February 16, 20201:

Steve’s taking over at the keyboard to add some of rambling observations to this section of the blog related to COVID.  Since we have been on the road now for 10 months I will maybe be bouncing around a bit due to imperfect memory and my cultivation of old-guy ADHD.  So as a late 60’s sage once said, ramble on…

As Kathy has mentioned, we mask up, and in general try to follow CDC and other logical guidelines with the assumption that in our travels we may encounter someone, or a group of someones who are infected and are in a position to share this or some other unwanted illness.  We are motivated to keep moving to meet our goal of at least two years on the road so even if it will not exactly match the trip that we planned, we mask up and keep our distance as best we can.

There are other travelers and residents that we encounter who seem to fall into a category of folks, like us, that believe the pandemic is real, even in the absence of seeing people drop dead in front of them or having others convulsing and collapsing on the ground in real time while strangers call 911 to have these new cases carted off to some emergency room.  We don’t need to see that movie to believe.  

We have stories from friends and relatives that confirm what we read and hear from legitimate, sane-person news sources.  The virus is real.  People are dying.  People that recover may lose their ability to taste and smell.  Some of those recovered still have trouble breathing.  It would suck to catch it so we are working to avoid that option.  The current rolling out the vaccines is encouraging but this will take months and their efficacy in view of the new variants plus the members of culture tribes that will eschew the offer of a vaccine make counting on when this will all be in our rear view mirror a crap shoot.  And so plans for the future are generally loose ones.

And, frustrating to say, we have met far too many in our travels that hold other views regarding the pandemic, views that are a fascinating, blended concoction of medical, political, religious, cultish rationales.  We wonder, argue, puzzle about the motivations and information processing that must go on with the “what pandemic?” crowd.  It’s a constant wonder.

While we were heading back to Puget Sound late summer last year we stopped for a quick peek into Glacier National Park. On the way to our campground we stopped for groceries at Teebles IGA in Browning, Montana.  Browning is the headquarters for the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.  Heading into the IGA for provisions I was greeted by a masked, sanitizer-dispensing member of the tribe who, armed with a clipboard, asked for my name and phone number as she noted the time of my entry into the store.  I was told that the tribe had been gathering back-tracing information since early on once the pandemic had been declared.  In the store all customers and staff were masked and seemed careful not to get too close, particularly to strangers like myself.

Less than 80 miles to the west in Hungry Horse the scene was from a different world.  A mostly white world with families on vacation, a good number acting like it was 2019, seemingly feeling that pandemic guidelines were only necessary in your home zip code.  We made a run into town to feast on a treat of black huckleberry ice cream cones and did our best to maintain six feet or more from our fellow grazers.  There were signs on the doors to mask up.  Inside about half of the customers were compliant but most were following the social distancing guideline.  The staff was courteous about asking folks to put on a mask but not forcing the issue.  At one point a family of five walked in without masks and were asked by a very nice, elderly employee to mask up.  Dad looked around the store and then at the employee and loudly barked, “Come on, girls.  We’re outa here.  Montana.  You need to get a backbone!”  

Well dang me.  There you go.