INTRO
The children have grown up and left home and it is just the time to go on a trip after the army. We packed some luggage and bought a motorhome (like you can only find in America) with all the luxuries, from cruise control to an ice machine and a coffee machine, with a small motorcycle in the back (Suzuki GZ 250), and we set off on a year’s journey. We started in Florida and all we knew was that we should be in Alaska for the summer. We tried as much as possible to go through the backyard of the United States, through parks and without cities. When you drive off the bitten track (Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana) you don’t meet tourists and the locals go crazy when they see that the license plate is from Florida and when they hear that we are on our way to Alaska it even sounds like science fiction to them.
When we crossed into Canada, after about three months, and arrived at the Canadian Rockies, we started meeting tourists and in the end we even encountered a couple of Israelis riding a motorcycle – Dana and Lior. Dana and Lior are of the age of our children, but the click was created in the first half hour, they are also on their way to Alaska, so we met them several more times along the way – they are in a tent and we are in our castle on wheels.
At the end of Alaska we parted ways, but we kept in touch. Then one day we realized that they were going to South America and ending up in Argentina. In a moment’s decision, we bought their motorcycle, sold the trailer (after 8 months) and took a flight to Buenos Aires where the young couple and a BMW GS 1200 motorcycle equipped for the trip were waiting for us. So here we begin chapter B, half a year on a motorcycle from Buenos Aires to Texas.
This is not our first trip on a motorcycle, we have already roamed Europe for two months (from Romania to Austria and back) on a Yamaha R6, crossed the USA for three months (from San Francisco to New York to Maine and back to New York) on a Suzuki V-Strom 600, and we have been riding in India for two months (from Mumbai to Varkala and back to Bangalore) on the Enfield 500, and other occasional trips, but we haven’t done a challenge like this yet. Anyway, how do you get off a 34-feet vehicle (about 12 meters long) with an 8300 engine, automatic in every possible aspect, an adjoining bedroom that opens into the full size room (called a ‘slider’ in the professional language) plus a living room that opens into a 6×3 room (another slider), with a fully equipped American kitchen (for example, a 4-door refrigerator), 3 air conditioning and heating systems and what not. How do you go from all this goodness to a two-wheeled vehicle with a 20×20 seat, searching for a hotel every night (we are no longer young enough to sleep without a mattress and a solid roof over our heads), and rain, and wind, and heat, and protective equipment… Well, don’t feel sorry for us: A. We brought this on ourselves, and B. We enjoy every moment.
We set off from Buenos Aires through Uruguay to Brazil (Carnival), back to Argentina, Chile, and north to Peru Ecuador, Colombia, flying the motorcycle to Panama and Central America – Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico up to Texas.
North America
8 months, May-December 2017
Tampa, Florida
March, 2017
We received the vehicle, after filling out a gazillion forms, and going through quite a lot of faucets in the trailer – there is a fuel tank and a gas tank, a clean water tank and gray water (from the shower and the sink), and black water (from the toilet) and for each a control system with flashing lights, faucets and clocks.
We went shopping (only for what is necessary) from drainage pipes to cutlery, and we have kitchenware for the first meal, bedding for the first night, and even food for the first meal.
On the way – the beginning
April, 2017
You must be wondering what it’s like to drive a bus – just kidding, I know you’re not wondering at all and anyway I’ll tell you. There are three dimensions to driving a bus that differ from a normal vehicle – length, width and engine power. Let’s start with the simpler one – the engine power. Although this car has an 8100 engine it is not an Alfa Romeo. But it’s less disturbing because the driving here is calmer, I almost never overtake and there is no problem on normal climbs, we’ll see what it means when we get to the mountains and narrow roads. The second which is quite simple – the length. When taking a turn, you have to take into account the length of the vehicle, otherwise the traffic lights will be taken down (it hasn’t happened yet, but it’s sure to happen). The last and most complicated is width of the vehicle. Our vehicle (including mirrors) is the width of a lane, there is no spare room. So that any movement, even the smallest, you are out of the lane. This is a real challenge that requires constant attention. You discover that you have gone out of the lane and correct, then immediately go out on the other side and correct and come back. In the end we were stopped by a police car. They took pictures of me zigzagging, they claimed that someone called and complained about me (they probably thought I was drunk), I explained to her that I was a new driver and she let me go but since then I drove much slower. You have to get used to the fact that it is not a sports car.
Oh, we found a huge storage room under the bed. I wonder what else we don’t know about this motorhome.
On the way to Chicago
April, 2017
At the campsite, there are transient residents (like us) who come for a night or two and continue, and there are the “regulars”, the trailer is fixed there and they build around it as they see fit – stairs, a balcony, a shed, a warehouse, etc., coming here for weekends or vacations. Almost every such campsite has a pool, playgrounds for children, a basketball court, etc., so that the children can roam freely. There is one thing that is common to almost everyone – a golf cart (scooter) is parked near the house and at least once a day, in the morning or in the evening, it is mandatory to go with the whole family for a tour of the camping trails and wave to everyone who is called on your way.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
April, 2017
Slowly getting used to the size of our house…it is HUGE! Driving on side roads to see America from its backside has its benefits. There is not much traffic, driving is slow, everything is less commercialized, and most importantly there is something to see – from scenery to people. The downside, when a truck comes in front of you is really, really scary (the side mirrors nearly touch).
First time that we didn’t connect to anything at night. Electricity is simple – there is a generator in the car that runs on the car’s fuel so that everything works including the air conditioner, etc., water – we have a tank that looks like in normal use it can last for three days (I believe that if we save we can even go a week without filling the tank), sewage – we have two separate tanks (called black water and gray water – I leave you to guess which is which), it seems that you can last three days without emptying, the problem is the black water, where there are no games you need to empty the sewer (and it seems that here too you can last three days), so it seems that we have to find a campsite with connections (called hookup) once every three days.
