Wash, Rinse, Repeat

 In my previous post we had just been told to self-isolate in the Volunteer Village here on Allatoona Lake.  The United States Army Corps of Engineers district headquarters in Mobile, Alabama had initially gone into full lock-down mode, closing all public interfacing operations.  At the beginning, Rangers were still reporting to work but then there were some virus outbreaks at some projects (for instance the whole staff at Lake Lanier) and they soon switched to staggered office hours and teleworking.  Us volunteers were again instructed to keep our distance from each other and stay put in The Village.  And for twelve weeks that is what we did, almost.

While the campgrounds were going to remain closed beyond their traditional opening day there was still preparation work that needed to be done so that when opening day did come the gatehouses would be ready to operate.  And that was lucky for Cyndee and I.  We had been assigned to install all the computers in the seven gatehouses on Allatoona Lake.  We were able to do this in total isolation with the exception of having to pass through (wearing masks) a mostly unoccupied building to get to the storage room for the computers.

The Volunteer Supervisor in late April coming to
The Village to reinforce our continued isolation.

Daily life in the first twelve weeks for us has been essentially the same for us as it has been for everyone in large metropolitan areas.  Everything but essential businesses are closed and our trips outside The Village are limited to grocery stores and fuel stations.  We are taking advantage of the "old people" hours and do our grocery shopping at 6:00am.  In addition to the reduced exposure because of the small number of people at this hour we also benefit from being the first to have access from overnight stocking.  It has been less difficult to obtain items that are in critical shortage.  Regardless, we are still rationing those hard to find items.

Another significant change we have noticed is that we are practically buying no fuel for our vehicles.  The truck sat for nearly a month without being driven and our little SUV has just been to the store and back.  I actually started the truck and did a loop around town just keep all the moving parts lubricated.  Fuel prices have also plummeted but so what, nowhere to go, nothing to do.

So most days are just rise, watch TV, take a walk through the closed campground adjacent to The Village, watch TV, FaceTime with the kids/grandkids, watch TV, go to bed.  Repeat.

Although it wasn't all TV watching, Cyndee and I both knocked out a slug of books.  Five of the ones I read were over a thousand pages each.  I rediscovered how much I enjoy using my Kindle.

By May healthcare workers across the U.S., indeed the world, were suffering from burn-out and feeling un/under-appreciated.  Densely populated areas saw healthcare worker appreciation flyovers by various military aircraft.  Bombers, fighter jets, precision drill teams, etc. flew a planned route that would take them over a number of the larger hospitals of metropolitan areas.  Even though we are on the outer edges of the Atlanta metropolitan are we got our own flyover.

The Volunteer Village is on the west end of Allatoona Lake and the town of Cartersville is adjacent to the west end of the lake.  A flight of two C-130's from Dobbins AFB in Marietta, GA made a pass over, among other small towns, Cartersville.  I was able to get a long-range shot of them passing over the Etowah River Valley as they departed Cartersville.