Seven months ago I stepped off the train in Winslow Arizona to spend several nights in the wonderfully restored "Harvey Hotel" LaPosada. My friend Cindy was waiting for me even though the train was woefully late. The dining room and bar had closed but Cindy had ordered take out and we ate a late late supper and enjoyed what would be one of the last days of being blissfully unaware. I had a little over a week earlier, taken the bus from Bangor to Boston. Spent an overnite in Boston and then boarded the Amtrak to Chicago, I had a roomette and I don't think that there was even one person on the train that wore a mask (I was never in the passenger cars so it might have been different there but I don't it!). Upon arrival in Chicago I checked into my hotel overlooking the Chicago River. I had several wonderful days walking near the lake, in the parks, along the river. I went to the theater, it was unintentionally very socially distanced, and heard live jazz. I returned a few days later to the train station and boarded the train, settled into my roomette and headed for Winslow Arizona, destination the LaPosada Hotel and then a lovely two months in Arizona, Texas and New Orleans.
This look back of seven months ago seems both surreal and unbelievable. It was only within hours of arriving in Phoenix from Northern Arizona that the magnitude of this newly named virus was beginning to sink in. I did what was to become a familiar experience, I quarantined for 14 days, there were 3 people that became a part of my bubble and we literally saw no one else.
I struggled with what to do, should I go and "sit it out" with my friend Jackie in Houston? Would I stay in Arizona until the middle of May and return to Maine as planned? Should I go home, how and when? Before the end of March I was back home. I have not left the state. I have made several trips to the coast starting in late June. I have spent so much of my summer on the porch or in the woods.
All of this has been sparked as some kind of protective grasp of sanity. I took a late afternoon nap and woke up to a text about the president taking a "joy ride" in the presidential car to wave at this supporters. The foolishness, the threat to the driver, secret service and whoever else who had to bow to his insanity is beyond mindless. The president who is most likely highly contagious just waltzes out of his presidential suite at Walter Reed Hospital, paid for by the taxes of hard working people, to act like the big man, to flout his power and to once again raise complete havoc regarding Covid 19 and the appropriate cautions one must take. At least one of the doctors seemed to have a spine:
President Trump briefly leaves Walter Reed Medical Center in motorcade to surprise supporters
Hours earlier, the president's medical team confirmed that his blood oxygen level dropped suddenly twice in recent days. But they also said he could be discharged as early as Monday.
"It's been a very interesting journey. I learned a lot about COVID," Trump said, standing in his hospital room in a video posted on social media. "I learned it by really going to school."
He added, "I get it, and I understand it."
At least one medical professional inside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where Trump has been hospitalized since Friday evening, questioned whether Trump had really learned anything.
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