The phone call woke me up.
I’d gotten back into town Saturday afternoon; an uneventful mid-day JFK-PDX flight capping off a week spent working in NYC, timed to allow me to attend a going-away party for a dear friend and colleague. I’d driven home, hugged The Wife and Ms19, dealt with the pile of mail, had a quiet dinner (outside at a local pub), and then went to bed around 2200, still somewhat on East Coast time.
So the 0830 phone call woke me up. It was on The Wife’s phone, and as she grabbed it and answered it, she stepped outside into the hallway — trying to let me go back to sleep, I guess. Pretty quickly she was back and putting the call on speaker.
The camp that Mx15 had been at for a week was calling to let us know that they’d tested positive for COVID that morning. The plan had been for me to fly down to LAX that evening, overnight in an airport hotel, and get Mx15 off the camp shuttle bus and then fly home with them Monday evening. That plan was now officially pining for the fjords.
So, the shuttle bus from the camp to LAX? The camp wasn’t going to be able to allow them to ride that bus; we were going to need to pick them up at the camp, near Big Bear Lake, in person. Oh, and still no later than Monday, if at all possible, as the camp staff was going to be leaving too.
A few hours of what-the-fucking and scheming and reservation booking later, we had a plan: I’d fly down Sunday as planned, but instead of meeting up with Mx15 at LAX on Monday, I’d rent a car, drive over to Big Bear, get them, drive back to a hotel in LA, and we’d post up for the week (in separate rooms) and fly home the following Saturday.
The rest of the day was a blur of unexpected planning, packing, and a continual low-grade panic. Fortunately the camp gave Mx15 their phone back early, so we were able to do some coordination with them and make them aware of our plans.
Around 1530, I set out for the airport, arriving around 1730. The flight itself was uneventful, as was getting a rental car and getting to the first night’s hotel (which was not the hotel I ended up booking for the rest of the trip). Bed around 2330.