coronavirus

A pair of Mallard ducks and a walk

/ Roadtirementvintage / 11 Comments

Even the ducks obeyed and stayed 6 feet away

Sher and I and our son ventured out yesterday for drive and a walk in the sun. We found the weather to be near perfect with temps right around 70 with a moderate breeze. Cabin fever is really starting to set in so we thought it best to get a change of scenery. A lot of people were out enjoying the day. Everyone we passed respected the “social distancing” recommendations. We felt that we were safe in this activity.

Are you struggling with cabin fever? How are you breaking up the monotony of the stay at home rules of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Follow recommendations to stay healthy!

Yes, the 1st Earth Day was 50 years ago

/ Roadtirementvintage / 8 Comments

Big 4 Mountain, Cascade Range

Wow, April 22, 1970. Where were you on the first Earth Day? I was a freshman at a small liberal arts college in Illinois. I knew several fellow students who were really activist minded about the environment, anti-war movement and other social issues. My geology professor was already a hard core environmentalist. The Nation wide and world wide Earth Day marches were quite something to see/read about.

Here we are in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic. There have been many reports documenting the effect that all of the stay at home orders have had on Earth. Have you seen the air quality/pollution studies showing the very dramatic decrease in smog due to few people driving?  How about the video of the kangaroo hopping across an Australian city and only seeing one car?  Geologists studying earthquakes are seeing subtle readings on seismographs that before have been hidden due to human activity.

I read somewhere that the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is Earth’s way of scolding humankind and sending us to our rooms until we learn how to behave. Makes sense to me. It is my hope that the “new normal”, what ever that turns out to be, will show much more respect for Earth. Our existence depends on it.

— stay safe, wash your hands,  stay healthy —

Roadtirement’s colorful companion

/ Roadtirementvintage / 11 Comments

Meet our good luck Joker

This Joker has been our good luck traveling companion for quite a while. He has seen three different RV’s we have used: Two travel trailers and our current Class C motor home. Joker quietly observes where we go, what we see and also what we eat, as he hangs above the kitchen sink!

Just curious, do any of you  have a good luck object in your RV, car, truck, house or whatever?

Remember to  Stay Safe and Stay Healthy 

 

Home is where you park it… What?

/ Roadtirementvintage / 12 Comments

We received this cute towel as a nice gift this past winter from our Austin family.

“Home is where you park it” is a clever pun, really, referring to those who travel in RV’s. We have been in self isolation for the past eight weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Twice now I’ve started and run both the RV’s engine and the on board generator. Best not to let the rig set idle for too long. The cute thing is that our towel is still correct in what it states: The RV is in the driveway next to our house, our home.

Sher and I are really looking forward to the day when our “Home” will be parked in an RV parking spot that is not the driveway of our home base house.

Indiana extends shutdown and protests follow

/ Roadtirementvintage / 6 Comments

Here’s some colorful phlox for you to see before today’s Roadtirement blog topic.

Indiana’s Governor Eric Holcomb has extended the state wide stay at home order from April 20th to May 1st. However, some restrictions are being lifted. Most of the non-essential elective surgery procedures will be allowed to continue. This has been so the PPE supplies were available for health care workers treating COVID-19 patients.  Apparently dental appointments will also now be allowed.

There were lots of folks protesting the shut down in front of the Governor’s Residence in Indianapolis over the weekend. The participants were not observing “social distancing” and few wore face masks. I appreciate the protesters’ right of free speech, but sorry, that was a really stupid way of doing it. They got the TV coverage they were after. But, people, the pandemic is NOT yet over. You can protest and do it within the current health and safety recommendations.

Roadtirement’s tomato plantings

/ Roadtirementvintage / 16 Comments

One thing we have decided to pursue during our stay at home isolation is grow some garden plants. We went ahead and started some tomato plants inside, as per recommendations. Our son cut some plastic water bottles in half and used some self sterilized soil for the inside seed beds.

Photo taken April 10th

Photo taken April 19th

 

 

 

 

 

 

The April 10th photo shows the tomato seedlings. You can see in the April 19th shot how much the tomato seedlings have grown. In addition, the two containers in the foreground are peppers. We are hopeful that we’ll get some tomatoes and peppers after we transplant the seedlings.

We have a small garden plot in the backyard.  Hopefully we will reap the rewards of same. We’ll keep you posted…

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema schedules Planet of the Apes

/ Roadtirementvintage / 10 Comments

Full size statue from the from the 1st movie

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is a nation wide chain of “dinner and a movie” entertainment. While they are closed due the COVID-19 restrictions, their website still shows a scheduled showing of the 1968 cult classic “Planet of the Apes” for August 30th this fall. Whether this showing happens remains to be seen.

Sher and I and our Austin family went to one of these theaters during our Winter Texan stay this past year. The seats are large and comfortable, and the table for your dinner is more than adequate. Food was good, too. We saw and enjoyed  Little Women.

Anyway,  I wanted to show you the huge statue in the lobby of the theater we went to

Ad for an Ape movie marathon

in Austin. The statue is from the actual movie Planet of the Apes. I asked one of the employees where it came from. Turns out the owner of the theater chain also owns the rights to the Planet of the Apes franchise. There were movie posters for all of the Ape movies displayed in the lobby as well as ads for an APE movie marathon of the original five movies.

Have you seen the Planet of the Apes movies? Can you name the original five titles? Might be a good topic for a “stay at home in isolation” set of trivia questions. Stay safe, dear readers. Don’t go ape!

 

COVID-19 empty park

/ Roadtirementvintage / 11 Comments

Not a soul in sight

Sher and I took a drive the other day as the weather was nice even though a tad bit on the cool side. As our son hadn’t been out for a while either, he graciously drove.

We started our jaunt  driving around town, and we immediately noticed that there was a fair amount of traffic out on the streets. No pedestrians in sight, with the exception of a fellow with a carry-out order from a local restaurant.

No children laughing and romping around today

Then it was off to a local city park. The attached photos are the result. The nice shiny new playground equipment had been closed with caution tape. The normally busy park was empty. We did enjoy getting out for a while, maintaining social distance. Heck, we stayed in the car! We do not know how the upcoming “open the country back up” suggestions will affect us. Without a vaccine or real effective treatment we’re not sure when it will be safe for us to get back to normal, whatever that “new normal” will look like.

Stay safe and healthy out there, folks!