Hi, I had previously posted on Reichenbach earlier and received many suggestions as well as other useful information. I posted another question on that same forum thread and have received nothing so I am guessing that it got buried. I'll repeat my query here:
Greetings to everyone who has helped me with my original post. I have been working on an itinerary and though I am far from finished, I have done a lot of research. Most of this has been based on the suggestions provided within this thread. I want to thank everyone for ideas & suggestions, particularly Russ with the detailed ideas for the start of our trip. I've found out a few things since my last posting regarding my family's heritage in Germany. It turns out that though there are now 28 Reichenbachs, at one point, there was even more. It appears that my family is from a Reichenbach near Karlsruhe which was merged in 1972 with 2 other small villages to form a new town named Waldbronn (town or area, its not clear). I knew my father referred to Karlsruhe but since it was in the vicinity somewhat, I didn't really concern myself with that. Furthermore, he also referred to Ettlingen. When I saw Reichenbach an der Fils east of Stuttgart and near what I think sounds like a totally enchanting town of Esslingen, I thought I had found it, thinking I wasn't understanding his pronunciation. But alas, not so. I do want to visit Waldbronn to see if I can find any remnants of my family there but most likely will just spend a day doing so. My question to all of you is, do I change my main base from the Esslingen area to the west closer to this area or do I just plan a day trip, possibly on our way south from Mainz/Heidelberg? We plan on spending the first 2-3 days in the Mainz, Speyer, Heidelberg area. We definitely do plan at least a day in Stuttgart also visiting the Mercedes Benz/Porshe museums. I've gotten pretty excited about Esslingen, Schwabisch Grund, Tubingen and other towns in that area. I know we are not talking a great deal of distance traveling between these areas, but I am not sure exactly what my gameplan should be now. Any help with this as well as any information on Waldbronn, Ettlingen or Karlsruhe would be helpful. If only my family had been better at recordkeeping!
Hopefully, starting a new thread will generate some suggestions and responses. Thanks to all.