And we agree, for us it was the right decision. But it's only in hindsight that we can say that. At the time, thinking back to two months ago, we certainly didn't know for sure that this was going to be the right decision.
It was on March 16th that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said "Canadian travelers should return to Canada via commercial means while it is still possible to do so. Let me be clear. If you are abroad, it is time for you to come home."
And many people did just that. But I remember the confusion at the time, especially as it related to people in Mexico who needed to transit the U.S. in order to get to Canada. I remember forums where people thought that if they didn't get back to Canada in five days the border would be closed and they would be "stuck" in Mexico. Of course that never happened. Had it not been for our RV Caravan group, we likely would have remained in Mexico.
I also remember thinking "Why?". He said Canadians should return to Canada, but he never said why, other than insinuating that if you don't you may not be able to.
And, I don't think that Justin Trudeau was thinking about RV'ers when he made that statement. He was obviously talking about people who needed to fly to get back to Canada.
In our own situation, there were two major reasons we did not high tail it back to Canada.
First of all, and the main reason... it was still winter in Canada. And we're in an RV. Motorhomes are not made for Canadian winters.
The second reason was (is) the 14 day quarantine. We were scheduled to be at Cabri Park to work starting May 1st, and we would have had to be there by April 15th in order to quarantine. We would have had to find an RV park that would have been open to accept us and we would have had to essentially remain in the motorhome for 14 days. We were told we could not quarantine at Cabri Park, and even if we could have, we wouldn't have. Besides, at the time there was no guarantee the park would even open for the season.
We could have driven back to Ottawa and stayed in Ruth's father's house for the 14 day quarantine. But again, it was winter. And, we wouldn't have been able to visit with friends and family and that would be the only reason we have to return to Ottawa.
People told us that we should be worried about being harassed for being in an area with foreign plates. I thought that was a stretch, and it hasn't been an issue at all. We haven't bumped into very many people, but those that we have, have been more than welcoming.
We've had no problem isolating ourselves from people. Other than fuel and food, we really haven't put ourselves in many situations where we are dealing with other people.
And so now that things are starting to open up, we will simply stay in the U.S. and do more exploring, while continuing to maintain our distance from other people. Montana will be removing it's state implemented 14 day quarantine on June 1st, so we will be free to find boondocking spots there and do some hiking in the mountains.
If Canada continues to have the 14 day quarantine in place we will remain in the U.S. until the beginning of August. At that time, we will cross the border and quarantine at Ruth's father's house. But again, this is only our loose plan depending on what is happening in the world at the time. For now the U.S./Canada border remains closed and they will re-evaluate again June 21st. We realize that even if they open the border, the 14 day quarantine will probably remain. Time will tell.
It's only been just over two months since this whole "lockdown" thing took place. Two months from now, things will have changed a lot. Could be for better, could be for worse. We will continue to play this one day at a time.
Back to the present...
The dirt bike crowd showed up at 8:00am yesterday morning. They parked right beside us! But it really wasn't as bad as we thought it might be. There is so much empty land here that once they got unloaded and took off, we didn't hear them at all until they returned a couple of hours later.
It was kind of funny because the guys riding were our age! We expected the dirt bike crowd to be in their 20's and 30's. And, nice guys... we spoke to them about the area for a few minutes.
We went out for a hike in the "badlands" for an hour...
We came back from our hike and the dirt bikers were gone. It was actually pretty quiet for the rest of the day.
After lunch, I got the bikes off and we went for a ride. But the trails and roadway are pretty rough and there are some steep hills. We didn't stay out for long.
It's actually been a pretty good spot, but two nights is enough. Time to move on. We should be in Utah this afternoon.
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Mexico has looked pretty good so far. I hope it stays that way but there are troubling signs. As you say, one day at a time and maintain that social distancing.
ReplyDeleteWe still think that Mexico looks pretty good. The Federal government may not have done a lot to close things down there but most of the states and the municipalities were shutting things up very tightly and that was even before we left Mexico. Some of the towns were only letting in the local people unless they had a very valid reason to be there. The three people that stayed behind are all doing well and were happy that they stayed.
DeleteYes, one day at a time. And our goal is to stay away from the main population as much as possible and we think that we have been doing a fantastic job of that. :-)
Thanks for the update on the people who chose to stay in Mexico. One here neighbor went to Ajijic in November and is still there. I tried to call her but her local phone isn't responding.
DeleteYou are welcome. I fact Garth who went and stayed near his sister and family in Puerto Vallarta is planning on crossing back into the US either this week or next. Sue and Roy are going to stay down there a little longer yet in Valle de Juarez.
DeleteYou have thought your travels out well.
ReplyDeleteScientist are saying the second wave this Fall could be the worse but it will be followed by a third round after the New Year. At that point there may be travel restrictions for us all.
Be Safe and Enjoy Utah.
It's about time.
Hindsight is 20/20 so we really can't be sure if we made the right decision until later on but so far we think we did.
