Höhr-Grenzhausen

Looks like a bus from Vallendar train station which is across the river from Koblenz. It is in the VRM transit district.

The town of Höhr-Grenzhausen has a website, in German, here. Apparently Höhr-Grenzhausen is also on the European Route of Ceramics, which also has a website, with some English, here. The page on Höhr-Grenzenhausen mentions the museum.

According to the Bahn, the direct bus takes just over an hour and runs only on weekdays.

"So I am just looking to tweak the Bacharach - St. Goar portion..."

The trip to H-G from St. Goar takes just under 2 hours. There is no train service to H-G. You either take the train to Vallendar + short bus trip from there, or train to Koblenz + long bus trip from there. You can find itineraries yourself at the DB itinerary page:

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Rick's 10-day plan:

3 days: Munich, Bavarian castles
5 days, add: Rhine Valley, Rothenburg
7 days, add: More of Bavaria and Tirol, side-trip to Salzburg
10 days, add: Berlin

Be picky about how you spend your time... IMO these destination guidelines and Rick's room picks can be a real disservice to the first-time visitor to Germany. You will spend most of your time in accommodations and tourist towns overpopulated with Americans and other international tourists, and you will visit places that tend to reinforce the usual stereotypes about Germany. I'd encourage you to design your own itinerary after some further study. I think Rick's best tips are those below...

THE RHINE: a wonderful place but maybe more so if you pick a base town like Boppard, which tends to offer more dining, lodging, and free-time options than Bacharach. Besides it's old town center, Boppard has a pleasant river promenade, a chairlift to a scenic lookout and to nearby Gedeonseck Terrace, some good walking/hiking, some nice wine spots and a nice mix of German, Dutch, British, and German visitors. Also, the "big city" (Koblenz) is only 15 minutes by train from Boppard if you want some evening entertainment. Boppard, btw, makes visiting Bacharach and St. Goar very easy, and it puts you closer to Höhr-Grenzhausen.

Will you do a river cruise? Don't just do Rick's suggested St. Goar-Bacharach route, which skips half the best part... From Boppard, take the train south to Bingen, cruise back north to Boppard in 2.5 hours (you can step off the train in Bacharach and St. Goar on the way to Bingen, then return on the late afternoon boat from Bingen to Boppard.) This cruise takes you through ALL the very best scenery. Here's a map.

Don't miss Rheinfels and Marksburg Castles. These are genuine medieval structures - and Marksburg is completely intact (the "Bavarian Castles" Rick suggests are actually palaces built far more recently - Neuschwanstein, with its fake castle exterior, finished just before the turn of the 20th century, btw.)

You probably need at least 3 nights on the Rhine.

BERLIN is terrific but it is not the sort of place you cheat on with just 3 nights. Plan on at least 4 full days there.

Note that it's not a wasteland between the Rhine and Berlin! There are some really nice places you could spend 2-3 days with your feet on the ground instead of traveling all the ridiculous ground kilometers Rick recommends in his 10-day itinerary.

Russ,

Thanks for the suggestion about Boppard. That sounds about like what we were looking for. As to the rest of the itinerary, we are flexible. I had 3 key items. Some time in either the Rhine or the Mosel area. Some time in Bavaria. Time in Berlin. If we get our fill of castles on the Rhine, we can cut Neuschwanstein. My wife wants to see Dachau, and she lived in Berlin as a kid and wants to spend 5-6 days there. She hasn't been back for 26 years. I think we will likely have 3 base camps. Boppard, Munich, and Berlin. We will have 2 weeks and will fly in and out of Frankfurt. We would also like to see Rothenburg odt if time permits. On our last trip to Germany we had a family friend take us to Wolframs-Eschenbach by bike ride through the country. It is a superior quality small old walled town with 0 tourists just like Rothenburg. We even had to knock on the apartment door for the shop keeper to come down and open the store for us to buy a souvenir and then she even thanked our friend for bringing tourists to the town. For me to find any steins would require antique stores or flea markets. My collection is very specific and extensive (Jugendstil period)

"...small old walled town with 0 tourists just like Rothenburg."

Rothenburg typically requires 3 hours minimum from Munich with 2-3 changes of train; it is also tourist-central:
https://www.frankenfernsehen.tv/storage/thumbs/1200x630c/r:1475156718/95171.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4655367309_423f3e924b_b.jpg

If you liked Wolframs-Eschenbach, you might also appreciate the old walled town of Iphofen. See photos:
http://www.stadtbild-deutschland.org/forum/index.php?thread/2985-iphofen/&s=231ad7c3a338d477a68ccb8aea1678077c3a21d4

Iphofen brochure with sights and map... it doesn't take long to pay the place a visit:
http://tramino.s3.amazonaws.com/s/iphofen/685626/stadtplan-iphofen-english.pdf

The route from Munich to Berlin typically runs through Nuremberg; Iphofen is 45 minutes by direct regional train from Nuremberg, in the direction of Würzburg. From Munich, it's 2.5 hours with 1 change of train.

Bamberg, right on the route to Berlin as well, is a UNESCO World heritage city; it's nothing like Iphofen or Rothenburg, but perhaps interesting for you as a stopover. Great beer culture there.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/624
https://www.europeanbeerguide.net/bambpubs.htm

Not that you actually have time for any of this if you're really going to be spending 5-6 nights in Munich. Just thought you'd want to know about some attractive and semi-convenient alternatives to the long stay in Munich.

You could also divert some of your itinerary to northern and eastern Germany where the tourists are almost exclusively German and, most likely, you'll be the only foreigner among the tourists. Lots of cultural and historical towns/cities in the north and east fit that description.

Russ,

Again thanks for the suggestions! Bamberg sounds like a place we should stop. I still must give the Bavarian breweries their time if we are going to stop in Franconia. We have 14 days flying in/out of Frankfurt and looks like 3(+1) days in the Rhine area (Boppart) , 5 days in Berlin, 3 days in Munich, and 3 free nights to sprinkle in between - ie overnight in Bamberg on the way to/from Berlin... Rothenberg is not required, just a suggestion as we know there are alternatives! Iphofen will get consideration. Sequence is flexible as well.

"I still must give the Bavarian breweries their time if we are going to stop in Franconia."

Franconia's breweries are Bavarian breweries. Bamberg is in Franconia but Franconia is not a separate jurisdiction - it's a region within Bavaria. This map shows all of Bavaria in green - Franconia (Franken) is the northernmost region with the red ring:

http://www.handicapnet.com/barrierefrei-reisen/de_rollstuhl_bayern/dbyw103_stei/lagepic-dbyw103_gross.jpg

Map of breweries in/around Bamberg: http://www.franken-sind-keine-baiern.de/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Ausschnitt_Bamberg.jpg

A funny story then... I met some people from Franconia and insisted I should not call them Bavarian - just Franconian...

Yes, loads of regional identity in Franconia, lots of local flavor. But no, many don't appreciate being called Bavarians.

I met some people from Franconia and insisted I should not call them Bavarian - just Franconian...

Thanks for not doing so. BTW, in spite of the two centuries lasting occupation of Franconia by Bavaria (granted by Napoleon) cultural differences, including brewing culture, are considerable to this day (those poor guys even don't have Rauchbier!).