On the way to Denver, Colorado
April, 2017
In a solemn ceremony we said goodbye to Nebraska (which we entered yesterday and crossed it from side to side). We will probably never return to it in our lifetime (it took us 65 years to get there the first time), who even passes through Nebraska (a state with a million inhabitants and double the number of cows), whose entire contribution to the world is the amount of corn to feed the cows and pigs that it raises. We have already passed through states such as Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky or Georgia, but we have never come across such a remote one. Most people live when the nearest neighbor a mile away and I bet you have no idea what their capital city is (Lincoln) or where they are on the map. Ira thinks that the energy here is good.
Small town in Wyoming
May, 2017
On the way from nowhere to nowhere we saw a campsite that looked nice and we camped. At night a storm came and it snowed and we got stuck their for couple of days. The town that exists since 1910 has 52 inhabitants, it sits on a back road with no traffic. The town has a campsite (you already know that), a motel, a bar, a restaurant and another restaurant, a garage and a gas station, but no school. But there is a surprise in town. The grocery store, which as you can guess is the size of a small room in a standard house, is attached to a household and tools store in the size of a shopping mall – huge and has everything imaginable, who shops here when the nearest settlement is 50 miles away?
Montana, Wyoming – near Yellowstone
May, 2017
We arrived in Montana, another state you wouldn’t have reached if you weren’t headed there. Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky…
Two national parks, Teton and Yellowstone are nearby – both look like a screen saver (they used to call it a Kodak point), the size of the State of Israel, an insane amount of tourists, even though we are not in season yet, there is no room for our bus. In the end we found a lakeside campground with a picturesque view of snowy mountains about 20 miles outside of Yellowstone and settled here for a few days.
Yellowstone sits on a junction of tectonic plates (also Israel), which would not make it special, but here is the magma (which is the middle layer of the earth that usually starts at a depth of 50 km) approached the surface at about 5-10 km deep – so there is hot material here relatively close to us, and groundwater heats up and erupts in the form of geysers.
One of man’s hobbies is chasing animals, he used to shoot them and stuff them and hang them in the supermarket, today he takes pictures of them and hangs the picture on the wall on Facebook. A bear with two cubs walking close to the road. All the vehicles stop (a traffic jam of half a kilometer) and everyone comes out with their cameras to take pictures. The funny thing is that the population of bears, wolves, moose, bison is constantly growing and expanding outside the reserve (it has no fences) so soon a bison in New York will not be a rare sight.
Nice camping in Montana near Yellowstone
May, 2017
A geyser by its nature is not a regular thing and it is difficult to predict when it will erupt next time, that is why we are so enthusiastic about the geyser called the “Old Faithful”, it has been erupting with a frequency of 92 minutes for over 100 years. Around it there are dozens of kilometers of hiking trails to much more beautiful and impressive but unexpected springs, pools and geysers (they can erupt once a month, a year or one-time). About fifteen minutes before each eruption of the Old Faithful, thousands of people arrive and wait for the eruption which takes about one to two minutes, then they return to their vehicles.
When I was young, there was an ice cream shop called Montana in the Tel Aviv port. On Friday evenings we would go there to eat ice cream – a huge American ice cream cup, with whipped cream overflowing from the cup and a cherry on top. The Tel Aviv port was a commercial area of garages and Montana. Every Friday it was full of 16-year-olds, including us. Montana fell from greatness and almost disappeared, but like the phoenix, returned to the headlines following the movie Eskimo Lemon, a large part of which takes place right there. A few months ago, when we were walking around the area, I decided that I wanted a Montana ice cream – now in its place there is a shop for toilets and china. Why am I telling all this?, we are in Montana (the state not the shop) and we went into an ice cream shop and ordered ice cream and bam!, the same shape, the same taste, the same whipped cream and the same cherry on top – it turns out that the tradition has been preserved. Montana is alive and well (and not just in my head).
Dilon, Montana
June, 2017
Ghost towns are not what you think – this is a town that was bustling about a hundred years ago, almost abandoned and then they restored the main centers of the city and turned it into a place for tourism. For example, we were in a town called Virginia that had tens of thousands of residents at its peak and today less than a hundred live there. The main street looks like a street in westerns, some places are like a museum and some are renovated and functional. It sounds like a kitschy place for tourists and it is, but really charming and worth a trip. As mentioned, we are out of season and there were not many tourists, but the locals told us that during the season a million tourists pass there, so you decide for yourself.
By the way, about the “season” in Montana. Montana is in the north, this means that for six months it is covered with deep snow and except for skiers there is no activity, for another three months it is as cold there as at the pole and that means that except for the locals there are no dogs there, we are left with three months of the year that are full of activity, everything is green surround by snowy mountains and it looks really lovely, in my opinion one of the most beautiful states in the USA (if not ‘the’). Since it is such a remote place, the people are really charming, they all approach you on their own initiative (weird isn’t it?), and start a conversation, tell you stories, ask questions, are interested, want to help, etc.
Hungry Horse, Montana
June, 2017
In my youth, mainly due to lack of money, I fixed everything myself. Over the years I got used to hiring people to do it for me. Suddenly, for completely different reasons, I went back to fixing everything by myself. There is simply no one to call, we are in remote places and moving every day. But the main reason is the constant movement of our house that increases the chance of malfunctions. So far we’ve had electrical problems – I changed cables, the awning (sunshade) didn’t fold – came out of place, the motorcycle won’t start – a screw fell off, the wiper on the driver’s side doesn’t work sometimes – it’s been fixed 10 times already, which shows that it’s not really fixed, a leak in the toilet – I’m putting it off for another time, the fridge doesn’t work – it needs to be reset and so on. I wonder what someone who doesn’t know how to fix things does – I guess someone buys a new trailer. All in all, it’s not a big deal and takes a few minutes to fix, but one should know what to do.
