The Goddesses of Travel

Comfort Inn was nice enough to provide a Mongolian sherpa to lead us to our car. Wow. Full service huh? Oh, and while we were at the Flying J we came across the Trucker Goddess. She is the ultimate combination of boredom, strength, and skank. OK hittin' the road now. Stay tuned.

Snowerk, New Jersey to Saltimore, Maryland

The Flying "J" sun room was empty due to lack of the essential element. The windows did allow for some contemplation, in spite of the fact that the local School of Original Thought was closed yesterday due to weather conditions.

Judy and I are leaving the hotel room shortly with the idea of making it out the downhill hotel driveway, which looked like a Giant Slalom run last night. If we succeed, the Interstate is a quarter mile and freedom from the snow on the other side of the Capitol. Richard, our french correspondent warned: "if the snow between here and the D.C. summit does not force us to pass through the mines of Moria."

snow schmoe

I could possibly bore you with countless shots of my Prius covered with snow, or perhaps the drifts outside my new home - The Comfort Inn in North East Maryland, but no, I won't do that. Instead, I will ponder the question that has been plaguing me all day. Since when is it okay for a junk food, in this case, candy to have flavors derived from another junk food (soda). As my friend Mikey would say, this is just wrong on so many levels. And while I am getting stuff off my chest, is it right that my dogs love their dogsitter Heather so much, that they didn't even bat a bug eye at me leaving with all my stuff...that too, is wrong. Maybe all this freakin' snow has left me grumpy, but don't fret, Julie and I will be back to our peripatetic ways tomorrow, and my cheerful demeanor will return. Okay. Heading back to the truck stop for some jello cubes and beets. Maybe some soda poppers for dessert.

I-95 and Maryland in a Blizzard

10:30 am, Tuesday, February 9th, 2010. GMT+1
It is snowing in Paris this morning. I am heading by bus to Charles de Gaulle airport to catch an Air France flight.

We walk down the terminal passageway and at the end, ça alors! there is no plane. We exit a door hanging 2 stories up and descend a metal staircase into another bus. Jokes about taking the bus from Paris to Newark are cracked by the New Yorkers. We end up in an Airbus 330 (this bus is a jet) that is half full. Three films and one nap later we arrive in Newark.

Judy is in the parking lot wrapping up an interview with the local New Jersey Fox News station about the daring act of heading south on I-95, where she got a plug in for the Drive I-95 guide pictured above.

We made it as far as dark. Heavy snow started falling around 7pm so we took an exit the I-95 guide noted for good crab cakes. Settled in to a Comfort Inn Suites with lots of other Florida-bound travelers. Crab cakes are 2 miles from the hotel, this is the equivalent of 200 miles tonight.

Wednesday. The car has icicles hanging off the trunk. In 12 hours, the snow reaches the bumper. The state of Maryland is paralyzed by a blizzard. We book the room for the next night and go work out in the gym.

Our view for today .

Lunched at the truck stop diner at the bottom of the driveway. Going back for dinner.


Our route:

View I-95 2010 Grilled Cheese is on the Road Again in a larger map

Sweetwater, Texas Blow me away

Sweetwater Texas is primarily known for wind. When we passed through the winds were blowin' mighty hard. In fact it is the center for wind generation in the Nation. I nominate Sweetwater for the 2009 No Calorie Left Behind Fried Chicken Award.* Our muse and guidebook Road Trip USA recommend Allen's Family Restaurant and boy were we glad we exited Interstate 20 and heeded his advice. It was 11:30 in the morning, church had just let out, and the families were sittin' down to some good Sunday eats. Check out the sides: We had the okra gumbo and the yellow squash with a maple glaze. The gumbo wasn't too slimey and just enough bite. The spelling of potatoe salad I am sure is a tribute to Dan Quayle, one of the patron saints of road food. The chicken was crispy, juicy and crunchy. Perfection. Way too much. We each had three pieces, and our fill of veggies. The peach cobbler was super. Soggy chewy crust, big hunks of peach and not overly sweet. We ate this picnic in the car, at a rest stop while the winds were howling around the car at 60 mph! Chum, I admit was the beneficiary of some white meat chicken. He approved!
*"No Calorie Left Behind Tour" coined by Michael Ventre October 2007.

Demopolis, Alabama -Last Jew Standing

I spent some time in the Jewish Cemetery in Demopolis. No Newhouses to be found. I guess they assimilated early and often. We didn't have time to go through the big city burial ground. The architecture in Demopolis ranges from plantation houses fit for the Tarleton twins to picturebook Carpenter Gothic cottages. Of course most interesting to me is the one building that is not there anymore. Like Selma, the Jewish community in Demopolis started about 1844 with an influx of Jews from Germany. The community prospered and built a Moorish Revival synagogue that looks pretty quirky. This photo was given to me by a lady at the book store of Bluff Hall.
The synagogue was built in1893 and torn down in 1959.The building that remains as Bnai Jeshurun was given to the Episcopal Church a few years ago. It now serves as a food pantry. It is a unremarkable brick structure.
There are two Jews left in Demopolis. Their family owned the furniture store which was founded in 1895. The Rosenbushes are now quite old and when they go, that is it for the Jewish community in Demopolis. If this subject interests you, you can read more about it on the Institute for Southern Jewish Life webpage.

There was one house that I saw in Demopolis that I couldn't get any information on. It had a remarkably elaborate stained glass window in the front and looked like a Greek Revival transistioning to a Victorian !
The window was reminiscent of John LaFarge. I could only do two drivebys so I didn't get as close as I wanted to. If anyone finds ANYTHING out about this house, I would love to know more. I am thinking about sending photos to the Demopolis Chamber of Commerce or the Mayor's office to see if they can tell me more. I will post updates I promise.

Shalom Y'all

When I think of Selma, Alabama -immediately I flash on the Rabbi of my childhood congregation pontificating on "walking with Martin" and his involvement with the early civil rights struggle in the South. I went to Selma to just poke around and see what was there. I found the most lovely Romanesque abandoned synagogue. Just exquisite. Jews showed up in Selma as early as the 1830's and The Jewish community established Mishkon Israel in the mid 1800's and laid the cornerstone in 1899. I don't know when the last Jew left, but trust me, there aren't any lulav-esrog superstores close by. On to Demopolis to track Sadie Fink's mishpucka.
On the way to Demopolis, I exclaimed "be still my Greek Revival loving heart!" Julie and I spotted Gainswood through the schmutz filled window of the Pruis. (Thanks Chumley). We couldn't get a tour, (The docent was "runnin errands") but a lovely caretaker took us around. He knew EVERYTHING about the place, and history in general, and my mind was boggled. Constructed in 1843 - 61 The house is sort of an amalgam of pattern books and various references. An extraordinary curved bay window in the rear is unique and uncharacteristic. Here is my heretical thought for the day: the architecture of our newly formed country that represented Greek ideals of equality and representation was built by slaves. Suck on that. And another thought, how about all those Jewish plantation owners, and there were some, celebrating their Passover Seders and repeating the phrase "We were slaves in the land of Egypt.." while being served Charoses by "Mammy." More about the lost tribe of Demopolis at the next stop.