Silently movin' along

It's not that bad, but you never know what tomorrow might bring.  One must be prepared!

We've quietly moved to near Howe, IN.  Campgrounds are closed.  We're not sure if it's because it's so early in the season or if Indiana has a warped sense of importance of the northern Indiana area and consider it a vacation destination thereby closing it off to ward off those renegade Michiganders...but no problem getting a hotel.  Go figure.

Either way, we're in a hotel, again, this time a one bedroom suite with kitchenette.  The trailer sets with fridge empty & off in the parking lot ready to move as our service appointments arrive.  We completed our service at Lippert Thursday.  We were the only ones there.  We arrived promptly at 7 AM where we were checked in, were told (by a service tech who stood at a respectful distance) the customer lounge was sanitized, and they'd turned on the TV for us.  The tech who worked on our trailer arrived at 8 AM and by 11 AM the tech stood at the customer lounge doorway, told us we were ready and that we'd be contacted by phone for payment instructions.

Payment was contactless.  After we were on the road back to the hotel, the service advisor called to ensure we were happy with our service, confirmed our email, and explained the payment process.  By the time we arrived at the hotel, Lippert had sent a test message to our email address.  After we responded to that email, a link was sent so we could pay our bill. Very nice process - that worked!

BTW, this is similar to checking into a campground at the present time.  At most campgrounds we don't even need to talk with anyone when we check in as it's all done online or by phone.  If you go to a hotel, you must talk with someone, hand over ID and credit card that's returned to us, use a common pen to sign receipts, and be given a plastic room key to a room that while you're told it's sanitized, you really don't know because you don't even know who - if anyone - slept in that hotel room and used it's bathroom the night before.  I know this may surprise you, but Donna and I actually know who slept in our trailer the night before and who used the toilet and shower and we didn't have to talk to anyone to check in or out.  Who'd thought that?! 

Now contrast Lippert's and most campground's check in/out processes to Auto Park Ford's process in Sturgis, MI where it was business as usual except the showroom was closed.  Of the dozen or more people who came in and out of the service area's customer lounge during my four hour stay for truck service, only two of us wore a mask.  No one wore gloves.  Social distancing was hit or miss.  Payment process was across the counter and business as usual.  We all used the same ink pen.

Walmart in Sturgis - as compared to the Walmart in Glasgow, KY - was business as usual.  A few people wore masks and/or gloves.  The Walmart staff were diligent in sanitizing checkout areas.  Shoppers ignored the directional arrows in the lanes.  People used both entrances and exits to the store.  People, more or less, maintained social distancing.  Plenty of meat and paper products.  No sanitizing products.

Moving forward:  We here until at least May 1st.  MORryde service and height adjustment on our trailer's suspension begins at 6 AM Monday morning.  Another early start and 50 minute drive for us Monday morning.  We get the trailer back Tuesday afternoon and move it to Indiana Interstate Enterprises in Lagrange, IN.  Paul & Kay will let us know when trailer's service is finished.  As most campgrounds are closed here and in Illinois, we're looking at moving to Madison (DeForest), WI once Paul & Kay are done with us for this service season.  So as the cartoon above explains, we sleep so we're ready for that drive!

Voyageurs:  We're getting a better idea of what to expect once we arrive.  Target arrival date remains June 7th.  We've spent some time talking with Tawyna by phone.  We now know that we're to go into quarantine for two weeks once we arrive.  We know the rules of the quarantine.  We've learned that we can arrive earlier.  Based on what Two Harbors decides to do with it's Burlington Bay campground, we may just do that and arrive before Memorial Day so that our quarantine is over by or before June 7th.

We questioned Tawyna about whether we were really needed as tour boats and ranger programs are canceled for the summer season.  We were told that not only where we needed, but that there are only five people on the interpretive ranger staff this summer (including us) for the whole park!  Looks like being a Volunteer in the Parks that brings your own housing does have it's benefits for the Natl Park Service. Nice to be needed!

We expect to be stationed outside Rainy Lake Visitor Center.  Grand Teton Natl Park did that at Jenny Lake Visitor Center last year placing some of their volunteers at a table outside the visitor center to answer most questions and assist visitors. They started it as the Jenny Lake Visitor Center's renovation was nearing completion, but kept it once the visitor center renovations were completed.  (We'll be bring lots of bug spray for Voyageurs!)

Long blog, but that gets you up to date with us.  Thanks for dropping by and checking in on us.  Until next week - when we may know more - be safe out there.  David

Mid-Month (more or less) Update

Kinda late getting this post out.  Quietly, we've started moving north as campgrounds are opened up and allow overnight stops.  Not all do and many are closed.  We've made stops in Manchester, TN and Cave City, KY.  We'll try to go to Indianapolis, IN tomorrow.  If Elkhart, IN opens up, we'll continue on to there on Tuesday.  Biggest fear is that we go to a RV park and told we have to stay for two weeks before we can leave.

