We are now home in Efrat, Israel.  After a dinner with the kids and grandchildren, a restful Shabbat, and seeing old friends, we have time to reflect on the last three months.  It was an amazing trip, one that dreams are made of, and we feel lucky and blessed that we were able to do it.  We both had cameras and took hundreds of pictures, but they do not do justice to the actual beauty we saw and experienced.  Mostly, like the blog, they are to remind us of where we had been and what we had seen.

We went through 19 of the United States and two Canadian provinces.  We saw and traveled along the five Great Lakes, visited three national parks, the St. Lawrence Seaway (including watching an oil tanker go through the locks), and the Thousands Islands (well, not all of them) in the St. Lawrence River between the U.S. and Canada.  We crossed the Mississippi River, the Erie Canal, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  We drove and walked in the Adirondack Mountains, the White Mountains, the Green Mountains, the Great Smoky Mountains, the Appalachian Mountains, six national forests, and numerous state parks.  We explored Duluth, Salem, Boston, Newport (including the Touro Synagogue), and Washington D.C.  We re-lived a bit of history in Fort Ticonderoga (New York), Gettysburg (Pennsylvania), and at the Wright Brothers National Memorial (North Carolina).  We saw six covered bridges In New Hampshire and Pennsylvania (drove through two and walked through three; one had been re-figured into a tourist store), six lighthouses in the Midwest (toured the inside of one), a solar eclipse (90% from North Carolina), and numerous waterfalls (including Niagara), lakes, and rivers – as well as the Atlantic Ocean.  We visited and sometimes spent some time in the small towns along the way, and learned of different cultures (the Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and the Cherokee in North Carolina).

All by living and traveling inside an RV camper van.

We can’t get over how much interest people showed in the RV (small ones like ours are not the norm).  Some asked to see the inside, some appreciated it from the outside; many had questions, and we even had a thumbs up and a smile from a biker.  For us, the 2018 Winnebago Travato 59K was the perfect choice for our style of living and traveling.  There were many ways and modes of transportation we could have chosen, but a class B van fit us and our lifestyle the best.

Our philosophy was to take things as they came.  We stayed in many different campgrounds; we did not know what to expect when we arrived at one and they ranged from okay to great.  State parks were our favorite as the campsites are well-spaced and often separated by trees, giving more privacy.  Private campgrounds are more crowded but often have more amenities (full hookups, for example).  We had rain, cold, heat … and did not let that bother us.  We looked for shopping (Walmart, almost always) and laundromats (Google “laundromat near me”) on the road.

Many people asked the standard “where are you from” question.  For those to whom we answered Israel, their main interest was “what is it like there.”  We had no negative reactions, just interest.  For others, in casual meetings, Chicago sufficed.

We have also been asked about our relationship with fellow campers.  During the entire trip, we didn’t meet “a single jerk” (I’m quoting another traveler).  Everyone was friendly, polite, and helpful.  The campgrounds all had a quiet time from 10 pm to 7 am and it was strictly adhered to.  Campsites were always clean.

Obtaining kosher food was never a problem.  With the exception of those items that we knew we would not find (meat/poultry, hard cheeses, regular yogurt – and sugar-free gum), we were able to adequately stock our refrigerator, freezer, and shelves.  We always found bread (and we made challah with our bread maker, since finding rolls that were not pre-cut was a challenge).  Our kitchen was dairy/pareve – a few utensils of each.  The exception was cold cuts from Chicago and Montreal, which we saved for Shabbat.

Shabbatot were quiet, and late; we used the Chabad website to determine Shabbat times – typing in zip code or city (the latest motzaei Shabbat was about 10:45 pm).  We always made sure we had a suitable campsite by Thursday night or Friday morning.  Preparing for Shabbat took about four hours (making one thing at a time), and our meals were served warm (Friday night) or cold (Shabbat lunch).  Hot water was kept in a thermos which stayed nicely hot through morning coffee.

As we did not make an eruv and were careful about techum Shabbat, we made do with walking around the campgrounds, using the non-electric back door key and Shabbat key belt.  Some campgrounds were larger than others; some had beautiful views and places to sit.

It was an interesting experience to keep Shabbat on our own.  We felt different, and special.

We learned many lessons along the way – the most important is to live life while you can.  We were impressed with how big and beautiful the world is outside of our own little area and experience.  Our style of traveling, going where we wanted without a daily plan, also worked for us.  We saw so much by changing direction on a whim and were constantly delighted by our choices.  True, though, by traveling so much we missed out on really mastering a designated area.

We have been asked if we would do it again and the answer is “in a second.”  We need to catch up on our life in Israel, but we also know there are still more roads to travel, G-d willing.

Thank you for joining us on our journey.  Below are some additional photos of our trip.

Shana tova,

Bill and Sima