I started writing this post in early 2020, during the pandemic. I originally intended to make it a quick post about quarantining, but instead of publishing it, I just kept adding to it. Then I forgot about it until now, so it’s a gigantic post covering over fourteen months of living in a pandemic.

Like most people in this world, we practiced social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was easier for us because we’re retired and don’t have to worry about going to work to get a paycheck.

There were many changes for us over the last fourteen months. Some were good and some were bad, but most were good.

We were on Questeria, in Marathon, FL, when the pandemic started. We stopped going out. We ordered everything online and had it delivered to us at the marina. We passed the time catching up on boat projects, walking and taking dinghy rides.

Florida to North Carolina

Keeping six feet from people was challenging in that environment. We are close to our neighbors in boats and townhomes. There are people in the marina who we have to walk past when we leave the boat. We also have to interact with someone to pump out our holding tank twice a week.

We tried to get some exercise by walking. There is a nice path across the street. Most people we passed kept their distance, but not everyone. So we stopped walking. One of the reasons people were not taking it serious in Marathon was that the cases of Covid-19 were much lower than in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, to the north.

We decided to leave the Keys and drive the RV to Ernul, NC. We prepared the boat; We filled the water tank so the watermaker can flush every five days. We added extra lines. We setup the dehumidifier to drain into the sink. We packed all of our stuff in the car, including clothes, food, paper towels, toilet paper and our portable water softener.

We drove the car to Southern Comfort RV, in Florida City, where the RV was stored. When we passed the checkpoint on the other side of the road, at the 18 mile stretch, they were stopping visitors from entering the Keys.

We got to the RV, and transferred all the stuff from the car to the RV. We attached the car to the towbar and headed out on the turnpike.

We stopped for gas in Fort Pierce. The gas station was empty. We drove on until 8:00PM and stopped in a rest area for the night. We stopped again for gas in St. George, SC and drove to Ernul, NC and parked the RV in its usual location.

On the way up there, we noticed much less traffic than normal—it was mostly semis. We also noticed that gas prices were way down. There were signs in SC saying all visitors must quarantine themselves by law. In NC the signs said stay home. We did—we just took our home with us.

Waiting

One of our reasons for coming to NC, was to help Katie and Adam when their new baby comes in May. We can babysit Jameson, while mom and dad are in the hospital with the newborn. We decided that we would isolate ourselves for two weeks before visiting anybody.

We can watch local TV in Ernul. We start watching news instead of taking dinghy rides—we prefer dinghy rides. We have a few RV projects, but most of the time I spend working on the website and reading.

Road Trip

After two weeks of isolation, we were ready to visit Adam, Katie and Jameson in Wilmington, NC. We had not come in close contact with anyone. Katie and Adam were considered high-risk for Covid-19 because she was pregnant. So they have both been working from home and taking precautions.

On Sunday morning we drove our car to Wilmington. It’s was a two hour trip. On Monday, we watched Jameson while Katie went to a doctor appointment and Adam worked from home. On Tuesday, we ordered pickup from Agostino’s pizza. We got two large pizzas; Eggplant Parmesan (our favorite) and Buffalo Chicken. We also got an order of Garlic Knots. After lunch, we left some pizza for Katie, Adam and Jameson, and drove back to the RV. We had enough pizza for supper, and shared some with James.

Road Trip 2

After another week in the RV, we went back to Wilmington to babysit for Katie’s doctor appointment. She does better, when she is getting more rest, so we decided to stay and help until the baby is born.

More Waiting

We continued helping Katie and she does well and takes advantage of being able to rest.

On Mother’s day we walked on the beach. All public beach parking was closed, but we parked in a Coast Guard lot, because she is active Coast Guard. Restaurants were closed, so for Mother’s Day we bought some fresh flounder, and fried it, along with shrimp, for dinner.

A few days later, our 10 year-old granddaughter, Ava, joined us. She was on vacation in Virginia and her mom drove her to Raleigh, so Adam could bring her back to Wilmington. Her school in Rhode Island was on remote learning, so she could attend classes from North Carolina.

New Baby

On May 16 we have a new grandson. His name is Grady Knox. They come home two days later.

Back to the RV

Katie’s mom flies in from Florida for the weekend. The house is already pretty crowded, so we decided to drive back to the RV—about two hours away.

A few days later, we decided to drive the RV to Wilmington. It’s more expensive than our free spot in Ernul, but it’s closer to our grandkids.

There are two places in Wilmington where we keep the RV; the KOA and the Elks Lodge. The KOA is nicer and has full hook-up sites, but it is expensive and less convenient. We are members of the Elks and can get a water and electric site for $25 a night. They also have a dump station. Amenities in both places are limited due to the pandemic.

