Wondering about my plans to Washington DC, Fresno California, and Cozumel

[arcie]

Regarding DC plans - many of the Smithsonian Institution facilities may not open until later this summer. Current plans are to first open only the National Zoo and Udvar-Hazy with no firm date for that announced yet. Other museums will follow after they see how it goes with the zoo and UH, but again no clear timeline published.

Another thing to keep in mind for DC: it’s a very long walk between the Capitol, monuments, tidal basin, etc and with the museums along the mall closed, places to get out of the heat/humidity and into AC will be very limited. If it were me, I’d probably push a visit back a few months so I could enjoy more of the city. (fall and spring are beautiful here)

 

[DandyDon]

neither have any of the major airlines.

The airlines are not enforcing the mask requirements on the planes? That's scary.

Regarding DC plans - many of the Smithsonian Institution facilities may not open until later this summer. Current plans are to first open only the National Zoo and Udvar-Hazy with no firm date for that announced yet. Other museums will follow after they see how it goes with the zoo and UH, but again no clear timeline published.

Well, that's a trip killer. Thanks for the warning. I'll hold onto my reservations until two weeks prior, but it looks like I may bail.

I’d probably push a visit back a few months so I could enjoy more of the city. (fall and spring are beautiful here)

Some years they get desperate for help harvesting the farms here and put me back onto a tractor, but not in this year's drought so I should be okay on time. I'll probably pay more for hotels.

 

[SleepySlipper]

@DandyDon I was told directly from the flight attendant back in April, “If we refused passengers who were unwilling to wear masks aboard our scheduled flights, they would never leave the ground”.

 

[DandyDon]

@DandyDon I was told directly from the flight attendant back in April, “If we refused passengers who were unwilling to wear masks aboard our scheduled flights, they would never leave the ground”.

Now I am considering bailing on all of my trips that require planes.

• Washington DC may not be opening. I'll hold my reservations until July 1, but expect to bail then.
• California is not doing great with control, it sounds like restaurants are all carry-out only, the roads are open in the parks but not any facilities other than restrooms & entrance gates - and there are road construction challenges in the park along with flying in a Petri dish to get there.
• They started diving in Cozumel today, but as badly as the locals need tourism, visitors may infect much of the population by the time of my scheduled visit.

I may need to replan for only road trips and camping within a few hundred miles. I wish Guadalupe Mountain NP would reopen, but then it's going to be too hot there until fall.

On the home front, shopping for my brother, his wife, and her 90 year old mom is getting easier as we work to keep them home. I can find almost everything on their request lists in two stores now. In March I couldn't find Lemon Oreos anywhere. Today there were big stacks of thins in one store and regulars in the other. Got to be grateful for small blessings. Hair clippers are in short supply.

 

[markmud]

I don't want to get somewhere only to be stranded by some lawmaker's whim.

Hi Dandy,

I am weary of flying to a far off land for the same reason that the Big Kahuna wrote.

I will avoid any city or state that has restrictions on travel or outdoor fun. I don't want the hassle.

I am not worried about SARS-Cov-2. I was offered an antibody test yesterday and passed because I was too cheap to pay the $75 at the DR's office. We suspect I already had it -- we don't know for sure, but it wasn't influenza A or B, nor pneumonia. Back in February, no medical pro could tell a group of my coworkers what we had.

My wife and I travelled to Georgia about a month ago to bike ride the Silver Comet/Chief Ladiga Trail. Two weeks ago, we travelled to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to hike. We are leaving on a diving, kayaking, and tubing trip in about a week.

Here is our MO:

We check the State's Department of Health website, for the state we are travelling to, for their SARS-Cov-2 update pages. We avoid any area that is "hot". New York City and Washington DC are definitely off our radar.

The most interesting thing we have gleaned from the various state's data is that this virus absolutely discriminates against certain segments of our population. Nursing home residents, and a few younger people with major comorbidities are its main victims. Except for some anomalies, young and otherwise healthy people are not making a trip to the ICU because of SARS-Cov-2.

Here is Tennessee's header for their site:

By clicking on a county, you can find the active cases and data about the cases. We avoid the counties in dark blue above. The three counties that we were in had about 35 active cases, total. The active cases were locked down. More information on demographics and ages of victims appears if you search. Georgia's site is really good. That is why we are going back.

Ohio's deaths have come from people who were living in nursing homes (71%). Most were 80 y.o. or older. The death count for people under 49 y.o. in Ohio is less than 62 people (12-June-2020); most all had significant comorbidities.

Here is my point: If you are fit, healthy, don't have major comorbidities, and you do your homework, just GO dangit! Live your life! Get on that jetliner! Be smart, be happy, and if you do catch a bad case of 19, fight like hell! And isolate -- don't spread it.

I am so happy that my wife and I have been exercising like crazy, eating well, and travelling. We have done our work to be healthy, and now we are enjoying ourselves.

cheers,
m²V2

 

[ls1dreams]

DC isn't really "open", but you can still see a lot of the monuments outside, and there are a lot of nice bike trails in the region. If it's not too far from you it could still be a nice trip. (Though summers here are brutal. IMO visit in spring or fall)

 

[DandyDon]

DC isn't really "open", but you can still see a lot of the monuments outside, and there are a lot of nice bike trails in the region. If it's not too far from you it could still be a nice trip. (Though summers here are brutal. IMO visit in spring or fall)

No, it's a big trip. DC is 1400 miles from me, 1600 by car, or more than half of a day by planes, so not a trip I would want to make unless the Smithsonian and other major attractions are open. It's not looking good for now. I see that a statue was destroyed today there. But the news also says that they will start Phase 2 opening in a few days, so I guess I will still give myself until July 1 to decide.

 

[DandyDon]

Ok, I bailed on DC. I'd promised myself to decide by July 1, but things are looking so bad with riots, virus concerns, and so many of the sites I wanted to visit closed - I figured it was time to cry Uncle! Maybe things will look better in the fall and there will enough left to see.

National Guard troops activated to guard DC monuments amid protests

 

[DandyDon]

American did return my FF-miles to my account overnight so we don't need to argue about that.

 

[DandyDon]

Then we canceled our trip to see the Giant Sequoias and Kings Canyon. California is not doing so great controlling the virus, no indoor dining, etc. Mainly I feared riding the Petri dishes known as planes. American was keeping middle seats empty but have since canceled that and hopes to fill them all.

I have filed a request with the airline to fully refund that ticket instead of keeping track of another voucher to use later on the grounds that they ruined the trip when they changed our flights & connections to arrive later and return home half a day later. The way things are going I don't know if I can use two vouchers on new trips within a year. What do I do if they reject that request? Appeal and try to wear them down.

Now I am worried about my August trip to Cozumel. People are already going, but I'm waiting on the other shoe to drop on that.

I looked at trying to reschedule my DC trip in October, but hotel prices are more than twice as high. I'd rather go in the summer and sweat than pay that much. Besides, the 8th & I Marine Barracks parade only happens in the summer.

The year of non-travel. I guess I should be grateful to be healthy.