Stupid is as Stupid Does
In 2020 we were scheduled to go to Spain and Portugal (Barcelona to Porto) for a motorcycle trip in August. Needless to say, by the middle of Spring everyone was unequivocally concerned enough about COVID to unanimously recognize the wisdom of cancelling the trip. We even went so far as to assuage our troubled motorcycling souls by tentatively planning a “post-Pandemic” trip in February to Patagonia. By the time the seasons had parked us into the Fourth Quarter, we never even cancelled the Patagonia trip because it had never come together enough to be more than a raw idea since the Pandemic was raging. By the time May rolled around this year, the vaccination progress made us more comfortable with gathering, so we all went to our favorite Lodge in Southern Utah. It was there that we all agreed to proceed with the Spain and Portugal trip we had postponed. Our tour guides suggested September and a dozen of us signed on and started to build a head of steam. We have booked flights and shifted from deposits to full payment since we are now within the 60-day pre-trip window.
We have all been hearing about and reading about the Delta Variant for more than a month now. It’s been troubling to see unvaccinated people falling prey and catching the virus. There is no direct evidence yet to suggest that vaccinated people are becoming infected with asymptomatic COVID, but it is starting to become a talking point of concern. We drove cross-country, passing through several very red states where the Delta Variant is starting to blossom. Luckily, that did not include the biggest culprits of Florida and Texas, but now it seems everywhere except Montana (probably just a matter of time) is in the Delta Variant growth business. And just our luck, but the big Delta Variant culprits in Europe are Spain and Portugal.
As the news has been filtering in about Spain and Portugal, Kim has gotten more and more antsy. Yesterday she reached out to Skip and Kaz, our tour guys, to ask about the state of play vis-a-vis the Pandemic. they promised to stay on top of the situation. Then today began with an email from fellow rider, Chris. It was a quote from the New York Times about the CDC recommending Americans to specifically NOT travel to Spain and Portugal. Try as she might to find that article in the Times, she couldn’t. But later in the day, Chris forwarded the article in the Times. It told a slightly different story, but not by much. It seems that the U.S. Department of State has recommended, based on general advisories from CDC, that Americans reconsider their plans to travel to Spain and Portugal. It seems that Germany has banned travelers into Germany from Spain and Portugal without a meaningful quarantine. This pertains to all travelers, even those that are vaccinated and documented as such.
This is now a troubling situation for us and the other ten people on the trip. Just last night I was with Steve and Maggie staying with them in Phoenix and talking about seeing them next month in Barcelona. Then, on the drive home I spoke to Kevin and assured him that he should book his flights. Oops. It was after that when Chris sent his New York Times email and now everything has gone into a cocked hat.
I forwarded the article to Skip and felt the need to say something. This is Skip and Kaz’s livelihood and at this stage there will certainly be breakage, for which Skip and Kaz should not have to be responsible. I said that we really wanted to go, but that we don’t want to be stupid or irresponsible. This has been our storyline for eighteen months and while we thought we were over that stage of having to cancel or abstain, it seems to be the classic “not so fast, Abernathy” situation.
I am sitting on the patio this fine and still summer morning. Sitting under this palapa I am reminded of how lovely the world can be if you take the time to enjoy your surroundings. I am trying at this moment to be hyper-aware of everything around me as I type away on my iPad. The sky is a faint, but clear blue and the few wispy clouds in the sky foretell mostly clear weather. I came outside to warm up rather than cool down (I must have the A/C set too low at 72 degrees). It is neither hot nor cold, but just right at 67 degrees and I am sitting comfortably in my shorts with the rising sun to the East filtering through the jade plants off the patio. The birds are chirping ever so gently and I can hear a few distant sounds. There is an airplane gaining altitude way above us, heading East I imagine. There are a few occasional hammering sounds from the house building (finishing touches by now) off to the north over the ravine. But otherwise, it is as still and quiet as anyone could possibly want.
My heart is at peace for the moment and that is both a very good thing and an even better thing to be able to recognize. We are healthy, my children are all well, our families are never without issues, but generally quiet and well. My day (a Wednesday, so mid-week) is lightly scheduled. I need to go pick out a two-foot high pot in which to put concrete to set the new wind sculptures I just retrieved in Sedona the last two days. Brad will come over in the afternoon to set the concrete into it with the steel pin embed upon which the sculpture will sit. Other than that small project, with Handy Brad’s help, I only have to make progress on my course preparation. I have completed and sent off the syllabus to the Finance Department Chair and hove not yet heard back from him (I should ping him again), but I am presuming that all is well with it and I just need to prepare my lectures (all of which are outlined and started), starting from the first onward, which gives me several months yet to do the last ones if I need the extra time. The one fly in that ointment is that I will now have to see what adjustment to this Spain/Portugal trip will do to my teaching schedule. I had organized the syllabus to incorporate my travel plan, so there should not be too much alteration needed since only the second lecture was being substituted with an assignment. The third and fourth are scheduled to be done via Zoom and can be kept that way or done in person easily enough. I still have a month to finish my lesson plans and lectures, which is plenty of time. Even assuming my 5×1 ratio of class preparation, that means I have somewhere between 25 – 40 hours of work to do and over five weeks to do it. Not exactly a gulag-like workload.
So, I am back to my travel plans and what will become of our planned trip to Spain and Portugal. The route is planned to go from Barcelona up through the Pyrenees Mountains past Andora (I wonder if they have COVID issues there as well?) and then up to the top of Spain near Pamplona and San Sebastián. From there we will more or less head West across Basque Country, approximately following the route of the Camino de Santiago (or just north of it along the Atlantic coastline) through Bilbao, Santander, Oviedo and Santiago de Compostela. From there we head south into Porto to end our pilgrimage. This is a trip I have wanted to take for some time. The movie The Way with Martin Sheen just reinforced that urge. Stupid may be as stupid does, but maybe Forrest Gump’s mother should have also added that stupid is as stupid doesn’t. I does want to go on this trip and I doesn’t want to cancel and have more time to sit in the morning still on the hilltop, as pleasant as that feels at the moment.