Head West not so young Man

[Gunny]

We're pretty much set on the places we go camping now, since the wife hasn't retired yet, so we're not going to be doing much exploring.

When we first started out camping and really didn't know much, I used to google for campgrounds about 6 or 7 hours of driving time in the direction we'd be headed. I'd pick one, then look for the nearest town's chamber of commerce home page to see what was available in the area that we'd be interested in seeing. By not driving long hours, we weren't worn out when we got to our first destination, and we would have some daylight available to do some recon. Destin, Fl, is one of our favorite places, and only about a 10 drive in a car, but we split the trip up with a night in Alabama down and back.

Over the years, we've found a lot of very good campgrounds (and a lot of bad ones), but we've always had a good time. If you're looking for a good restaurant, ask three locals where they'd take their wife/husband out for a great meal if they really weren't concerned with how much it costs. If one place is mentioned by two or three of those peoples, that's where to go!

We also use Passport America. That gets us about 50% off on overnight stays at a lot of campgrounds, but usually only good for 2 or three nights each time, but perfect for us as we don't plan on staying there long anyway.

 

[ronjhall]

When traveling we use RV Park Reviews. Gives a good idea what to expect at just about any park.

 

[EddieWalker]

This thread is titled Head West, but I've always had a Head East dream too. To go back to the little town of Brody in what is now the Ukraine and try to find my grandfather's relatives. Sadly almost all of them were shipped to the local **** death camp and were killed in 1942. About sixteen Augenblicks from what I can figure out. Pretty grim. But I still want to go back, I'm the family historian and everything stops before my grandfather came through Ellis Island in 1901.
I even spent hours on Google Earth looking down in that area, looking for cemeteries, and found two. that's where I would head first. maybe the family was totally eradicated, I don't know. 5% of the town escaped into the woods...

on that somber note, this trip West is going to be nothing but fun, take a million pics, see a lot of tractors, and eat a lot of interesting food. I also want to visit some Quaker Meetings further West, because their service is different than the traditional "Philadelphia" Meeting. Livelier I'm told...

My Mom's family is from the Ukraine. She was born in Canada, but her brothers and sisters where born there. They left when Stalin took over and moved to Northern Saskatchewan. My Grandfather kept in touch with his brother, but after his death in the early 80's, nobody knew anything about them. My brother just went through a divorce and decided to spend some time trying to find them. He got to the Ukraine in May and started looking up the records from the one letter he was able to get ahold of from the family in Canada. They name and city where it came from was all he had. The people at the government offices he talked to where very helpful and they where able to find a farm that my Grandfather had grown up on after several months. He went there and was able to find my Grandfathers brothers son and his family. It's been real exciting seeing the pictures and learning their names. I'm now Facebook friends with several of them and enjoy seeing their pics. What's funny is they comment on my pictures in Russian, which nobody can read. My mom grew up speaking Ukrainian, but has forgotten a lot of it.



Eddie

 

[daugen]

Ok, I've started over. Joined Google, seem to be able to save points ok. I'm also going to do this on Streets and Trips, as I have a gps sensor for my laptop and will track my whereabouts that way too. Learned from boating to always have backup.
Just like docking a boat, you have to make sure you can fit in there before you get to a place where you can't easily get out.

Have a bunch of to do's to get finished today before I can spend more time with this, but when I get a worthwhile number of points plotted, I'll repost it.

Neat pictures Eddie, thank you. My grandfather's father was a farmer and a cattle farmer. Something about fattening up the beef for market, where they shipped the cows away by train. The same train the ****'s shipped all the people away forty years later. But that pic in the graveyard is exactly what I hope someday to do. The problem is how to read Cyrilic.
maybe I"ll find a guide. I need to find out how Augenblick is written in Cyrilic. Maybe there's an online translation site?
I have this dyed in the wool German name and yet my roots are in the Ukraine. On that side. On the other side, I'm related to half of you, since one way or the other many of us go back to Miles Standish. My middle name is Allen and that name goes way way back. Am looking at the family tree on the wall, with Miles Standish at top. My mother's middle name was Delano, which also goes way back. Which is interesting, won't buy a small soda..., but
the past I can't find out about is on my father's side. Now that shall be the topic of another thread. Someday.

if your family tree has any of these names in it, we could very well be related. No, I do not do social media.
Delano,Pope, Wood, Willson, Davis, Sampson, Tobias, Lacy, Allen, and of course Rose, Mullins, Alden and Standish.

 

[dave1949]

Drew,
With the name Augenblick, it very possible your ancestors originated in Germany and moved to the Ukraine. This was not uncommon. There were, and still are, German heritage/cultural enclaves spread around Eastern Europe.

