Adventurers @ Large: An Unintended Roadtrip Across America

We had been planning our vacation for about eight months. Hours and hours of thoughtful research and planning had been done and we were excited to begin the trip we had termed "our civil rights tour of the south."

Therese had left the previous week to visit family in Chicago; we were going to rendezvous at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport on March 14.

The Covid-19 virus had made its way to the US; we were watching the national outbreak maps, and it was mostly in NY and WA states. We checked with the places we were planning to visit, "Are you open?" The Bessie Smith Cultural Center in Chattanooga was closed and the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center had called to issue a refund for the NASA tour we had scheduled...NASA was closing its doors. All of the other places were open.

We asked friends, "Would you go?"

"Be safe." was the reply.

We chatted excitedly to friends and family about our upcoming trip...we would be leaving in a couple days. Still, no one said, "That sounds like an idiotic idea - you need to stay HOME and do that trip another time..."

Therese and I spoke again Friday night - should we go? The Oregon Governor had just closed schools for the week before spring break. We looked at the map. Hmmm. Looks safer in Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi than it does in Oregon, Washington and California. We would follow the rules: