Covid, Covid, Covid

Gardens at University of Tennessee

 As it turns out there is quite an active community of ex-pats living here in Turkey.  Most from the UK but there are Americans and others as well.  There is one enterprising fellow that puts out a newsletter daily keeping everyone on his list apprised of the Covid situation here in Turkey as well as any other relevant news.  On April 26th, we learned via the newsletter that Turkey was going to institute another lockdown as the Covid numbers kept rising.  Michael and I had applied for and received Turkish residency (for one year) which made him eligible for the vaccine.  Priority number one after receiving residency was to get him vaccinated as soon as possible.  I had been vaccinated before leaving the US as I work in healthcare.  Thankfully, Turkey allows you to choose your vaccine so we set about trying to get his appointment to receive the Pfizer vaccine.  Several people spent several hours trying to assist us with getting the appointment to no avail.  And then came the April 26th newsletter.  

UT Gardens

 Not only did the Turkish Health Minister announce a three week total lockdown (as in cannot get off the boat at all) but also that there was a shortage of vaccine with no known resupply date!)  April 26th was a Monday and the lockdown was to start on Thursday evening.  Decision time.  Michael did not like it but I made a snap decision to get a quick flight home to get him vaccinated.  We were looking at three weeks of just sitting around doing nothing which did not seem like a good use of time when we could be working on getting him vaccinated.  By the end of that day I had booked a flight, booked a hotel room in Chicago, arranged transport to the airport and most importantly arranged for our pre-flight Covid test.  We had just enough time to get the test and the results back before the lockdown started.  And I had also made an appointment to have his first vaccination injection the Monday after we arrived home.  

Lots of deer at the campground

 So we flew to the US, gathered up our camper and went camping for a few weeks.  The timing was perfect as our son was graduating from college and we really wanted to be home for his big day.  Michael was two weeks out from his first shot so we felt comfortable having a graduation celebration for Ross at the campground.  We spent the rest of our time visiting with family and friends.  We even managed to make a quick trip to Tennessee to see Michael's favorite aunt.  

Coast road in Turkey - driving from Antalya to Kaş

 

So now here we are back in Turkey.  The lockdown is over and Michael is fully vaccinated.  Supposedly, the number of Covid cases are going down in Turkey so maybe the lockdown helped.  In one more week Michael will be two weeks out from his second injection and we will be able to get out and about more.  Our plan is to sail up the coast and then make it back down to Marmaris in time for our scheduled boat work.  But for now the weather is perfect and the days are sunny!