Covid-19: A Thursday drive

Comanche's grave: MacDonald got
special permission from the army
to bury her on post

For our afternoon walk today, we went to the former army base known as Fort Ord (now BLM land and a National Monument)—to a path that I think of as Sgt. MacDonald’s trail because of a road dedicated to him that we pass by. He was in the Horse Cavalry during his army career. We usually walk out to the grave of Comanche, MacDonald’s horse for 23 years after he left the service in 1965 and became a maintenance worker on post. He’d ride her in ceremonial occasions, often dressed in historic military garb. It was a nice walk; a fair number of people, as usual these days, but mostly wide trails or roads, so social distance was easy to maintain. (In fact, the road we do use to reach the horse’s grave is called the Jerry Smith Corridor, after a county supervisor. But I still call it Sgt. MacDonald’s trail, because it leads to Comanche.)

As we got in the car to head home I asked, “What about taking the long way back—going for a drive?” And so we did: kept going on Inter-Garrison Road, turned at East Garrison to meet up with Reservation Road (I remembered wistfully the days when I’d meet a friend to go bike riding at what actually was the decrepit old East Garrison, as opposed to the fancy housing development it is now). It was a treat to wind along just above the fields of Salinas—to see distance and space and vegetables growing in the fields. The dirt back parking lot into Creekside Terrace has been blocked off with boulders, but people were parked along the road; likewise, the main Creekside parking area is closed, but dozens of cars were parked at the bottom of the hill outside the gate. People will go hiking. Field workers were harvesting lettuce—they are essential workers, of course.

It had been three weeks since we’d ventured much farther than our local surroundings—the supermarket, a two-minute drive; a couple of restaurants serving takeout, ten minutes away max in opposite directions; a couple of walking spots that are a five-minute drive. So it was wonderful just to go for a drive on a beautiful afternoon. It took us maybe twenty, twenty-five minutes. What luxury!

Once we turned from Reservation Road onto Highway 68, we were hugged by brilliant green—the hills are in their springtime glory right now. And then we started seeing the blankets of purple lupine: they obviously are loving all the rain we’ve gotten in the last few weeks. It did my heart—and eyes!—such good to see the Technicolor lushness as well as to feel the openness of all that land, something I’ve been missing on our local little walks. I’d forgotten how used I am to ranging and roaming. I can’t wait until that’s the norm again.

But of course, I must wait. In the meantime, though, I may well sneak in the occasional drive—not to reach a destination, but simply for the pleasure of getting out and about. And remembering the beauty that remains all around.

(Photos are from my archive.)

Monterey's numbers jumped a few in the past couple of days as statistics have been updated. We now stand at 69 confirmed cases, and sadly there's been another death to bring the count to 3.

Stay inside. Stay safe. Stay healthy.