After beginning the year with a quick trip to the eastern shores of VA and NC to see migratory birds in January, the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
Our Spring (March through the end of April) trip to the southern climes for an early start on bicycling was totally canceled. Not much was open and the one or two private campgrounds that were, well, there was no route for us to get to them without “camping” in commercial parking lots like Wal-Mart and Cracker Barrel.
And then, the states themselves began to issue “shelter in place” orders.
Besides, that was during a time when little about the virus itself was known, and few experts were certain about what personal situations would increase or decrease the trajectory of transmission. So we were pretty okay with working around the farmstead and catching up on long-delayed chores instead of potentially exposing ourselves to infection.
As I write this, however, it is June 13, 2020, and we are leaving tomorrow for our “Summer Trip” to the north. Again, centered around cycling opportunities, the trip includes lots of distancing from other campers and cyclists, and most of the campgrounds at which we’ve reserved are welcoming us, but renting out only every other site, so the distancing part is likely going to be pretty easy. Also, several of the campgrounds have closed their bathhouses for the pandemic, and are only accepting “self-contained” visitors; and others have arranged “hands-free” registration systems for the safety of their guests.
In addition, since grocery shopping is a point of anxiety (especially doing so in a strange town) even with mask-wearing, which we do regularly in any case, we are taking lots of freeze-dried “hikers” rations to minimize the need for shopping.
So we feel we’ve managed to keep ourselves and others around us as safe as possible, are armed with many disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer, each of us has 3 masks to use and wash and use again, and we both are pretty healthy even though we’ve aged into the “higher risk” group. Adventures as we’ve never experienced before await, and we’re looking forward to adjusting our travel experience to the “new normal” of Camping in the Time of Plague.
peregrinations 