theboondork's RV blog

the scary days of the bat flu part deux

11/20/2023

All you really need to do is click the pics and then you're through.

A cold front rolled into the area bringing winds, and some pretty chilly temperatures last night, and that's expected to continue for a while...I need to get further South.

Continuing my story from yesterday.

Not knowing what else to do or where I would stay if they ran everyone out of Quartzsite, if you recall, things about that time were starting to shut down nationwide. RV parks weren't allowing new people in, some Walmarts weren't letting people stay overnight, and there were some interstate exits in New Mexico, especially I-40 at Gallup that was closed and the Highway Patrol wouldn't allow anybody to exit that didn't live there. But even with all the problems involved I decided to try and return to Colorado before things got even worse because I would at least be with my family.

But Denver is a long way from Quartzsite, and of course I'm towing the Arctic Fox, so I had to make the trip In easy steps staying anyplace that would take me In. So I headed east on I-10 until I reached the Pima County Fair Grounds in Tucson. And even though the regular check-in office was closed uptight, I went to the admin office, explained my problems, and was lucky enough to be talking to someone with authority. There was only a couple of dozen RVs in the place, and the Pima County Fairgrounds has about 500 campsites; But I guess I looked pretty pitiful so I was told I could stay as long as I needed to, a response for which I will be forever grateful...by the way; pitiful and homeless is the way I normally look.

At first, I stayed in the boondocking area like I always do. But, by now, it was early June and getting over 100° in the daytime; after all, Tucson is a desert and home to the Saguaro National Park, so I moved to a hookup site to run my air conditioner, because I had decided to stay where I was familiar with the area, and felt safe, until the situation improved out on the road.

Most stores and restaurants around the fairgrounds were closed since they couldn't get employees to come to work, so even though I was only a five-minute drive to Popeyes, they were closed so my favorite red beans and rice was so close, yet so far away. But Walmart was in the same parking lot and I used their early opening hours for geezers to make sure I shopped safely and had plenty of food.

I stayed at the Fairgrounds for a while, and when I heard about Walmarts opening up their parking lots for overnight parking again, I figured I could Wally-Dock my way from Tucson to Denver without much trouble, so with only about six or eight RVs left in the entire Pima County Fairgrounds, off I went.

My biggest memory of that drive was all the semi-trucks on the interstates; they easily outnumbered the cars 10 to 1; it seemed like the only people working in the United States were truck drivers, and thank goodness for that, the truck drivers probably saved us from a bigger disaster than the bat flu had been. Picture what could've happened if no groceries were being delivered to the grocery store!

I finally pulled into Denver three or four days later and was happy to find everybody there was okay.

As I've said before, my life is not a challenge, a quest, or an adventure. My life is perfectly normal, except I live in a tiny house that moves. But during the pandemic, I did have challenges to overcome, a quest to get safely back to my family in Denver, and it all ended up to being quite an adventure that I hope none of us ever has to deal with again.

Theboondork.

Boondocking at the Elephant.

When I leave my Boondocking site to go somewhere, I leave my folding chair with a gallon jug of water in it so the wind doesn't blow it away, some orange telescoping traffic cones that I use to block off the driveway, and a couple of old orange leveling blocks laying on the ground, so folks can see I'm serious about coming back.This keeps other campers away In most situations, but folks get desperate during holidays, so I feel better if I just stay here.

Nearby mountains at sunrise.

10 Comments

OFM

11/21/2023 09:01:22 pm

Rolling next Monday morning, I am afraid I have forgotten how to comfortably boondock it has been so long ago. But I keep reading your blog for hints to help me and other folks.

Tom

11/21/2023 09:40:27 pm

I also am waiting till Monday to get on the road. Most folks will leave here Sunday afternoon to get back to wherever they need to go, so Monday ought to be easy traveling. And I'm not going far, either City of Rocks State Park or Rock Hound. And since I've got to drive pretty much the same way to get to either one, I'll probably make up my mind on the way there.

Yeah Barney, it's taken me a while to get used to traveling and finding boondocking places again, but its just like riding a bike, once you learn how to do it you can still find ways of falling off.

But you've been out of circulation for so long it might take a bit longer to get back in the swing of things. But just think of all those new picture-taking opportunities you will have and the ease of writing blog posts when you're in a new place doing different things.

So lace up those traveling shoes and hit the road. Let every mile put you that much farther from your problems, and every place you stay put a smile on your face.

