Discussion: Looking at your route, also...

Looking at your route, also clicking on the links to show Phil's and my routes, certainly seems you were a good bit too low on #5.

I don't know about the technicalities of the quarantine stuff. I feel like we've been quarantining for about 6 weeks, so if I go to Connecticut I guess I'll just use up 2 weeks of the 4 weeks I've I've saved up.

Seems to me you have now broken the law in MA and CT.

I thought I got a good price on gas when I got on Rte. 9 just west of downtown Amherst. Then as I drove the rest of the way to the river and passed more gas stations, I was surprised how much lower the price got.

I was hoping to get someone to pay me to take their gas, but didn't see any prices below zero.

Yes I too an amazed at the gas prices. I said to myself several times these past few weeks, it can’t go any lower than this, only to have it go lower still. In my N.H. town, $1.799 is the price to beat, but just now I passed a station in a neighboring town at $1.689 (or $1.629 with their special card). I don’t imagine a whole lot of tears are being shed for the poor oil companies (although Mrs. o-maps does have several petroleum engineers in her extended family who may be getting pretty uncomfortable about their jobs), but more generally, it is a symptom of how devastated the whole economy is.

And I have gone through the same discomfort as Charlie as I “sneaked” across the border to Nagog Woods, Nobscot, and Hale, passing each way the signs “urging” 14 day quarantine. Still hoping to get to Mt Tom and/or Earls one of these days without getting diseased or arrested. (How long did you say they’ll be up, Phil?) My willingness to go in mediocre weather, and my tendency to go on weeknights just before dark does tend to reduce social encounters, but I suppose I’m just fishing for justification.

It is a fact that I saw very few people, easily steered around, at Hale; not a sole doing two courses at Nagog (a couple of cars in the parking lot but since the first 200m of trail was a mess of mud and rock, I’m guessing the car occupants were on the drier trails on the other side of the road from the orienteering); and at Nobscot, after seeing a couple of people in the parking lot, I did not see a sole while doing the green just before dark—but interestingly, I encountered one couple hiking in the darkness while while I was jogging the yellow by headlamp.

No trouble distancing at Mt Tom on a pleasant Saturday morning yesterday. Only one other car parked near me when I started at 9:30, maybe 4 when I finished at 10:45. Saw a few people on the road route from 6 to 7, nobody in the woods.

My daughter lives in Acton. Where can I get a copy of the BYOM Nagog maps for her?

Steve: I was uncomfortably close to people yesterday afternoon at Mt Tom as I ran on the most popular trails. But you will see very few people on an o course, especially on a weekday.

I will need to move the flags on the o courses at Mt Tom soon – maybe next weekend – but my plan is to put up orange streamesr exactly where the flags were, so the courses will be available for some time.

Bill: Here are the maps, but according to the notes, the streamers have long since been pulled.

My guess is that it's not a matter of passing briefly within a short distance of someone, but rather hanging out in their proximity for an extended period. Sitting next to people in a sport arena for a couple of hours is very different from briefly passing them outdoors with a breeze blowing.

Yesterday I saw literally nobody between the start and when I got out to the road going from 6 to 7. Saw maybe 5 people along the road, all of them on the far side of the road from me, and one who pulled his shirt up over his mouth and nose when he saw me. Seemed a bit excessive, but who am I to say.

I hope what J-J says proves to be the official message sooner rather than later.

No such luck. Somerville has announced $300 fines for being out on the street or in a park without a mask.

Same with Cambridge. I can probably handle a short run on a cool day with my face covered, but I think longer efforts may require traveling to more distant places.