A Very Early Morning

4:30 AM.  Bonnie Raitt is singing "Angel from Montgomery" on my iPhone.  It's pretty dark outside.  Man, it's early!

As you've probably surmised, we're back on the Saddle Mountain BLM land.  Our original plan had been to leave the Sedona area and head north while making our way back home to Oregon.  But the weather along our intended route wasn't looking great; and many parks and campgrounds were beginning to close.  So we decided to head back to a known entity.

Our 2020 trip has changed from an adventure to a "shelter-in-place" outing.  We're safe.  Our closest neighbor is over 300 yards away.  We keep 6 feet between ourselves and those we meet here.  Many people are doing the same thing we are, and just trying to ride things out.  

Because our children urged us to stay here for as long as we can, we've been here longer than we first anticipated.  Which is why we were up so early the other day.  It was time to buy groceries and to do laundry again.  The nearest decent grocery store is Fry's and is about 30 miles away in Buckeye, AZ.  Like many other supermarkets, Fry's has a time carved out for Seniors only--Monday - Thursday, 6:00 - 7:00 AM!  

While we don't really consider ourselves to be seniors, our ages qualify us as such; so we decided to try and get there to shop in our designated time.  Because restaurants are closed and neither one of us is thrilled with the idea of eating take-out, and because we were planning to do our laundry during the same trip, I insisted that we have a good breakfast before we leave.  The only way to make everything work was to get up at 4:30.

We got to Fry's around 6:15 and the place was crowded with us old people.  There was a police presence there (they said it was because seniors can get pretty wild), and there was already a line-up of younger customers waiting their turn to get in.  Bizarre! The shelves looked a little better than the last time we were there, but the paper products were still wiped out.  

We were out of Fry's by 7:15 and at the laundromat by 8:00, making us the first ones there.  The laundry was done in short order, and we were back at the trailer by 10:15!  Yes, we were with other human beings. And yes, we probably touched some of the same things they did.  But we bathed our hands in sanitizer over and over.  It was a little stressful; but it's done for awhile.  We'll see how creative I can get for our meals with what we have in the trailer.

In an effort not to become complete slugs, we're taking daily walks around the area.  That is providing H with a lot of photography opportunities.  You can see some of his work in his Gallery.  (The sunsets are still gorgeous here.)