We stay at a premium site at the KOA so we have room to cook out for visitors. Our granddaughter, Ava stays with us a few nights. Unfortunately, the pool and other facilities are closed due to Covid.

Later on, we move to a cheaper site, and then to the Elks Lodge.

Fort Myers Camping World (again)

We have tried to get the RV fixed from the damage caused on May 28, 2019. We have been to Camping World in Fort Myers, FL multiple times. They assure that this time they will fix it.

On the way, we stop at one of our favorite campgrounds, Ortona South. This Army Corps. of Engineers campground is taking all precautions possible to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Camping World finally has the front-end cap. Our insurance company, SafeCo, refused to pay for a new piece, even though Camping World said it could not be repaired and must be replaced. They even sent pictures to the insurance company showing that the damage was too great to repair. The insurance company didn’t care, so we had to pay out of pocket to get the RV fixed. SafeCo also refused to go after the woman that rolled into us, so we ended up paying the deductible as well.

No more SafeCo for us.

We leave the RV at Camping World and drive our car to Questeria in Marathon.

Marathon, FL

The boat has been closed up for twelve weeks. The water tank is empty and there is no water hose. The A/C filter plugged up weeks ago and was shut off by one of our friends in the marina. At least we had a dehumidifier running.

We get things back to normal, and do some boat projects.

Four and a half weeks later we close up the boat and drive to Fort Myers to get the RV. This time we pickled the watermaker so we didn’t have to worry about running out of water. We also left a dehumidifier running.

The RV looks great. We have mixed feelings about Camping World. They didn’t fix things they said they would, and things weren’t ready when they said they would be. But, the body shop did a great job. They never got the right awning, so we ordered one from somewhere else and will fix it ourselves

Next we take the RV to Springfield Campground, in Townville, SC. This is an Army Corps. of Engineers campground on Lake Hartwell. We spend four nights, leave the RV and drive the car to the lake house that we rented for Lake Week.

Lake Week

Every year we have a one week family vacation. It includes our six children (three from each of us), their six spouses and our eight grandchildren, ranging from 15 years to 3 months. That’s 22 people, including us. This trip used to be “Beach Week”, but last year we started going to a lake house instead.

This year we are in Martin, Georgia, on Lake Hartwell.

We thought about canceling Lake Week because of Covid, but we decided we would go even if it was just the two of us. As it turned out, we had 14 out of 22 people show up.

Everybody had a great time. We rented a pontoon boat for the week and went swimming and fishing. Of course there was eating drinking involved as well.

After Lake Week, we went back to the RV, in Springfield campground, for three nights. Then, it’s time to move on.

Fort Mill, SC

Our next stop was the KOA in Fort Mill, SC. This is close to our grandchildren, Jackson and Oliver. We have just seen them at Lake Week, but this gives us a chance to spend some one-on-one time with both of them.

Gambrills, MD

Katie and Adam move to Gambrills, MD. They bought a house sight-unseen. They had to pay above the asking price to get this home.

We drive the car up there to help them move in. We get there the day before the movers. There is no furniture. We sit on camping chairs. The adults sleep on blow-up beds and the babies sleep in pack-n-plays.

More RVing

Next, we go back to Ernul, NC. We gave up on Camping World installing a new awning. They kept ordering the wrong part, so we ordered one online and had it delivered to Ernul. The first one was damaged, but the second one was okay. We watched a YouTube video and installed it ourselves, with help from James.

It turns out great. It looks better than when we first bought the RV five years ago.

Next, we go to Holden Beach RV Campground in Holden Beach, NC. This is a very nice campground. It isn’t right on the beach, but it’s only a short drive away.

Erika and Johnny joins us for a night and we go to the beach.

We wanted to go to the beach, but we also wanted to look at houses in the area.

Then, we go to Paynes Creek campground in Hartwell Georgia. This time we want to look at some lakefront property. We don’t see anything that we like, so we just hang out at the lake.

Then, we go back to the Fort Mill KOA to visit Jackson and Oliver again.

Next, we go back to Wilmington, NC and stay at the Elks Lodge for three nights.

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Then we drive the RV 22 miles to Winner’s RV Park, in Carolina Beach. It’s our anniversary, and we thought in would be nice to be close to the beach. This RV park is about a ten minute walk to the beach. This is perfect for us.

On our anniversary we drive to Good Hops Brewery, about a three minute drive in the car, and have some craft beer. This is the first time we have gone to a brewery or bar in a long time. Masks are required unless seated at a table. We get a table outside.

After that we order flounder stuffed with crabmeat to go from Cape Fear Seafood Company and bring it back to the RV.

We find a house in Wilmington, NC that we like. We make an offer and it’s accepted. We take the RV back to Ernul, and park it for a while.