Saint Mary, Glacier park, Montana
June, 2017
The Americans are known as a careful people, whether because they are like that, whether because they get sued in court for any lack of care, or just because… We were driving on a mountain road, before a turn to a shortcut appeared a sign forbidding a vehicle over a certain length to turn, after the turn there was a sign warning riders motorcycles of the slopes of the road, after a few meters a sign appeared that the road was dangerous, the next sign stated that stones could fall on our heads, the sign after that prohibited speeding over 25 miles per hour, the sign after that threatened that if we drove over the speed limit we would be charged double the fine, the sign after that talked about a bumpy road, it was followed by a warning about deer on the road and so on, several more signs that warned of terrible dangers that would befall those traveling on the road. A sane person would not have turned this way, so we turned and expected all the terrible dangers that were to befall us. Bottom line – just a nice and narrow road on the brink of an abyss with interesting twists and turns. Those who travel at the speed limit (no more than 25 miles per hour) find the road pleasant and smooth.
Saint Mary, Glacier park, Montana
June, 2017
There are only three reasons to come to Canada or the North of the USA – hunting, fishing and watching bears. Since we neither hunt nor fish and we are already here we have no choice but to look for bears.
There is something adventurous about looking for bears, on the one hand a breath of this animal in your direction can cause irreversible damage, on the other hand you both share the same area without bars or other tactical aids (we will elaborate on this later). You’re walking a hiking trail and everyone you meet is interested in whether you’ve seen bears. Despite the “danger” it’s not really a danger because the bear isn’t really interested in humans (he doesn’t usually eat meat), so if you don’t surprise him and if she’s not with her cubs, all that will remain of the encounter are a few photos (on our side, because bears usually don’t walk around with a camera).
Bears are a big deal here, all the trash cans are built so that a bear can’t open them, every picnic table is covered with signs to not leave even a crumb behind, there is no walking or driving route that does not discuss the subject of bears, there is bear protection equipment, bear spray, special fences, electric measures. The excess of warnings gives the impression that it is only for tourists, blowing the bears issue out of proportions into an adventure and the tourists cooperate.
During my long life I have encountered a bear in the wild but in all cases we were protected inside our vehicle. Today we met two bears in two different encounters in nature – one black bear and one grizzly, right next to us (10-20 meters from the path we were walking on). Needless to say, only we were excited, the bear really wasn’t. Don’t think that we are satisfied, we will continue to look for polar bears in Alaska.
Bunff, Canada
June, 2017
After a month in northern landscapes where everything is blindingly green, with more lakes than people, and pointed mountains with white tops like in the movies, you start to ask yourself if you’re getting used to it. Probably yes, because just a lake (that is, its color is not emerald green, or a yellowish turquoise), or just a mountain (that is, it does not have the shape of the Holy Mary or it kisses a lake that is the color of the sky on a full moon night), and if there is no bear family there (father bear, mother bear and son bear – or at least Goldilocks), so there is a feeling that we have already been here (and we are known to be creatures that love change). There are some clear indications for this: according to the amount of photographs, at first we were shooting like a wedding photographer during the ceremony, and now there are whole days that the camera remains in the backpack. You can also tell by the topics of conversation, until now we were always excited about the view (even if it only consisted of an avenue of standard pine trees), now we talk much more about the weather. Speaking of weather, on the way to the north it gets colder (as expected), but there are really summery days compared to tomorrow’s forecast for snow. Within a few hours the temperatures can drop by 15 degrees, so this is a good reason to talk about the weather.
Lake Louise, Banff, Canada
June, 2017
We are in the Disneyland of the national parks, in terms of the amount of tourists. Banff and Lake Louise attract millions of tourists each year. Buses full of tourists (mainly from Japan) are everywhere, every hiking trail (even the remote ones) has hikers. And we are not in a high-season. At the entrance to our campsite (the only one located in Lake Louise area) it is not possible to reserve a place (first come first served), at the entrance to the campsite there are markings on the road that indicate that the line can reach a kilometer. I imagine a vacation where I arrive at Lake Louise and stand in line all week and then just when I get the spot I need to go home because the vacation is over. There is a trail that goes around Lake Louise, it is the most popular path here (flat, easy, without mud and with an amazing view – I already did it once a few years ago). Everywhere in the city it says that in the high-season you should do the this trail (which takes about two or three hours) before eight in the morning. How lucky for us that we are not in the high-season!!!
Jasper, Canada
June, 2017
So far, from the beginning of the trip, we have been mainly in national parks (or on the way to them), which means that all the places are very touristic and with a reasonable level of services. Luckily we are off season so everything is not very crowded, yet we are close to the season start so everything is open.
We left the touristic places and started a journey to Alaska – it should take about two or three weeks (depending on the pace) where we will mostly travel in areas that are sparsely populated or not at all. Canada is the second largest country in the world in its area, with 30 million inhabitants (for comparison in India on a smaller area live over a billion people). Almost all residents in Canada live at a distance of 200 km from the border with the US (in the south of the country). We have long moved beyond the aforementioned 200 km, so there are no settlements here at all, and if there is one it is an intersection with 3 houses.
Yesterday we met an Israeli couple for the first time – a couple after university, who are going on a half a year trip on a motorcycle (with a tent), on a route similar to ours. There is something to admire (although it is not certain that we are built for sleeping outside – it is quite cold here).
Liard Hot Springs, Canada
June, 2017
If heaven exists we have found it. In the middle of a tropical forest (and there are usually no tropical forests here), a wooden path leads inside a tropical swamp (and there are no tropical swamps here), towards a hot water pool (and there are no hot water pools here, the water here is usually at a temperature approaching zero – from below). Usually hot springs, stinking of sulphur, full of old, fat tourists with psoriasis, and full of nasty trash. The above-mentioned place is well maintained, it did not contain any of these features, and in addition they took care of the rain just when we were in the water (and there is nothing like soaking in hot water when rain is dripping on you). In short, paradise. The boiling water comes from one side of the pool that pours in cascades, and a cold stream flows on the other side and this allows you to choose the temperature you want (boiling, burning on one side, and warm and pleasant on the other).
An interesting story – when it rained there was thunder (one). Within a second all the (Canadian) bathers were out of the water. Apparently they know something we don’t. Social pressure also took us out of the water (lazily), but the cold outside brought us back into the water, it turns out that we prefer to die from an electric shock (immediately) than to die from the cold (slow and inconsiderate).
