Wherever the Road Takes Them
by Susan Shalhoub
As you read this, she is out there – somewhere – on the West Coast.
Roni Weil and her boyfriend Israel Drazin are living and traveling America in an SUV modified with a foldout bed, stopping at iconic sites throughout the country and enjoying interesting encounters everywhere they go.
Roni’s vagabond life should come as no surprise to her parents, who are also world travelers.
Roni, a graduate of Winter Park High School, is the daughter of former Orlando residents Aaron and Sharon Weil. Aaron is the previous CEO of Central Florida Hillel; Sharon is the executive director of nonprofit operations for the Kinneret Council on Aging. Aaron and Sharon recently relocated to Ra’anana, Israel.
Travel, learning, adapting, and experiencing are what the Weils are all about.
Now Roni and Israel are seeing what the U.S. has to offer. Their budget is strict and their living space very limited, but the adventure knows no bounds.
No Time Like the Present
From a young age, staying in one place was not in Roni’s nature.
After high school, she served in the Golani Brigade of the Israeli Defense Forces. That’s where she met Israel. They began living in Jerusalem but quickly discussed traveling.
Seeing America was easier said than done for Israel, though. He faced a year of delays securing his visa, complete with canceled interviews and a litany of red tape. Once the visa was acquired, Israel took it as a sign that the time to travel was now.
“I said, ‘I need to go. We need to get out of here,’” Israel remembers.
The couple’s community in Jerusalem had just been through six months of pandemic lockdown, as well, with residents allowed to travel only within a certain range of their homes and plenty of checkpoints in place.
“It was very spontaneous,” says Roni on their decision to hit the road.
So, they started packing.
There’s No Car Like Home
Roni and Israel flew to Orlando at the end of May 2021. They helped the Weils get ready for their move to Israel, and Roni worked at The Roth Family JCC’s Camp J. In the meantime, Israel retrofitted the couple’s white SUV with a platform for a bed in the back and a few other comforts of home. By the summer, he and Roni were ready to hit the road.
After leaving Orlando in August, they ventured to South Carolina, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, eventually reaching Washington, D.C. Roni’s parents, Aaron and Sharon, joined the couple in the nation’s capital before catching a flight to Iceland. The Weils then enjoyed a sabbatical through Europe and Southeast Asia. We told you this is a traveling family!
“Throughout those four-and-a-half months before we reached Washington, D.C., we explored big cities and small towns alike, getting to know the locals, trying lots of delicious food, and exploring as many national and state parks as we could,” Roni says.
They even picked up a fine at one state park for attempting to stay overnight. Lesson learned.
In fact, finding places to park the SUV and sleep before dark has been the couple’s biggest challenge so far. Weather that doesn’t always follow forecasts is another.
“We make it happen,” says Israel. “Even if it is hard, you can do it with a small car. The way we are traveling is the real way to see America.”
They tell a great story of befriending a farmer just outside Augusta, Maine, who brought live musicians to play on his property one night in an intimate community gathering. He then let Roni and Israel sleep in his barn, with locally roasted coffee and fresh-baked goods for breakfast.
The couple’s mighty SUV powered them through the Midwest, Northwest, and eventually to Seattle, Washington, where they became short on cash, so Roni worked in seasonal retail. They track every cent, cooking food on their gas-powered portable stove. They eventually discovered an online network where they barter house-sitting and pet-sitting for places to sleep in various cities.
After making their way down the West coast, Israel and Roni plan to explore southern states such as Texas and Tennessee before wrapping it up with a return to D.C. where they’ll offload the car and catch a flight back to Israel.
Travel Tidbits
Roni and Israel have met no shortage of interesting people on their journey including a 70-year-old woman from Brooklyn, New York, who had just moved out to the Nevada Badlands to start a new life by herself. In South Dakota, they befriended several indigenous people and discussed their feelings about Mount Rushmore, which sits on sacred land.
“Each state has its own vibe,” says Roni. “There are stigmas about certain states, but you need to go see them for yourself. Each state seems like its own country with cultural differences, cultural foods.”
“You see small places, local stores, and little communities with the coolest old cars you don’t see anywhere else,” adds Israel.