The Masked Travelers..........

There's a first time for everything!

Friday (June 5) we did something that we hadn't done in a while, we flew.  When we last stepped off a plane in mid-January after welcoming Emma Joy to the family we didn't know how much the world would change over the next six months.  Wash your hands often, sanitize your phone, wear a mask in public, don't wear a mask, shelter in place, social distancing, no gatherings larger than 500.....make that 100......make that 50......make that 10.  Someone wisely tweeted, "if they make these gatherings any smaller, somebody's going to have to come get some of these kids".  It's been a strange 2020 and unfortunately it just keeps getting crazier and sadder.  Hopefully we'll turn the corner sometime soon, put the pandemic in the rearview mirror and start being kind to one another.
Our destination for this journey was California to see those precious grandkids, and Sarah and Joey, of course!  We continue to be vigilant in making sure that we comply with the latest guidelines from the CDC, which at times is a moving target. 
We boarded the plane with enough hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and masks to outfit a small army.  In addition to the masks we packed, we each had one on from the time we arrived at the airport in Tampa until we were out of the terminal in Oakland.  The only time they were off was when we had something to eat or drink.  I guess after a while I got so used to wearing the mask that several times I tried to eat or drink something while it was still in place.  It didn't work so well!
We flew Southwest, which as I've stated many times is far and away my favorite domestic airline.  As usual they did a great job even if we couldn't see the smiles of the cabin crew or airport agents.
The planes were super clean, although we took extra steps to wipe down the seats, tray tables, seat belts, etc.  Additionally, they are operating at reduced capacity on all flights, blocking off several rows of seats completely and leaving the center seats open on all available rows.  I didn't do a head count, but it looked like there were around 80 fellow masked travelers on the Tampa to Denver flight.  From Denver to Oakland, the gate agent announced there were 44 passengers.  We know we've taken a calculated risk in flying here.  Hopefully all will work out.
So how was it?  It wasn't bad, probably better than we were expecting, but it certainly was a different experience.
Now that we're here, the experience continues to be different.  We've rented an amazing house in Bodega Bay for a month.  We'll be isolating here until a safe time has passed and we get to hug and kiss those that we came to see.  Unbeknownst to James, we did see Sarah and Emma Joy in the parking lot of the local high school for about 10 minutes and at a distance of 10 feet away.  You talk about something hard to resist, imagine seeing your daughter and grandchild for the first time in five months and not being able to hug them.  Emma Joy, who has spent most of her five months on the planet "sheltering in place" looked at us with amusement as we tried and were finally successful in getting her to smile.  This meeting in the parking lot was unbeknownst to James who at close to four wouldn't understand why his MiMi and Pop can't squeeze him in our arms.  If all goes as planned, there'll be plenty of time for hugging on him and the entire family soon.

The toughest social distancing test we've faced since this whole thing started!

Strange times we're in!