We feel a bit like in a safari, full of animals on the side of the road (bears, bison, foxes, mountain goats, etc.). Just today we saw at least 10 bears (at some point you stop taking pictures or counting). They usually keep a safe distance (if you get close they move away – about 10-20 meters). We met a grizzly mother with 2 cubs, one of them was intrigued and came to visit (standing on two legs for a photo) – the mother in the background, she didn’t seem to care.
Alaska Highway, Whitehorse, Canada
June, 2017
Yukon is a province in Canada, covering an area 25 times larger than the State of Israel, it has 35 thousand inhabitants, of which 25 thousand live in the capital city called Whitehorse, most of them are employed by the government. An interesting detail, while wandering around the city we noticed that there are many same-sex couples as well as many flags in the colors of the rainbow. Indeed, upon examination, it turns out that this province allows same-sex marriage. Regardless, we noticed that the number of “weirdos” was unusual, and indeed in the evening there was a country concert in the street and most of the city’s residents came and there was a feeling that quite a few of them were stuck in the 60s.
Dawson, Canada – to Alaska!
July, 2017
You can think that Dimona is the end of the world, some will say Yeruham, but that’s because haven’t really been to the edge of the world. Dimona is the center of the world relative to Dawson, in fact every place is the center of the world relative to Dawson. You reach Dawson after driving for several hours on a road that only leads to Dawson. Then the road ends and there is a river. No continuation. (By the way, Canadians don’t talk in miles or kilometers, they talk in hours, you ask how far it is to a certain place and the answer is two hours). Dawson was established on the banks of the Yukon River during the gold rush, and tons of gold were indeed found here. In the good times, 40 thousand people lived here, the houses look like they did a hundred years ago, the roads are not paved, the sidewalks are wooden and lots of very old cars (this is where the advantages of the place more or less end).
All along the (long) road we were told, Dawson on Canadian Independence Day – worth it, the Dawsonians know how to party… As a proof, Dawson has the oldest casino in Canada and there is a group of girls who dance can-can (similar to the entertainment team in a hotel in Eilat), but the highlight is a pub where you can order a drink with a human toe (real, black and rotten) – The Sourtoe Cocktail – https://dawsoncity.ca/sourtoe-cocktail-club/. When you drink you must have the toe touch your lips and there is a captain from the pub who checks if you really touch the toe. If this is not a stunning entertainment, I have no idea what is.
The Independence Day celebrations are the thing… there was a parade (fifteen minutes), there was a barbecue (by the time we arrived there was no food left), there was a farmers’ market (two farmers), and an artists’ market (7 stalls – I counted) and there was a band playing country music. The highlight of the day – a world gold search competition (the Dawsonians think the world ends at the river)…. and that’s it… at six o’clock in the evening the festivities ended and we returned to routine – can-can and finger drink. Remember that here the darkness does not fall all night.
From Dawson you take a ferry and then via The Top of the World Road, three hours on a potholed dirt road, cross the border to Alaska (which is only open 3 months of the year), drive another two hours on an even worse dirt road and arrive at Chicken. We thought that here we would celebrate the Independence Day of the US because we are serial Independence Day celebrants. Then we realized that Chicken is a gas station with one resident and we will not celebrate here but will continue to Fairbanks (there are rumors that they know how to celebrate Independence Day 
).
Fairbanks, Alaska
July, 2017
About a year ago, the details of the big RV trip were finalized, we knew everything we needed to know about the trip: 1. It would take about a year 2. We would travel in a RV 3. We would arrive in Alaska. So here we are in Alaska in a motorhome and we have ten more months and we have run out of plans for the trip.
We don’t really know Alaska yet, but everything we’ve seen so far contradicts my expectations. When you say Alaska you think of snow, white, polar bears, igloos, Eskimos (in that order). So let’s start with the weather – after two months that were quite cold, we had rain, hail and snow, we arrived in Alaska, the temperature here is 26 degrees today and this is what we are promised for the next few weeks, really hot and sunny, and the shops are air-conditioned. Of course we didn’t see snow. The dominant color is green (not white), bright green, wild animals – so far we have seen squirrels (no bears but a lot of forest), and as for Eskimos, almost all the inhabitants look American, very few seem to be of local origin. Don’t get us wrong, a beautiful country, but it really reminds me of Canada or the North of the US.
Seward, Alaska
July, 2017
In the book we bought (about Alaska) it says that most people come to Alaska to see bears. So far we haven’t seen a trace of a bear (lots of forests but no bears). Well, then maybe moose – there is no place here that the word moose is not connected to – river-moose, channel-moose, children’s clothing store-moose, moose-chocolate, so far we have only seen females – they don’t have the beautiful horns of the males and they just look like a big horse. What did we see – mice, squirrels and rodent species (a lot). That’s not what I wanted to talk about, but about the animals that unquestionably rule the space – flies and not just flies, the ones that sting, sting painfully.
Ninilchik (on the way to Homer), Alaska
July, 2017
Let’s talk about parking lots, campgrounds and parks – that is, where we sleep.
We usually have a goal (a special city, park, or other attraction) several hundred miles away, so we skip each night to a different place and then settle close to the goal for several days (between 3 and 10 days in the same place). We are quite flexible with stopovers but are looking for a cool place to settle down. To remind you, our house can live without any connection for two days (three if we save water) and then we need a sewage emptying station and water filling. There are emptying stations everywhere so in principle we are quite flexible (we have cellular WIFI in the car so if there is cellular reception in the area we are set). There are several levels:
• RV park – is usually privately owned and also the most expensive, all hook-ups (electricity, TV, WIFI, sewage and water), usually the park is crowded.
• State park – an orderly and maintained place, usually in nature, very spacious, usually without hook-ups – this is our preferred option.
• Regulated parking lot – in nature, including a table and a place to light a fire – usually free.
• Parking on the sides of the road (regulated parking) – intended for trucks. In Alaska, there is no limitation to stop on the side of the road (unlike in Canada, where it is not acceptable), and at night you will see caravans set up in any such parking lot.
• Parking at Walmart – a chain of stores (every city in the US has it) and you are allowed to park at night in their parking lots. This is a great solution in city centers.
