Westward Ho

Please check out my blogs from our 2020 Black Hills & Badlands trip for more information on what to do in this area!

With less than 6 hours of travel to reach the Badlands (our first destination) there wasn't any need to rush to get out of the house. Normally we have a whole checklist of things to do when we leave on a trip, but this time our son, his wife and youngest son were arriving later in the afternoon to spend the weekend in our home. They were dropping off their older son at a church camp retreat nearby and would stay until Sunday when they would pick him up and go home. I left a detailed note explaining what all they needed to do when they left (turn off the water, empty the garbage, etc.) This son is very responsible but I still felt the need to do a FaceTime call while we were driving just to make SURE everything was handled correctly.

The change from summer to fall was quite apparent as we drove. The corn and soybean fields were turning from green to gold and fields of sunflowers were now almost unrecognizable. What had been a blanket of yellow flowers was now just dried brown stems. A sure sign of autumn was a truck passing by pulling a trailer loaded with pumpkins.

Black Hills 2.0

If you received an email alert for this blog post, be aware that the Feed Burner mail service that I used previously is being discontinued. If you would like to make sure you are notified of any future posts, please sign up on the right side of this page for my new service with Follow.It. More information can be found in the previous blog post. Thanks a bunch!

Like many people, when the word "pandemic" started popping up, I thought life might change for oh...maybe a month or two tops. Never did I imagine that a year and a half later my travel plans would be formed based on the ability to be outside or stay social distant. But that is exactly what pushed us to plan a return trip to the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota.

A couple of weeks after our 2nd Covid vaccine in March I was ready to go SOMEWHERE. When I noticed on the AirBnB website that the Black Hills apartment we rented last year was available for the same time this year it seemed like a sign. The fact that the reservation could be cancelled up until the day before made it easy to commit without really being committed. Five nights in late September...booked.

I Need Your Help

Hello Readers...

For now there won't be any travel blog posts from exotic locations, but we are planning a short road trip soon. If you have signed up to follow this blog via email, then I need your help to make sure you continue to get notified when a new post is published.

The email service I used previously to alert readers of a new post has been discontinued and will no longer work. I have added a new service called "follow.it" that will alert you whenever a new blog post is added. All you have to do is provide your email address in the box on the right hand side of the blog to subscribe. There is no cost and your address will not be shared nor will you be bombarded with SPAM. You will also be able to unsubscribe easily should you decide you don't want to be notified.

Once you enter your email in the box, you will be asked to confirm you are not a robot. Immediately you should receive an email asking you to confirm your request. If the confirmation email doesn't show up, check your spam folder to see if the email is there. The email sender will be listed as: follow.it. 

Technology advancements have managed to outpace my computer skills, so I would welcome any comments on how this is working...or not working! I would also love it if any of my current subscribers would sign up (again) and be even more happy if new subscribers join!

Thanks a bunch. Let's hope that REAL travel gets back to normal and we will have many more adventures to share!!

Mary

March 11 - The Beginning AND the End?

 March 11, 2020

The World Health Organization declared the fast spreading coronavirus outbreak a pandemic and the world changed overnight. It has been a long year and an especially long winter but perhaps the end is in sight?

March 11, 2021

Interesting that exactly one year later Bob and I received the second of our Moderna vaccines which we are hoping is our ticket to a "somewhat" more normal life. 

Last month we got our first jab and were given appointments for four weeks later for the next shot. A mid-March blizzard is always a possibility so it was a relief to have a sunny day in the mid-40's to make the half hour drive to the small pharmacy where our vaccine was waiting. The drive was not without a little bit of excitement, however. Bob had to make a couple of quick stops. First, to avoid hitting a pheasant that flew up in front of our car and then to avoid hitting (or being hit) by four deer darting across the highway. Definitely gets your heart pumping!

Pulling up in front of the tiny drugstore on main street I couldn't help but think what a different experience we were having compared to those in a big city going to a mass vaccination site. Just as the first time, the pharmacy was pretty much empty and in less than 10 minutes we both had our shots.

Shortly after we took our seats for the 15-minute post vaccine waiting period, some acquaintances came in for their vaccines. Visiting with them made the time fly by and then we were back on the road headed home.

The 15-minute waiting period following the vaccine.

