RVing is Getting Cheaper! - Page 2

Morich · 03-12-2020, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RightUR

Dell???? you must be in my neighborhood, somewhere near Austin Tx. Oh, I see, Pflugerville. No kidding. Hey neighbor. LOL.

Known to be between a Rock and a weird place!

SummitPond · 03-12-2020, 06:43 PM

No change in plans as yet.

We are going to a family wedding next week, and while everyone else will be staying at motels and eating at restaurants we will be camping.

Our big trip will start in June - still planning that one out. We had hoped to go up into Canada, but we will have to wait and see what transpires.

Just watched a 20-year-old "American Experience" on the 1918 flu where we were caught unawares and over 500,000 Americans (and 30 million worldwide) died. It started fast and (after a prolonged period) quickly faded into history. Maybe this virus will also burn itself out quickly, hopefully before many more people perish.

Morich · 03-12-2020, 09:16 PM

I was also reading info on the 1918 deal and got some insight into why folks hit it so hard to contain the spread and then after it did get to the location two different approaches were used. I believe it was Philadelphia that had a parade for WWI and it spread totally through there and killed lots of people, while St. Louis dealt with it quick and closed things down to avoid crowds and lost a lot less. There is a major difference now and then as one could actually close off a city from another, where now that would be nearly impossible to do totally without something like the Chinese who were able to shut it down much quicker while we are just beginning to see the start. In 1918 things like food were local and now they have to be shipped in so it's very hard to shut things down now.

Goodspike · 03-13-2020, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morich

I was also reading info on the 1918 deal and got some insight into why folks hit it so hard to contain the spread and then after it did get to the location two different approaches were used. I believe it was Philadelphia that had a parade for WWI and it spread totally through there and killed lots of people, while St. Louis dealt with it quick and closed things down to avoid crowds and lost a lot less.

Yes, it was a parade to promote war bonds. City leaders didn't listen to health officials. San Francisco was another city that did it right and was relatively unscathed.

Back then it was troop movements that spread the virus around the country and around the world. And according to some reports, military officers apparently thought they were exempt from the laws of nature and ignored travel bans, spreading the disease from base to base. Now we have airplanes that do that for us! ;-)

The biggest concern I see from that 1917-1918 outbreak is the viruse apparently mutated several times, into two really bad forms, one of which could kill in a day. The current coronavirus isn't all that bad in comparison, but if it mutates . . ..

Morich · 03-13-2020, 08:55 AM

Kind of hard to compare the different items like flu and this virus as they are not very much the same at times. We should hope this doesn't mutate as it is already 10 times more deadly than the simple flue we are used to seeing.
Also a big difference is that there are lots of people who have been exposed to flu and have immunity somewhat built up. Nobody has ANY immunity built up to this virus as it is totally new, therefore most people who are exposed are far more likely to get sick. We don't seem to be passing on much info that other countries had about what to expect. We can't be as well prepped if we don't know what temperatures kill or control it on things like food. The info on how long it survives is going to be critical to how we treat our homes.
Assuming food like bread wrappers at the store are suspect, it would be very helpful to know how long that wrapper is dangerous. Are durable things like apples going to be safe to eat after "X" number of hours? So far the answers for "X" seem to be lacking or all over the place, so that we can't know what to trust or expect.
Even basic info on how many deaths per thousand to expect, seems to be just missing. At this point that basic info has to be available from other advanced countries, like Japan and Italy, that operate much as we do.
My wife and I are in a shape where we can hunker down and try not to get or pass the virus along but we really need some basic info to do the prep work. My wife has nursing training to fall back on but without the basic info we can't do the things we need to do to keep it from spreading.
Before you kill a bug, you have to know something about the bug because there are some bugs that you really need!

RightUR · 03-13-2020, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SummitPond

No change in plans as yet.

We are going to a family wedding next week, and while everyone else will be staying at motels and eating at restaurants we will be camping.

Our big trip will start in June - still planning that one out. We had hoped to go up into Canada, but we will have to wait and see what transpires.

Just watched a 20-year-old "American Experience" on the 1918 flu where we were caught unawares and over 500,000 Americans (and 30 million worldwide) died. It started fast and (after a prolonged period) quickly faded into history. Maybe this virus will also burn itself out quickly, hopefully before many more people perish.

wow, talk about "Balance of nature." Mother nature has a way of controlling earths population.

Goodspike · 03-13-2020, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RightUR

wow, talk about "Balance of nature." Mother nature has a way of controlling earths population.

Apparently Mother Nature didn't know we were doing a pretty good job of that on our own in 1917.

