Three Hundred and Two Days

Three hundred and two days ago I boarded a plane in Australia, routed through New Zealand, where I secretly rather hoped to get stuck, and finally landed in LAX. In New Zealand they were already handing every single passenger an information card about Covid and entering quarantine if you were staying on the island, but as the final leg of my flight approached LA not a single announcement was made about entering quarantine post-travel or isolating if you felt ill. The airport was a ghost town, I literally walked directly up to the immigration official – if you have ever returned from international travel, especially into LAX, you know this is not how it usually works. There were no signs in the airport about Covid, no announcements about social distancing, the immigration official did not inquire about my health. Quite the difference between the two countries back in March, eh? And here we are now. The difference really shows.

As Covid infections and death counts continue to rise nationally, as well as locally, Jesse and I have regular check ins with each other: Do you feel comfortable with our current socialization patterns? Are we willing to travel in a self-contained camping manner where the only stops would be for gas? Are we still ok with riding bikes and hiking outdoors with friends? We revisited these questions when Covid counts were falling, and again today as Covid infections continue to soar and the local hospital has added a new Covid ICU wing. We know we don’t have answers, but we do have a lot of compassion and gratitude for our situation — we have each other, our bikes, and a National Forest essentially in our back yard. We decided not to travel to Arizona or Southern CA deserts over Jesse’s winter holiday break even though we would have interacted with less people than we do at home. I’m a firm believer that optics matter and traveling with out of state plates or far from home makes others also feel like they can travel. Our bottom line is that when this is all behind us, we want to know that we did our very best to not be part of the problem. And, the more we learn, the more I know I do not want to get Covid — we’ve made it this far and with vaccines rolling out I hope to keep myself firmly in the not sick category.

It is winter here. But also it is Santa Barbara! Any travel that I discuss below is local, riding our bikes from home or a local trailhead, and camping by ourselves in the forest. I also continue with necessary volunteer work and we do hike and bike with a small circle of friends, though right now we are planning to shrink that circle even more as hospitals are getting overwhelmed.

Between bike rides I continue to volunteer in a few capacities. I still help make and serve lunch once a week at a local shelter for those without a more permanent roof over their head. From a Covid perspective I consider this the most high risk activity in which I partake — being inside with a large group of people for two hours; however, I always wear an N95 mask, a used leftover in our household from one of the big fires. I figure if an N95 is good enough for nurses, it is good enough for me, though I think I will also pair it with eye protection this week, since they have had a few cases of Covid recently. I also continue to meet once a week with a young woman from my neighborhood who I am teaching how to ride a bike. She is a joy and needs to get out of the house occasionally for mental, as well as physical, health. Her mom works long hours outside of the house and the young woman is on Zoom schooling each day. We both wear masks the entire time, do not get within six feet of each other, and are outside at all times so the benefits seem to greatly outweigh the risks.

Jesse and I are both still active in our local social justice group. We are part of an “action pod” that attends City Council and County Supervisor meetings anytime relevant topics are on the agenda (really most topics are relevant to social justice — think Covid, housing insecurity, renters rights, employment rights, jails, and police actions). We take notes on the meetings and make public comments to try and sway votes in the direction of compassion and justice for those most at risk in our society — democracy in action. It is so rare for me to be in one place for so long and not be overwhelmed with my work load, so I am trying to do good with the time and skills available to me… Speaking of which, votes are being counted in Georgia as I type. And today a district attorney decided not to press charges against the police officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times. Jacob Blake is now paralyzed from the waist down and this was done in front of his children. I don’t care what the man might have done, cops don’t get to execute anyone. Except they do. And I will keep fighting to change that. These are the things that are on my mind today.

I’ve also been making things. Today I made these spice racks to open up some cupboard space.

With a good dose of help from Jesse I also made a spice rack/storage place and fold out table for the bus. The VW bus originally had one, but not in recent memory. When the table is up we can put our camp stove and fuel on top of it for comfortable cooking.

We also went for an overnight trip on New Year’s Eve. This ride started at the house and came a few days after we had our first rain (down low) and snow (up high) of the season, which means we found the remnants of some snow/hail up high. This trip was chillier than the previous, but not too bad at night. Also, starting January 1 camp stoves were finally allowed in the backcountry again which meant hot drinks for breakfast!!

Thanks for reading my life update! I’m definitely getting stir-crazy and can’t wait to travel the world, or at least the US, again! Meanwhile I practice gratitude and tend my literal and metaphorical gardens. Sending love, peace, and health to you.