Bob suffered a bit yesterday with side effects of his vaccine...achy muscles, low grade fever and tiredness. My only symptom was a pretty sore arm with a red rash around the injection site. Today both of us are feeling pretty good so the effects were short-lived.

Now to look ahead...

In exactly TWO weeks, our son and grandkids are coming for a visit. Other than a couple of brief outdoor visits last summer, this will be the first time in over a year that we have been together. AND...shortly after they leave our other son and grandkids are coming during their spring break to stay for a few days. Yippee!

I have no idea when traveling may be a part of our lives again, but I am starting to dream "just a bit." For now spending time with family and "maybe" eating at a restaurant will seem pretty exciting to us!

V-Day

I have been on a treasure hunt recently and a few days ago I struck gold! Yes...my persistence paid off and I was able to score two much coveted appointments for our covid vaccines!

Initially I thought our health care provider would be our route to the vaccine, and had resigned myself to the fact that it was going to be a long time before our turn came. The clinic was starting with the oldest age group of patients and then slowly working their way down. When I called, they were only making appointments for those in their 80's. Since Bob and I are at the bottom of the 65+ age group it was going to be forever before we got our call.

Several weeks ago Minnesota opened nine community pilot sites scattered around the state where they were going to be giving shots to those over 65 and also educators. Bob and I were both ready on the first day when the phone lines opened up and repeatedly called...like over 100 times each! At the same time, I also tried to log in to the website using a computer and ipad simultaneously. Nothing. The few calls that did connect were answered with a recording saying the phone lines were all busy. The website pretty much crashed. After a couple of hours I gave up.

Later in the day I checked the website one more time and it looked like appointments were available at one of the sites about 60 miles away. I quickly started trying, but at the end of the process I received a message saying all appointments had been filled and we had been placed on a waiting list. Frustrating, but it gave us a tiny glimmer of hope.

After only two weeks, the state decided to close all but three of the pilot sites (in Minneapolis, Duluth and Rochester) all of which are over 3 hours away from us. New sign-ups were not being accepted and a lottery would be held to choose names from the waiting list. All of the sites were too far to drive in winter weather even if our names did get picked from the hundreds of thousands on the waiting list.

This past week I happened to read that a limited supply of vaccine was being sent out to some of the smaller pharmacies in the state. I called several places listed on the state "Find My Vaccine" website but the best I could do was get put on waiting lists with hundreds of other people. 

Later in the morning I happened to look at the state website one more time and realized that a new pharmacy chain had been added. I went on the pharmacy website and found a location 30 miles from us and began trying to book an appointment. Many times I almost made it through the process only to get a pop-up that said the time slot had been filled. 

I wasn't about to give up however and eventually I was able to set up an appointment for myself. What a relief to see an email confirmation come through saying that my vaccine was scheduled in just 2 days! I had to repeat the process repeatedly but was able to get Bob's appointment booked as well, just10 minutes after mine!

The interesting twist to the story is that around 5 pm that evening I got a call from one of the other pharmacies that had put us on a waiting list. They had available appointments! I declined, but immediately called my neighbor who then called some of her friends. So the time and frustration I spent resulted in vaccines for all five of us!

Much of our weather this winter has been warmer than normal. But...as we headed north for our appointment, the thermometer reading was headed south. The temperature never got above zero and snow was falling lightly and blowing across the highway, reducing visibility in some places.

A snowy drive to get our vaccines.

Getting the vaccine couldn't have been easier. No other customers were in the tiny, small-town pharmacy when we arrived and within a few minutes both of us had gotten our shots. We sat on folding chairs in the cold-remedy aisle for 15 minutes afterwards and then we were free to go. Our only other stop was at a gas station to add air to our tires. Due to the extreme cold, the "check tire" light had come on.

Bob dealt with a sore arm for a couple of days afterwards. I felt a bit tired, but that was it. Now we wait. The booster to our Moderna vaccine is already scheduled in four weeks...almost a year to the day when a state of emergency was first declared in Minnesota due to the pandemic.

Who knows what the future holds in terms of this virus. Besides the variants being reported from the U.K., South Africa and Brazil, today the news is reporting even more variants emerging that have started here in the U.S. At the same time, however, case numbers are dropping drastically.

Right now I am not overly optimistic that international travel will be normal anytime in the near future. But I am hopeful that now we can be comfortable seeing family again and maybe even take some road trips. A little light at the end of a very long tunnel.