Ninilchik (on the way to Homer), Alaska
July, 2017
Alaska is a fisherman’s paradise, we really don’t like much this sport but watch it from the side:
• This is mainly a men’s sports – if there are women, they usually accompany their partner (and it is obvious that they are less interested) – what does this say about the male gender?
• The sport is for the rich – the equipment, the licenses, getting to the place, staying there – everything is branded from the hat to the boots, from the rod to the hook (are the worms also branded – grown on organic soil?).
• So far we have not seen any fish pulled out of the water (we have seen the result).
• The fish here in the area are huge (a meter-long fish is not uncommon here).
• There are several fishing styles, the main one is to throw a rod without a bait, just a small shiny fish at the end, and immediately pull the hook – the fish should chase the shiny object and swallow it. A throw + pull lasts about 10 seconds, so in an hour you throw and pull hundreds of times, and in a day thousands of times. From the side it looks really boring.
• Most of the fishermen stand on the beach, at the water’s edge. Some of them are dressed in a waterproof suit and enter a few meters (2-3 meters) until the water reaches their waists.
Well, there are many more insights – but I’m sure you understood the principle.
Glenn Highway (on the way to Valdez), Alaska
July, 2017
We arrived at a stream with salmons – along the stream there are dozens (if not hundreds) of fishermen taking out a fish every few minutes. It looks like a shooting range – you throw the rod and take out a fish. Since everyone is allowed 3 fish a day, and since they catch much more, they throw most of them back into the sea. A surreal spectacle – fish, throw, fish, throw… Another thing we learned – if you catch a fish by mistake (the fish didn’t swallow the hook), you have to throw the fish back in the water because it’s not gentlemanly ☹.
Haines, Alaska
July, 2017
We are in Haines, a town that in order to get to it you have to drive about 200 km from the nearest intersection (which is also in the middle of nowhere), there is not even one small settlement on the way (and very few single houses). By the way, the road to Haines is one of the most beautiful we have passed and includes crossing mountains and rivers, the road is of high quality and there is no traffic at all – a dream. The road to Haines was paved during World War II when they were afraid of the Japanese and built escape routes to the sea, Haines as expected is located at the sea. The town has about 300 residents (which is a large place in Alaskan terms) and looks like a resort town – well maintained and beautiful with a beautiful view and nice people and the question arises, how do they make a living? Usually such towns make a living from fishing, but it doesn’t look like that, tourism – not a big one (we are at the peak of the season and everything is empty – and don’t forget that the season is only 3 months), agriculture – none, everything is surrounded by mountains, trade – with whom?, oil – none. In short, it’s not clear how they make a living – and it doesn’t look like a poor city. In short, we’re left with an open question…
Skagway, Alaska
August, 2017
What do we know about salmon? They are born in the stream, after a month or two they float with the current to the sea, where they live for one or two years and then return up the stream to the place where they were born, where they spawn and die. They swim against the current and even climb rapids when necessary. So far we have seen some fish here and there (many photographed), but yesterday we saw the full force of the phenomenon. A tiny stream (two meters wide, quite shallow (10-20 centimeters deep), with a fairly strong current) runs through the middle of a city. Thousands of (quite large) fish gather in this stream, and when I say thousands I mean that the stream is lined with fish. We saw a man go down to the stream and put his hand into the water and pulls out a fish. The most interesting thing, at the entrance to the stream from the harbor they built stairs so that the fish could enter the stream, the water flows in a fairly strong current and creates small ripples and the fish jump up the steps.
On a philosophical level – we share 90% of our genes with salmon (that is, 90% of our genes are the same as that of a fish – after all, we were once fish). I wonder how many of our habits come from the fish. Like a school of salmon up the river.
Cruise ships with tourists arrive in Skagway. When we arrived (by ferry) there were three ships that had sailed in the evening and when we woke up the next day there were three other similar ships. These ships are huge and based on an inaccurate count of the windows there are between 1,000 and 1,500 rooms, that is, each such ship brings over 2,000 tourists at a time, that is, for 3 ships we are talking about at least 5,000 tourists who land in the morning and sail in the evening. Even in Tel Aviv, 5,000 tourists would leave an impression, but Skagway is a town of 350 inhabitants (including children and old people), it has one main street several hundred meters long, and except for salmon run watching (10 minutes) and eating ice cream (15 minutes) what is left to do? Go up the main street, go into souvenir shops that really have nothing to sell, and return to the ship. So what is the difference between us and the salmon?
Stewart, Canada
August, 2017
About old age and caravans.
I am now reading a book called “The World Until Yesterday” written by the anthropologist Jared Diamond who mainly studied Papua New Guinea and tribes that lived there. The book has a chapter on old age and a comparison of how the elderly are treated in the world. There (in Papua New Guinea) they remain part of the family and bring skills that only the elderly have (such as oral memory about all the edible plants in the area), compared to the Western world, where they live longer but with a lower standard of living (mainly psychological) – the elderly are put in nursing homes where their children come to visit them once a month if at all. He suggests that old people become storytellers about the past (like Holocaust survivors do), that they babysit their grandchildren (I’m sure you think so too) and that they look for jobs that require more patience that the old have and not the young.
Without expressing my opinion on the above description, I want to tell about the people in trailer parks as we see them. It can be said that the average age of those who park in the trailer parks is well above the age of 65, the vast majority of them are retired people who take long trips – from several weeks to several months. Some of them have a real difficulty climbing the motorhome stairs, some use a cane to walk, and some of them we meet on quite difficult walking routes. Some of them travel in huge buses (our trailer looks like a small box next to them) and tow an equally huge jeep behind them, and some of them ride motorcycles and set up tents. The reasons for this are clear – the old have the time and the resources to realize this kind of dreams. The younger people come for short trips (weekly) in popular places (Yellowstone), and sleep in tents outside the parking lots (for free).
