Ross and I love the little RV park we stay in while we’re in Florida. It’s got a super convenient location, friendly neighbors, plenty of space to walk the park and even a slice of a water view at the far end. RVers as a whole often are more conservative than us (let’s be fair – most people probably are when we get down to it), but we try to be open-minded, and when we do our best to avoid politics, we find we’ve got lots to talk about and lots to enjoy in the people around us. We also like this park because there are lots of people of color here, mainly Latino but also black people, which makes it feel a lot less exclusive than some of the RV parks out there. It also seems to have a diverse range of incomes, judging by the range of people who stay here, some of them staying year-round.

All that being said, our neighbors, in our humble opinions, aren’t taking the virus seriously. Ross and I have been self-isolating since March 17th, and by early April snowbirds were mostly vacating the campground here (still lots of year-round folks staying). People still congregate in tight (closer than six feet) groups outside of their RVs. It makes no difference if some of them are extremely high risk, and all of them are 60+. With one exception, the only people wearing masks at the campground are a few maintenance workers. Well, besides us, that is.

When we go to do laundry, it’s extremely awkward, because people congregate around the entrance or do their laundry inside the tight quarters as if the pandemic doesn’t exist. When I walk the park, I feel like a lunatic in my mask while everyone else visits and acts like everything is fine.

Campground management, on the other hand, takes it extremely seriously. For weeks the office has drastically reduced their hours, and they’ve asked us to avoid using the trash pickup service so the maintenance workers are exposed to less germs. Sanitizing and cleaning has been stepped up, the mail room is no longer a gathering place and the community room is closed. And yet when you look around the park, it’s like a time machine to a few months ago.

Given our ages, we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to fight this thing off. But we don’t know, and we’d prefer not to test that out, especially with the underlying health challenges we are aware of. We’re in a communal environment and that won’t be changing any time soon. We haven’t left the campground since March 16th.

We’re so thankful to have a safe place to be. And yet, it feels like we’re bracing ourselves for impact, because if our neighbors aren’t taking precautions seriously, it feels like it’s just a matter of time before things will start to change around here.

Take care everyone, and stay safe. Lots of love from Ross and Jamie in Florida.

P.S. If you missed your chance to learn about Ross and my new course, part of the Essential Work from Home Survival Kit, check it out! Our course is “Navigating Relationships When You’re Both Working From Home”, but the bundle covers a wide variety of topics and might help you relax and become more productive in the coming weeks. Now that we are thinking of it, maybe we should dive into that as some counter-programming this week!

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