Morich · 03-13-2020, 12:13 PM

That's the funny thing about numbers. So looking at the numbers without adding any spin for whatever other purposes, did we learn anything about population control?
I keep tropical fish and used to breed and sell them, which gives a pretty good lesson in what happens when you don't control population , whether it is in a 75 gallon tank or worldwide. It doesn't take a very smart farmer to know what happens when you put too many chickens in the hen house, does it?
I just watched the Texas governor assure us that they have plenty of testing available, since they have known about the virus since January. They state that they currently have testing for 275 tests per day and ramping up quickly, so that's good. But if you look at the numbers predicted to be infected, it begins to look a bit underwhelming.
Austin area has just over 2 million people. Of that number 40-70% are estimated to acquire the infection, so run some moderate numbers like 2 million times even 20% to get a view of how many tests are needed and then spread that out over how many days it takes! Say the testing effort ramps up ten times to 2000-3000 per day, how long to test the Austin population that are getting sick? After 200 days, the testing is not really much help is it?
And then maybe also somebody in San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston might be sick, too.

RightUR · 03-13-2020, 12:16 PM

The thing is we don't want to Acknowledge how serious this actually is. As of yesterday 30 states have declared State of Emergency and others are taking measures that mirror a state of emergency. It's time to declare a national state of emergency and move this nation as one, offering a set of rules and "commandeering" (notice commandeer is in quotes) various manufacturing plants to ONLY produce Covid19 Test kits. Like we did in world warII. Once we have our 10-20M test kits they can return to doing what they were doing. China's #s are decreasing and so are S.Koreas. I know we have a lot of pride and always want to lead the way, but it's time to put the pride on the shelf and start adopting some things other countries are doing. "A" plan is better than NO plan. In S. Korea they found that HIV meds are of great help. CDC falls under Health and Human Services, Dept of HHS should be leading the way (with CDC, their "Sub" agency), they report back to the VP. Instead We have too many chiefs wanting to have their say, and then it gets confusing.

RightUR · 03-13-2020, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goodspike

Apparently Mother Nature didn't know we were doing a pretty good job of that on our own in 1917.

I guess not. Listening to us people is NOT her Forte'. Even when we THINK we have all the answers, she lets us know who's really "in charge."

RightUR · 03-13-2020, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morich

That's the funny thing about numbers. So looking at the numbers without adding any spin for whatever other purposes, did we learn anything about population control?
I keep tropical fish and used to breed and sell them, which gives a pretty good lesson in what happens when you don't control population , whether it is in a 75 gallon tank or worldwide. It doesn't take a very smart farmer to know what happens when you put too many chickens in the hen house, does it?
I just watched the Texas governor assure us that they have plenty of testing available, since they have known about the virus since January. They state that they currently have testing for 275 tests per day and ramping up quickly, so that's good. But if you look at the numbers predicted to be infected, it begins to look a bit underwhelming.
Austin area has just over 2 million people. Of that number 40-70% are estimated to acquire the infection, so run some moderate numbers like 2 million times even 20% to get a view of how many tests are needed and then spread that out over how many days it takes! Say the testing effort ramps up ten times to 2000-3000 per day, how long to test the Austin population that are getting sick? After 200 days, the testing is not really much help is it?
And then maybe also somebody in San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston might be sick, too.

Amen to that, and Tx has 29 M people......and 275 kits a day? Laughable.

Goodspike · 03-13-2020, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morich

Austin area has just over 2 million people. Of that number 40-70% are estimated to acquire the infection, so run some moderate numbers like 2 million times even 20% to get a view of how many tests are needed and then spread that out over how many days it takes!

What is the situation in Austin. My step-daughter wants to go down there next week even though S x SW was cancelled. I think she's nuts just getting on an airplane without good reason. But to go where there might be other groups of people is just stupidity, IMHO. But I don't know how your area compares to ours--just south of Kirkland, Washington, the place of the first outbreak.

Morich · 03-13-2020, 03:39 PM

I do not go into Austin that much as I prefer to avoid the crowd. But here in the burbs. things are just kind of tense, with some obvious buying sprees on weird things. People are buying some things that they will need like any type of cleaning/disinfection items are gone off the shelves or many of the normal online places. Those are things which would be convenient but I don't see them as required for many of us. Soap and water is good and still in good supply, even though washing is step one. Bleach water is also one of the better disinfection items- if we could get a good straight story on what strength for what amount of time is needed to assure total cleaning. But we have decided to cancel a trip to Galveston as something that we might do safely but with such a mental struggle that it is not worth the effort. One of our primary entertainment is eating out and that is not on the list of things to do, so we decided to just stay here and cook!
If this progresses as I expect, there may be such a disruption in shipping that eating out may just get too iffy. Small details of how we operate are going to put us in a bind as we have gotten used to an economy that operates on a "just in time" shipping plan, rather than having a backroom full of product.
I went to Home Depot as we have been semi-planning to buy a deep freezer and decide today was as good a time to lay in a larger than normal stock of frozen food. The two stores I checked have sold both upright freezers they normally keep on hand!
The overall Austin situation seems to be a split of denighting it is happening, complaining that most people do expect to be out of work and school, buying things like water that most will agree will still come out of the tap, and just a lot of confused thinking as we don't get any organised plan that we can believe.
I would not recommend a trip as many places that one might want to go or do, are already closing for varied amounts of time, which is one way of saying we don't know what to expect but we don't want folks hanging around here! At this point, most of the bars and restaurants are still staying open but at the same time, complaining about the loss of business they expect and how to pay employees sick pay when they are not there. Slippery slope with no firm answers except the obvious "understatements". Hilton has sent me a nice note explaining they will not be canceling my points status on the normal schedule as I might not be able to book with them!
So on the one hand I'm told all is fine while the other hand says they expect trouble!
Can you eat a banana that you've had in QT for 14 days?

