We came to the end of our “California Adventure”.

Settling In

Sat, 3 Nov 2007 21:34:22 -0400

Some funny stories since we have been home.

At the Women's Law Project I have made myself something of a nuisance about energy issues (and I have only been there three days). They don't reuse any scrap paper at all. The building doesn't recycle paper although they gave us blue baskets! And, when people come into my office they ask me, "How can you work in the dark?"

Although Scott completed ordering DSL, but it won't come until today so, the neighborhood wifi is what we have had available. It is intermittent and the signal is not strong. Therefore, Scott and I have been going to an Internet Cafe at UPenn nightly. Going out every evening for a neighborhood walk reminds us of our daily pattern when we had dogs. So we refer to this nightly foray to the Internet café, our evening dog walk!

My commuter bike is out and functional. It gives me more comfort than my road bike here in the city and I have ridden it several times. Sunday Scott and I rode bikes to meet Derek and the little boys at the Franklin Institute science museum. If I don't put much pressure on the knee it works fine, is stable when I push off, and also stable when I put that foot down. Monday, I rode to work and back! It was great. I am embarrassingly slow but so happy to be riding.

The weather is different from Oakland. Colder yes, but also crisper. That is a weather term that might be hard to understand if you haven’t experienced it. The air has a quality of sparkle to it – a bracing-ness that is truly wonderful. Later in the winter it will morph to painfully cold but it hasn’t yet. The weather report says the temperature is 40 degrees but I am not using my cold weather gloves or tights yet. There should be many more biking days possible before a cold wave arrives.

Moving Van Arrives

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:34:18 -0400

Today the van came. The van is owned and driven by a Clarence Campbell, a 45-year-old straight-laced, very professional, proud man. He works for Mayflower. His rig is immaculate and his cab is bedroom, living room, shower, toilet, and kitchen, all-inclusive. He is from Virginia and speaks with a southern accent. He loaded our stuff in Oakland and drove it across country using workers from Hayward, CA to load and workers from Berlin, NJ to unload. He was a delight and a half.

When he came to Oakland his rig - 80 feet long - was hard to squeeze into our little street and he was upset. Mayflower should have used a shuttle - sent a small truck to our street to load and then moved the load to his big truck. But they directed him to bring the big rig to Kingston Ave.

So, in planning his arrival in Philly, we were determined to make it easier on him. We contacted the City of Philadelphia and were directed to the Streets Department that told us that they would notify the police precinct in our neighborhood to post no parking signs the evening before. Well, the signs didn't go up and we were concerned that, again, Mr. Campbell would have trouble getting his rig in position at our home. We called the police at 11pm and, after 2 hours of anxiety, the signs were placed. We were able in the morning to locate the owners of the remaining cars and get them to move their vehicles. Just in time!

The unloading when smoothly and we are now a house full of boxes. The nicest thing actually is the upstairs living room. The furniture there is now the furniture from Oakland. It is like sitting in the Kingston Ave house all over again. I like that.

Now I have to find clothes in which to go to work tomorrow! Find them, hang them, assemble them - oh and there is a small matter of putting the bed together to sleep on tonight.

Scott is managing to work from home - in the middle of chaos. He has had phone meetings, written documents, arranged for his next two business trips (both next week) and mostly kept his head. Me, when I get too nervous about my new job, I play solitaire. I will be better when the job starts.

Home to Philadelphia!

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 18:29:04 -0400

We are here! Philadelphia, PA

Our travel across PA was made shorter by the long day on Saturday. We spent a nice evening at a better grade hotel to celebrate making it to PA! Then Sunday dawned clear and sunny. Driving through the mountains of PA was more colorful than we expected. Usually the leaf colors in PA aren't as brilliant as New England due to its southern location vis-a-vis New England and perhaps due to fewer maple trees (the ones that turn red), but the colors yesterday were quite good.

