Entry Two- Atlanta… July 19th-23rd 2022

Mark and I drove the 1,822 miles from Phoenix to Atlanta at record fast speed. We made it from Phoenix to Amarillo Texas in one day, then to Tupelo Mississippi and on to Atlanta. Our Honda has been running excellently! 

The Bad Luck Continues

On Monday night (really Monday morning around 3am local time) we arrived at our pet friendly 2 star budget motel and collapsed. Sleeping only until 7am so we could make it to the free breakfast and get back on the road. The hotel waffles hitting the spot just right. On Monday night we rolled into Tupelo at a more decent time, around midnight local. We got settled in our room and started to wind down when Mark started to feel a sore throat. We assumed it was being in a car with a dog for 10 plus hours the last two days and only sleeping about four hours the prior night. 

He woke up on Tuesday with a cough. He showered and drank his coffee and felt increasingly better. As we got close to Atlanta we decided it was the right thing to stop and get him a covid test before we saw our friends. So we popped into a CVS and found a Binax now test. 

Immediately after putting the testing drops into the card it lit up positive. Not the outcome we expected- but certainly the one that would fit with how our first week of nomad life was going.

I let my friends know we wouldn’t be coming and Mark and I sat in our car wondering what to do. We have both been vaccinated and boosted. I had not experienced any symptoms at all. 

So we just drove out of Atlanta toward Florida to see how far we could get. 

We called my parents and they said that we could stay in the guest room away from everyone and since that was our eventual destination anyways we set our GPS for small town Central Florida. The two of us enjoyed our drive with podcasts, snacks, and a pretty light mood considering all the crazy things we have experienced this week. 

First our car, then driving on the hottest day ever and seeing grass on fire on the side of i-40 being set out by truckers with small fire extinguishers, and now to top it off, an infection with the current global pandemic ( is it endemic yet?). This will be a wild story to tell our friends and family one day.

We stayed a night in Gainesville so Mark could get some quality sleep and give his body the correct tools to fight off the virus. Heading out to do the final two hours of the drive around 11am. We made it safely- stopping only so that Mark could attend a zoom meeting in a Love’s Parking lot to let his coworkers know he had covid and wouldn’t be doing much to contribute.

Quarantine

After arriving at my parents we locked ourselves in the guest bedroom and that is where we have been until today. Mark has continued to have incredibly mild symptoms. I have continued to test negative and have no symptoms at all. 

We are both so thankful to be able to stay with my parents (who have recently been infected, so it was very low possibility of reinfection) and spend our days here healing and petting the many dogs who also reside here. 

Now that we have reached our five days according to CDC guidelines, we are allowed to venture out as long as we mask up. With our masks and Hawaiian shirts on we will now embark fully on the next phase of our journey- getting our van, hunting (and maybe catching) some lobster, and saying goodbye to Florida for a few weeks. Hopefully avoiding any more global pandemics or mechanical issues!

Kallie