Virus Holiday

This started out as our very ordinary, but fun, kind of winter getaway.

We’ve done some variant of a basic theme since we retired back in 2013.

As I said, it started normally, but that didn’t hold up all that well.

It started with 4 days of car travel from our home north of Vancouver, down through Washington, Oregon, and into California. Like always, we moved in with a dear friend in Lomita, which is a part of Los Angeles.

We have a lot of fun there, and I go off almost every day to Jiu-Jitsu classes at Gracie University. Like I said, just like it always is.

After two weeks, we moved on to the next phase, which entails moving on to the Palm Springs area and a mobile home park in Desert Hot Springs. We meet up with a pair of other Canadians, and each couple rents a place for the month of March.

A typical day there consists of meeting up for early coffee, and lazing about. Then we do various morning activities; Yoga, pool exercise, pickle ball or desert running. We then pile into somebody’s car, and go poke around someplace and end up in a restaurant having a fabulous lunch.

By mid afternoon we are back in our units, perhaps for naps, and always to get ready for pool time around 3pm. The pool is massive, and fed from natural hot springs, and is warmer than anyplace I’ve ever swum before, ever. Dinner is home-made, and we watch a movie from the couch and comfy chairs, and magically bedtime arrives.

And then again the next day.

This year was exactly all of this exact stuff, with the only difference being that the news was all related to the upcoming US elections. One slowly-growing back story focused on the spread of the Corona virus.

There were cruise ship problems, trouble in China and Italy, and a few cases popping up around the world.

When we made the transition to the desert on March 1st everything here was absolutely normal.

Some time between then and now (March 18th) that has completely changed.

Hoarding started, mostly toilet paper. Soon, major events like the huge South-by-Southwest and Coachella concerts, and professional sporting events were being cancelled all over the place.

Then it was smaller events, and strings of government announcements both here and in Canada. People started flocking away from the mobile home part, heading home.

Our friends chose their departure date, as did we. They set today as their exit, so last night we went downtown for a final meal together. A few sad shops were still open, but most were not. The few still going had no patrons at all.

About half of the restaurants were bolted, and those remaining were doing take-out meals only, and not many of those.

We grabbed pizza to take back to our units.

This morning, our friends headed back to Canada, and we go on Friday.

It isn’t really virus fears that are driving us out, as we are probably safer in that respect being here rather than home, but there is really not much reason to stay for funwise.

Just about everything is shut down. Today I did a desert run, and Helen did Yoga in our place. We plan on going to see if a nearby nature park is open, but last time we checked it wasn’t.

The only attractions remaining are our pool (chlorinated), and the weather. Once we get home were are expected to self-quarantine for 14 days. That looms whatever our return date, so we might as well go, and get started on that. The internet and TV at home are much superior to what we’ve got here, and our own house is jammed with our stuff. Helen already has a bunch of sewing projects in mind for when we lock ourselves in at home.

I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m complaining about anything, because that’s not how I feel at all. We are not suffering in any way. It is still very pleasant here, and will be fine while on the road, and when we’re at home as well.

We haven’t had jobs impacted, nor faced any health issues, nor been unduly hampered by restrictions. We are just here, surrounded by events, and going with the flow.