As we drove east through the state we reminisced about our previous trips there and we dreamed of bike trips and trips with grandchildren to the same regions. That was fun. It was also fun to arrive in Philadelphia on the familiar roads. So the next chapter in our lives begins.

Scott and I will never forget our wonderful years in Oakland/Berkeley/San Francisco. Six years ago we took the opportunity to live somewhere new, to explore new places, and to see what came of the adventure. The places we visited in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii were wonderful and possibly sufficient to have made the move to Oakland worthwhile but it is the friendships we made that are the most important. Making friends and sharing experiences with them was the best part of the six-year adventure.

Once we got to our house in Philadelphia, we realized how much work is ahead to get ready for the moving van on Wednesday and for my first day at the new job on Thursday. Just getting Internet access set up took more than a day - what service to select, who are the reliable carriers, should we combined cell phone, cable and Internet or not?

A really good part of Sunday was dinner with Derek, Nanette, and the two boys. They came here for pizza and we got a real thrill from it. We will see them next weekend also. They are a big reason for why we came home and seeing the little ones has been great.

Columbia, MO to Washington, PA

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 20:48:59 -0400

We left Columbia, MO at 8am. We ended the day just over the border into PA at the town of Washington. That was 660 miles and 11.5 hours with time out to walk around, find a grocery store, get gas, etc. We wanted to get far enough today that reaching Philadelphia tomorrow would be easy.

It wasn't too far into the morning when we entered St. Louis. You can see the St. Louis Arch as you approach and it is beautiful. In the morning sun, it was dramatic. I have only crossed the Mississippi River a few times in my life and each time I get a thrill. The river is wide at St. Louis and is a dominant presence in the landscape. It is so big and covers so much distance from north to south. So much commerce has passed its length. So much of our history as a country has involved this river. All that and more gets to me each time I see the river.

As we crossed first Illinois and then Indiana, the highway featured more and more deciduous tress with yellow and bronze leaves. Farther east and into Ohio the highway climbed some in elevation and red colors were added to the palette.

We passed near Bloomington, IN where our daughter-in-law Nanette studied violin and music at University of Indiana and through Indianapolis, IN where both Nanette and my sister Lanie lived at different times. Then we drove on into Ohio. We saw the highway to Toledo and I remembered with fondness all our visits to Scott's childhood home in Toledo. We drove through Columbus where we had visited our friend Molly Stetzer when she was in school there. The closer we get to Philadelphia the more associations come to mind.

With crossing the top spit of West Virginia and pulling into PA, we completed a 6-state day! Not possible in the west.

Kansas City to Columbia, MO

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 12:20:31 -0400

Two days in Kansas City - was interesting. Scott was attending and presenting at 2 workshops. Also in attendance from Key Curriculum Press were three sales reps and two authors who were also making Sketchpad presentations. To my delight, I was invited to join this Key Curriculum Press team for dinner and World Series in the hotel bar both evenings. One of the evenings Scott was otherwise obligated so I was on my own with the team. They are a nice group and a different set of people than I usually see from Key. These are the sales and presenters that go to meetings throughout the USA - they are not folks who live and work in Emeryville, CA.

Being in Kansas City, this meat and potatoes gal had steak and roast beef both nights!

I had the opportunity to watch Scott present at one of the sessions. He was presenting on Using Research-Based Instructional Strategies with Dynamic Geometry Software (i.e., Sketchpad). He was very well organized, the goals and strategy of the session were clear, he invited tons of audience participation, and his handouts and screen materials were excellent. The teachers were very involved and appreciative. They liked it and so did I. It was great to see him in operation.

I had a chance to visit two interesting museums: Negro Baseball League Museum and The Jazz Museum. The Kansas City Monarchs played an important role in the history of the Negro Leagues (Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Ernie Banks, and Elston Howard all played for them). The Jazz Museum was set up so that you could experiment with mixing your own versions of famous songs based on different aspects of the music (tone, percussion variations, harmony, etc.). Interesting.