Following the end of the Cold War, some of those folks exercised their "right of return" under German law and moved back to Germany. The result was ghettos of barely German people living in what used to be housing areas for the various NATO troops. My German friend used to say the only thing German about them was they may have had a German Shepherd dog once. :laughing:

Eddie's pic of the family seated around the table could be lifted straight from rural Germany, minus the beer and schnapps bottles. :laughing: In German, what was on the table is colloquially called a "schmiere."


Germans from Russia Heritage Collection

World in Ukraine: German heritage alive in Transcarpathian Ukraine

 

[daugen]

Drew,
With the name Augenblick, it very possible your ancestors originated in Germany and moved to the Ukraine. This was not uncommon.

Thanks Dave, that was interesting reading. The lines were so fluid then, and once again, the populace gets rounded up and brutalized. Just like they did when the Huns came over the hill. Same old, same old.
Sure needed a hidey hole back then.
Luckily now the only hidey hole we need is from the surveillance drones...

Thinking of "coming over the hill" comparisons could be made with our Mexican border.
Luckily they usually aren't armed when they come 'over the hill" or through the Rio Grande, or however.
They are often, not always, the tired and poor, the yearning to be free, and employed. Apparently by any means possible.
And some carry drugs which is clearly not good.

So I don't think I'm coming too close to the border with my motorhome, more to see further North anyway. Not going through any inner cities either. I've seen my share of NJ inner cities, on business, the Newarks, Jersey City's and Patterson's of this world. Where coming to a stop at a light you can hear the clicking of door locks around you.
However, mostly when heading South, it's another world. And I'm looking forward to rediscovering part of it, and seeing some for the first time. After this a New England trip, where the people are also nice, seemingly the further North you go.
And then to the Keys and Gulf Coast for a month or two some winter. Who knows what life will bring by then.

 

[EddieWalker]

if your family tree has any of these names in it, we could very well be related. No, I do not do social media.
Delano,Pope, Wood, Willson, Davis, Sampson, Tobias, Lacy, Allen, and of course Rose, Mullins, Alden and Standish.

My Dad's side of the family is from Great Brittan. His parents where born in Canada, but their parents and siblings stayed there. My brother, the same one, did some searching years ago and was able to locate some of them. They are all distant cousins with different last names through marriage. He went and met them first, then my parents went and met them back in the 90's. Until Facebook, they where just names, but now I'm Facebook friends with several of them and enjoy keeping in touch.

On my Dad's side, the name Walker was created from the Macgregor Clan. It seems that the Macgregor's where not very nice people and because of some things they did, a bounty was put on anybody with the name Macgregor. Walker is one of about three dozen names that they came up with. On my Grandmothers side, Leach is their last name, which has proven to be a dead end so far. The only person of any historical interest is an Uncle who was a major in the Boer Wars that received a medal from the Queen. My Grandfather had the medal and information on it, but after he passed away, we think my cousin stole it and sold it for drug money. My cousin didn't last much longer after that, so nobody will ever know what happened to the medal. I did see it, along with a picture of him getting it and some paperwork on it. Kind of a big deal, but we don't even know his name anymore.

Eddie

 

[dave1949]

<snip>
However, mostly when heading South, it's another world. And I'm looking forward to rediscovering part of it, and seeing some for the first time. After this a New England trip, where the people are also nice, seemingly the further North you go.
.

If you hear a banjo playin', run like he11 :laughing:

People from metro areas, as observed by bumpkins, have their "shields up" a bit with strangers. Once you get past the initial suspicions they aren't all that different.

Rural folks have their "shields up" too, it is done differently though. I think how it's done differs by region too.

Based on stereotypes, a New Englander may be more likely to tell someone they are a danged fool. Other areas may agree about the danged fool part, but just smile and later say "bless his heart." :laughing: What do you think?

 

[RoMad]

I have not read all of the posts, so please forgive me if I repeat what others have said. We have been taking 4 week trips in our motorhomes for the last 26 years and have been on most of your route. A few things that come to mind that we enjoyed

At the grand canyon ride the mules halfway down. It is an all day trip and is well worth it. You should make reservations but both times we did it we just showed up early and got someones cancellation.

The road to the sun at Glacier National park is one of the best drives we have ever done.

At Cheyenne Wy. they have rodeos every day in the summer. (or at least they used to)

In Asheville NC afer you go to the Biltmore go downtown and ride the tourist trolley. It is really interestoing to hear the city history and they take you up to a beautiful old hotel on a mountainside that has a fireplace you can walk into and also a really good car museum.

Ride the narrow gauge train from Silverton to Durango Co. It is a beautiful ride.

Mount Rushmore is really awsome to me.