We have maintenance and repair appointments in & around Elkhart beginning Thursday.  The shops are encouraging us to come if at all possible.  We've planned to move out of the trailer next Sunday for the following week's appointments.  We plan to stay in local hotels.  Funny how hotels are open, but campgrounds aren't.  When going to a hotel, you have to go inside, talk with a person manning the desk, get a room key, exchange a pen to sign a receipt, and stay in a room you're not sure who cleaned or who stayed in it the night before.  In an RV, late arrival procedures are in place.  You talk by phone, payment handled on line (usually by a reservation).  Nothing changes hand.  Receipts are emailed to you.  Restrooms may or may not be closed.  You know who slept in your bed the night before, and you're responsible for cleaning/sanitizing your rig & vehicle.   Not all campgrounds are doing the late arrival thing, but contact with campground staff is minimized at all we've stopped at for the night. 

Visiting Walmart is getting more draconian as we head north.  The Glasgow, KY Walmart looked like a cheap attempt to create a Disney ride line with appropriate directional arrows and red tape where each person is suppose to stand.  Only one person per family unit can enter the store per security located at the line entrance.  Aisles have arrows pointing directions you must take down the aisle with the now common red tape reminding you of the social distancing spacing. 

Donna chose me to go into the Glasgow Walmart. Reminded me of the NAS Oceana commissary in Virginia Beach.  You think that one person per family unit was being followed?  Nope.  Some were smart enough for each member to have their own cart, but they traveled as a single unit and discussed each product selection at length while they and their carts blocked the aisles.  People were respectful of the social distancing, though.  When people found the aisles blocked while trying to follow the suggested directional arrows, they blew those arrows off.

When I came out, I desperately wanted to reach people higher in state government and remind them that while I know all this is done to protect us baby boomers and such, many of those baby boomers they're trying to protect were taught to shoot communists.   No matter how righteous your intentions, you're not immune to the consequences of your decisions.  I totally get why people are protesting.

No new word on what's happening with us and Voyageurs this summer.  We're aware that all boat tours are canceled.  We understand that the hotel at Kettle Falls is open for fuel only this summer.  We're beginning to wonder if we're even needed.  We've planned to wait in the Duluth or Two Harbors area of Minnesota if campgrounds are open.  My guess is that we'll go north from Indiana to Wisconsin and stop somewhere there.  We know the Madison KOA is open, so that's an option.  We'll see.

That wraps up our status and my rant.  Thanks for dropping by checking up on us.  Until next week, David

Still in the "Shelterin'..." Mode

Yep.  Still here at Stone Mountain State Park.  Still "Sheltering-in-place".  We're getting a lot of walks in the park.  Having to stay off the busy trails (those that circle the mountain) just to help keep our distance from others.  You can tell people are trying to just get out of the house as even the Songbird Habitat & Trail was busy today.  I guess that being sunny and low 70s, today, made it hard to resist.

We'd hope to be able to move north late next week, but that may be hard to do.  Basically we can travel to Tennessee, but no further north.  We have appointments to service the trailer's hydraulics, suspension, and some repair work on the trailer toward the end of April in Elkhart, IN that'd we'd like to keep, but probably won't be able to.  Be easier to plan if they'd just say that they're shutting everyone down for six weeks than this guessing game we're currently under.

Some of you may be wondering what's happening with our plans to work at Voyageurs Natl Park this summer.  At the moment our report date has slipped from May 10th to June 7th.  General thinking is that we'd be posted at tables outside the Rainy Lake Visitor Center to assist visitors.  No idea on impacts to boat tours or ranger programs.  My guess is that the number of people allowed into the visitor center will be limited much like stores are currently limiting the number of customers in the store at any one time.  No clue how we'll handle the park movies or the gift shop.

So here we sit - much like you, I suppose.  We're fine.  There's three rigs on our row in the campground  (there's a total of 11 sites on our row).  One rig is from Colorado.  One rig is from Ohio. And there's us.  We're all spaced out, too.   I think we all pick a pretty nice spot to wait things out.

Thanks, for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David

Doing the Shelterin' in Thing

We're into our second week of sheltering-in-place at Stone Mountain State Park.  The most dangerous thing we do is go to get groceries.  Donna cooks some meals for Doug which we do deliver and share.  I guess we'll be wearing our dust masks when we go out now.  Perfect!  No masks in stores that remain open to go along with no sanitizer, no toilet paper, no paper towels, no sanitizing hand wipes, and no nitrile gloves (which is surprising since we do have them since Donna uses them when we pick up and lay out our sewer hose.)  So dust masks it is!  Good for pollen, too.  At least we'll look stylish when we go out.

Otherwise, we take walks in the park.  We try to stay away from the busier trails.  We getting in four or five miles for some of our walks.  Just walking the campground gets you close to three miles. Campground does have people in it, but it's not that many.  Compared to how we normally see the campground when we're here, it feels empty.  Most campers are families with a few of us out-of-staters sprinkled in.  I think this works well for the state park in one way:  since they chose this time to refurbish a few of the more popular loops, there's not a lot of demand for campground sites.  Consequently, the workers can move about freely as they need to.

Since I'm complaining, it's clear we're doing OK.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  I've posted a few pics of the campground for you to look at if you have the time.  Until next week, David