I also took an independent driving tour and got something of a sense for the city. I drove to 12th Street and Vine (remember that song - "Going to Kansas City, 12th Street and Vine"? What was once a thriving night scene is now parkland, the result of urban “removal” in the 1970’s.

Funny what you don't know until you visit a place. I had no idea that Hallmark Cards started as a family business in KC and that KC remains the corporate headquarters of the company. They have a huge complex that includes the corporate offices, stores, and restaurants.

There is a fabulous area called the Plaza, which is a shopping mall enclosed in a series of buildings along several streets and adjacent to several parks and to venerable old apartment buildings. Very stately. The Union Station (train) is another area of restoration and beauty. I saw tons of parks and fountains. The Convention Center where the conference was is in the financial district and was also stately. Plus the courthouse buildings stand out in my memory. I know nothing of the class and racial divisions of the city or of the history of urban "removal" that is behind the architectural and civic results that I saw (and, being the suspicious sort, I know that huge issues revolve around them) but what I saw was, on the face of it, very nice. I also visited our friend Jeffrey's childhood home.

We left KC at 5:30 pm as soon as Scott was finished and drove almost 3 hours. We spent the night in Columbia, MO. This reduces the long two days we are facing starting tomorrow as we push to make Philadelphia by nightfall Sunday.

Kansas City, MO

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:18:22 -0400

We were awakened rudely at 5:20 am - someone ELSE scheduled a wake up call for that hour. But we were up - well Scott was - I slept another hour and a half. In our befuddlement, we left town without filling the gas tank and somewhere down the road realized our mistake. Luckily, we made it to a gas station without problem.

Kansas at the west end is flat but it has rolling hills in the middle, goes flat again and ends with rolling hills on the east. There is agriculture (clearly lots of grain because there were grain elevators at most crossroads) all across the state with some grazing mixed in. The west part is dry and irrigation equipment was common. As we moved east the fields and roadside greened up and the irrigation equipment disappeared. Mid-state there were some wind farms; oilrigs were all the way along I70. At the east end, the construction of the interstate required blasting out some hills. The exposed rock was sedimentary with different colors for different layers. Reminded us ever so little of Utah.

We passed Russell, KS which advertised itself as the birthplace of both Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) and Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)(however, according to Specter’s website he was born in Wichita and raised in Russell). There was a town with an OZ Museum. Another with a reptile museum. Seemed like every town advertised something special that didn't seem all that special to us.

Kansas City, KS went by very quickly - in a few miles we were in Kansas City, MO. We are staying across the street from the Convention Center and will be here for two days for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Midwest Regional convention. From here we are 1000 miles and two days from Philly!

Montrose, CO to Goodland, KS

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 20:44:42 -0400

We started today by visiting the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River in Colorado. "No other canyon in the US combines the depth, narrowness, sheerness, and somber countenance of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison." You cannot see the water from the rim except in a few places because the view is straight down. The walls of the Canyon are way different from the rocks of the canyons we saw in Utah. The rock is hard Proterozoic crystalline rock rather than sedimentary rock from various periods. It is infused with later volcanic rock that shines with yellow and pink colors. We drove along the rim and stopped at several overlooks. Before leaving the area we drove down to one of the dams on the Gunnison through another narrow canyon along the Cimarron Creek tributary.

We stopped at the Blue Mesa Reservoir of the Gunnison. Scott and his Olympic Rowing Team had trained here for three weeks in 1968 in preparation for Mexico City. It is a beautiful reservoir that sparkled in the sunshine. We hope that the photos of mountains reflected on the water come out well. Scott tried to locate the boat put-in location but much seems to have changed since 1968. The hotel they lived in burned down and has not been rebuilt. The Olympic period in Scott's life was important politically as well as athletically and we had lots about which to reminisce.