NXR · 03-15-2020, 04:38 PM

Canadians are bailing out of the campground here in Florida each day. Some of them have received a communication from the company that provides their union retiree healthcare benefit in the US that they have ten days to get back to Canada or their COVID19 healthcare costs in the USA will not be covered. Others are concerned that if they get ill they could be quarantined for 14 days at the border.

One couple got here yesterday and were planning to stay until April 6th but are now leaving for Canada on Tuesday.

Ray

Morich · 03-15-2020, 06:28 PM

As things progress and different states using different guidelines and little coordinations between the various groups, I see more confusion coming dailly. I now see some states closing different businesses like restaurants and grocery stores restricting hours.
For my fun trips, that really means I DO NOT want to be in strange territory if it gets bad and gas stations are closed, either from lack of employees or due to disrupted supply chains.
One of the ways to help protect the other people as well as yourself is to limit exposure.
The facts are not really being talked about too much as we are still trying to say it's not happening but just running the numbers and trying to downplay the result is not something that I want to be on the road as it unfolds.
At these times, I try to look for the expert opinions from folks who do not have political motives as then I try to look at those numbers as compared to what is happening in other places where the disease arrived earlier.
I found an estimate from Harvard and then ran those numbers to put it into a local perspective.
Google tells me the Austin metro area population is just over 2 million . Estimates of how many will eventually be infected range from 40 -70 % with 3.4 % of those dying.
So to keep from sounding hysterical, I ran the numbers as 2 million times only 20% sick and 2% dying. This is a much more deadly disease than the flu, swine flu, etc. so I advise looking over the numbers for yourself to see how you feel about being on the road. The number 8000 is scary enough to make me not leave home. That level means truly harsh results or truly hard decisions on closing things like gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants.
Tough times make for tough decisions and watching Italy, Japan, France, and Spain, tells me this is going to be a tough one.

Jamie M · 03-15-2020, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oldchinahand

Not changing our plans. How can we thumb our noses at diesel in the $2.50 range?

Our son is some kind of IT unicorn at a local hospital. Our daughter in law is a nurse practitioner with the VA. We pick up our 8 & 10 year old g'daughters almost everyday at school, blase with the other grandparents a while, then off to choir, or catachism, or b'ball practice or riding lessons. Meet n greet and enjoy the company of others.

Only time we hear of wuhan virus panic is when we turn on the TV and the left legged communists are screaming about it.

Those of us in our 7th decade have lived through polio, small pox, chicken pox, how many kinds of measles, mumps, STDs, AIDs, SARS, H1N1, Ebola, and more. Not to mention rattlesnakes, scorpions, black widows, brown recluses and feral pigs. AND, the Weathermen, Black Panthers, Symbionise Liberation Army, Black September, Jane Fonda, leisure suits, Occupy Wallstreet, Antifa, cartels and radical islam.

This too, will pass.

We intend to wash our hands (as always), cough into our elbows (as always), avoid buffets (as always), give thanks (as always), and enjoy each other and the view of America through that 16 foot picture window gracing the front of our rig.

Fair Winds and Following Seas

A fair compilation of what has vexed us. You just left out disco.

Morich · 03-15-2020, 08:01 PM

Seven days ago when he last posted on the subject, it really didn't look bad and nobody was even admitting that we had a problem. All good! All contained! But that was a week ago before things got real in all the countries overseas.
Most of us have now read the reasons for doing our best to limit the spread, some will do what's needed and some won't. How many of each will dictate how things go. At least this time it seems to be getting more of the ones who are old enough to know better, rather than just the kids.

Dorish · 03-15-2020, 09:00 PM

Just postponed my spring trip to Nashville, TN. Sad, but going now with the chance that nothing will be open doesn't make much sense.

AliChris · 03-16-2020, 06:47 AM

We have just gotten our first 3 cases of Covid here in Nova Scotia and the chaos is starting. I’m looking out the window at our new red Micro Minnie 2108DS and I think what a better way to socially distance or self isolate. Will be boondocking until our provincial parks open up. Our parks have big beautiful sites that are often fully treed and private. Now to figure out how to pack my sewing machine and fabric in....

Yonder · 03-16-2020, 06:59 AM

We're 2 weeks in to a month and a half work trip in California with some hoped for play time in Arizona at the end. As I ponder the hysteria vs real economic potential of all of this event, I wonder how it will impact my driving home a month from now. Also considering that some RV parks may close down ... for better or worse. Regardless, I am grateful to have our comfy, secure rolling home as the best means of travel.