The novel corona virus Covid-19 is well underway changing the world as we know it, and while a level of normalcy is hopefully over the horizon we at Wonder Bound have had our fair share of stress and life changes brought on by the virus and subsequent quarantine in our state. The dust at this time, knock on wood, has settled for the time being, so we wanted to talk about just where have we been, what has been happening with the Wonder Bound crew, and give a bit of inspiration during these crazy times?
Starting at the end of February, Raven and I made the decision to work towards me going remote and moving closer to our primary support system of friends in southern Virginia. We located our new place and began the process of getting things in order for the big move. At the time, having been a former CBNR Corpsman, I was keeping a close eye on the pandemic in China and Italy while we looked at apartments, and made the need arrangements to go remote with work. All the time we continued life as much as normal as possible, working on the van, editing video, and planning future adventures. With the virus exploding in New York and the rest of the U.S. in early March our life got pumped with a does of speed.
My company, being in the hospitality industry, had to furloughed the majority of our staff as our hotels all over the world shut down. Those of us that remained were forced to remote work. Obviously this was not an issues for us as it only expedited plans I already had in place, however, this was not the only blow that would come down on our heads. Furloughing employees and shutting down corporate were not the only measures needed to save the company and in mid march all remaining employees were notified of a 10%-50% pay cut until the summer. This combined with the shutting down of just about every public space and most of the state we regularly travel to put the final nail in the coffin for adventures in the foreseeable future.
There was little time for us to dwell on this fact as in the same week the Office of the President put out a order requesting the voluntary return of former Corpsman and Medics to active duty to assist with efforts in respond to the growing crisis in US hot spots like Washington State and New York City. I have never been the one to turn away from a crisis, especially one where I know I can make a difference, and in the hours prior to the order when only rumors of it were floating around I made my way down nearly empty streets to the Navy recruiting office to see what I would do. As things tend to be with moments in history like this, news travels slow and the powers that be were unsure how to act. My visit was brief and the recruiter unsure of what to do. Never the less I began to fill out the paper work to reenlist in the Navy, and changing mine and Raven's life course. No one could have foreseen, that in the day that followed, upheaval in the Navy would change everything and attention for trying to figure out how to bring in former and retired Corpsman, Nurses, and Doctors would almost completely diverted to a crisis developing in the Pacific Fleet.
When the American aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt reported cases of the virus, her skipper, US Navy Captain Brett Crozier, notified top brass and requested guidance. While details were and still are scare on what exactly happend, Captain Crozier we given a bandaid solution to a tourniquet problem and with the number of infected nearing 100 sailors he forwarded an After Action style report to other fleet and vessel commanders to ensure that the Navy remain as close to peak strength as possible. This report eventually got leaked to media and, as happens when top brass have egg on their face, drama ensued and the skipper paid for having taken initiative as a true leader. Unfortunately, this however was only the tip of the cluster f*ck iceberge that the Navy has been experiencing over the last 60 days and all hopes of getting into a hot zone to do my part as an American and a Corpsman were swept aside as the Secretary of the Navy resigned, and big Navy turned its attention to trying to fry bigger fish.
Over the next couple weeks life became somewhat routine. Wake up, work, go on a ruck march at lunch to prep in case I get more details on reenlisting for the virus response, work some more, pack up the apartment, and work on trying to create some for of content for our YouTube channel. That all changed two weeks ago. As we neared out moving date, the apartment stated to fill with boxes and while playing with Reba, I hit my foot on a literal box of rocks hard enough to break one of my toes nearly in half which left me off my feet for almost two weeks.
Where are we now, well being locked inside for over a month has not slowed life down at all for us. The move is still on and I've been packing with only partial use of one leg, still hoping for news that I will be able to assist somewhere with the pandemic response, and we are doing our best to keep ourselves and those around us safe while maintaining some form of normalcy. Which brings me to the lesson I want to put out there with this:
It doesn't matter that the world around you is going crazy. To a true adventurer, the world is always going crazy. From being stuck on an erupting volcano to being swept away in swift water nothing is "normal", but that is what makes it an adventure. The term Semper Gumby, the unofficial motto of our Hawaii trip, comes to mind. That phrase to stay always flexible, to plan for the worse, hope for the best, and keep yourself safe while helping everyone you can. The sun will rise. A new day will start. At some point we will look back and this will all be over. You can be scared, its scary times, but don't be overcome with panic. Stressing won't make things change. Instead ask yourself, "What can I do to help those around me." Take a deep breath, keep your head high, and keep pushing to that new day. It will come, I promise.
Dedicated to those still having to got to work everyday so we can live our lives in luxuary, with a special thanks to those friends and family assisting us with our move, because the world doesn't stop spinning just cause we say it has. Thank
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