I wrote a lot in the middle of the dismay but I never wanted to publish it because every time I read it, it all sounded so horrible. It didn't seem like it could be a part of my charmed life. With a little hindsight, I want to believe we are coming out the other side of some very dark days. So I have taken a bit of fresh look at The Before Times and broken it down. In the end, two years later, our new life is beginning to emerge.
We left for extended winter travel at the end of November 2019. That seems like a lifetime ago. We had a wonderful 5 month itinerary. We headed south to Louisiana and spent a month in a rented shotgun style house in New Orleans. What a great time that was! Good music, amazing food and friends. The new year arrived and it is fair to say that is where the dismay began to creep in.
The first thing that happened is we lost our friend Riley. He passed while we were driving across Texas headed to Big Bend National Park. We continued on in a fog of loss all across Texas. Onward through New Mexico and into Arizona where we spent some time at Karchner Cavern and just as the sun was going down I hear that my friend David had died.
By the time we headed into California we found the solace of some hot springs and the beauty of Joshua Tree. We added a story to our books of a desert rat in the engine compartment of our van and a 3am drive down a lonely road to relocate it. In other news, driving around Joshua Tree in the middle of the night is actually amazing, quiet and still. It's an alien abduction type experience for sure.
By March 2020, just as we had made it to the farthest point in our travels, the pandemic became real and we made the painful decision to abandon our adventures. We cancelled reservations and drove like a bunch of spring break kids (without the drinking), back across the country. We slept in rest stops and returned home so that we could be “safe”. Everything was closing up behind us, the regional parks, hotels, campgrounds. On the positive side we did receive refunds for all our bookings even though they were all non-refundable. A spark of humanity in uncertain times.
A few weeks after returning home, and basically in lock down, we receive the unsettling news that our Louisiana long lost brother Terry was murdered. We had just a few months earlier, spent a lovely few fun days with him and his son in Marksville Louisiana on our way to New Orleans. While I was still trying to wrap my head around not being on the road, the isolation of the pandemic crept in. We lost John Prine, from Covid. He was such a treasure and fantastic story teller. He had a profound effect on my early music leanings growing up just outside of Chicago.
Zoom became our tiny connection with the world. I became a convert to Yin Yoga every night at 9pm. Thank you to Steve Murray. You were a shining star. Yin Yoga remains a saving grace.
When I hear people complain about 2021, I think no, 2020 that was the real lousy year.
Read more: The Boneyard
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