Starting Again

How does one begin again after a years’ hiatus?  In the empty void of 2020 when I should have been trying out new tours, designing new trips, going places and planning for a future tour business, I did nothing. Dusty atrophy set in. Bleary eyed, I watched the news anchors and the You-tube comedians and DIY and HGTV and even some Netflix. Hours of wasted life slipped by, untouched, unused, uninspired.

And now I emerge on the other side with nothing to show for a year of my life, a covid-induced coma of nothingness. My beloved Joye Mobile sat idle. Nowhere to go. Nothing to do. Dead to the world. It finally had to be towed to the mechanic. I dreaded  that mice that might have been munching on the wiring. Fearing the worst, I stuffed the engine compartment with noxious smelling moth balls. Nope, just two dead batteries.  But the smell lingers.  

In the “Before times” I had planned to take guests on a tour of the Hill Country. I had stopped at the Visitor Center in Fredericksburg. The Visitor Center manager, radiating pleasure, so happy and proud of their town, excitedly loaded me down with folders and pamphlets and flyers and lists of places to stay, places to visit, places to eat. It was overwhelming to have so many to choose from. I brought all the information home and filed it away. For a year, the material has sat unused, gathering dust.

At long last, a kindly Sunday School class couple is back from the Zooming darkness. Fully vaccinated, they are celebrating  their 41st anniversary and want to tour the Hill Country. It’s been 20 years since they were there and I promised to take them. I pulled out the files on Fredericksburg.  As I look back through the stacks of materials, I wonder how many are still in business? How many are open to visit? How many went under? What has happened to a tour-town like Fredericksburg during the year of Covid?

Awakening. Looking around. There really is life ahead. Pick up the phone. Is that Visitor Center manager still there? Time to find out.