A Dramatic End Of The Road Trip
Spring 2019 we set out on our road trip adventure. We made a two month long trip out west, then returned to our rental in North Carolina. We finished putting everything in storage and hit the road full time in August. Unravelling all those anchor connections take time.
I had planned on blogging as we traveled around the country, but I didn’t. It just seemed too much of a distraction from the adventure. Always looking for a stable internet connection. The hot spot was most of the time a luke warm blob. So I decided to just disconnect and enjoy my time wandering America. We did too, making a big loop around both coasts, the north, south and middle. Now pretty rusty and immersed in a pandemic the question is where to begin? I never thought my Isolated Studio would really mean Isolated from everybody. Isolation is our new reality.
So I will begin at the end of our adventure.
We had been on the coast of North Carolina for the past few months. Parked on the edge of Topsail Sound. We had some family business we needed to take care of these last few months. My kids a military family had gotten orders to move to Japan for three years. They needed to sell the house, cars, well about everything. The house still had damage from Hurricane Florence that needed repaired before the sale could be finalized. In short we got all the work done and the sale went through. We decided to stick around until they departed for Japan on the scheduled date of March 18, 2020. We were watching the pandemic beginning to emerge and were getting a little worried we needed to get home to Montana. That is where all of our business is located and more important our medical support.
Then just a few days before they were to leave. New orders came saying travel was now restricted to Japan and they were ordered to hold in place until the middle of May. Trouble was they were living in a temporary furnished beach rental and their time was up on the original departure schedule. The unit was booked and they couldn’t extend. So with a lot of scrambling and support from their friends they landed in a Fifth Wheel Trailer on a friends farm with an old loaner truck from another friend. They had gotten rid of their cars, house and all their stuff is on a ship somewhere in the Pacific headed to Japan. They are just fine and settled in for the duration. So we decided on March 18 that it was now or never to head home to Montana.
So we hit the road not knowing we would be able to get home. Things stated ramping up just as we left North Carolina. Many state and city campgrounds were closing. However most private campgrounds were still open with social isolation restrictions in place. Yes we were socially isolated. Being completely self contained and well supplied the only time we needed to stop was for gas. Yes gas was cheap too. A blessing in disguise. Gasing up was all by card, taking precautions to sanitize and wash my hands it was all good. Most campgrounds were no contact everything was digital. The couple that weren’t we used the night box and strict social distancing, mutual choice on everybody’s part. So i felt as secure as any of us can these days.
We have a long term spot in Montana now where we will hunker down and ride out this disaster. Now myself and my wife are both in high risk groups, age is working against. My son and his wife have been isolating because of a possible transmission from a coworker. They were just finishing their 14 days as we arrived home. They both work at a ski resort where numerous visitors from Washington and California come like the plague every year. Only this year it was the plague. They are both ok and healthy.
Worried about us, they have been doing all our shopping and errands. Which we really appreciate. It is a big roll reversal for us, we are highly independent and we are also the ones who help everybody else. The truth is we need to help now because the risk is high and growing by the day. The part that really sucks is the social distancing. Standing six feet apart, no hugs no touching the ones you love. Disinfecting everything that comes into our RV. Yes that means wiping down all the cans and packages with Lysol wipes. Gus our dogs is heart broken too, no one can pet him. He could transfer the virus via his fur from someones hand to us. He won’t get sick but we could.
The only way any of us are going to be safe is to not get sick in the first place. Already I have two friends that I know of who have confirmed Covid19. One younger is recovering the other in her 70s, hospitalized with severe pneumonia. We haven’t heard anything from her now for two days. This I’m afraid is the real deal and it is only getting worse. No one is 100 percent safe. So we all have to do our part and stay home if we can. If we can’t stay home we need to enter our world with caution.
This invisible monster, virus is tricky. The virus can invade our bodies making us sick without symptoms for up to 14 days. But those who have been infected are infectious, they just don’t know they are sick. It’s a nasty trick nature is playing on all of the human race. Still even right now today there are still many people who don’t realize the danger, even with tens of thousands of people testing positive for Covid19. The numbers are going up every hour every day. This is the reality of our world today and for the foreseeable future. If we all follow the protocols the scientists and experts recommend the majority of us can emerge from this disaster sooner than later.
Factual information along with Social Distancing and Lysol is your best weapon for defense. There is a lot of misinformation about what is going on and what we can expect. The fight has become to seek out and find factual information, the truth. Listen to the experts they do know or will tell us they don’t. Not the political new speak. Who gives a damm about the economy if millions are infected and tens of thousands are dead. Nothing will save the economy if that happens! It’s LIFE, HEALTH above all else!
Im not only an Artist, I also worked for the Office Of Disaster Assistance an important branch of the Small Business Association. The Federal Agency charged with providing disaster assistance to businesses and the general population, home owners and renters. In fact it is the SBA that provides most of the disaster assistance to property owners, businesses and individuals. FEMA doesn’t rebuild your house and they don’t fund businesses at all. It is the SBA that pushes most of the federal disaster money into communities to rebuild in the form of low interest disaster loans. The SBA is also one of the lead agencies that go out into your community and assess the damage, economic and structural and put the numbers, cost on disaster. Like this one. The SBA will play a key role in restoring our national economy. That is the mission. I worked as a Construction Analyst, on the ground evaluating the damage and the economic costs of disasters. Ive been trained to deal all types of disasters including pandemics. Now that you know a little more of my background before I retired. Now I’m just a Nomad.
Back to information. Factual information is critical and misinformation is very dangerous. I’m not going to wade into to the politics right now. But I will say pollyanna hunch’s and I have a feeling isn’t going to be helpful. Facts the unvarnished truth, facts are what you and I need.
The Federal Government is modeled on a military chain of command. Most Federal workers from top to bottom have been trained to assume positions of responsibility within this chain of command. Those individuals in charge today may be too sick to carry out their duties or dead in the coming days, weeks or months. Today it was announce Boris Johnson the Prime Minister of Great Britain has Covid19. We also have at least one Senator Rand Paul. Who has been diagnosed with Covid19 and there will be more. The fact is many essential Federal employees are or will be sick or even die. This is where the chain of command will fill the gaps. This is the reality of a pandemic or major disaster. It is going to be a rocky road and we don’t fully know what is around every turn. There will be surprises.
We have to rely on the experts, we have to listen to what they recommend to stay safe. The experts have clearly said. There is no human immunity to Covid19. If you get infected you will be sick even if your symptoms are minimal. The big thing is if you get Covid19 you will be infectious to other people who are more vulnerable. Grandma,, Grandpa, Mom and Dad. So do you part for everybody and follow the protocols.
Stay safe stay healthy and hold steady. We are all in this together and together we will come to the end of this sooner or later.
So if you are reading this I got my crappy internet connection working good enough to upload.
Next Time Highlights from the road
Chow
david eubank on art 
Posted on March 27, 2020
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