In my opinion, today there are a variety of things that elders can do (besides babysitting for grandchildren) that even one generation back (of my parents) would not have imagined. These things (like a year-long trip in a trailer) are possible now because we live longer and are healthier (so that at the age of eighty we can still climb walls), the resources in general in the world are growing (and most of them are controlled by old people), the technology allows more and so on. Therefore, if I was in the place of the honorable Mr. Jared, I would add another section at the beginning of the solutions he offers, and that is to develop a hobby in old age. This is the time when you can immerse yourself in your hobbies – swimming in the sea, doing a doctorate, studying ancient Assyrian, digging archaeological excavations, collecting shells, carpentry with an olive tree, taking care of the disabled (voluntarily), draw hay bales and the like (by the way – each of the examples I personally know a person who did it) and in the free time also take care of the grandchildren.
Stewart, Canada
August, 2017
One of the sports in Alaska and northern Canada is bear watching. At first we were really excited, here’s a bear, we photographed it, and here’s another bear, and we knocked a book on it too, but like kangaroos in Australia, there are a lot of bears here, and they don’t do much, so we didn’t really connect with the subject, we understood the principle in the tenth bear and thought we’d exhausted the subject. Until we got to Stewart.
Stewart like many places in the area is in the middle of nowhere – there is the Alaska Highway, which leads from nowhere (Dawson Creek) to nowhere (Fairbanks), which takes days. Road 37 leaves from it, which also leads from nowhere (Junction 37) to nowhere (Kitwanga) and takes days to cross it. A small road called 37A splits off from it (it doesn’t even have its own original name) which leads out of nowhere to Stewart (which you can guess is also nowhere). Stewart is a settlement of about 100 residents and that’s where the world ends. Well not really because from there there is a road that leads to Alaska and after 10 minutes back to Canada (no need for a passport because the road just ends after a while and you have to turn back).
You arrive at a stream that has huge salmon and bears come to fish for them. Above the stream they built a platform several hundred meters long with benches so that you can watch the bears catch fish. There are not many tourists. You sit there all day waiting for the bear to come. The first day we arrived we walked around for a few hours, there were rumors of a bear, but we didn’t see one. When we had already given up, a bear came, walked along the bank, as if the fish didn’t interest him, and suddenly jumped into the water and caught a huge salmon (we made a book of photos). Really exciting, but… we thought we exhausted the experience. That evening at the campsite we met a couple of South Africans who live in New Zealand, they flew all the way from New Zealand and have been sitting here for more than a week, watching bears every day. We decided to go there again, and this time the magic happened, we fell in love. This time 5 different bears arrived, they all tried to catch a fish, each several times, none of them succeeded. It turns out that the salmon are not suckers, they have explosive power in their tails and when they feel danger, they fly away with great speed. Then you understand that there is a difference between a young bear that makes a lot of noise but drives away all the fish, and an adult that waits quietly for an opportunity and when he jumps he catches.
McBride, Canada
August, 2017
At the beginning of the trip I mentioned that we are getting used to the motorhome and every day we discover something new. Well, we have been on the trip for four months and today we discovered two new things, and here is the story. About two weeks ago, our air conditioner broke down, self-repair attempts failed and we looked for a garage. Only after 5 garages and when we already gave up and bought a small heater, we found a place that repairs air conditioners and is even willing to take care of us without an appointment. Here, at our disgrace, we discovered two things about our home. The fuse box I checked is the main box, but there is another box in a closet inside the motorhome that we never opened and there are more fuses, so we lifted the fuse and everything worked ($150). But here the repair man told us an even more wonderful discovery. The motorhome should not be heated with the air conditioner – the air conditioner is only for cooling, the motorhome has a separate furnace under the floor which we should use. Ha ha ha. So now we have an underfloor heating system, an air conditioner that heats up, and a heater that we haven’t turned on even once – we’re on our way south, so we don’t need heating at all.
A short anecdote. We are in British Columbia, there was a heat wave here that caused huge fires, roads were closed, towns were evacuated, a real mess. Even in places that are very far from the fires there are clouds of smoke hanging (so much so that your eye are watery all the time). So far we avoided the smoke, but today we arrived in a town where because of the smoke you really can’t see more than a hundred meters ahead. We decided instead to drive south-east and bypass the smoky area. Indeed, after about 100 km to the east, the smoke disappeared and we thought we had succeeded, but after another 100 km to the east, we are in a cloud of smoke. That is, we are 200 km east of where we intended to be and in smoke.
Sun, Canada
August, 2017
We arrived at the campsite and asked to stop for the night. The owner of the place said he had no room. It’s amazing because in this area we didn’t meet a full campsite, there was something in the owner’s saying “no” that made me linger and ask if he was sure. It turns out that he wanted to take a few days off, you have to remember that the season in these places is 3-4 months and we are at the peak of the season. This is not the first place (in Canada) that we encounter people who say, I don’t want this success. For example, we met a cafe owner who is really upset that the coffee shop is full and closes it to enjoy life… In the end, the guy relented and agreed to let us in. The place is simply amazing, we are on a tiny peninsula so our motorhome is surrounded by water from all directions, there are no mosquitoes here which is an important measure of the quality of life, it’s really hot here so we bathe in the lake several times a day (just below our trailer there is a small pier from which you can jump or do yoga), the sunsets are amazing, and all you hear is the chirping of birds – the best camping on the whole trip – of course we stayed another day and then they kicked us out because they were full.
Oliver, Okanagan valley, Canada
August, 2017
When you think about Canada, the first thing you think of is cold, snow, and once again cold. Indeed, most of the trip there was no significant difference between Canada and Alaska in terms of weather. In general, summer here looks like winter in Israel but with almost no rain. From the beginning of the trip there were rumors about fires raging because of the heat and we laughed and thought: ‘heat, of course, like heat in Jerusalem’. Then we got to the Okanagan region. It’s a very long valley (several hundred kilometers) full of lakes, in fact you travel from lake to lake, and the temperature here is around 35 degrees. So it’s really hot and that’s not unusual. The special thing about this is that you can grow fruit trees and vines, and indeed there are hundreds of wineries here. For example, where we settled, there are 300 wineries. Each produces 3-4 wines and each has a tasting corner where you can come and taste and talk about wine and volatile acidity.
