Over the River and Through the Woods

It’s Tuesday – two days before Thanksgiving and three days before Black Friday which typically is the beginning of the Christmas season.

This year is one of the earliest dates for Turkey Day – the fourth Thursday of November that can occur as early as  November 22 and as late as November 28. I like earlier. It gives us a little extra time before December 25 because who can’t use some extra time between Turkey Day and Santa’s arrival?

It’s already busy out there. Staunton is located in western Virginia at the intersection of I-81 and I-64 which means lots of vehicles stopping to gas up and pick up fast food before hitting the road to continue their trips.

I hesitate to call today a messy day but it is … steady rain that began before 6:00am with a temp in the upper 30s at noon. A raw day, as my mom would say. But we badly, badly need the rain to help with our tinder-dry conditions and numerous wildfires through the Commonwealth and beyond our borders so I’m not sure you’ll hear anyone grumble about it. At least the rain is falling on the less-busy today, and not the super-busy tomorrow.

Travelers, shoppers, family, and friends are trying to reach each other … and of course tomorrow, Wednesday, is the busiest travel day of the year.

I was reminded of the craziness of Wednesday-before-Thanksgiving traveling this morning while reading about the nightmare of trying to get from here to there by plane, train, or automobile, from The Atlantic writer Kaitlyn Tiffany, who will be traveling home by Amtrak:

“… there is no good way to travel in America. Driving is dangerous, renting a car is a nightmare, and I don’t need to tell you about airplanes. Amtrak isn’t ideal, but it’s nonideal in a unique way. The trains don’t go to enough places; they don’t go often enough; they take too long; they can be more expensive than the faster alternatives. And then sometimes there’s something on the tracks.”

Mass transit definitely would suggest wearing a face mask in this season of increased Covid, RSV, flu, strep throat, and whatever else from the Petri dish that is out there for us to catch. I mean, who wants to be sick for the holidays? And who wants to carry it back home to family members?

Whether you are celebrating the day of thanks locally or far away, safe travels to you and yours. Fa la la la la!