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Hiding Away in the Wilderness
We shelter in place in the North woods
On Saturday, March 14, 2020, my husband and I finally came to the same conclusion — we would have to leave the South Carolina condo we were renting for the winter and head back to Michigan, where we could hunker down in relative safety from the Coronavirus pandemic. We were leaving almost two weeks early, forfeiting the remainder of our rent, but talk of travel restrictions and the threat of many more cases to come made the decision relatively easy.
And forty calls a day from our panicky family pretty much cinched it.
We packed up quickly, loaded our car to the brim, and left Myrtle Beach early Tuesday morning. I packed a cooler full of sandwiches, fruit, and drinks, and a bag full of snacks, so we wouldn’t have to stop unnecessarily along the way.
We had a 900 mile drive ahead of us. We’re old — in our eighties — but fairly healthy, though we both have had bouts with pneumonia, I have had cancer in recent years, and my husband has Afib. In some circles we’re considered ‘high risk’. We had to admit we might not be invincible.
I was having eye problems during the winter but, as serendipity would have it, I got new glasses just weeks before we made the decision to leave. I could see to drive again! That was kind of essential.