If you go to Smokey Mtn. National park make sure and drive the loop road around Cades Cove. ( i have told my wife that is one place she could spread my ashes someday)

 

[buckeyefarmer]

And if you do Cades cove, go on top of the mountain to clingmans dome. YOu might want to cross from NC into TN via smokies instead of I40 from ashville.

 

[ultrarunner]

Local church records can be a good resource in Europe for tracking down ancestors. Births, baptisms, marriages, deaths were all church-related happenings.

Church records in Germany for the 1800's can be quite detailed, even noting that the person immigrated to the US. I don't know if many are available online. They were hand written of course. Sharon tracked down some records for an uncle doing genealogy when we lived in Germany. She ended up with 10-12 copied pages of hand written high German. We had to ask an older neighbor read them due to the old-style handwriting. They were difficult to decipher for a non-native speaker.

I was able to find my Great Grandmother's grave in Germany... went back a few years later and it was gone!

Spoke to the caretaker and said the stones only stay in the ground as long as they are paid for... usually 25 or 50 years at a stretch... glad I snapped a picture!

The owner of the local ACE hardware retired and decided to see what he could find of his family in Croatia... He was born in California and opened his Hardware Store in 1946.

Anyway... he copied a few pictures and went to the town... started asking around and the innkeeper called his Great Aunt... turns out they were realated and had the SAME 1910 wedding picture in their album...

There are still connections to be found if one is willing to look...

It is often harderfor them to find a family that emigrated to the States... tended to move around more and names were often Americanized...

I think it's great you are heading out on this adventure... the best way to travel is with no set timeline... go where you want and take time to see things that interest you!

Eddie... really enjoyed seeing your pixs... family roots have always interested me and if I had unlimited time... turn me loose with a motor home and computer in Europe and I would have a grand time...

The closest I've come to anything famous is a connection to the Hindenburg's...

 

[daugen]

turn me loose with a motor home and computer in Europe and I would have a grand time...

now that's adventurous, I'm still trying to learn how to drive properly in the US..., and you are going to go through
Europe where roads, turns, accesses are smaller, you drive on different sides of the road at times, and who knows how well they mark overpass heights? I'm sure someone has taken a 45 foot tag axle RV through Europe...well, actually, their rv's must be much smaller, like their cars, built on MB Sprinter chassis, etc,

We have two ten foot high overpasses in my local area; both old train bridges that no one wants to spend the money to raise. Every time I go under one of them I look up, just like I used to do all the time with my boat, as I went under bridges on the water, and wonder, and hope, I never meet one with the RV unannounced. Good reason not to drive too fast in unfamiliar urban/suburban territory. My Class A is a typical 12 1/2 feet tall, due to the satellite dish and other things on the roof, like the a/c unit. This is why I really hope the Magellan RV gps I bought for the motorhome does its job protecting me from overpasses and inadequate bridges. Though my RV is light enough the latter isn't a problem. If they can get a fuel oil truck over it, I'm fine...

I'm getting psyched. Have my RV campgrounds plotted into Texas so far. I have to make sure I don't get into Colorado too soon due to snow there, so I'm mentally working backwards a bit. What would be nice is to find a spot to just chill out for awhile. The driving can get tiring, mentally too, and I don't want to miss anything. Actually, that's why I'll have a video camera running the entire time. And then one of you will need to tell me what really simple video editing program to get so I can trim out 95% of it and just keep the good parts. Good evening everyone, thanks for coming to home movies, tonight will be four straight hours of crossing the prairie...

And then I need to figure out how to upload to YouTube, so I can post the brief clips as I go. Give me something to do at night on the laptop...though my wifi card may choke trying to send big video files. May need to rethink that. May have to find a coffee shop with wifi and get a big cup of coffee.

I'll be posting pics as I go, that's easy.
I should order a bumper sticker:

I BRAKE
FOR TRACTORS

 

[ultrarunner]

When I worked in Austria... I would take off any chance I could to go exploring... Pizza in Italia, Coffee in Slovenia, nice dinner in Switzerland... my colleagues thought I was crazy and after a while they would just chalk it up to being an American where things are more spread out.

The family size European motorhome of choice is on a Sprinter Chassis... I have seen a couple of American American Caravans traveling through and a group of Air Streams too.... Camping is very popular in much of Europe and that includes Motorhomes.

Fuel is expensive and you just have to plan for that.

 

[dave1949]

Camping is popular in Europe, but the campers aren't after the same thing a foreign visitor would be. In general, they may be escaping what a visitor is trying to get to. :laughing:

I think you would find a lot of towns that have no place to park an RV anywhere near the city center. The older parts of towns have narrow streets too. Picture going through a small town here in the US on Main St. in an RV. You see something stop worthy on the spur of the moment, but where will you park a 40' RV? Traveling alone with no navigator in the right seat isn't going to be easy either when you need info in a hurry.

