In the weeks leading up to the planned leave date for my trip (the 1st Saturday in April), fear and panic over the Coronavirus led many states to shut down “non-essential” businesses and issuing shelter-in-place orders. The closures included many local, state, and federal parks as well. Each state (and even each county and city) were putting their own orders into place. Some areas went so far as mandating curfews which, if violated, would result in large fines and jail time. Authorities were arresting people who were not “social distancing” (even if they live together) or issuing fines if someone was out in public and not wearing a face mask. Some states were even shutting down their borders and mandating a 14-day quarantine period for people entering the state. Many of the orders put into place are unconstitutional and government has no right to determine what is or isn’t an “essential” business and shut them down. This includes those governments that shut down churches and even imprisoned pastors for trying to hold services. This country has a Bill of Rights that every citizen is entitled to. This Bill of Rights was specifically put in place to limit government from infringing on the God given rights of men. Additionally, this country (and even individual states) are so big and diverse that a one size fits all solution does not work. Not to mention all these executive orders that affect every single citizen are put into place by a single individual (e.g. governor). People and individual businesses should have the right to make their own decisions based on the facts and data. Unfortunately most of the American people welcomed the restrictions with open arms; trading a false sense of “security” for a loss of freedoms.
If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, have a roof over your head, and so on. The only thing lacking is freedom.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower (Paraphrased)
Unfortunately it even went as far as people snitching on others who were not social distancing, wearing a face mask, being out in public, etc. resulting in legal troubles for people just going about their business. Large companies holding GPS data (e.g. Google) also shared tracking data with governments so they can track who wasn’t obeying the shelter-in-place orders. Sad to see all this taking place; looks very similar to past and present communist activities.
With that being said, I was monitoring all this activity in light of my travel plans. I know in North Carolina most everything was shut down but I could ride around without any problems. I was not sure what it would look like though once I cross the state line. In addition to that, I had planned on traveling south to visit Congaree National Park and Everglades National Park but most of the National Parks have been closed through April. So all these closures really upended my initial plans. The first couple of days of April, there was a lot more news of additional restrictions being put in place. I had contemplated canceling my trip altogether, as I wasn’t sure when things would open back up. That lasted all but a day or so and I just couldn’t stand the thought of not doing this trip. There were so many pieces that all fell into place and the timing was right. Waiting another year just wasn’t going to cut it. I decided to push back my start date another week to April 11, to give a little more time for all the panic and fear to die down. This additional week, I ended up canceling my initial PTO time and working an extra week. This extra week allowed me to wrap up a few things that I had planned on attending to before I left (one was getting some dental work done which my dentist so graciously helped me out with even though they were working on a limited basis; thanks Dr. Eaker!). I also realized that my debit card was set to expire while I would be in the middle of my trip, so I was able to get a new card before I left as well. A lot of little things like this to think about but taking care of them now is a lot easier than trying to do it on the road.
Saturday, April 11th, my updated leave date, was Easter weekend. There was a lot of chatter about security being put in place to help persuade people to stay in their homes rather than thinking about venturing outside. So with this in mind, I once more made a change to my leave date and pushed it back to Monday, April 13th. This would avoid any unnecessary potential travel issues and the Monday after a holiday would be a good calm day. With my leave date set, I still had no idea where I would be going or what other states would look like. I know I want to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific and try to make it up to Alaska. Everything in between, the route I take and the places I visit will be done on a whim. I have a bunch of places in mind but with everything shutdown, I will just have to play it by ear and see what happens. This whole virus shutdown threw a wrench in my plans but you must adapt and overcome. I know this won’t be any easy trip but nothing worth it ever is. Such is liberty. Motorcycling for me is a form of liberty, being freed from a surrounding cage and exposed to the elements. There is no place to hide but that is the very thing that makes it worth the ride. Adventure awaits.