(apologies to the Grateful Dead)
Well, perhaps not so long, but certainly strange!
Like everyone else, the COVID-19 pandemic threw our entire world into turmoil. Way back in the B.C. era (that’s ‘Before Corona’), there were actually a few newsworthy items in our life, but we were so busy that we hadn’t taken the time to report on any of it. And then, everything came to an abrupt stop in mid-March and we sat in an Austin RV park for 15 weeks. Since then, our time and attention has been consumed by learning to live in a hot zone (Texas), worrying about our family and friends, seeing our children lose their jobs and/or not be able to find any work at all, watching the daily horror show of the pandemic unfolding and our government’s criminally inept handling of it, and just generally making our way in this weird world of social distancing, masks, contactless deliveries, and curbside pickup. The anxiety waxes and wanes, but it’s never far from the surface.
There’s really no good way to catch-up on all the in-between times, so I think we’ll post a few “pre-pandemic” entries later. But, a very high level summary of life since last fall would go like this:
We sold our house and started travelling full-time. We bounced around Texas for a few months and took a couple of trips out of state. We did some renovations and upgrades on our 2001 Bounder, but eventually concluded we really needed something bigger and beefier. We found a new home in a 2007 Beaver Contessa and are quite happy with it. There were a couple of non-RV trips in January and February, and then we settled in Austin when the pandemic flared up. Eventually, the heat drove us out of Texas and we’ve been in Southern/Western Colorado since July.
Despite having been “on the road” now for 10 months, we’re still getting adjusted to the lifestyle. Of course, everything is shaded by the pandemic and it certainly isn’t quite what we had envisioned. For now, we spend a few weeks in each place we stop, don’t go out too much and try to stay safe. There are plenty of natural wonders to keep us occupied without too much human contact. It’s weird, but we’re still enjoying life.
Cheers!
–Roger