We start the final 1000 mile drive tomorrow morning after a few extra days in Indy. My wife and I are headed to two separate restaurants this morning to meet friends – Wolfie’s and Izzy’s. It’s the final day of farewells before we hit Atlanta tomorrow evening – another eight hours behind the wheel. All of our travel days have been under blue skies, however yesterday it poured buckets as we tried to navigate the local streets. Last night, we dined at Murphy’s where my wife had the traditional Hoosier Tenderloin sandwich. I settled for a steak and two XXX martinis – a drink favorite I haven’t enjoyed in a bar setting for some time. Masks were still required although the state has made them a personal choice outside of Marion County. 

The further south we travel, the more maskless individuals we’ll encounter. This will be a challenge for my wife who has yet to become eligible for the vaccine. We’ll finally get this taken care of in Florida, after going to a maskless birthday party for a 3-year old yesterday here in town. My wife wore hers, especially after just getting out of the hospital, but no one else did. Plus, we were all stuck inside an apartment with the downpour. It was an odd experience for us, and hopefully there will be no consequences. All of the young parents in attendance had already been vaccinated, indicating once again how far behind the curve we are in Oregon getting the vaccine in arms. 

Mandatory mask use in Indiana was abolished effective yesterday and people were out in masses. It will be interesting to see how this plays out for business owners and the protection of their employees or customers. If you’re already vaccinated, a mask is no longer supposedly necessary to protect you. However, you can still spread the virus to others – so we still need to mask-up for folks like my wife that remain vulnerable. It all comes down to being polite – but that won’t go far without the law behind it. Please don’t go maskless!