By Scott Shephard

Blizzard warnings. Winter storm warnings. Severe thunderstorm warnings. Lightning alerts. High wind alerts (with gusts up to 60mph) Severe wind chill alerts. And Deb and I knowingly traveled by pickup truck into the jaws of this massive storm.

As dramatic as it all sounds, our two day forced march to Albuquerque, NM, 1200 miles from our home in Watertown, was uneventful and we beat all of that bad weather to our hotel here. In fact it was 56˚ when we got here. But it’s not so nice this morning.

Our original plan was not to stay two nights in Albuquerque as we make our way to Arizona, but, to very loosely quote King Lear, Mother Nature plays with us “for Her sport.” But that’s OK given that we are safe and warm. I will spend the day watching the Daytona 500 and (I hope) my hero Jordan Speith play brilliant golf at Pebble Beach. Deb will no doubt spend time walking her 10,000 steps in the nearly vacant halls of this massive hotel we are staying at.

A Pandemic Road Trip?

Those who know us well know that we have been profoundly cautious throughout the last year, in part for our own health but more importantly so we can spend time with a relatively small pod of dear friends and family. In my case, not counting Deb, that’s a total of 10 people. We haven’t been inside a bar, restaurant or other such establishment since March, 2020. We wear masks. We sanitize our hands. And when we sneeze, we do so Dracula style into our elbows. Our youngest son’s recent hospitalization in Seattle for COVID is a reminder that this virus is real and it is dangerous. As if over a quarter million deaths wasn’t reminder enough . . . .

So you might be wondering how we travel safely in the age of COVID. I’ll have to admit that to some degree, it is a bit of a leap of faith. But the hotels and the AirBNBs we have chosen all say that they are following CDC protocols and we trust that claim. Our current hotel, for example, allows a room to remain vacant for 48 hours before it is used again. Further, I never go into C-Stores or gas stations but pay at the pump. In fact, I have driven close to 30,000 miles since March last year and I have yet to go inside to pay. Our food is bought at drive-thrus or from restaurants that have curb side service.

And, though I may make some of my Christie Noem Liberty Loving friends angry, I feel decidedly safer in many places outside my home state because states like New Mexico seem to take COVID more seriously. Masks are required here and laws have been enacted making it harder for COVID to spread. South Dakota has one of the worst records in the nation on COVID deaths per 100,000 while New Mexico has done better. (Don’t ask about Arizona, though the good news is that we will be outside as much as possible and always socially distanced. And Arizona is doing better than South Dakota.)

This Just In . . .

Deb just told me that Albuqueque has had 3” of snow and is expecting 4” more today with strong winds. The road crews are working hard to clear primary thoroughfares. There are 35 people on the snow removal team here. 35! Albuquerque is a city of over 500,000 people. But they obviously don’t know snow like we do in the Great White North. But we’ll not hold that against them. Plus, by the end of the week, the temperatures here will range in the 50s and 60s. Who needs snow plows when you have the sun?

Canon R5 1/13 sec f/4.0 ISO 640