Discussion: Flight

I recently took one roundtrip flight of similar duration. I was similarly conflicted, but afterward didn't feel like a worse person than I already was. So I'd say be careful with the obvious precautions and it'll be okay.

I don't know about "bad" but maybe crazy. Crazy in a good way, that is.

To get the true Trot feel, you should run this race in heavy ran and 42F. One of the early controls (number 5, I think) was hanging about 15 feet up in a tree. Apparently some neighborhood kids moved it. There was a stream crossing near the end that was dangerous. Normally it would be ankle deep water, but the storm made it very deep. Crossing it was one of the stupidest things I've ever done. I believe the organizers got someone out to the area and told late runners to skip the crossing.

It might make you as bad a person as Will Enger, so if you're okay with that...

On a more serious note, if you come to KC it is worth keeping an eye on the regional Covid-19 dashboard:

https://marc2.org/covidhub/

Rules have been tightened in the last week or so.

The local hospitals have expressed a lot of concern about more people being hospitalized.

If the main concern is "will I contribute to spread of the virus" then I think the answer is "probably not". I'm assuming you are pretty much isolated back home, and thus not infected. If you were to get infected in your travels (not really that likely, if people are masked and you stay in big/spaced (airport) or well-ventilated (airplane) spaces) then by the time you were contagious you would just be back home and not spreading it to anyone else.

As for personal risk, driving to KC is probably more dangerous.

All that said, right at this moment does seem like a time to stay home compared to, say, two months ago. :(

I was talking on the phone to a high school friend the other night. He had lived in Florida for a while, and he and his wife are going down there for a week or so around Christmas. Total round-trip airfare for the two of them from Boston is $80. Sheesh!

Ha ha -- I like the "enger" as a unit of measure for character / good citizenship.

Cristina's feedback reflects my gut feeling: it would probably be safe enough for me personally, but generally not a good idea (for possibly nebulous reasons). Especially given Spike's local updates.

I really enjoy hunting down the cheapest possible flights & rental cars, but I also realized it would be very lonely to do a solo Possum Trot trip... (Had so much fun with Cristina, Amy & Jan last year!)

If it were in January, you could make it coincide with Cristina passing through on her way to Tucson.

I think the "enger" may be a unit of bad citizenship. "I went to Sturgis this year, that was a 500 enger experience". :-)

"I'm having 20 guests over for Thanksgiving in my tiny, poorly ventilated apartment! It's only a 50 enger experience."