To Go or Not to Go. That is the Question.

 

No pictures for this one!

Next Wednesday (August 11) I am supposed to leave on my “road trip” to get the last five states I need to finish off my goal of riding in all 50 states.  But for the last two weeks I have been going back and forth between looking forward to the trip and getting ready to cancel it all.  Why?  Rising Covid cases,  “breakthrough” infections, and a concern that it’s now been over six months since I was vaccinated.

I think it’s pretty clear that the risk of getting Covid, albeit probably with mild symptoms, is increasing although still very low.  If I was simply going on this trip, riding in my car, going out and biking, and staying away from indoor restaurants, I probably wouldn’t be having the doubts that I am.  But I am also, as part of my parallel quest to see ballgames in all 30 active major league stadiums planning to go to games in Minneapolis, Denver, Dallas and Kansas City.  That puts me in crowds where the risk of contracting the virus increases.   I will absolutely feel the need to wear a mask whenever I’m at a ballpark (I wore one when I went to a game with my daughter Julie at Nats Park here in DC on Tuesday night).  I think I’ll feel . safe, although ballparks are clearly locations where the risk of getting infected is higher than on the bike or in the car.

I had already determined that my last two bicycle stops—St. George, Utah and Henderson, Nevada—were places where the percentage of those vaccinated was lower and the number of new infections was higher than I’d like.  So I’ve rearranged the western end of the trip.  I figured that once I left Glenwood Springs, where I would bike on the paved path through Glenwood Canyon, I’d head northwest toward the Salt Lake City area, doing a short ride in West Wendover, Nevada, just across the Utah/Nevada border and then go stay in Ogden, Utah where I’d ride down the bike trail the next day toward Salt Lake City to complete the 50 states.  As far as I decide to go I can then come back up to Ogden on the Front Runner commuter train which allows bicycles on board.  With the 50 state goal achieved, I’d head to Dallas, having to pass up the two night stay I had planned for Tucson.

But the other day I saw that Glenwood Canyon is closed, along with I-70 through the Canyon for getting to Glenwood Springs due to a major mudslide.  The closures are for an “indefinite” period.  I talked to the visitors bureau in Glenwood Springs which said the closures could be from three days to three weeks.  I will call tomorrow and find out what it looks like.  If getting to or from Glenwood is going to be too difficult, I may have to do yet another re-route.  Or I might just decide to only go as far as Denver, do a much less desireable ride in the Denver area, and then come home, leaving Utah, Nevada and three ballparks for next year. 

Monday is the day I have to make a final decision.  I'm still not sure what I'm going to do.  Stay tuned!

Bruce