The Corona Virus...Pandemic

Monday March 16- Another busy Monday. It seems I usually get my cleaning, and laundry done. I like to have things caught up before our work week. This week I did a deep cleaning. I think with all the time spent in here I am noticing things that I haven't been doing on a regular basis. So today cleaned all the vents, window sills, pulled out the furniture and vacuumed. Kirrin our volunteer coordinator stopped by to tell us that the park campground will be closing this Friday at 1 o'clock. Wow, this just keeps getting crazier. She also said that we were welcome to stay. We would just be doing extra cleaning jobs. Jeff and Phill had a jam session planned for tonight at the pavilion. We were hoping that people would still show up. They did but they also practiced social distancing. We were surprised by how many showed up. It was a nice evening for it. There was sort of a dark cloud over it knowing what was going to happen here at the park. Here are a few pictures of the night. We even had a really pretty sunset.

Tuesday March 17- Happy St. Patrick's Day! We are working today and anticipating lots of questions from campers. We had a very busy day, we did get lots of questions. We did answer them as best we could. We still managed to get finished in good time. Since finishing my quilt project I have started on a scrapbook for Maddyn. Going to put all her pictures from her vacation. I have been getting quite a lot of that done lately. Then in the afternoon I recieved a phone call from my niece telling me that my sister Diana is really bad. She has had dementia for years. Dina has been her care giver. She takes really good care of her in her home.  So just have a lot of things going on in my mind right now.

Wednesday March 18- I didn't sleep good last night. I kept waking up and checking my phone for any more information on my sister. Then I received a text, when I checked my phone at about 5:30 a.m. I saw a text from my niece asking if I was awake? I called her right then and she gave me the news...my sister Diana had passed away last night. She is now done dealing with that terrible disease of dementia. What a monster of a disease. So the rest of my day was sad. I called my 2 other sisters and my brother. Then I got a hold of the boys and told them. With this virus just getting worse they have cancelled everything. That means no gathering of 10 or more people. That means no services for deaths.

Thursday March 19- Well today will be our last regular working day here at the campground this season. We have noticed that campers are leaving early. They probably found places to go and thought they better take them before they are gone. Since all the campers are leaving tomorrow we went for supper at Phil and Theresa's. They invited us over for hot dogs, chips and smores. We only had 6 people there so we were ok. We enjoyed our gourmet hot dogs and the good company. Then we said our good byes til next year.

Friday March 20- Today's the day...closing day. Boy was it weird seeing this campground empty. I started taking some of our stuff down. We are planning on staying to finish up our time but thought we maybe should be prepared just in case. We are watching and listening to see if things change. People aren't taking this serious so it just keeps spreading. With it being spring break time all the beaches are full...crazy. With all the free time I finished up what I could on Maddyn's scrapbook. I will have to finish it when I get the rest of the pictures. I'm not going anywhere to get them printed off now. We had a very unique critter come to visit us today. It was up on the ladder on the back of the rig. We have never seen one of this things around here before.

Saturday March 21- A quiet day in the park. The campground was closed but the day use area is open from 8-5. We had a few people coming down to see what's going on. Jeff went to Walmart this morning. He got there before they opened and said they were waiting in line. We thought it would be better if one of us goes to the store. He said it was really eerie in there. They still were missing lots of things on the shelves. He got all we needed.  We are lucky that we keep a pretty good supply of food at all times. We have told people before that we grocery shop for a hobby. I'm trying to keep busy so I gave Belle a haircut today. With all the numbers of this virus getting bigger and bigger Jeff is thinking maybe we should get out of here early. The numbers keep going up and we are afraid that we will get locked in here. We still don't know for sure. We are just watching. Since the days are longer than usual and I finished my scrapbook project, I decided to start cutting fabric for my next quilt project. I like to have a project going all the time.

Sunday March 22- Today was a pretty day, sunny and warm. Jeff took the truck this morning to fill it up with fuel. When he came back he told me the service engine soon light came on. Great. So now he is trying to get it in to fix it. We can't leave here pulling a rig with a service engine soon light on. He scheduled an appointment online. There is enough things we will have to work around. The parks that we usually stay at are closed. So we'll have to find other places to stay that are still on our route. We watched church service online. All services have been cancelled. We bathed the dogs and sat outside to enjoy the day. We had some woodpeckers visiting us. Lots of critters coming out since all the people have left.

I also got started putting blocks together. I finished 4 today, only 16 left to do. The virus is still on the upward swing. People aren't listening and doing what they are asking. Not sure when they will understand. I hope sooner than later.

Monday March 23- First thing this morning I found out that the day use is now closed. That means the whole park is closed. We had talked about taking the kayaks out today but now we didn't know if that was a good idea. So we waited to see.  Kirrin came by this morning to explain and answer any questions we have.  We also have a birthday today, our Belle is 12...I just about forgot about it.