Vancauver Island, Canada
September, 2017
Suddenly, in the middle of life, we abandoned our motorhome, got on a two-wheeler and set out to tour Vancouver Island. After four consecutive months in the same bed (a record since the age of 21), we are tourists. Vancouver Island has nothing but tourists, there are beaches, and restaurants, and helicopters, luxurious hotels, boats of every kind you can dream of and full of fishermen… everything for tourists and most importantly we are at the peak of the season (the last weekend before school starts). This means that you have to look for a hotel, and a restaurant, and a quiet place, and everything is completely full. So we got a taste of the island – we only went to places where Booking said there were available hotels, which is exactly the opposite of what the book about Vancouver Island advised us. If we were to come here in a few weeks, we would probably have a lot of fun, because everything here is calm, nice people, sea on the horizon, nice hotels and an island.
Marblemount, Washington
September, 2017
Remember the Duracell commercial with the rabbit? So that’s what I want to talk about today. At the time Ira was offered the role of the rabbit and she refused because he was too slow for her taste. This post is about energy. I always knew that Ira was an energetic girl, always active without a dull moment, but the motorhome sharpens it. Let’s say, let’s just say there’s silence in the motorhome for 10 seconds, she immediately puts on running clothes and goes running 10 km (an hour), even if we’ve just come back from a strenuous hike, and when she comes back she’s full of energy. And let’s say, just let’s say there’s 3 seconds of Silence (accidentally), she immediately puts on yoga clothes and does yoga (an hour and a half), and heaven forbid if there is still silence, immediately meditation, or a movie, or a festive meal… but all this did not prepare me in the slightest for what happens when we go on a hiking trail. We usually do trails of up to 10 km with medium elevation gain, let’s say a total of 300 meters. Ira will run all the way at a pace that a 65-year-old man cannot keep up with, so he is dragged from behind and begs for a break. But Ira claims that stopping while going uphill only harms the muscles, bones, and lungs (she is a fitness instructor, Pilates instructor and yoga instructor – she knows what she is talking about) and if she was allowed to, she would never stop. I discovered some methods that usually work to make her stop for a rest: begging for my life, fake a heart attack, fall on the floor trembling… – works in 30% of cases; run with the rest of my strength to her, catch her and hold her in place (luckily I’m physically stronger) – works in 50% of cases; just stop and sit down – works 100% of the time because we have to stay in eye contact (bears and such).
Why am I telling this only after 4 months on the trip? Because today we did a route that we didn’t plan – the Americans typically document every route, and indeed at the entrance to the route there was a detailed explanation of the route which was difficult – 15 km and an elevation gain of 1000 meters. We decided to go up about a third of the way and go down. Somehow when we reached a third we decided to continue for half and from there to the end. Only when we went down did it turn out that we had read the wrong route – we walked a total of 22 km (we felt that it was never ending), and an elevation gain of 1,400 meters (I believe my personal record). Really not in our league. Yet Ira is running like there is no tomorrow (uphill), without stopping and explaining why it is not healthy to stop. I aged at least three years today. When we got to the motorhome she immediately started sweeping the house (I swear).
I forgot to mention another method to slow down Ira – load her with a backpack, camera, helmets, coats, breakfast, drinks (a lot) and the rest of the equipment for the field trip. Of course I’m loaded with my t-shirt – it slows her down a bit compared to me, but that doesn’t solve the problem, she’s still a kilometer ahead.
Fall city, Washington
September, 2017
At the beginning of the trip we thought that Canada was a necessity because to get to Alaska you have to go through Canada, in retrospect we really liked the country especially the Canadians and we stayed there much longer than we planned. We only met some of them (mainly those who live in British Columbia) so it may not be true for all of Canada, but we found that they are really open people. You are sit in a restaurant, or interact with a saleswoman in a store or just rest while walking and the person next to you will start a conversation. Unlike such conversations anywhere else in the world where you give heads up of your current situation (place of residence, children, work…), with Canadians, in a large number of cases, it develops into in-depth conversations that last much longer than expected and really reach a personal level. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Canada is a young country and almost everyone is an immigrant. Everyone we met is of non-Canadian origin or is married to a Dutch, Irish, Belgian… We hardly had a day during our trip in Canada that we didn’t have such an encounter, and we have to remember that we are quite isolated, in the campsites we don’t connect easily and on the routes we deliberately choose the more quiet ones.
Road 101/1, Washington-Oregon-California
September, 2017
For some time we have been traveling along the Atlantic Ocean (Washington, Oregon and California). The ocean is different from the sea around which we live (the Mediterranean). First of all the water temperature – freezing all hours of the day, and believe me I tried, it’s just scary cold. We are in summer and the weather outside is really summery, but that doesn’t change the fact that the water is at an obviously unreasonable temperature. The waves, even though they don’t look big and are only close to the shore – trying to get in ends up rolling uncontrollably, their power is really tremendous, I tried that too. View – the beach is dramatic, with cliffs and rocks in the water, the color of the water is dark blue and therefore really pleasing to the eyes everywhere all the time, the road is mostly right on the water. The road along which we drove (highway 101 and then 1) is crazy winding and even though we are driving along the coast (which is at the same height – sea level), we are constantly climbing and descending as if we are in the Alps, and we must remember that we are with a bus.
Napa valley, California
October, 2017
Napa Valley – a vineyard area about an hour and a half away from San Francisco. In general, it is very similar to the Okanagan Valley in Canada – both have hundreds of small and large vineyards, both have a central town from which a valley leads to vineyards surrounded by hills. The scenery is very similar (and I think the wine is too), but there is a very big difference (probably dictated by the difference between Canada and the US). Napa Valley is ridiculously fancy. The shops in town are full of useless objects, everything is incredibly expensive, but the most ridiculous thing is that in order to taste wine you must arrange an appointment in advance. So while in Canada we stayed a week in the valley and tasted and also bought a lot of wine (at least some of us), here we left after a day.