Back to Marathon (for a bit)

We leave the RV and drive down to Marathon to check on the boat. We pack food so that we don’t have to stop except for gas and restrooms. We leave early, so we can get through Miami before the traffic is too bad.

We don’t plan to spend much time here. We are just here to check the boat and get some stuff for the house. We get a free dining room table and chairs from our friends. So we install a trailer hitch and rent a small covered U-Haul trailer.

Tropical Storm Eta is expected to pass through the area. We ask friends to keep an eye on Questeria and leave in a hurry, a couple of days before we planned, so we don’t want to drive a car, towing a trailer through a tropical storm. There is one important thing that we forgot which will come back to bite us later.

We make it to Ernul with the U-Haul trailer. The storm passes through the Keys, turns and becomes a hurricane, but thankfully, doesn’t do much damage to Marathon.

CLODs

After 15 years of living on a boat and RV, we move into a house. I read somewhere that “once a cruiser, always a cruiser”, so now we are officially Cruisers Living On Dirt, or CLODs. We have not given up the boat or the RV. We just added another option, which happens to be closer to all the grandchildren.

Speaking of grandchildren, we find out that my son and his wife are expecting twin girls in May.

Our main reason for wanting a house was to have a place where family could visit. But the pandemic is not letting this happen as much as we want.

They are asking people not to gather in large groups for Thanksgiving. We drive the car to Maryland and stay with Katie, Adam, Ava, Jameson and Grady.

The weather in Wilmington is nice on Christmas Eve. Erika, Steve and Johnny come over and we sit on our screened-in porch wearing masks. Erika is extra cautious because she is working with elderly Covid patients. We exchange gifts and they leave. We spend Christmas day by ourselves.

A couple of days later we drive towards North Myrtle Beach and meet Audrey and Ryan at a park. Again, we wear masks and exchange gifts. They are not working directly with Covid-19 patients, but Audrey works at a bar, serving people who may have Covid-19.

We have our final Christmas celebration on New Year’s Day. Adam, Katie and the kids drive down and stay with us. Alicia and the boys drive up and stay with Shannon. We have all been careful to not get exposed to Covid-19 and everything turns out great.

Vaccines

Our next goal is to get vaccinated. We are both over 65, so we are in the second category, after healthcare and frontline workers. We want to make sure we are fully vaccinated before the twins are born.

Appointments are filled quickly, but we both get appointments on January 27. We get our second dose on February 17.

Marathon (Again)

We want to check on Questeria, in Marathon before the twins are born. We leave Wilmington on the morning of March 17. We have packed food and drink for breakfast and lunch. We don’t have to stop, except for gas and restrooms. We plan to stop on the way for dinner.

We are over halfway there and we get a message from Greg that the twins were born. Tiffany had preeclampsia and was admitted to the hospital. She had to have a C section at 33 weeks. Arie Grace was 3 lbs. 12 oz. and Zoe Arabella was 3 lbs. 13 oz. They were both put in the NICU, but were doing well. Tiffany was also doing well.

We look for a place to stop for dinner where we can eat outside. It is spring break and St. Patrick’s day and every place is crowded. We end up driving all the way to Marathon and waiting for an outdoor table at Sparky’s Landing. We have corned beef and cabbage, and Irish beer.

After that, we go to the boat. The topside is filthy so we have to cover it before we can bring stuff from the car.

Once we go below, we find the one important thing that we forgot the last time we left. We left food in the freezer, and the circuit breaker tripped. There wasn’t anything really important in there, but now it smells really, really bad.

Fortunately, the weather is good and we can open up the boat and air it out. We get most of the odor out by rinsing with bleach water. The bleach water soaks through and ends up in the bilge, where we vacuum it up. We also use baking soda and Non Scents Refrigerator deodorizer.

We stay for a couple of weeks. We visit with some friends, who are not vaccinated, but have been careful. We also do a little work on the boat.

We drive back to Wilmington on April 1.

New York, New York

Greg and Tiffany bring Zoe home on March 31. Arie comes home on April 2. They have purchased a house in Connecticut, but won’t close until May 7. They are in a one bedroom apartment in New York City. We decide to take the RV up there so we can see them. We make reservations at Liberty Harbor RV park for five nights starting April 16. We also make reservations at the KOA near Adam and Katie, so we can stop and visit on our way back.

We get the RV ready. We get the oil changed and the propane tank filled. We start the refrigerator and freezer and pack up our stuff.

We are ready to leave the next day, when we hear from Erika. She says that Johnny’s preschool teacher was exposed to Covid and that Johnny has to quarantine. We are vaccinated, but we are concerned about holding premature babies that soon. We change the Liberty Harbor reservation until after Maryland.

