It’s On!
It’s August, 2021. The Delta variant of Covid 19 is wreaking havoc across the land, especially in the Southeast, where the fully vaccinated governors are hemming and hawing about whether their constituents should get vaccinated. Somehow, they don’t want the vaccination campaign to succeed, since that would chalk up a hashmark in the WIN column for Joe Biden, the nation’s avuncular uncle. It’s absolute chaos out there right now. Mask mandates get pulled, then reinstated, and folks get whipsawed back and forth along with the mandates. Now we are in the “suggested” mode. Masks are strongly recommended. What does that even mean? It means I have my mask back on. Kids are going back into the classroom full time this fall in NJ. At least that’s the way it is today. Tomorrow, things could be different.
Kip and I got our vaccines this spring, back when everyone was scrambling to find a shot and driving hours to get one when offered. Now you have to pay folks to roll up their sleeves. Ugh, what is so hard to understand? There is a dangerous and unpredictable disease that has infected 200 million people worldwide and killed over 600,000 Americans. Just do it!
Once protected, we made plans to get in the car and tackle the seven states that I still need for my challenge- Wisconsin, The Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Nebraska. How else could we get to all those places in the seven months remaining before my next birthday, especially since sharing air with a couple hundred strangers in a airplane holds little appeal. We are bringing bikes and hiking boots, masks and rescue inhalers, pills for my overactive bladder, my journal, cell phones that will only work as cameras because we will be off the grid, positive attitudes, and FRIENDS!
Betsy, whom you surely remember from our epic 2016 trip to Nevada and Utah, is game for another go. We will add to our National Park total from that trip (Grand Canyon, North Rim, Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Grand Escalante National Recreation Area). She, along with her husband Graham, also a very old friend of ours, will be by our sides as we explore the Northern tier. Parks we plan to pounce upon: Theodore Roosevelt, Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Badlands, and Wind Cave. We will be in a crazy rush, since we also want to see the Crazy Horse Monument and Mount Rushmore. Come to think of it, that’s surely how these two sites got their names.
Luckily, no one else in the country has thought to visit the national parks. I’m sure we will have them to ourselves…
After we explore the area around Rapid City, Betsy and Graham will head back to Wisconsin for a wedding, and Kip and I will backtrack to Colorado to see Laura and Joe in Crested Butte before staggering home through Nebraska and finding a challenge there. We figure we will be gone about a month. Plans are pretty loose. There is so much uncertainty that we are ready to pivot any time. The fire season is horrendous this year, and between the smoke and the altitude, Kip is going to be facing some challenges of his own. But he has never driven cross country, and he doesn’t want to miss the chance. He is hoping it will be more fulfilling than his three day trip from LA to NYC in the back of a Greyhound bus in 1980… with no money. This time, he probably will not have to ask for a bite of a stranger’s hamburger. These days, no one shares food.
Luckily, no one else in the country has thought to visit the national parks. I’m sure we will have them to ourselves…
I realize I have not said anything about January 6. Let the nausea in my gut be my only remark. In preparation for this trip through deep red country, I removed my Biden-Harris and Facts Matter bumper stickers from the back of the Subaru. Whether hiking, biking, or driving, it is never wise to poke the bear.