Last minute shopping, cooking, and cleaning the RV (about 15 minutes )…it doesn’t take much in a small space.

We decided before we left Israel that the RV kitchen would be pareve/dairy.  We have a stainless steel sink, two burners, a microwave/convection oven, fridge, and freezer (all compact size) – but the kitchen area is small and storage space for utensils is at a premium.  Non-fleshig works for us, as – even back home – about 80% of our cooking is pareve.

We prepared simple meals for Shabbat: the first meal – salmon patties, rice salad, and cut vegetables; for Shabbat lunch – turkey pastrami and corned beef (from Chicago, of course) with salad, tiny carrots (a nice find) and chips – this was served with paper/plastic.  OK, so not everything is totally pareve/dairy and healthy, but who can pass up Chicago cold cuts?  Seudat shlishit was rolls with Philadelphia light cream cheese, and again more vegetables.  Fruit salad for dessert.

Shabbat starts late here (8:37 pm this week), so we ate most of our meal earlier, and made Kiddush, washed on rolls, and ate lightly after maariv.

Although we bought a good thermos that will keep water hot for 15 hours (so it says), we are still looking for a place to “tovel” it (and the bread machine pan) – the only lakes around here are dirty and the shores have pond scum; “yuk,” we will keep looking.  For Shabbat morning we prepared cold coffee to keep in the fridge (where we had the Lichtsinn service people disconnect the light – another unusual request for them, and they keep saying, “sure, no problem, whatever you want”). The cold coffee was surprisingly good and refreshing.  We may do more of this.

Working out the details of kashrut and Shabbat are the enjoyable challenges of the adventure.  Before leaving Israel we consulted with rabbanim, and implementing what we learned and dealing with the unexpected are experiences we are eager to have.  In time, we will have the Shabbat routine down pat.

As it rained again Friday night (with hail, lightning, and thunder) and somewhat on Shabbat, we spent most of the day reading and relaxing.  A walk around the campgrounds rounded out the day.  As there was no eruv we made use of a coiled key chain belt that we bought at Neve Daniel for a few shekels; it worked great as a belt and key holder in one.

Shavua Tov,

Sima and Bill

We still don’t have Wi-Fi connection and our AT&T cell phones and hot spot do not work in Forest City, Iowa (I knew we should have gotten Verizon).  Regardless, we’re writing the blog in the hope that it will get to you, the reader, eventually.

We finally left the nest and went off on our own. Since we don’t have a convenient address to receive mail in the States, we are waiting in the general area for the license plates to be delivered to the RV dealership.  It is beautiful here in small town, rural America and we are enjoying the quiet and scenery.  We can understand why people would want to live here; when taking a walk or shopping, everyone who passes us by, whether walking, running, biking, or driving a car, says “hello” and gives a big smile – hard to believe but true, never once were we not greeted in a happy manner.  Maybe there is a Pleasantville out there.  We have been told that Forest City is a Winnebago town (the factory is one mile from the dealer), and people really do appreciate those of us who have chosen to buy here.

We have set up camp in the Forest City campground; there are woods and trees, rivers with people fishing, and an easy two-mile hiking trail which we walked twice today.  After all the running around we’ve been doing over the last week – since we arrived in the States – this was a welcome change.  We may decide to spend Shabbat here.

We’re still getting used to the van; there seems to continually be new things to learn.  For example, I ended up taking a cold shower today because I accidentally turned off the hot water heater, oops.  At least I took the first shower so Sima didn’t have to suffer.  Regardless, our routine is starting to work out.  One thing that seems to working for us is that after I wake up, daven, and make coffee, I take a walk outside the RV, so Sima can have use of the van.  I like the quiet walk with a cup of coffee in the morning.

Right now the biggest challenge we have is water conservation.  These past two days we have used about 2/3 a tank of water (a tank is 26 gallons), a day with showers, cooking, dish washing, etc…  In most cases, we will be in a campground with full hookups or an area with fresh water and a dump station to empty the black and grey water tanks, but there will be times when we won’t have easy access to these amenities.  We need to figure out a routine to be able to last three days without having to deal with filling/emptying tanks.  We will practice and experiment until we get our water protocol mastered.

The surroundings, as mentioned, are beautiful.  We saw hundreds of geese walking around, sharing the golf course with the golfers.

A small waterfall, lakes, and the Winnebago River are all part of the Forest City campground. We’ve struck up some nice conversations with other RVers, mostly retired folks like ourselves, who are happy to share tips and information.

Sima and Bill

After spending a delightful five-day stay in Chicago, seeing family, shopping, and spending Shabbat, we flew to Mason City, Iowa, in a single propeller, 10-seater plane that reminded me of Clyde Crashcup (anyone remember him?).

While in Chicago, we bought some kitchen items (pot, frying pan, and other cooking implements) that needed to be “toveled,” which we did there.  We packed some Shabbat needs: grape juice for several weeks, rolls for the first Shabbat plus a box of matzot, tea lights for the entire trip, and a havdala set.  We also bought a bread maker machine, for delivery in Mason City, so we can make our own challot.  (We will be “toveling” the pan and a few additional things when we can.)

Actually, the flight was pretty good – very smooth with beautiful scenery: fields for as far as the eye could see, with an occasional building or car (the advantage of flying so low).  It is often thought that the great “middle” of the United States is boring, but we think that there is something astoundingly beautiful about the bounty that miles and miles of fields represent.

We were picked up at the airport by a driver from the RV dealership who took us on a side tour: to the site where Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Richie Valence crashed just after takeoff from Mason City in the 50s, after performing at the Surf Ballroom.  The building is full of memorabilia from all the famous name acts over the last 70+ years.

Finally, we made it to Lichtsinn RV where we were introduced to our new 2018 Winnebago Travato.  We had ordered a 2017 model, but Winnebago changed their model year after we placed our order, so we lucked out at no additional cost.  Not having linens, food, and other necessities, we spent the first night at a motel, got a good night’s sleep, and returned to Lichtsinn the next day for a four-hour orientation on how everything in the RV works. (I don’t remember lectures in grad school being that long and that intense.)

Afterwards, we unloaded our luggage into the RV and were surprised at how much room there is for storage.  We then went to the local version of Walmart for linens, then to Bill’s Family Foods (I had to shop there, the name appealed to me).  While at Bill’s, we played one of our favorite traveling games: look to see what products with a hashgacha we could buy.  The CRC (Chicago Rabbinical Council) Kosher Guide app was immensely helpful, as it introduced us to Blue Ribbon Kosher, out of Minneapolis (Forest City is near the Iowa/Minnesota border).

Again, we loaded up the RV, and again, we were very surprised – there was enough storage space for everything.  We were now ready to spend the first night in our RV – granted it was still on the dealership lot.  This was a good thing, though: the more we used the RV, the more we realized what questions we needed to ask the next day. That night, there was a powerful thunder and lightning storm and we were comfy and cozy, a big confidence builder.

Day 2, June 14 – Breakfast, more learning about RV usage, filling the fresh water tank, dumping the black and grey tanks.  We then received a tour of the Winnebago factory where we watched them build Travatos from beginning to end – an interesting tour which we enjoyed very much, and which left us with a great deal of respect for the RV we chose.  Next, you guessed it: more shopping, more storing, and I think we now have everything we need to go forward.  Sima cooked our first meal this evening, and we are now relaxing, listening to Mozart on the stereo.  Small space, but we don’t feel crowded.  A lot of thought went into the creation of this home on wheels.  Soon we will leave the nest and head out on our own.

Note: We will be adding photos (hopefully) soon.

Bill and Sima