Out for a Drive – A Break in Our Homebound Routine

This post will be published on Day 21 of our Covid-19 self-isolation.  As one of our local humorists has stated, “We’ve all turned into dogs!  We roam the house all day looking for food.  We’re told ‘NO’ if we get too close to strangers.  And, we really get excited about car rides!”

For Laurie and me, the latter is really right on the money!  We love exploring back roads, stopping at local stores and restaurants and just enjoying the sights along the way.  So, in order to at least get out and about for a change of scenery, we have been taking short drives around the immediate area. 

Since our car has an 18 gallon gas tank and gets 28 – 29 miles a gallon on local roads, we can take several drives without filling up.  Given the current situation, buying gas requires sanitizing our hands before and after pumping gas as well as wiping down the pump handle, start button and touch screen...and not touching my face in between sanitizing!

We welcome any excitement we might encounter along the way.  In this case, sink-hole repairs and one-way traffic along TN Hwy. 444 caused a slow-down and something ‘different’ to look at.  In normal times, such repairs would be an inconvenience but nowadays it’s a brief diversion from the norm.

With no traffic behind us on this local road near Lenoir City Tennessee, we were able to stop, take a couple of photos and talk to these goats!  Love goats, donkeys and horses…although donkeys can be rather judgmental!  Goats just tend to be curious and some horses just love attention.

Then we stopped by our local Ingles Supermarket to pick up a couple of things and see what essentials we might be able to find.  We’d determined not to go into the store if it was packed with shoppers but fortunately there weren’t too many customers, and with the exception of one ignoramus, folks and staff were good about ‘social distancing’. 

While we got most of our ‘nice to have’ items, this was what the disinfectant cleaners and wipes shelving looked like in the store.  Fortunately, our neighbor came up with 2 containers of anti-viral wipes...a big help!

…and this was the space normally occupied by the hand sanitizers and related items.  Still GONE!  With the needs of first responders, critical business employees and health care workers being an absolute priority, hand sanitizer will probably be the last product that will be restocked in the stores.

This huge expanse of empty shelving is part of one of the modern mysteries of mankind…the ‘extinction’ of toilet paper.  There are many theories about the mental comfort that a storeroom full of TP means to people psyche, ‘butt’ I don’t get it! 

Perhaps all of these items will someday make it back onto retailer’s shelves and normal consumption…or at least rational consumption, will resume.

Back from our drive and little shopping excursion… Laurie spent some time chilling, messaging and 'Facebooking' on our screened porch. (I took the photo through the screen door) As for myself,  I retreated to my cave, playing with the computer and performing other low key activities.  All in all, it was a beautiful day!

Laurie snapped this photo of another of our little hard-shelled friends working its way up one of our deck doors.  This visitor seemed to be a bit larger than the others we’ve photographed.  The Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t frightened this critter one bit and he/she just keeps sliming along!  Note: This snail's movements closely replicate the current pace of life for us in the Covid-19 era.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave