Cancelled!

Bird watching - not cancelled

  Cancelled pretty much describes the past two weeks. Like much of the country Arizona has come to a standstill. The last time I wrote everything was in full swing here at the resort and then suddenly the brakes were applied. First it was a slow braking, but it soon accelerated to a panic stop.

   At first all indoor events were cancelled in the park, but eventually they shut down all outside activities as well. No more pickleball, shuffleboard, tennis or bocce ball. Full stop on everything. The store and grill were open for a few days, but even that was shut down and only take out meals are now offered.

Sunsets - not cancelled

   Also like the insanity everywhere else, toilet paper was in short supply and I had to get up at 5:45 a.m. so I could go to Fry’s during “senior shopping time” to score one 8-pack of toilet paper. We, and Joan’s sister and brother-in-law now have enough toilet paper to get through our time here.

    As I mentioned in the last post Diane and Denny are here for the month of March and while everything was normal for the first two weeks, the last two weeks have been anything but. All of us are “social distancing” but we have been with Diane and Denny since the beginning of their arrival here so we are still taking walks, short hikes and scenic drives together. Anything we have, they have and vice versa so we are not endangering anyone needlessly.

Mountain scenic drives - not cancelled

    We took a drive to the top of Mt. Lemmon, a drive to Madera Canyon, a drive through East Saguaro National Park and we have walked the inside of the resort many, many times. To say we might be a little bored is an understatement, but we are still making the best of it.

    In fact, everyone in the resort is avoiding people like the plague, which obviously is where that expression originated. Friends cross the street so they won’t get within 6-feet of each other and mostly we just sit outside the RV and read.

Mountain top experiences - not cancelled

   The last three concerts of the season were abruptly cancelled so we missed the highly anticipated “Eagles” tribute concert, the less anticipated (for me) Barry Manilow concert and the steel drum group “Jovert” which we really like. It’s a small price to pay for staying safe.

   All business with the resort is done by phone. They still want to get paid.

    Church and Bible studies were also stopped. We have been listening to our home church services which are now being done online. 

Shows - cancelled

   Our plans to go to California have been aborted and we are heading home to Michigan on Thursday. Gas stations and hotels are open (so far) and many of our snowbird friends reported clear sailing on their trips home. We will miss seeing our family and friends there.

   I get the hype. I was a reporter for 30 years and I know how the media loves a panic. As a Christian I believe it when Jesus and God tells us “to be not afraid” and to “fear not.” So I probably approach all this a little differently than many folks. While I understand that this is serious and obviously deadly, the more deadly and serious aspect is the panic and fear that drives people to do silly things. Social media, for all the good it does in a crisis, does more to spread panic and disinformation than any other source.

    My son the nurse has made it clear (and he is pretty much an expert on viruses) that eventually we are all going to be exposed to this virus, unless we isolate for a couple years so while we can slow the spread we are not going to stop it. The slowing the spread is important for the health system, but eventually we will have to face the virus.

    I lived through SARS (that was going to kill hundreds of thousands of us)

Rattlesnake bridge - not cancelled

    I lived through H1N1 (another supposed pandemic that was going to kill us all)

    I somehow survived Y2K (that was supposed to shut down the world). While some hid in the dark on New Year’s Eve, Joan and I celebrated in a hot tub watching TV. Another worldwide panic that was pointless.

   When you live as long as I do, you learn that you take these one at a time. This one is going to be bad, but I’m not fearing it. One of two things will happen. At some point, now or later (and I’m doing everything we can to make sure it is later) I am going to come in contact with this virus. Hopefully they will have a vaccine, which I will get just like I get an annual flu shot and it will all be good. In the event thatI get the virus before the protection, I’ll deal with it.

Pima Air Museum - before it closed

    We are good, we are being careful, we are not being frightened into anxiety. We have enjoyed our take out fish fries from Culver’s and we have enjoyed our time with our family. We are sorry they didn’t get to experience the park as it usually is, but even in its reduced state it’s still a lot of fun.

   Here are the things that didn’t get cancelled:

   Beautiful sunsets

   Reading books

   Visiting with family via Facetime

    Wonderful dinners

   Great weather

   Walks in the park

   Bird watching

   Rides in the mountains

   Scenic hikes

   Phone calls with friends and family.

   We pray for those who are working on the front lines of this disease and look forward to when we can shake hands, visit face to face with friends and family and return to some normalcy.

One more sunset - not cancelled

   This will likely be my last post until we get home. We covet your prayers as we make this very unusual trek home. Be safe, don’t worry.

Friends and family brighten our time in Arizona

    I’m baaack!  Just when I thought I could keep this blog up to date I failed miserably. I have no excuses, but we have been busy with friends and family who have come to the desert to visit. 

