“Come join us at the brewery”
— a friend’s invite on Friday

As recently as Sunday, friends were socializing, going to bars & coffee shops. Yesterday (Monday) a friend suggested we get together with a couple other friends around lunchtime.
Within the hour of that suggestion, I connected with my family here in town to pick up some groceries they’d got for me– without actual face to face contact. My family and I have been talking with my mother, in Spain, and hearing what a difference just a week has made there. It’s sobering.

Early Thursday morning, Meg and I talked about canceling the pre-ride meeting for the Stagecoach 400. The “vibe” was only just starting to get serious and “social distancing” was an ironic hashtag among cycling & Airstream friends rather than a legitimate practice. What better way to distance ourselves than to go ride & camp in the middle of nowhere?!

We didn’t cancel the meeting; rather we sent out an email Thursday morning explaining that it was on our mind, and we suggested folks stay put if they didn’t want to come out. Some riders stayed away, some showed up. There was still lots of joking about the virus & TP, and lots of hugging.

We figured the ride was low risk, being a handful of riders spread out over vast distances in the middle of nowhere. I sat the ride out for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is “I’m not fit enough to ride 400 miles right now” but also I wanted to keep in touch with the regular world.

I talk with my mother almost daily, she’s in Madrid. A week ago they had rumors of a lockdown, today they’re fully shut down as the virus sweeps through the nation. She tells me it is very quiet there. Almost nobody is working. I can’t help but to feel like I’m watching a car accident in the USA here, in slow motion. My mother’s account from Spain is the preview.

I understand we have at least one person in Idyllwild currently in quarantine. A friend, this person works in healthcare and may have had contact with a positive-test patient. The quarantine is a precautionary measure.

I am still working. Maintaining 6 feet from the guy I’m working with, but I don’t know how much longer we can or should do that?
My friends Meg & Peter, and others, are coming off the Stagecoach route today. They’re very tired, cold, and want some time to rest with a hot shower. 

My kids are out of school for at least a month. Their mother & I are taking weeklong shifts as we homeschool them; she took the first shift. I don’t have solid plans for how we’ll handle next week but I imagine it’ll involve a good dose of outdoor fun. Maybe the Airstream too?