I want to give y’all an update on what I’ve been up to over the past 2 months.  We’ve been settled into our house in southwest Florida.  The RV has been in storage so there hasn’t been any travel to write about. And with Covid, things are different here this winter in Florida. So, here are some updates.

Covid in Southwest Florida

In several ways, things in southwest Florida are like they are back home.  All the stores are open and most people in the stores are pretty compliant in wearing masks and doing social distancing.  In our park, where there are 1,400 homes, there’s a lot of snowbirds who have stayed home. I don’t have stats, but based on my casual observations of closed-up homes while out walking, I’m guessing about 20% of the homes are unoccupied this winter. 

Many of the usual activities have been canceled (e.g. yoga classes, in-door exercise classes, corn-hole, music events) and those that are still running have implemented guidelines to reduce the Covid risks. Pickleball and tennis are still being played but the number of people playing is way down.  I have yet to play Pickleball, mostly because I’ve been super busy with some technology work for my church.  But, I’m hoping to get over to the courts soon.

Traffic to the beach is also way down (other than over Christmas week which was crazy).  Most churches are closed and doing online-only worship services.  My church (the Beach UMC on Estero Island) was open until late December.  We closed on December 20th after the Covid numbers started spiking in Lee County.  Our attendance is also way down – about 30 people versus 100+ that we normally have in December.

The places that are different are the beach area, restaurants, and bars.  Everything is open in Florida without restrictions.  Restaurants and bars near or on the beach are full of people who behave like they never heard of Covid.  There are few masks being worn and people sit shoulder to shoulder.  On the beach, the same holds true.  I see few people wearing masks and it looks like the pre-Covid days.  Back in April 2020, the Fort Myers Beach City Council closed the beach, bars, and all public areas because of Covid.  But now, with Covid surging, the same people have decided it’s safe to have everything open without restrictions.  Go figure.  I avoid the crowded sections of the beach.

As I wrote this, Lee County has been averaging around 420 new Covid cases per day.  It was about 150 per day when we arrived, jumped to 350 per day in December, and then jumped over 550 per day in early January.  The vaccine rollout is going very slow.  I figure I might get it by the time we leave in April. 

Meanwhile, I’m sticking to my cautious regime.  I wear a mask when I go into any store or will be close to people.  I avoid the crowded parts of the beach other than to ride my bike through to the area to get to a less crowded area.  We don’t have friends in our house.  I don’t go into any restaurants or bars other than to use the bathroom and then I wear a mask. 

I have been doing a fair amount of bike riding and walking.  This brings me to my next update.

My Virtual Camino

Early last year, I made plans to walk part of the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain.  It’s been a bucket list thing. The Camino is an ancient pilgrim walking trail that goes from the Pyrenees to the city of Santiago, I planned to do a 2 week trip in October 2020 to walk the first 200 km,  When Covid hit in March, those plans were put on hold indefinitely.

But then I got an email about doing a virtual Camino.  In a virtual Camino, I walk (or bike ride) the distance locally here in Florida.  I post my daily mileage and a website (myvirtualmission.com) tracks me as if I was walking on the real Camino.  The website shows me where I would be and sends me postcards as if I was in Spain.  

I signed up to do the whole distance (773 km = 483 miles) over 12 weeks.  It’s not the same as being in Spain and experiencing the cultural immersion, but I’ve been walking and biking daily with purpose.  I’ve been making videos about the places I’ve been walking and biking.  Below are the first two videos.

 

So far, I’ve done over 600 km.  I’m working on my last video and should finish up my virtual Camino in a couple of weeks.  It’s been a good motivator to keep me active and exploring new places.  It’s also been a low-risk Covid activity.

Technology Work

This year, I agreed to take on some new duties at my church here in Florida.  I began creating the AV materials/slides that we use during our Sunday worship service.  It’s pretty straight forward PC graphics work using church presentation software that I can access from home.

I also got inspired to see if I could help the church video record and Livestream our Sunday service.  This year, we have a new pastor at our church.  With the church closure due to Covid, she has been making videos of a worship service and posting them on Facebook and YouTube.  She has done well, but she doing this solo.  I got some inspiration from God to help her. I’ve been using my video equipment and skills to figure out how to do a Livestream from the church.

This is a new area of videography for me.  I know how to record and edit a single-camera pre-shot vlog type video.  But for the church, I had to figure out how to mix and get a real-time audio feed from the church soundboard, use a two-camera setup, get a feed from our church presentation system, pull all the feeds together, encode it into a video stream, and pump it our in a Livestream over the internet.  

It’s been a challenge but I think I’ve got it figured out.  I now can add the titles of Audio Technician and Video Broadcaster to my resume.  Praise God for helping me figure all this out.

That’s a Wrap

So, that’s what I have been up to over the past 2 months.  It’s been different this year.  Covid changed some of the things I used to do but it also presented me with new things to do and learn.  Overall, life is still good and I’m glad we came south for the winter.

I’ll be staying in Florida for 10 more weeks before heading home.  I’m hoping to do a short RV trip up the Mississippi River on my way home.  More on that in a few weeks.