CV19 lockdown

Like everyone else, I was daunted by the rapid shutdown of so many resources we count on.  All the national and state parks closed for camping.  Even national forest and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) lands where dispersed camping is allowed for free were kicking people out.  I understand that many of these areas are remote and healthcare in limited.  If a bunch of RVers got COVID and had to be hospitalized, the little local hospitals don't have an ICU or a ventilator.  Those rural healthcare systems needed to be ready to care for the local residents.  Also, park staff are usually limited and any ranger who got exposed by helping an RVer get to the hospital would have to self-quarantine for 14 days.  Then who would take care of the park?  Still, having just gotten back to Las Vegas from Cuba, I didn't know where to go.  Living full time in my camper, it's easy to self-quarantine -- I'm alone in my car while traveling and alone in the camper at night.  Even pumping gas, I can pay at the pump.  The only time I need to go into a store would be for groceries every week or so, whether I'm in the camper or a permanent home.  Question was, where to park the camper?   And how to get wifi for Tuesday nurse visits?

The next stop I had planned was to see my cousin Maia in Claremont CA, east of Los Angeles.  Fortunately Maia was welcoming and I landed in her driveway.

Pretty crowded, but a safe haven with electricity, water and wifi!

Having just gotten back from traveling to Cuba, I felt I should self-isolate, and Maia has some health challenges which made that a good idea for her as well.  So I lived in my camper and she lived in her house and we walked her dogs every night 6' apart.  Maia and her two border collies do agility competitions.  Her black van is actually the dog mobile for those events, and she usually commutes to work in the Prius.  My car was parked across the street.  Fortunately, on street parking was relaxed during COVID.

Maia with Allie and Beck.

Though we had only met briefly at a couple of family gatherings, Maia and I turned out to be pretty good companions.  We walked her dogs every evening, often on the 5 college campuses in Claremont, until they were all shut down.

Allie and Beck love the fountains.

Once the college campuses were closed, we walked the residential streets of Claremont.  Not as nice, but it is a pretty town.  Maia was working from home, managing 18 social workers who care for intellectually disabled clients.  Like so many organizations, her agency had to go from a lot of face to face contact to doing everything virtually.  When a disabled adult is able to live independently because someone goes and checks on them a couple times a week, it is a challenge to figure out how to virtually make sure they are OK, especially since many of the clients don't have a computer, and may not be able to read.  Maia spent her days hunched over a small work laptop on her kitchen table.  It was a good idea for her to step away from the computer at a reasonable hour every evening and go dog walking.  And I really appreciated getting out of my camper for a walk every night.  Plus it was important for both of us to have someone to chat with -- at least that much socializing to look forward to each day.  

On weekends, Maia knew places we could get into the hills overlooking the city, which were also technically shut down.  Those big weekend hikes on the trails saved our sanity.  

I'm very glad we had each other for the beginning of the COVID lockdown.  I found myself feeling pretty claustrophobic when I realized my travel adventures had come to a grinding halt and I might be stuck in her driveway for awhile. And Maia, bless her kind heart, was willing for me to stay.  Like everyone else, my external choices were suddenly cut off, leaving only internal choices, like what attitude to take and how to make the best of the challenging situation.  It took weeks to begin to manage the grieving of all the losses I and everyone else was suffering and to stop obsessing over social media, and email news.  Then there was the fear of catching COVID somewhere far from my daughter and granddaughter.  That's when I realized how grateful I am for every single day of life and began to look for what good choices I could make so that each day would count.  I began trying to have a structure to my day, beginning with yoga and prayers, then meditation, all before checking email, then lunch, a project or a nap, dog walk with Maia, supper and only then indulging in shows or a movie.  Some days I started out well, and ended up feeling bad about my choices.  Other days I picked up my phone and was on social media before even getting out of my jammies.  Gradually, though, I began to have a life in my little camper, especially when I discovered the local park a block away.  By then the weather had gotten really hot.  Without shade, inside the camper would be over 80 degrees by 9AM and nearly intolerable in the afternoon even with AC blasting   The park, though, was shady and breezy all morning.  I began going there for meditation, and then checking email on my phone.  Sitting at a picnic table in the shade of a beautiful tree with the breeze blowing through its branches, I could connect with the natural world in that place.  Ahhhhh!

Maia and I sometimes had coffee 6' apart in her front yard, and we had Happy Hour from time to time.  We even had Happy Hour with one of her friends a few times, all 6' apart.  Once a week I had to hitch up my camper and drive 10 minutes to the RV park at the local fairground where I could dump my waste water tanks.  And then I had to back into her driveway again.  Silver lining:  I got much better at backing up the trailer.  Once a week or so I went to the store for groceries.  And twice I did laundry at a laundromat.  Who knew you could worry you were risking your life just to get your clothes washed?  Fortunately the laundromat had a sink with soap and paper towels.  Everyone who went there washed their hands and felt good about keeping ourselves safe.  

It's been said that we are all in this storm together, but it is a different storm for different folks.  For some people who live in crowded homes and apartment buildings, there is no social distancing. People of color are dying from COVID at higher rates than white people.   For those who must work to feed their families, they are risking their own lives and the lives of their children to cook our take out dinners, process our pork and chicken, and take care of elders in nursing homes.  For others, like myself, it has actually been an instructive time of limitation leading to growth, with few physical challenges or risks.  Maia's residential neighborhood has many families and it was lovely to see the kids playing outside in their yards.  Mommies and especially Daddies were taking their kids to the park.  Seeing their sweet interactions, this time had real silver linings for some of these families.  And mostly they were able to work from home, having professional jobs.  Internet work may have been stressful, but their paychecks kept coming.  Clearly it is not the same crisis for all of us, and I am one of the privileged ones.  

Finally one of the city conservation areas, Johnson's Pasture, opened and we were able to walk there on a cool evening.

Altogether I lived in Maia's driveway for 7 weeks, watching the Southern California spring turn into an early summer.  You can see how the green hills above are already starting to turn golden brown, as they will be until fall.  As the weather got hotter, it became clear I couldn't stay.  And also clear that my plan to drive up the coast visiting friends and family wasn't going to happen.  I decided to head back east.  I have more friends and family with driveways available in New England.  :)   

Most parks across the country are still shut down, and many RV campgrounds as well.  Where to stay each night?   There are always Walmart parking lots, where you can traditionally stay 24 hours for free.  In fact, there's a great App called AllStays with a map you can search to see where you can stay anywhere in the country -- listing state parks, private RV campgrounds, Walmarts, Sam's Club, Cabela, Costco, etc. as well as truck stops like Love's and Flying J.  One morning I woke up and obsessively traced a route half way across the country, with tentative places to stay, including an RV campground for each Tuesday which said they had good wifi.  OK, then, time to go.