Then it was on to Monarch Pass, up and over the Continental Divide. We had feared there would be snow at 11,000 feet and that our little Mazda without snow tires would be barred from the road or have some trouble. Actually, the road was clear. The eastern side of the Divide at this point is the headwaters of the Arkansas River (which drains to the Mississippi in Little Rock, AK) and the road down runs through a lovely canyon.

And there we left the back roads and Route 50 and headed north to Colorado Springs and Interstate 70. We drove several hours into Kansas. Seventeen miles beyond this town, we will cross into the Central Time Zone. It was sad to leave the Rockies, to leave the route that Randy and Scott biked last summer, and to reach I70 in Colorado.

We talked about the differences between the beauty and awesomeness of Utah and the beauty and splendor of Colorado. The mountains are more rounded in Colorado, and feathered with trees. The mountains we saw in southern Utah have exposed rock with sharp edges. The vegetation is sage and other low growth except along the rivers where trees do grow. The aspen in Colorado have lost their leaves. The trees we saw in Utah brighten the valleys with yellow and gold leaves. We felt that Colorado is easier and smoother than Utah but far less varied and compellingly interesting. These differences were apparent when we left Utah yesterday and entered the Dolores Valley. The Dolores River is a fast running, sparkling mountain river lined with evergreens on the hillsides. It was so welcoming.

We spent the night in Goodland, KS. Tomorrow it is onto to Kansas City. We need to dress for civilization.

Bryce Canyon to Montrose, CO

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:16:25 -0400

We really enjoyed the crossing of the Escalante River in Utah. As you come down this amazing hillside, you see the river below not because you can see river but because you can see the yellow fall leaves on the trees that line it.

Leaving the Escalante River Valley you climb up Boulder Mountain. The slopes of the mountain are sprinkled with aspen groves. Their leaves had already fallen but the white trunks sparkled and shimmered in the sunlight.

Capital Reef National Park was a surprise. It is a park I hadn't heard much of and didn't know anything about. It is basically a wall of rock 100 miles long and over a thousand feet tall, running north and south as a barrier for east-west travel. The rocks are multi-colored depending on what millennia they were formed and beautiful. We followed the scenic drive deep into one of the canyons and could not believe the height, massiveness, and complexity of the walls towering over us.

We crossed Glen Canyon and Lake Powell at Hite, UT and visited the Ranger Station where Scott and Rand had over-nighted in 2006. We saw a flock of chukar (partridge) there. They are so pretty! Lake Powell has lost much of its water due to drought and increased water demands downstream on the Colorado in Nevada and California. The water level is so low that the marina at Hite is nowhere near the water. The facilities are therefore deserted. This had caused Scott and Rand on their bikes considerable difficulty the year before when they arrived expecting full services at the end of a long day to find none at all. For us, in the car, the deserted facilities were merely interesting.

We crossed into Colorado and headed up to Telluride. This old mining town has been resurrected as a ski town and contains many historic buildings. The campground where Scott and Rand tented in May was closed in October because of snow. We saw lots of snow at the 9000 feet elevation in Telluride in October.

We spent the night in Montrose, CO.

Bryce Canyon, UT

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 20:32:21 -0400

Utah is fabulous! On our way to Bryce, we stopped very briefly at Cedar Breaks National Park. When Scott and Rand had biked through that area, snow had prevented them from seeing the park. It was our first view of red cliffs sculpted by water and wind. Cedar Breaks and Bryce are part of the lands that were laid down over millennia layer on top of layer, then pushed up by forces inside the earth, and then finally eroded away. The layers, depending on what they are made of, erode differently and expose shapes and colors each more spectacular than the last.

Our two days in Bryce Canyon were wonderful - we had two days there with Curt and Becky Canning, college friends whom we never get to see. I was able to take a 1.5 mile hike — my knee held up just fine — and we had lots of time for talk with Curt and Bec.

