As we previously noted we spent the majority of 2020 in Texas, being socially responsible. We spent the vast majority of our time hiking (almost 1k miles total for the year) and read some great books and enjoyed many delicious home cooked meals. We isolated ourselves from others but we did not suffer.
Our plan all along had been to continue in isolation mode until the pandemic was under control by whatever means.
Last fall, as more states opened for travel we decided we could travel a little and still stay socially prudent. We shop exclusively curbside, mask up whenever near anyone else (including hiking trails) and have not eaten in a restaurant in well over a year.
We love the western states. The mountains, the deserts and the red rocks. In 2019 we were forced to bypass Moab because we couldn't find an accessible site for a 45 foot RV with little ground clearance. But now that we have the Winnebago View, we can go almost anywhere.
So we headed west and visited Moab, the Grand Canyon, Capital Reef Natl Park, Goose Necks State Park and the Arizona desert. It was a glorious fall and winter. Interestingly it was also easy to socially distance because there were very few people at the national parks. Imagine staying inside Grand Canyon National Park and being 1 of about 10 RVs on a 300+ site camp ground. Mostly just us and the wildlife.
As the news of the vaccines became more and more promising we decided we would begin a very slow migration toward our home state of Florida. There was no urgency at this point because my bride is only 64 and was not initially eligible to be vaccinated.
We had had incredible weather throughout the fall and winter... that is until February rolled around. We were in the Texas hill country when the now famous, record breaking artic blast swooped in. We went multiple days where it never got above freezing and saw 2 measurable snow events.
As with most people we never expected anything lasting as long or temps getting into the single digits for days. After all this was Texas. But what really made it the "perfect storm" was the loss of power. That caught everyone by surprise regardless if you live in a sticks and bricks house or (like us) in a motorhome.
Of course we have a propane fired furnace, two generators, and a 4WD Jeep. But when the power goes out for extended periods, you can't buy gasoline or propane. They need electricity to pump their wares and that wasn't happening.
Now to be honest we did not suffer for even a minute. We were careful with our propane use and have lithium batteries to keep everything running. We also have an electric blanket that allowed us to cut the heat way back at night. It draws so little electricity we can run it off our inverter while the power is out.
Between the lithium batteries and a little bit of solar, we never started our generators. Fortunately on the days when it snowed, we had the electric come back on for a few hours and got our batteries topped off.
All of the businesses in our area were without power so had to close. But we had provisioned just before the storm hit and had plenty of food. We didn't suffer at all.
After the storm, the weather turned really nice. We resumed our trek slowly east. We stayed at some amazing parks (Tyler State Park in East TX and Lincoln Parrish Park in Ruston, LA) and enjoyed some beautiful hikes.
Then it finally happened. Florida's governor DeSantis announced he would be opening vaccinations to those 60 and up begining March 15th. Woo hoo! 🥳🥳🥳
Cindy quickly got on line and secured appointments for us both on the first day Cindy was eligible. We got the Pfizer first shot at CVS in Pensacola.
CVS was very accommodating. They even allowed us to schedule our second shot at a different location so we could keep moving. Amazing!
Once we were cleared by the pharmacist (15 minute observation period), we headed off to a beautiful Florida State Park (Falling Waters) about an hour east. We got to the park and immediately hiked out to see the waterfall. It is pretty spectacular dropping 73' into a cavern. The park is small and rustic, hidden deep on the tall pines. It is very quiet and we got a great night's sleep.
The next morning we had a knock on the door. It was the park host warning us there were some really severe storms headed our way.
We talked it over (didn't take long) and decided to duck out of the storm's path. If you have been watching the news, this was the monster storm that spawned a bunch of tornados and did a lot of damage.
Because this was such a large storm, we had to drive almost 7 hours into central Florida to find a safe spot. But that's one of the benefits of living on wheels. We can do that, and we did.
So now we are in Central Florida, safe and sound, counting the days until that second shot. April 5th, and it can't come fast enough.
(Shot #1)
Immediately after that we will start heading north for this summer's adventure along the east coast and hopefully up into Ontario Canada. But more on that later.
This gets you up to date on where we are and where we have been. Hopefully we will have some interesting posts coming up. Stay safe, get vaccinated when you can, and don't abandon the mask. We need to get through this and get back to living.
Thanks for reading!
______________________________________
Cindy and Terry
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