Sunday, 11 October 2020
I spent a good part of the day considering the state of the coronavirus, specifically the states it's resurging in. I saw news reports that said as of yesterday, 11 states had set records for number of new cases in the previous 7 days. Considering how bad things were in the spring and summer, setting records now doesn't seem like a good sign.
Those 11 states include almost all the states I was considering going to next: Alaska and Colorado and Indiana (two I've already visited and one I'll go to later), but also Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Utah, New Mexico and Missouri. California's still plagued by wildfires so, in the west, that just leaves me Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington and Oregon. In the east, I still have North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. And Iowa and Texas.
I'd been planning to spend December in Texas anyway, but I decided today I'd make Texas a 2-month state. I hadn't originally planned to, of course, but this virus is chopping up my options. Besides, when I realized Texas is more than 3 times the size of Kansas, and I'm having to make some really long drives these last few days just to cover the territory, I figure since I've got the time to do a better job of getting around Texas, I might as well take it. So I'll go down there for both November and December. Besides, it's been nearly 3 years since I've seen the doctors I was going to, so I'll try to get appointments with them while I'm down there.
I've already made arrangements to take 3 days out of October to go back down to Texas to vote. I'm really upset about the underfunding of the post office that's making this seem necessary, but I honestly can't be sure my ballot would get back there in time to be counted. And I definitely want my vote counted in this election. So on Tuesday the 20th, I'll make the all-day drive down to Dallas, vote on Wednesday, then drive all day back up to Kansas again on Thursday. Considering I'm giving Texas 2 whole months afterwards, I'll give Kansas an extra day or two to make up for it.
I didn't start this trip nearly 3 years ago being so willing to be flexible, but the virus is requiring us all to make adjustments.
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