Coronavirus and Our Decision
“Let me be clear. If you are abroad, it is time for you to come home.” — Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada.
Text messages and emails came to me in abundance yesterday highlighting this particular phrase along with the encouragement for us to follow the government’s clear message.
There was a bit more to Trudeau’s announcement. The full context:
I want to remind all Canadians that they should avoid non-essential travel outside of our country until further notice. Canadian travellers 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.
Not wishing to be overly dogmatic, but this is how I interpret being abroad: travelling on vacation to a destination overseas, rather than to a neighbouring country.
With commercial travel in disarray, Canadian travellers that require a commercial means to return home – typically via civil aviation – should return home as soon as possible as they may become stranded.
We are not overseas. We are in the United States. A neighbouring country. In a large diesel pusher. Within a two-day drive to the border.
We are practicing social distancing. We are covered by our third-party health insurance. As long as the land border between Canada and the United States remains open for Canadian travellers to return home, we won’t be making a mad dash to cross into Canada.
Travelling in our coach requires some planning and preparation. It is not as simple as turning the key and heading north. Driving through the snow belt states could be hazardous at this time of year. Finding temporary accommodation in Canada until our site opens on May 1st would be difficult on such short notice.
We will closely monitor the situation and, if the Canada/U.S. land border closes to non-essential travellers, we would return immediately.
We may begin our journey north sooner than we planned to position ourselves closer to the border. And we are readying our coach for a quick departure if required.
For now, we will take it one day at a time.
Good morning Richard & Lorraine,
I hope this message finds you two in good spirits. As always, I enjoy your updates; I sort of get your traveling experiences via the shared posts. I’m sure you two are being overly challenged by the CoronaVirus situation. It would make me feel like driving a stagecoach into a deserted town. I can’t even imagine the hardships in traveling when you don’t know what gas stations are open or necessities at closed stores. I guess you better stock-up for the next 5-months+ from what “they ” are saying all over Capitol Hill and the Internet. I think I’d get some scuba tanks or portable respirators just in case… or maybe drive to the top of a tall mountain. Thanks for all your shared stories – I really enjoy them and like hearing from you. Take care – Ken Hardesty in Dallas, TX.
Hi Ken,
We live in two worlds. In one world, we are in a paradise setting surrounded by good friends. In another world, we have a global pandemic, states of emergency, economic fallout and border closings.
I think I know which world I prefer 🙂
We are both doing well and look forward to better times ahead. The next 6-12 months could prove to be challenging. Perhaps heading out to a tall mountain with a lot of supplies is not a bad idea 🙂 🙂