When the April camping cancellation email hit the inbox telling us Big Bend National Park is closed til May 11 it was time for Buying the Bayou.
Camping cancelled
We’d put it off as long as we could, starting with a week, then adding another until we realized that the government was cancelling camping. We’d been running from the truth after two weeks in the Smokies, with Mammoth Cave then Hot Springs closing the day after we toured. With nowhere to go, Barksdale AFB took us in, but just barely, when within hours it closed its gates to essential personnel and residents only. Lucky for us, an RV reservation counted as resident and that’s how we bought the bayou.
Every day someone leaves and it’s down to 8 of us here with no new neighbors arriving at least until April. Between TV and internet news we’re having a hard time reconciling what is going on around the country and across the globe with what’s happening in our insulated community.
Figure this …
The stock market is rebounding big on a stimulus package while COVID news worsens and volatility increases in markets around the world. We now carry a letter that says we are residents of the RV park, and show it to guards before we can we shop for groceries, gas or sinkers for Eric’s new bass fishing project.
The base is basically on lockdown. If cancelling camping and the Olympics is an overreaction out of an abundance of caution, then the stock market must be an overreaction of irrational exuberance of “crisis over” messaging. If the crisis is really over, then someone should tell the nice young men guarding the entrance to the commissary. Louisiana may be third in the nation in the spread of the virus right now (according to Governor John Bell Edwards last night), so it is comforting to see it being addressed effectively on base.
In other news …
The sky was bright and blue yesterday. Eric caught two fish on Flag Lake while Sheri finished her book. A bike to Moon Lake revealed a green slime coating the still water.
There are dirt and gravel roads all over the base with no signs or maps to tell you what lies ahead. Most end with a crazy machinery set-up. Our idea is to ride and map them all since trail accounting seems to be a job well suited for non-essential personnel like us.
C mon Eric, you have to show the FISH!!!!
You are right! I added a fish pic to the blog per your request. Thanks for following along!
Glad to see you are making the most of your updated itinerary. I enjoy reading about your travels (or stacation at this point). Hang tough. Hang loose. Enjoy!
Thanks, Patti. We won’t be trading the Potomac for the Bayou any time soon! Appreciate you joining us on this journey 🙂
Thanks for the pic. FYI if fishing gets slow try a spinner mep, everything goes for those.
Isn’t that what Lewis and Clark did: map trails ? You are experiencing socal-distancing and sheltering in place to new levels. Hang in there. The scenery and safety are worth it. More “fish stories” please.!
Nice fish Eric. You and Case can now compare fishing techniques. With only 8 campers left you should be very safe. Be safe and enjoy the many unexplored trails.
Bleach, the large (but, as yet empty) tackle box implies that you’re into the fishing thing for the long run. Good boy. Great fun for every adventure to follow as well. The photo of the meadow is way cool.
Time for some Thoreau –
“I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Kristin – We just donated a copy of Walden and Civil Disobedience to the rec room here. What else are you recommending? We loved Travels with Charley.
Wow you got through both of those books! I just found my copy of Walden, perhaps I should vow to read it during this quarantine.
Not sure I have any oldie but goodies, let me give it thought but if you don’t mind spending 4.99 on a movie to download….Harriet is a great movie that was recently released. It is about Harriet Tubman……..she was such a bad-ass, I get why she should be on the 20 dollar bill.