   When last we visited I had just had an MRI on my knee and was awaiting results. Well, things have progressed quite a bit since then. The verdict was a torn meniscus, which in short means my hiking days for this season are over. No more mountains to climb this year.

   The orthopedic doctor here is not knife happy and suggested I try physical therapy to strengthen my left knee (my right knee is just fine) and try and avoid any surgery or pain blocking medication.

Denny and Diane at the Battle of the Bulge Memorial

   So for the last two weeks I have been going twice a week to a physical therapist based right here in the resort and the pain is subsiding and the legs are getting stronger. My hope is that I will continue to strengthen my knees and return to some aggressive hiking next season. For now though, I have to watch all my hiking friends climbing without me.

   In addition to my twice a week physical therapy sessions the good therapist has given me a half dozen exercises to complete each day to strengthen my knees. He calls them exercises, I call them torture.

   One of the things I try (not always successfully) to do is not complain. Joan and I are truly blessed to be able to come to Voyager each year so a little setback this year with not being able to continue to hike is a little frustrating, but a minor inconvenience compared to challenges faced by so many others.

   God has been so good to us and we have such a great family and friends that I don’t want any of this to come off as complaining. Life throws us a curve now and then but we continue to be thankful for all that we have and enjoy.

    Our Michigan Party on March 2^nd turned into a stress filled event as the weather promised to dump heavy rain on our outdoor party. For days leading up to the party, the local television stations were filled with the impending doom of rain (yes, they get pretty amped up over a little moisture here). Each succeeding day it looked worse and worse for the party.

    The only indoor alternative was to share a space (if they were open to it) with the Oregon and Washington folks who had a combined event planned for the ballroom at the same time as ours.

   So on Saturday, just two days before the party, I contacted the organizers of the Oregon/Washington party and presented them with a request to share their space. In keeping with the fun Voyager spirit they quickly invited us to join them in the ballroom and the party went on without a hitch. (By the way, it never rained, but it was a little cooler than normal.) Joan and I spent an hour calling all of those who signed up for the party to tell them of our new location.

Denny at Pima Air Museum

   On Tuesday, February 18, our friends Roger and Jessica from Grand Blanc, Michigan arrived in their RV and set up just two spaces from us. This is the third year they have joined us here in Tucson and it is great fun having them here.

   Roger is my former editor at the Flint Journal and more than a boss he has become a really good friend along with his wife, Jessica. We have a lot of laughs and fun. He and Jessica play Bocce Ball and have attended the concerts with us.

   The Alabama Tribute concert was great along with the Sixties Mania program this past week.

    Joan continues her volunteer work at the Voyager clinic and I continue to get up early three days a week to set up the ballroom for various events. Without my 2-3 days a week hiking schedule I find a lot of idle time here in the park.

    We attended Ash Wednesday services here in the park on February 26 so we didn’t have a show that night. The following week on March 4 was the Sixties Mania show.

    More fun began on Sunday March 1 when Joan’s sister, Diane, and brother-in-law Denny arrived from Maryland after a week long car trip across the country. They have rented a park model for a month here and because it was available for them to occupy until Monday , March 2, they stayed overnight with us in the trailer.

   It's not the first time they have stayed in the trailer in fact they have visited us in the trailer in Indiana, Texas and Arizona previously.

   We are having a lot of fun with them as they are meeting some of our friends and seeing all the activities in the park. Denny and I meet in the Fitness Center early in the morning so he can do his program and I can rehab my knee.

    Last Friday, we had dinner with all of our company in the Voyager Grill on fish fry night. A good time was had by all.

   Denny and I made a trip to the Pima Air and Space Museum last week and this Friday (March 13), Denny me and my friend Bob from Minnesota are going to the Titan Missile Museum. I'll write more about that after I procrastinate another three weeks and do a post.

We attended the Voyager Pinewood Derby, a Reminiscence Dance, Market Daze, lecture series, church, potlucks and a variety of other activities here in the old Pueblo.

The back side of the Bulge Memorial

    Diane and Jessica have been going with Joan to Zumba classes and aquacise and Joan continues to make polymer clay jewelry. Some of those creations she shared at the resort wide “Show and Tell” event this past week.

    Diane and Denny joined us at Meet Me at Maynard’s on Monday night and got registered and are now official MMMers.  We had a nice dinner of bratwursts at the Ten 55 

   

    During our walk we stopped to pay respects to the Battle of the Bulge Monument near the old City Hall. Joan and Diane's Dad was a veteran of the U.S. Army's World War II 75th Division that earned their reputation and awards in that battle.

  With more “impending” rain the park was quiet on Tuesday, March 10, but Denny, Diane joined us for their second Tuesday potluck in the ballroom.