I am happy to feature the blog of a Canadian couple driving around their country in a motorhome. Ths post includes recent experiences since the Covid-19 outbreak.

We just hit our sixties and will retire soon (moving target) so that we can travel more. In the meantime, we just travel whenever we can for as long as we can.

Follow us as we follow the road, and yes, the destination may or may not matter. We will share with you stories and tips on campervan travel; DIY fixes, hacks, life on the road, beautiful vistas, cooking in the van. We may also contemplate life in general.

Tony is a contractor/carpenter and Margie is a recovering archaeologist/manager, so we may come up with some surprise, off-topic articles as inspiration may hit us.

We’d love to hear your ideas, your experiences, and how you handled certain camper-vanning situations, so drop us a line!

We would love to share our latest post with you:

Coronavirus Diaries – People Watching

Our world is changing rapidly. Just when we thought we hit bottom, we observe in disbelief how life imitates art while we run the script of every post-apocalypse movie we’ve seen and search for parallels to our bizarre situation.

People watching
We like people watching, but in times of social distancing we can only people-watch online or from a safe distance in places such as the supermarket, which is pretty much the only outing we get.

The spectrum of reactions and behaviour patterns is fascinating; some are scared, some recklessly careless. Some are kind and thoughtful and some selfish and cruel.

Some are sharing posts and links to help others get through the isolation. Some are in their element—isolation is their middle name—while others still post negative stuff about, well, everything.

Yet others are digging their heels even deeper into conspiracy theories, denial, and rumor spreading. Is this how the ignorant masses self-medicate, or are the ones who follow new instructions are the ignorant ones? Is it easier for some people to deny and come up with alternative realities, or is it something more sinister?

Who will survive?

Other are being quiet. Maybe too quiet? Vulnerabilities can intensify during times like these and some of us may need extra help. How do you provide help and encouragement while keeping your distance and protecting both yourself and your loved ones?

Some are coming back from trips cut short, and others still leaving for new ones until the borders were shut for non-essential travel. and they no longer could.

Some were returning from Europe and other hot spots and going about their business as usual while freaking out everyone around them. Why are you not self-isolating?

The new heroes are supermarket clerks.

Our perspectives are slowly changing.

Some people are buying toilet paper yet others are buying ammunition. There is shortage of both for the time being.

Interesting. There are already reports of break-ins into cars to steal toilet paper and groceries.

A recent trip to the supermarket was like walking in zombieland. No one was making eye contact and except for a few forced smiles there was no interaction. Everyone was focusing on finding their goods before they are gone while trying to keep a good distance from potential infectors.

The broad spectrum of the human condition…the reality that across continents, religion, race, age, and gender some of us are kind, compassionate and are open minded, while some of us are selfish, cynical and prefer to bend the facts to suit their needs. Yet, some of us are somewhere in the middle—swaying in the wind.

Some people step up to the occasion and some stoop low.

Our reaction to the possibility of toilet paper shortage highlights the excess in our life. The overly stocked shelves and endless variety…dozens of kinds of everything for every possible occasion. Will this change once we go back to normal?

We are such a strange species.

So What we’ve been doing
We finished building the new bathroom in the basement and arranged the basement as our new travel destination. It’s pretty much as far as we travel nowadays. We may follow this blueprint and create an elaborate wine tour. I am not sure who created this image, but thanks for the inspiration, Linda!

Making good use of Duolingo and learning a new language. We have Chinese and French on the go and there are some strange sounds emitted every now and then in this house. We are not just grunting, we are practicing.

This is a great time to start a free university course on one of the many online platforms. I would recommend the Science of Wellbeing, which may be even more poignant, and perhaps even helpful during these times of uncertainty.

We are reading.

Instead of planning our next trip, we started planning a spring vegetable garden. Hey, you never know…remember those dystopian scenarios mentioned earlier?

Movies! We are so grateful for movies. We are currently binging on Jackie Chan and Jim Jarmusch movies. Interesting combination you say? We agree, but it works

We cook a lot.

And we walk in the forest.

Our language is changing. We started using words that were not in our vocabulary; words like hunker down, shelter in place, social distancing, self-isolation, and wash your hands are the new buzz words.

We are trying to guess what will be the word/phrase of the year. Right now we put our bets on social distancing. We are also trying to come up with Man of the Year. Up until the COVID-19 pandemic, we would have put our money on Nancy Polusi, but now? Maybe Dr. Li Wenliang?

We are overindulging with pictures of cute animals and watching Arnold Schwarzenegger’s hilarious videos with his menagerie. We will not apologize for it.

Tony’s visits to Home Depot are restricted to the absolute necessary ones and he has to make do with what he already has.

With an official State of Emergency, we may have several months of somewhat organized chaos ahead of us, so we’ll definitely get more creative and perhaps more practical. We’ll try to write about it since writing about our travels seems a bit irrelevant and trivial at the moment.

Maybe we’ll adjust our behaviour just a bit onceall of this is over. Maybe not.

One thing for sure, we will never be as funny as they can be in Wales!

So with this in mind, our last word of advice is step away from the bin!

We hope you are all coping. Let us know what you’re doing!

Here is a link to their blog. Why not check it out and see what else they have been doing.
https://backroadsandotherstories.com/