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May. 11th, 2020
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May. 11th, 2020 11:04 pmSo, my mental health has not been good. For almost two months, I've been stuck in quarter acre plot of the house while the coronavirus was running rampant. I decided that once some of the park restrictions lifted, I'd go out and visit a local park, and it did me a world of good.
But it got me thinking - how could I do a roadtrip in an infected world, and do it safely? I started thinking on this, and narrowed things down to two areas of "responsibility."
1) How do I keep from infecting others?
2) How do I keep from being infected?
The major keypoint of #1 was easy - don't break down. I can take food with me, I can drinks with me, I can take care of business in the woods...but if I break down, I'll need to be rescued, and that means lots of possible contact.
Click is in pretty good shape. So I made a quick list of things I needed to do. Oil change, sensors fixed, brakes need replacing.
This is where Keypoint #2 comes in. How to keep from getting infected. Jiffy Lube actually did a great job at that. I stayed in my car the whole time, they did everything under the hood. The only point of contact was when I paid. They took my card, and then sanitized the darned card when they gave it back. Nice.
Another place got me dinner almost completely contactless. I ordered online, gave them a time I'd be there, my car info, and when I pulled in, my food was ready - only point of contact? Passing the food to me.
There was one point of contact that I didn't expect, though. At another place, I gave them my credit card, and when they handed it back to me, they handed me a pen that wasn't likely sanitized.
But I had a plan: My left hand was always going to be "uncontaminated." I wouldn't touch anything I didn't trust with it. My right was what I took risks with. I took the pen, signed the reciepts, handed it back, then used some hand sanitizer to wipe my hands afterwards.
Something I didn't consider? Hand Sanitizer and finger foods DON'T MIX. BLARGH.
The other thing I didn't consider? I felt guilty. Having the folks at Jiffy Lube working on my car in a pandemic, getting food at the two restaurants I went to, heck even the park ranger mowing the grass at one of the state parks...I felt bad that they were there. They shouldn't need to be there right now - things are bad, our governments should be supporting them, and the world should be on hold. I tipped them huge. But I felt terrible putting them at risk to get food or visit a park. I'm doing the best I could to keep them safe from me. I hope everyone else is.
The drive itself kept me away from major populated areas - only deep into the woods and backroads.
I do think that longer roadtrips are possible, but I'd need to carry as many supplies as possible - I've done that on my cross coutnry trips with sodas and MREs. Self-serve gas is still going to be a pain-point (maybe Oregon was right all these years), but I think it can be done safely.
My guilt, however, that may not go away anytime soon....
But it got me thinking - how could I do a roadtrip in an infected world, and do it safely? I started thinking on this, and narrowed things down to two areas of "responsibility."
1) How do I keep from infecting others?
2) How do I keep from being infected?
The major keypoint of #1 was easy - don't break down. I can take food with me, I can drinks with me, I can take care of business in the woods...but if I break down, I'll need to be rescued, and that means lots of possible contact.
Click is in pretty good shape. So I made a quick list of things I needed to do. Oil change, sensors fixed, brakes need replacing.
This is where Keypoint #2 comes in. How to keep from getting infected. Jiffy Lube actually did a great job at that. I stayed in my car the whole time, they did everything under the hood. The only point of contact was when I paid. They took my card, and then sanitized the darned card when they gave it back. Nice.
Another place got me dinner almost completely contactless. I ordered online, gave them a time I'd be there, my car info, and when I pulled in, my food was ready - only point of contact? Passing the food to me.
There was one point of contact that I didn't expect, though. At another place, I gave them my credit card, and when they handed it back to me, they handed me a pen that wasn't likely sanitized.
But I had a plan: My left hand was always going to be "uncontaminated." I wouldn't touch anything I didn't trust with it. My right was what I took risks with. I took the pen, signed the reciepts, handed it back, then used some hand sanitizer to wipe my hands afterwards.
Something I didn't consider? Hand Sanitizer and finger foods DON'T MIX. BLARGH.
The other thing I didn't consider? I felt guilty. Having the folks at Jiffy Lube working on my car in a pandemic, getting food at the two restaurants I went to, heck even the park ranger mowing the grass at one of the state parks...I felt bad that they were there. They shouldn't need to be there right now - things are bad, our governments should be supporting them, and the world should be on hold. I tipped them huge. But I felt terrible putting them at risk to get food or visit a park. I'm doing the best I could to keep them safe from me. I hope everyone else is.
The drive itself kept me away from major populated areas - only deep into the woods and backroads.
I do think that longer roadtrips are possible, but I'd need to carry as many supplies as possible - I've done that on my cross coutnry trips with sodas and MREs. Self-serve gas is still going to be a pain-point (maybe Oregon was right all these years), but I think it can be done safely.
My guilt, however, that may not go away anytime soon....