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“The road trips have really impacted my family on
many different levels — as Americans, as observant
Jews and for creating great memories and bonds.”

— RABBI MICHELE FAUDEM

What to take

* Emergency kit with mobile
phone, flashlight, batter-
ies, tire pressure gauge and
adjustable wrench, windshield
washer solution, jumper cables,
emergency flares or reflectors,
drinking water, fix-a-flat, extra
snacks and food for travelers
and pets.
• Spare tire
• First aid kit
• Garbage bags
• Extra car key
• Cash (stashed in the car) in
case of wallet theft or no ATMs.
• ID: Passports if crossing
borders

Memories

• Photo edit with VSCO
• Create videos with effects
and music with magisto.com.
• Evernote.com: word and
photo travel journal

TOP: Elishama, 9, and Hodaya
Ellis, 11, at the Sacramento Zoo.
BOTTOM: Lev, Tal and Ari Ershler
during one of their minor league
baseball road trips to Buffalo,
N.Y., in 2013.

14

September 7 • 2017

jn

Having visited 28 states and
more than 30 ball parks, they
typically arrive early for auto-
graphs. “The boys have had
‘third-out balls’ tossed to them,
participated in on-the-field
promotions, and Ari even threw
out a first pitch at a Burlington
Bees game,” Faudem said. “It
was the best $5 I ever spent.”
A side trip typically includes
educational or historical sites
like Gettysburg, World of
Coca Cola in Atlanta, Niagara
Falls, the Clinton, Truman
and Herbert Hoover libraries,
Rosa Parks Museum, Second
Baptist Church, Lincoln’s birth
home, Carlsbad Caverns in New
Mexico and the International
Civil Rights Center and
Museum in Greensboro, N.C.
Shabbat and kashrut-obser-
vant, they avoid being away on
Shabbat, if possible, and keep
kosher by packing coolers of
food and trying to plan routes
around kosher restaurants.
Faudem said, “The road trips

have really impacted my family
on many different levels — as
Americans, as observant Jews,
and for creating great memo-
ries and bonds.”

DESTINATION: KIDS

Experienced road trippers
Sydonia and Jim Gajda typically
plan their travels to include
both the attractions along the
way and a special event or
group of people at road’s end.
The retired Farmington Hills
couple has driven to New York
and New Jersey; and on one
trip, flew to Seattle, rented a
car and drove to Vancouver,
Victoria, Whistler and back to
Seattle. They also have jour-
neyed to Arizona, where all
of their children and grand-
children make their homes,
stopping in Iowa, Nebraska,
Colorado and New Mexico.
“We decided to undertake this
long eight-day drive, taking it
easy, driving five-to-seven hours
daily and sightseeing along the
way,” Sydonia said. After search-
ing online and consulting with
AAA, they planned their route
and made hotel reservations in
advance, with Jim compiling an
extensive and detailed itinerary
that included cities, attractions
and restaurants, along with dis-
tances between them — in miles
and time.
“The highlight of our trip was
to see the landscape changing
from state to state,” Jim said,
naming the mountains and
trails of Colorado Springs as his
favorite stop.
In Sedona, Ariz., Sydonia
recalls, “We stopped at a syna-
gogue-sukkah where we spent
time with a woman we had met
in the same sukkah on our trip
the year before.”
Of the 2,000-plus mile trip,
she said, “The reward at the
end — to see our children and
grandchildren — was priceless.
“But when it came time to
drive back home, we knew it
would not be as exciting as
driving to see them all. So,
we called the airlines, booked
a flight back to Detroit and
shipped our car back home!”

REUNION ON THE ROAD

Far different from any other
“vacation” she has ever
taken, Patty Scanlon Cohen
of West Bloomfield began
a 2015 summer road trip by
boarding a Dodge Durango

pulling an RV camper in the
parking lot of Walmart in
Brighton.
She was traveling with three
of her “oldest” friends (and
former classmates) on the
adventure suggested by Peggy
Klann Broderick, who now lives
in Hornell, N.Y., at an Oak Park
High School reunion.
The other two friends — Pam
Silvi Varilone of South Lyon
and E. Michele Levine Sampson
of Sonoma, Calif. — completed
the foursome.
The original thought was
to rent an RV, but Peggy
said, “I decided to buy
a “tow-behind” camper, as
my retirement plans are
to travel the U.S, staying at
campgrounds.”
She mapped out the route
for the week-long trip, with the
others adding to it. Overnight
stops — hooking up to elec-
tricity at seven different KOA
campsites — and daily 5- to
10-hour drives were highlighted
along the way by “planned
lunch-time with some terrific
classmates and some wondrous
sightseeing,” Peggy said.
The trip took them through
Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma,
New Mexico, Texas, Arizona
and into California with visits
that included the St. Louis
arch, Oklahoma City Memorial,
Ozarks, Napa Valley and the
Grand Canyon.
“A few times we all looked
at each other and said, ‘What
have we gotten ourselves into?’
In Illinois, everybody’s phones
started beeping with a tornado
warning and, in Missouri, we
discovered it’s not easy to find
a parking space on the street in
an RV,” Patty said.
“I drove the entire Yosemite
National Park, which was like
driving on a tightrope — all
uphill,” Patty said. “And in the
wilderness of Arizona, in the
Mojave Desert, we didn’t pass
a gas station for hundreds of
miles and the gauge showed
empty. There were hardly any
cars around, it was 115 degrees
and OnStar wouldn’t help unless
we actually ran out of gas. We
started counting how many
water bottles we had left, turned
off the AC and seriously started
to panic. Then, all of a sudden,
we saw a Dairy Queen sign in
the middle of nowhere — and
attached to it was a gas station.
We thought it was a mirage.”