We are often asked, “how long do you plan to keep traveling?” Until now our standard answer has been “As long as we are learning something every day, are in good health, close to our budget, having fun, and still in love.” I guess we need to add, “have somewhere to go” to the list!

But for now, as you know, we aren’t going much beyond our Linda Vista neighborhood here in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Although we did venture out last week to shop at a Walmart. We hired a driver recommended by friends and he drove us about an hour southeast to Queretaro, where he waited patiently for us to buy a week’s worth of groceries and a few things we couldn’t get at our local shops. But really, we were just ready to bust out of SMA.

In hindsight, two things worry me about that outing - and neither of them has to do with Coronavirus. One was the fact we thought a trip to a Walmart could be life-changing :) The second was we bought a vacuum cleaner! Dear Lord. Are we going to start collecting possessions again? Was that a harbinger of things to come? What next - garden gnomes?

We also bought a string mop and watched a few youtube videos on how to use it. See where this is going? We are rolling into the third month in one place and if we are not careful, our days could be filled with housecleaning and trips to the store, instead of trips to far off lands.

So to keep our nomad muscles in shape we stretch our imaginations and then do sprints of travel planning, followed by rapid research and scribbling down of ideas, and finally, take a few cool-down laps when we realize we really can’t go anywhere. Except for home to America.

However, knowing we can return to the states if we feel it isn’t safe to stay in Mexico does give us some comfort. But for now, we don’t see any reason to return to the chaotic re-opening of individual states and the potential for a vicious viral backlash.

In fact, if we could, we’d bypass the US altogether. Canada may open their borders in mid-summer so we are considering Vancouver, Canada as our next destination. We could travel from one coast to the other - arriving in the northeast in time for fall color in September. Maybe by then, we could travel onwards to Europe.

From comments on the last two blogs, I know many of you are also chafing against travel restrictions. But several readers found themselves stuck in unexpected places where they are sheltering-in-place. It was fascinating to read about their adventures and how restrictions on daily life vary around the world. I wanted to know more. I enjoy reading and replying to your comments, but it isn’t very satisfying in that we don’t get to chat back and forth.

So Michael and I decided to fill a few empty calendar squares by creating a place where nomads, (and aspiring nomads), can share their stories and exchange ideas. We officially launched the Senior Nomads Facebook Group page a week ago. I dubbed it “An Online Oasis for Nomadic Travelers” and from the number of people who have joined there appears to be a need for a gathering place like this.

If you’d like to join the conversation, just find the group, answer three simple questions, accept the group rules and you are in! We look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks for following along,

Debbie and Michael Campbell

The Senior Nomads