I have taken a bit of a winter siesta from blogging. Honestly, I have started several posts but haven’t been inspired to finish them. Not sure why as our winter in Palm Springs has been great, filled with loads of activities like concerts, comedy nights, hiking, pickleball and numerous guests. 

We have made loads of travel plans for the spring and summer…Canada, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado. Life is good…

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And now the reality check…no one expected the craziness that has ensued on a global level. Here at our winter digs in Palm Springs it is becoming very, very quiet. Most of our Canadian friends left early as they may have time or insurance restrictions. Some of our American friends have also headed for home but many are staying put here in the sunny desert. 

The Road House crew is also staying put. We had plans to head to Portland Oregon then on to Ancortes Washington in mid April. Our plan WAS to provision the boat for a month and cruise north to Princess Louisa Inlet. 

Again, reality check…the Seattle area is besieged with Coronavirus and in Ancortes most non-essential businesses are shutdown, the downtown area is a ghost town and oh yeah, it’s COLD there. Given everything that is going on, it was an easy decision to stay put and hopefully help flatten the curve.

While Palm Springs proper has shut down except for essential services we feel comfortable here in our RV Resort aka the “compound”. All of our scheduled events and activities were cancelled last week but the golf courses, pickleball center, pools and spas are open so again…life is good!

Until we are asked to shelter in place, we still plan to go hiking, biking, play pickleball and see friends outside in very small groups. We are definitely limiting our exposure outside of the resort but have ventured out for essentials. Trying to utilize online ordering but so far all I have received is 4 bottles of wine…LOL! Costco and Ralph’s are scheduled to deliver tomorrow. It’s going to be a bit like opening birthday presents!

There has definitely been panic shopping going on here too and some households in the Coachella Valley have way to much TP.

Reality check people…  what really frustrates me about this is the ripple down effect. My mother is basically a shut in and relies on me to do her online ordering for all of her basic necessities. Guess what, not happening right now. All of the stores I online order from have made basic necessities like TP only available on a walk in basis. Not happening for my mother…way to go people…could you wipe twice…once for her???

Ok, venting over, but seriously…these are interesting times and humans can be incredible selfish. Thankfully, I have seen the other extreme happening, friends and neighbors coming together to help each other. We have several older folks who live here in our resort full time who have limited mobility or are self isolating. This community is helping them with grocery shopping, dropping off books or magazines, etc. Personally, I have had offers from friends all over the US to help my mother, mail their own supplies to her or go check on her.  Thank you friends and neighbors, your simple acts of kindness are keeping my faith in humanity from a complete flush down the toilet…sans the TP!!!

So for now, we are healthy and mostly sane. Hoping you all are too.