DeleteIt is so difficult to surmise what will happen with this virus in the near future. Our motto is just to deal with this one day at a time. We honestly don't think this virus will ever totally go away but then again who knows!
Utah is one of my favorite states for outdoor beauty, and my roots there go back to the first settlers. Vivian park in Provo canyon is named after my Grandmother.
ReplyDeleteIt is also one of our favourite states too but now we aren't sure how long we will spend here because there is a week of very hot weather coming up on us!
DeleteWow, that is pretty neat that your Grandmother had a park named after her. :-)
If you end up near Moab the La Sal Mtns are very pretty and will yield a relief from the heat.
DeleteThank you we will certainly keep that in mind. :-)
DeleteMontana just had three consecutive days with no new cases. I'm hoping it stays that way.
ReplyDeleteThat is sounding very hopeful! We hope it stays that way too. Montana actually did very well with it's numbers concerning the virus. :-)
DeleteWe did similar. Went to Portugal March 1. Everyone started to panic around March 15, saying we had to come back to USA NOW or be stuck indefinitely in Portugal. We chose to stay. It was the best decision for us. We finally decided to come home May 7. We could have come earlier, they never completely stopped the flights. We quarantined for 14 days in our cabin in the woods here in northern Michigan. Continuing to keep to ourselves and enjoying the arrival of spring! Enjoy your explorations! You are in a beautiful area of the country!
ReplyDeleteI remember you mentioning that in a comment quite a while ago on one of our blogs. We are glad that you also didn't panic and make a mad dash back home and instead hung out in Portugal a little longer. It is really nice that you had a great spot to quarantine yourselves and where you can continue to hunker down by yourselves but still be able to be outside and get some fresh air and exercise.
DeleteYes, this is a definitely a beautiful part of the country and we look forward to being able to have some extra time to explore it this spring. :-)
In addition to the return to Canada suggestion, I had heard that since the USA wad declared a pandemic or something similar, the Canadian health insurance would not cover you if you caught covid-19 in the USA, so the snowbirds had 10 days to get back home.
ReplyDeleteNot all insurance companies were doing that. I think most people just panicked and rushed home, without reading the details/fine print on their policies and instead just listened to the news media and what the social media said.
DeleteI can only have great admiration for your wisdom (not rushing back to Canada) and your amazing ability to plan your routes through these rough pandemic times and limitations (and also to avoid bad weather surprises, namely tornados). Wishing you all the best : stay safe and well! It is a pleasure to follow you daily - thanks for your postings and the great pictures!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Not sure that we necessarily have great wisdom, lol but we did what we felt was the right decision for us. Only time will tell as to whether that was the right decision or not but so far it looks like it was the right one.
DeleteWe totally stay on top of the weather and on all the closings/openings regarding the virus in the various states, counties and towns that we will be in or passing through so that we aren't going to be hit with any surprises. So far so good! :-)
We are happy that you enjoy our daily blogs and that you continue to follow along with our adventures.
Yes, from my point of view, you guys made the right decision to stay south till the situation has some relief as it appears to be coming ow as long as theres no re-bound. I have 1 question, we are hoping to be snow birds this coming winter if the border opens up, we have a 39' class a and hope to go to Texas. It appears you have been out of country for more then 6 months and I thought we had to e back in country within that time frame of 6 months. IS that an issue for instance gov. regs and health insurance.. just asking for our future reference..
ReplyDeleteD & J
Well, there are two things you have to look at when "snow birding". One being, if you are only going to be staying in the USA for the winter, should that be the case then you are only allowed to stay for 182 days. The second thing depends on which province you live in because some provincial healthcare allows you to be out of province for six and some for seven months and if you stay over that limit then you are technically not insured should you need to visit a doctor or hospital on your return, again depending on the province. Some provinces you can get health care right away and others you have to wait a mandatory 3 month waiting period before your provincial healthcare insurance is reinstated. Should you decide to stay out of province longer than the required time, then you can always purchase third party insurance to cover you.
DeleteIn our case, we haven't over stayed our welcome in the US because we spent the winter in Mexico but we have stayed out of province for the required amount of time for our healthcare.
The only right decision is the one that works for you. Everyone's situation is vastly different and the only common factor in all cases is common sense.
ReplyDeleteIt's always nice to find after the fact, that you've made the right choice, but as you say it's 20/20 hindsight. Things can change on a moment's notice in these kind of instances.
The freedom you guys enjoy is pure luxury in these times. Glad to see you are making the most of it!!
You are totally correct! For people who needed to take flights home it did make sense to go home right away or take the risk of not getting back home. As you said though we won't know that we made the right decision until this whole mess is over because yes, things can change. At the moment we have been very happy with our decision.
DeleteWe have been extremely fortunate that we have the motorhome to travel in and that it is set up for long term boondocking/dry camping so we are able to just get into the middle of nowhere and be by ourselves. And we will continue to travel this way for as long as we need to, only hitting "public" places for groceries, gas or whatever else might be essential to our needs.