On April 20 we drive the RV from Ernul to the KOA in Doswell, VA. We leave the next morning and get to the KOA near Katie and Adams around noon. Perfect timing for meeting Jameson after preschool.

We have a good time visiting. Ava is on spring break and we go to the aquarium one day and walk around Washington, DC another day.

On Saturday, April 24 we drive the RV, with car in tow, to Jersey City, NJ. It is quite stressful. The streets are crowded with traffic, but it’s even worse with the makeshift outdoor dining areas on both sides of the street.

We get to the RV park around noon and it’s pretty vacant. There are only about three other RVs there. The last time we were here was July 2017, and it was packed. At that time we did not tow a car, but that was fine, because we used public transportation.

We don’t want to use the subway this time because of Covid. We drive our car into Manhattan, where they live. It is $16 toll through the Lincoln or Holland tunnels. On the weekend we find parking on the street. Fortunately our Honda CRV just barely fits in the spaces we find. On the weekdays there is no free parking to be found. We pay $23 to park for ten hours, or less.

Driving in NYC is pretty stressful at first. But by the fifth day we know our way around pretty well.

We spend most of our time holding and feeding babies.

Adjusting to Pandemic

Everyone has had to make adjustments for Covid-19. Our anxiety decreased as the pandemic went on and more information was known about the virus.

Grocery Shopping

Many grocery stores were already set up to provide delivery and curbside pickup before the pandemic started. We never used these services because we prefer to pick out our own stuff. When the pandemic started we were terrified of going into a store so we started taking advantage of these things.

At first, in Marathon, we ordered our groceries online from Publix, and had them delivered to the marina. We would wipe down tables in the common area with sanitizing wipes. Take everything out of the bags, wipe them down and put them in our own bags.

In Ernul, we were 13 miles from the closest grocery store. Even farther from one with online ordering. We were too far for delivery, so we ordered our groceries online and picked them up curbside. Our choices were Harris Teeter and Walmart. We chose Harris Teeter the first time.

At first, Harris Teeter’s online system had a lot of problems.

With the increased demand in online orders, time slots could be several days later. This means the apps should be flexible—let you, add delete and make changes to your order. The Harris Teeter app did not allow for that at first.

Most of the time the stores don’t have everything on your list. The Harris Teeter app did not allow for substitutions. Sometimes the shopper would call you to ask about substitutions, but other times they would just leave things out.

Our next online order was from Walmart. It’s no surprise that Walmart is better equipped to do online shopping. We didn’t have to wait as long for our time-slot, and we were able to make changes until the morning of the time slot. They notify you through the app if they are out of an item and have to substitute it.

Walmart sends an email and text message when the order is ready. You respond through the app and tell them you are leaving. The app uses the GPS on your phone to notify them where you are and estimate an ETA.

In Florida, we even bought our liquor online and had it delivered. North Carolina law does not allow for that, so we had to go inside the store.

Eventually, we became comfortable shopping in the stores again and gave up on online ordering.

Shortages

Like most people, we experienced shortages. We don’t watch the news, so it came as a surprise to us. We first noticed it when we looked for sanitizing wipes. The shelves were empty, but we found a package hidden in another part of the store.

We use special quick dissolve toilet paper on the boat and RV. We had already ordered some in bulk, so we were okay. We had paper towels stored on the boat from our Bahama trip, so we were okay there too.

We had a small supply of hand sanitizer, rubber gloves and sanitizing wipes on the RV. We were careful not to waste them. We even had some N95 masks that we had purchased for sanding and painting.

Ordering Take Out Food

At first, many restaurants shut down completely. Some of them opened up with some kind of take-out service. Some allowed for ordering online, others required you to order by phone. Some, but not all, provided curbside pick-up options. At first, we were very nervous about going inside to pick up our food. We eventually adjusted.

Getting a Haircut

I generally wait too long between haircuts. I was thinking it was about time to get a haircut in March, when they asked everyone to stay home to flatten the curve. By August, my hair was really long and I was ready to cut it all off. But instead, I ordered a hair cutting kit on Amazon, and had Fran cut it. She did it once more, then hair cutting places started opening again.

Now, I don’t have a good excuse to let my hair grow too long.

Getting Back to Normal

The other day the president and most governors lifted face mask requirements for fully vaccinated people. We have been fully vaccinated since mid-February, and most adults we know are now fully vaccinated.

I feel odd walking into a crowded store without a face mask—just the opposite of how I felt a year and a half ago.

The pandemic has been stressful for everyone, and I’m glad we are starting to get back to normal. We feel like we missed a year out of our grandchildren’s lives. We missed holidays and birthdays and even the ones we didn’t miss, were not a hundred percent of what they would been.

It has not all been bad. We have three new grandchildren and almost all of our friends and family have survived, and are healthy.