Leaving Bryce, we headed toward Escalante, Utah. Scott recovered from his surgery although taking antibiotics upset his digestion! My knee was doing very well. However, as we climbed in altitude through Utah toward Colorado, I began to feel the effects of altitude. I had had trouble at 9000 to 12000 feet on a previous trip to Colorado and was worried how I would do.

Oakland, CA to Eureka, NV

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:25:53 -0400

The next morning we repacked our car, leaving some things at Shelagh and Bob’s for Scott to pick up in December.

We had planned to leave Truckee and drive to Eureka, NV. Instead we had to drive all the way from Oakland to Eureka. So much for minimizing the hours in the car for my knee. However, we made it to our dinner date in Eureka before dark. We took Arlene Smith out to dinner.

In the spring of 2006, when Scott and Randy were biking east, Scott got sick for three days in Nevada. Arlene and Rob took Scott and Randy in. Arlene is a math teacher in Eureka and Scott did a workshop on Sketchpad for her classroom one afternoon and then crashed at her home - she hooked him up to medical personnel. It was lovely having dinner with Arlene; we were sorry Rob was unavailable.

Scott had virtually no pain that day but could only drive for an hour at a time - between those stints he would nap. This is not usual for him. My knee actually did well in the car for the long hours. We did stop often and I walked around and stretched. Still, by the end of the day it took longer to get the kinks out. However, basically we came through ok, both of us.

Moving Day, Scott’s Dental Surgery

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:18:09 -0400

We were not fully packed and so, the night of the 16th Scott was up all night and I went to sleep at 5am and got a couple of hours sleep. We still were not finished packing when the movers arrived at 9am. The big truck they brought couldn’t fit in our little street unless several cars moved and it took over an hour of us trying to locate the owners of the cars in question for the truck to be able to park. At that point, Scott went off to the dentist. He called a couple of hours later to say he needed an emergency tooth implant and was headed to the specialist right away.

My friend Sandy came over and brought me lunch. After surgery Scott rode his bike to our friends Bob and Shelagh. The bike will live at their house while Scott is in Philadelphia; he will use it when he is back at the company office in Emeryville, CA.

Bob brought Scott to the house and did some lugging of boxes for us. Shelagh called, then came and helped pack our car, clean the kitchen and keep me sane.

By the time all this was done and the truck was gone, both Scott and I were exhausted. We elected to skip our visit in Truckee and spend that night at Shelagh and Bob’s.

Nan’s Surgery

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:08:04 -0400

Surgery was ordered and I had it September 25th. During the days after surgery our friends Sharon and Linda helped pack and run errands especially when Scott was on his many business trips that period.

By the date of surgery, I had secured a new job in Philadelphia (Development Director for the Women’s Law Project www.womenslawproject.org) and arranged to start there/here October 15. The surgery forced a delay in that plan to a new start date of November 1.

We arranged for the moving van to come October 17 and we planned to depart that afternoon in our Mazda for Truckee where we planned to stay with Julie Bradley that first night.

On Sunday, October 14, Scott cracked a tooth badly. He knew it was serious because of the size of the hole and the amount of pain. The only appointment he could get with his dentist was on the 17th, the day of the move.

Memorial Day 2007

Mon, 28 May 2007 11:59:22 -0400

For Memorial Day weekend, we went to Sea Ranch in Gualala, CA for a nostalgic stay in a locality we had come to truly enjoy during our time in California. We rented a house on the coast with our friends Wei Chiu and Rebecca Parker. Entering that weekend I was in as good physical shape as ever in my life. I was biking strongly and loving it. Wei, Scott and I took several rides together (although they went farther than me the first day). The last ride of the weekend took us south on Route 1 to Skaggs Springs Road, east into the hills, and northwesterly back to Route 1. I rode strongly, loved the scenery and the companionship (they were very kind to wait for me at many junctions), and had energy to burn at the end as I flew up Route 1 back to Sea Ranch. [Nan fails to mention how nice she was to wait for us at the top of the Skaggs Spring climb. —Scott]