I worked some on making more blocks. I finished a total of 10 now with 10 more to make. We have decided today to make a quick escape. After thinking about it we are going to get out of Florida and head north to Iowa. We have an appointment to get the truck in on Wednesday. Then if they can get it fixed we will take off on Thursday. We took a ride down to the river area today, looking at the park. Everything is deserted. Here are a few pics of that. So quiet with no people. This is a beauty of a park and let me tell you it gets used a lot. This is a lonely place right now.

 Tuesday March 24- Well today we went back to work. It was a bit different. They have locked all the shower houses. They kept one of the family bath houses open for the volunteers. So we cleaned that. Then we started cleaning up sites. Jeff had the weed eater and we pulled weeds, cleaning up the sites. I went around and checked all the grills and fire pits, cleaning them out if they needed. It is really hot out there today, in the 90's. After work I made some phone calls. We need to have places to stay on our way home. The parks we usually use are all closed. Jeff had a plan all made but now that's changed. We are afraid if we don't get out of here we will get locked down in this state. When I called the parks I couldn't make any reservations because we have to make sure the truck is fixed before we take off. We think we have a plan. It won't be anything what we usually do. It will be drive, stop, drive, stop. We also talked to Carl in Palo, Iowa about us coming up there. The water isn't turned on yet there so that could be a problem. With all that is going on I forgot that we are a month earlier. He told us that we our welcome to come. We will probably stay in Keokuk a while before going on to Palo. We also finished putting stuff away just in case.

Wednesday March 25- First thing in the morning we took the truck in and I followed Jeff there and brought him home. Then we waited for a call to let us know what and when we can pick it up. They wanted to do a bunch of maintenance work. Jeff told them before he took it that he just wanted the issue fixed. So they got it done and we went back over to pick it up. Did I mention that the traffic was crazy. I don't think anybody is listening to the news. I have a feeling this area is going to be a hot spot. The good news there wasn't any charge for the repair, it was under warranty. On the way home we topped off both fuel tanks. Now we are ready to take off in the morning.

Thursday March 26- We took off north toward Iowa today. Just like that we are out of here. Good bye Jonathan Dickinson, see ya next time. Our first stop was Madison, Florida. We will be staying at Ragan's Family Campground. It was about 350 miles today which is longer than our usual travel day. We had to stop and get fuel, which again we don't usually do. We have figured out what works for us and have stuck with it. This is not what we like.  We were on the turnpike and when we stopped at the rest area the diesel pump was either broke or you had to go inside and prepay. Jeff didn't want to do that. It was a pain. We had a few issues, but finally got our fuel. It was a relief for sure. When we arrived at the park the place was busier than we usually see. This place has a water park and pools. Lots of families here using them. I just don't get it. We had a big easy pull through site. When we set up it was super hot and the bugs were there to welcome us. Had a bit of an issue with the big foot coming down but finally got it. We had a few issues inside too. During our traveling we had a light fall down and shatter. We also saw some water on the floor in front of the frig. Found an water bottle inside that the lid wasn't on tight. We sat up and relaxed, getting ready to hit the road again tomorrow.


Friday March 27- Jeff started the day by washing all of our vehicles. It is a foggy morning too. This park is right by the interstate so we jumped back on and continued north. Today we are driving to Montgomery Alabama. This is no good way to get there on interstate roads. We have to take some US highways. These go thru towns and business areas. Not our favorite way. It was a long day with lots of stop and go driving. I found out on the radio that here in Alabama they haven't closed up the restaurants and business's yet. The traffic was super busy, Friday lunch time. We were so close to the park when we ran in to big construction. It took us quite a while to get through that and in to Woods RV Park. This park we usually stay just one night. Again it's busier than usual. We are already tired of driving. We changed our plans a little. We are adding another stop because we can't keep doing this. Jeff got online and found a spot. We called and have a spot.


Saturday March 28- Today we are driving to Cornersville, Tennessee, about 50 miles south of Nashville. The drive today was way easier. We jumped on the interstate and stayed there until we got to the right exit. The park Texas T campground was located right off the interstate. Super easy on and off. We set up and then went to fuel up. That was an interesting drive. It was on the back roads to a small town and up the hills. Very pretty drive. This park was a great find. Later on the park manager came around to tell us we have weather coming in over night. Great, just what I want to think about.

Sunday March 29-Well he was right. We did get quite a storm last night. Lots of rain and lightning. Today we are driving through Nashville. Neither of us like driving through there. We were on the road by 8:15. Driving through Nashville was easier than usual. With it being Sunday morning that helped. We kept on, arriving in Benton Illinois at 1 o'clock. This time we stayed at the KOA because our other park is closed. We have stayed here before. They took us to our spot and we set up. This is not my favorite park. It is right next to the interstate and you can here every car and truck buzzing by. Our rig is fairly quiet. We thought that the traffic would slow down at night but that never happened. So not much sleep. We will not be coming back here. Tomorrow we will make it back to Keokuk Iowa. We talked to Hickory Haven Campground and they have a spot for us. The water isn't on yet but will be in a day. So until next time...stay safe everyone.