Now picture that scenario in Europe where you don't speak the language, aren't really quite sure of the traffic rules all the time, really have no idea where you are going, and everything is smaller and more compact. I think it would be horrid. I wouldn't even attempt it.

I've seen full size tour buses going places I wouldn't think possible in Europe. The difference between a foreign visitor and those is, it's not their first time at those locations, the driver is a professional, and somewhere in the vicinity there will be dedicated commercial bus parking--and they know where it is.

 

[dragoneggs]

Camping is popular in Europe, but the campers aren't after the same thing a foreign visitor would be. In general, they may be escaping what a visitor is trying to get to. :laughing:

I think you would find a lot of towns that have no place to park an RV anywhere near the city center. The older parts of towns have narrow streets too. Picture going through a small town here in the US on Main St. in an RV. You see something stop worthy on the spur of the moment, but where will you park a 40' RV? Traveling alone with no navigator in the right seat isn't going to be easy either when you need info in a hurry.

Now picture that scenario in Europe where you don't speak the language, aren't really quite sure of the traffic rules all the time, really have no idea where you are going, and everything is smaller and more compact. I think it would be horrid. I wouldn't even attempt it.

I've seen full size tour buses going places I wouldn't think possible in Europe. The difference between a foreign visitor and those is, it's not their first time at those locations, the driver is a professional, and somewhere in the vicinity there will be dedicated commercial bus parking--and they know where it is.

I agree here about an RV let alone a big car/truck in most of Europe. I have done a lot of driving in many countries and I can't imagine an RV going into most of the cities. But reading thru this thread, I can't wait to go farther east in a RV than I have done so far. From Seattle thru Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, and Oregon was grand! Utah is an amazing state for National Parks. Hit all of them if you can... even the drive between them is spectacular! The variety of Yellowstone and the short easy walks to amazing color and geologic formations has to be number 1 on your bucket list!

What a great post and all the comments/suggestions!

 

[ultrarunner]

A sprinter is big for Europe and on the small side for USA...

Several times my friends from Europe have done a National Park Motorhome tour... I went along two times and it was a lot of fun and very relaxing once out of San Francisco!!!

 

[3930dave]

I was flipping through a paper back copy of Popular Science today, and came across this:

The 25 Best Nerd Road Trips | Popular Science

Some are different than yer typical tourist traps..... if one catches your eye, let me know, I have a spare pocket protector I can send you

The PS list is 25 they pulled from what they are doing on their v-e-n-u-e site.

Rgds, D.

 

[Tony_S]

I enjoy reading this retired firefighter's blog. Bob Giddings' style of writing makes it hard for me to stop reading.
Catch Me If You Can
That's his current blog and is centered around the Texas/ CO areas.
His older blog:Speed Bumps was a bit more extensive but still in the west.
I'd start with Speed Bumps.
While reading through, you'll pick up many tidbits of info about places to eat and good camp spots AND lots of hot springs!
Now whether you have the time to make use of the info scattered throughout his lengthy blog and whether or not the locations even match up to where you're going is a long shot. But you may enjoy the reading if nothing else.

Oh, and I have to agree with the Utah sentiments expressed elsewhere in this thread. Being an easterner, the farthest distance I'd ever seen was to the next tree. When we drove from SLC to Vegas, and then doubled back through Zion and north rim, my mouth was wide open most of the time. Awe inspiring!

I hope you have a fantastic trip sir.

 

[daugen]

Cahokia Mounds | Explore

Whoa. How come I wasn't taught this in school? Never heard of the place.
I was taught only the American Indians lived out there.
I'm going through that very interesting list carefully, giving me some good ideas.

Now I know I want to go to the Waterloo Iowa JD plant, and frankly any other major ag equipment maker on the way, but I also want to see the cool history
of this land, like Mt. Rushmore, the Western US parks, etc. Sorry historical war buffs, battlefields are not a priority for me.

 

[daugen]

Just bought the toad dolly for the motorhome, a Demco SS, and will get it delivered when I take the RV to the shop in mid January to get a few things checked out. I never trust plug and play so better to let them hook it up and test everything.
I'm buying it from the local Itasca/Winnebago dealer, where I did not buy the motorhome, (zero in inventory for months) but now need them to be the servicing dealer. So I bought an expensive but necessary gizmo from them, and from one of the owners actually, so I've done what I can to start a reasonable business relationship. They have larger motorhomes here, but all used, and clearly they are a smaller Winnebago dealer. But they are a dealer and that's what I need, still...

Taking the motorhome out for a drive this morning, exercise its legs, avoid flatspotting, etc.
And it will sure get my imagination going...