Like many full timers, when we went full time nearly four years ago, we thought it would be a great lifestyle to travel throughout the country visiting many new areas and seeing many new things.
And we have.
Unfortunately, 2020 COVID 19 pandemic has brought this fun and exciting lifestyle to a dramatic halt. Instead of seeing interesting and exciting new places, we’ve been hunkering down in an extended period of self-isolation trying to stay healthy.
Our initial plans for this year was to spend only a month in Carrabelle, then head over to Pensicola to visit the National Naval Air Museum since they have one of my Navy Squadron’s planes out front. Then we were going to head up to Memphis, then up to Northern Tennesse to visit some friends we met while on the Hawaii cruise, then east up the coast to the annual Doctor’s visit in New jersey. Once that was done we were going to spend the summer traveling around Lake Michigan, before heading to southern texas for the winter , making stops in Waco, and San Antonio.
As the pandemic worsened, and public areas starting closing, we decided to forego visitng Pensicola and Tennessee, and head up the east coast for the Doctor visit.
That plan aslo changed when the statistics for these areas continued to rise. And after tracking the confirmed cases for several months, I planned out a safer route which would take us through smal towns in Alabama, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and finally into New Jersey, where our plan was to stay inside until the appointment, then get the hell out of there.
Our plan worked and we left New Jersey and headed up to Mystic Connecticut to visist family. Our plan was only to stay ten days and then we were going to head towards our stops around Lake Michigan.
After arriving in Connecticut, Debbie’s health began to decline, So I decided cancel Lake Michigan, and extend our stay a month. We found a decent campground about seven miles away that had a sapce we could reserve since the KOA only had a site with electric and water, with pump out service available (at $40 a pump out). So, we moved over to Bradford Rhode Island and and set up at the Ashaway RV Resort.
Debbie’s health continued to decline, and without going into too much detail, she was taken to the emergency room, and spent the next four days in the ICU unit. She is now out of the hospital and we have extended our stay here at Ashaway until September 12th, so she has plenty of time for follow up appointments.
We’ve also cancelled our winter in Texas plans since I don’t feel comfortable being that far away from her primary heart docter in New Jersey. I would stay in New Jersey, or even here in Rhode Island for the winter, but they get white stuff and I beome very grumpy when it begins to snow.
So the plan now is to head south and spend the winter in South Carolina, I found a space just west of Hilton Head, and 30 minutes north of Savannah Georgia, where we could stay for six months. That is of course if they can bring the latest pandemic spike under control. Time will tell.
As far as traveling and seeing exciting new places, 2020 has been a bust. They say that with the pandemic, face masks and social distancing is the “new normal”. I can live with that as long as we can spend some time seeing things again. It’s pretty boring when the highlight of your week is going to the local grocery store, even with masks and sanitizing wipes.
So, until then, stay safe, stay healthy, and this too shall pass.
Hopefully
So sorry to hear of Debbie’s health issues. I hope she’s better soon. I’m glad you were able to find places to stay along the way. Hopefully when you travel again there will be places to explore where social distancing can be done.
Thank you @wandering dawgs. Stay Safe and Healthy.