Sunday, February 7, 2021
The weather forecast was iffy for the weekend but Friday was predicted to be the best day. We chose to drive about 30 minutes north to Polk City where the southern trailhead for the General James A. Van Fleet State Trail begins. It is a 29 mile paved rail trail which is also designated a National Recreation Trail. This is Florida so the trail was basically flat and only has one curve and it’s on the northern end so we didn’t even see it. We rode through swamps with lots of cypress trees, pine forests, and cattle ranches. We road the first 10 miles, so a total of 20 miles for the day. Good exercise, on a beautiful day, and not too many people on the trail. It was a great ride. We also enjoyed the drive – went one way and returned another – seeing more of this central part of Florida. And, of course, we stopped for ice cream on the way back.
Saturday we finally discovered the time to do grocery shopping and avoid the crowds. We went to Publix at 7:30 am and there was no traffic and open aisles. Since there is some minor sports event near here today and the home team is playing, we knew it would be crowded with people stocking up on game day supplies later in the day. The predicted rain arrived in the afternoon. We had some storms thru the night and were under a tornado watch for a time. More heavy rain this morning but it stopped before time to go to church. Some have wondered about us attending in person worship. We were assured by our team leaders that Dundee UMC was doing everything possible to ensure everyone’s safety. The first Sunday we sat in the very back so that if we felt uncomfortable we could slip out. There are maybe 30 people in the sanctuary, so people are spaced out nicely. Everyone uses hand sanitizer on entering the building, has their temperature checked and are required to wear a mask. At the start of each service everyone recites their COVID Covenant:
“We respect our church and will follow all the COVID-19 protocols during our in-person worship and fellowship. To protect our church we agree to wear masks, social distance, sanitize our hands and have our temperature checked.”
After the first Sunday our anxiety was reduced, but we still sat on the back pew. Sure will be glad when we can get a vaccine. We were on the wait list here in Florida but then the governor kicked all out of state people off the list. We have three more weeks in Florida, so just trying to stay safe until we can somehow get a vaccine. We are tired of how COVID continues to affect our lives, but we know that God’s got this!! Hope everyone had a good weekend.
RVing With a Purpose 