We are doing it again, driving cross country to southern California, only we are 8 months into the pandemic and trying to get away from Rochester winter. In the past we said good by to friends and family, “we’ll see you next summer.” The big difference is we will see many of them as regularly as we have while in Rochester and on the same glassy screen as all our interactions have been. 

Over the years as we would arrive in a town we would call the people we knew there to say hi or plan  a get together. Somehow we seldom called from across the country if it wasn’t family or really close friends.  Today we are checking in with Rochester people even though we will be no further away even if 3,000 miles intervene.  Times are indeed strange, will we ever resume relaxed actual gatherings? Is the Escapee hug a thing of the past? Even family hugs are limited and based on sharing a bubble. I attended a funeral in NJ. Interesting, if not for the live feed I doubt we would have driven to NJ for the father of a friend. Our nephew, the rabbi, is doing funerals and Bar Mitzvahs on zoom and in small group and socially distanced events. Shiva is a zoom gathering and the Bar Mitzvah party is too. 

Our initial plan is to pick up the coach in Niagara Falls on Wednesday and return to Rochester where we will finish loading the food for departure on Thursday. The plan is to arrive in Charlottesville on Friday and depart on Monday for a two day drive to Red Bay Alabama. I hope to have some minor cabinetry work done and leave by Dec 1. That departure will be set by the availability of the woodworker. The work shouldn’t take more than an hour since he has the tools and worked on building these coaches.

This feels like planning a Jazz Fest evening of concerts. We have a plan and will be able to report on what actually takes place, after the fact. Last year our run down the Natchez Trace Parkway got short circuited by what turned out to be minor failure. This year we will try it again.