On the Road with Jan and George

Wednesday, May 4

Left Hudson for Chambersburg PA to visit Lonce and Julia Sandy-Bailey.  We knew Lonce when he was an undergrad at UCI, and we all attended his wedding to Julia in Roanoke fifteen years ago.  They’ve since finished their Ph.D.s and moved to Chambersburg, within commuting distance of Shippensburg PA where Lonce has a faculty position, and Shepherdstown VA where Julia has hers.

We spent two great days getting to know their two year old twins Mileur and Evelyn…and their cat Uley (Ullysses S. Grant) who was much appreciated by Jan’s allergic immune system.

Lonce, Julia & Evelyn

Julia with Evelyn & Mileur

Jan with Evelyn & Mileur

On Thursday we visited Gettysburg for the first time – it was a truly fascinating experience, particularly the bus tour of the battlefields guided by Tim Smith, a total Civil War wonk and author of several books.  I couldn’t resist breaking one of our rules (“Don’t Buy Stuff”) and bought a small collection of historians’ essays on the Civil War, I should have some time to read them when we get to Minnesota.

Abe & Jan at Gettysburg

On Little Round Top - that's Tim Smith pointing toward Picket's Charge.

I had been threatening to see Olana, the Fredrick Church home overlooking the Hudson in the town of Hudson, each Spring that I lived in Manhattan.  However, the “Oh, I’ll do it next year” syndrome overtook my intentions.  This year was IT.  We spent our first night at Union Street Guest House, in a cozy re-creation of an Adirondack cabin.  The next day we explored the grounds and

home at Olana.  Dazzling decorations and the real-life views seen in Church’s paintings gave us plenty to do.

I’m running a bit late in getting this blog up and running…

Monday, May 2nd…we’ve been packing books, papers, clothes etc. for a couple of weeks, we had an unlimited supply of Fresh Direct boxes which the building’s porters put away for us.  The pros came on Saturday to pack our glassware and artwork, and today everything got moved out.  It’ll all be in storage somewhere in New Jersey until we get back into our Costa Mesa home in October, that’ll make five places we have stuff in storage.

I’d gone out to Scotch Plains in New Jersey on Saturday to bring back our new Subaru Forester from its temporary home in cousin Leon and Rita’s back yard, and when the movers had gone we made a couple of trips up to Washington Heights to settle Dan in his summer sublet.  At about 6:30 we were on our way north to the town of Hudson for our visit to Olana.  Bye, bye Manhattan…   🙁

Leaving New York is tough.  Our neighborhood is a village, within weeks of our moving here we got to know the doormen and staff in our building, doormen down the street, our dry cleaner, bartender and many others.  The reactions we’ve gotten as we pass on the news of our impending departure, almost seven years later, have been really touching.