We stopped for gas (after tasting some wine – at least some of us did) and there in front of us was a sign for a live blues concert right now. So we entered. This is a stand that sells (good) meat and beer or wine, really a casual place. A drummer, a guitarist, a bassist and a keyboardist are sitting in the garden of the stand in the corner playing to an audience of a few dozen casuals. After a minute you realize that this is something special – the guitarist (on acoustic guitar) named Karl Lockett sounds really, really good. During the break I approached him to ask if they had a CD and it turned out that they are a group made in honor of this show and this is the first time they are playing together. When Karl heard that we are from Israel he started to tell his life story – he is 66 years old and looks to be in his twenties (30 at the most), with 3 children, etc. (real nice) who played with all the great musicians. But this is only the beginning. The singer Betty May Peaks, looks crazy all over the head but a great singer with grace, especially gospel, tried to bring us back to faith. Each song which is actually a monologue that lasts at least fifteen minutes, expresses all her life wisdom. But all this was just a demonstration. It turned out that in the audience there was a former singer named Sugar Pie (everyone except us knew her), meter and a half tall at most, dressed in a provocative suit with a stylish hat. As soon as it was discovered that she was there, she was approached by all the fans (oh, and I forgot to mention that she is 82 years old) until she got on stage after being challenged and gave her own performance. Even though she uses a cane today (age 82) she still acts like a child.
In my opinion, such an evening could have filled Caesarea, with lots of enthusiasm and a sense of humor, free entry and really cheap and very good meat and wine. An evening we will never forget.
Grass valley, California
September, 2017
After a few months on the road and talking to locals, you can see 3 things that are common to everyone we meet:
• We are from Israel – without exception, everyone is enthusiastic, most of them have never met a Jew or an Israeli, everyone knows something about Israel, and everyone claims that they would very much like to visit the country. The climax was at a roadblock, the man directing the traffic (black and huge), motioned to open the window and asked where we were from. When we told him he started going wild with joy, at first he didn’t believe us, then he shouted that he had never seen Jews, he wanted to shake our hands and all with loud fanfare. The traffic light has long since changed to green and behind us there is a huge traffic jam (we are in America – no one beeps) and he continues to enjoy his encounter with Jews.
• We were in Alaska – there is no one who does not want to go to Alaska, the word ‘bucket list’ (a list of your dreams) comes up many times, and everyone plans to go to Alaska when they retire. The funny thing is that Alaska is no different from central Canada or northern US, the landscape is similar, the weather is similar and even the people are similar (the Canadians are a little nicer), and yet the Canadians we met who live right there want to visit Alaska.
• We took a year off and we are traveling – here the response is always ‘you must be very rich’.
We are not the museum people and we entered this museum by mistake. We were told that there is a former gold mine that has been turned into a park that is worth a walk. At the entrance one of the guides met us, started talking and didn’t stop for two hours (I don’t exaggerate). It turns out that he is a 60-year-old retired heavy equipment operator who volunteers at the museum, loves history and especially the history of the gold rush. He had an amazing command of the material (machines, the living conditions of the miners, geology, environmental quality and what not), but mostly he had an enthusiasm that you don’t see much these days. He ran between the exhibits, activated everything that could be activated, got upset when we asked a question and he didn’t have an answer, and all with a twinkle in his eyes… and he managed to infect us with his enthusiasm – Sparks…
Don Pedro reservoir, California
October, 2017
In almost all the places we visited, the shops (all types of shops including restaurants and bars) close at four, and sometimes even at three. On the one hand, there may not be any buyers, so why open, on the other hand, you already have a cafe, why not open it after three. Most of them will allow you to sit until closing time, but the kitchen will close an hour earlier (i.e at two). In addition, most of these places are closed on Mondays, and Sunday work for half a day.
California - Utah - Arizona
October-November, 2017
Before we sold our motorhome and got on a motorcycle in Buenos Aires, we toured all the parks of Arizona and Utah – lovely sights.
ROT (Republic of Texas) Motorcycle Rally
Austin, Texas - June, 2018
We found out there was a rally of bikers in Austin right when we were in the area and decided to join. This is the largest rally in the US, and we, like anthropologists, traveled to investigate. The basic idea in such a gathering is to be different (motorcycle, tattoo inscription, clothing) and suddenly we found ourselves different without intending to. We don’t walk with feathers like Indians, we don’t paint the motorcycle orange or have a meter and a half long exhaust, and no tattoo inscriptions at all, we are just BMW owners and not a Harley Davidson like everyone else.
Despite the spirit of freedom and even though you can really wear whatever you want, there is a de facto uniform here. Men – jeans, boots and a sleeveless leather jacket (we are in Texas in the summer) full of skulls and studs and a head scarf. Women, on the other hand, wear shorts that leave no room for the imagination, a bathing suit bra with a matching coat with her partner on top and a bandanna. There are two basic conditions here, both of which we did not meet: minimum weight of each participant 150 kilograms or more, tattoos all over the body. The law is that the more tattooed you are the less dressed you are.
The starting age here is 50 (we really feel like children). It is possible that Harley bikers are a generation that is disappearing and it is possible that this event, which is quite expensive, filters out the young. So what do thousands of people who are not really in our social milieu do for four days in the event? You have to understand that everyone comes to the event with the motorcycle, so many simply ride in circles around the fair in order to be seen – as mentioned, it’s Texas in the summer (40 degrees is a common thing). The owners of expensive motorcycles park in a strategic places and stand by to answer the questions of passers-by…
And in addition… beer… music – at any given moment there is a band somewhere playing country music of all kinds. In the evening there are huge performances by well-known bands (we don’t know them, but they have millions of views on YouTube… we checked)… and midget wrestling… a women’s skating competition… and what we were most addicted to, motorcycle competitions of all kinds and types, amateurs and professionals, from mini motorcycles to huge and scary ones…
Most importantly, every evening at sunset a parade is spontaneously organized around the fair and then you have two options: either you ride and reveal the wonders of your equipment (if you flash your boobs they will throw colorful chains at you which you will proudly display on your chest), or you sit on the track and throw chains.
HE 