Tom

Linda

11/22/2023 02:18:06 pm

I still can't believe they thought about closing the LTVAs in Quartzsite--what better place to social distance?!!!

11/22/2023 03:12:01 pm

That's very true Linda, and that's why I went to Quartzsite figuring it would be the best place to ride out the pandemic because I couldn't imagine the government deciding to displace that many people, and with everything closing down, where would they all go?

I never heard what the government actually did with Q and the LTVA's, all I know is what the Yuma office told me that they were very concerned about the lack of medical facilities in the area and didn't want the small towns of Parker, Ehrenberg, and Blythe to be overrun with all of the Quartzsite RVers. And when I heard that I figured I had better get out while the gettin was good, before everybody in Quartzsite started running for cover.

Since that was early in the pandemic I don't know if the government was worried about outdoor social distancing, I think they were more concerned about thousands of old people getting sick and running out of ventilators.... That was back in the bat flu days when ventilators were priority one... And there wasn't enough of them.

Tom

Larry Worsham

11/23/2023 06:47:02 am

You have got me to thinking (scarry). I've not seen an independent review or examination of the COVID crisis. There were so many unknowns at the time......have we figured out the knowns? I don't want to get into my concerns about govt. power but that has to be considered also in any evaluation of the effectiveness of actions during COVID.

SAFE TRAVELS.....you heading to a couple of our favorite places.

11/23/2023 08:22:29 am

That's a great question, Larry. But to keep my answer from becoming a three-day-long blog post, I'll keep it simple because the answer is quite simple.

We may never know the answer to your questions for the simplest reasons... Politics.

Covid was a medical problem that needed to be solved in medical ways, but like one infamous Democrat once said, "Never let a crisis go to waste." And since Trump was president at the time, leftists the world over were given carte blanche to destroy America and Trump in any way possible.

I don't know if politics could have been kept out of the bat flu crisis or any other crisis in the future, but it shows that elections have consequences, and in the case of the bat flu, it had life and death consequences.

So when someone votes for politicians that hate the country they're proposing to run, it usually just makes life a little worse and our wallets more empty. But during a pandemic, the worst thing any country could have is a political party that loathes and despises their own country, the people in it, and believes that to promote their own political agenda they must " never let a crisis go to waste."

Tom

11/23/2023 11:59:24 am

Your right about politics control of and taking advantage of the situation. Outside of politics I feel that in addition to the federal govt. exercising to much power the local and state govt's did also. I live in a red state and govt. exercised power through the emergency powers laws. The laws are not limited in duration and scope. The should be. I was hoping to see a change but it won't happen. After they got a taste of it they can't let go.

The copter pics are fantastice. I bet those men flying would love a copy.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

11/23/2023 02:45:38 pm

Thank you Larry, and a happy Thanksgiving to you too.

Yeah I lot of states made some bad decisions also, some of which were based on politics rather than medical advice, the power of the teachers union comes to mind.

But you're right once these politicians taste power they want more, and I believe the old saying that fits the situation is; "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" which is the reason why even in my brief lifespan I can hardly recognize what America has become.

I'm pretty sure you can remember back when the Democratic Party and the Republican Party were hard to tell apart, and if you didn't pay close attention to politics they looked about the same. But somehow in a very brief period the Democratic Party was taken over by people that obviously don't like anything about this country and seem to be pushing as hard as they can to tear it all apart from every direction and rebuild it into something else. And looking at what's going on just in the last couple of years there's no way anyone can say that the leftists have made any political decisions that have done anything beneficial for this country.

From the changes they've made already it's easy to see their idea of what America will be is a nightmare, and it's all being done on purpose, and right in front of our eyes.

Well, anyway; [stepping down from his soapbox] I enjoy taking pictures of military equipment. Oddly enough, when I was in the military and had access to military stuff, I couldn't take any pictures of it. Maybe that's why I enjoy it so much now.

Once again, Larry, happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Tom

11/23/2023 02:26:50 pm

My Health Care Directive says I do not want "Politicians, courts, religious or other groups involved in my personal health care decisions." My doctor approved of that sentiment.

11/23/2023 03:05:33 pm

I don't believe I have a health care directive, Linda; I'm not even sure what it is. I have Medicare, which I use on occasion for checkups. And I can use the VA hospital if I ever get sick enough that life is not worth living. Other than that, I'm kind of on my own.

Tom

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the scary days of the bat flu part deux

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