We are not there Day 4

White Pocket


Vermillion Cliffs Monument, Arizona



Maps of the area, from the BLM. Edward Abbey was problematic in some ways, but I can never hear BLM without thinking of "Bureau of Logging and Mining," which was from something he wrote.
https://www.blm.gov/visit/white-pocket-trailhead
https://www.blm.gov/visit/vermilion-cliffs

Back to "normal"

We've been watching bits of the Korean baseball games that have started being broadcast on ESPN. We are not hearing the Korean sportscasters - the commentators are in their homes in New York. It's nice to see ball games, but clearly the talking heads wish it was Major League North American baseball, and they take every opportunity to kind of ignore the game happening live so they can interview USian players of the KBO. Each team is allowed to hire up to three MLB players. Some of the interviews have been interesting, though. NC Dinos pitcher Drew Rucinski explained that people everywhere in South Korea are wearing masks. There are thermal things at the door of every building. Specific to baseball, the players don't shower or change at the ball park. Their temperature is taken before they enter the stadium, and anybody over 37.5 C gets pulled aside to be tested. There are no fans in the stadium, although the cheerleaders are still there (wearing masks. So are the false heads on the mascots). The players aren't masked inside the stadium. DR cheerfully remarked "Things are mostly back to normal." The context for that remark is that businesses are open, and people are strolling down the streets, etc. At this point, I assume we'll be wearing masks forever (not that most pedestrians in Lexington are even now, although at least two or three other runners this morning were masked, a higher percentage than walkers). Based on his feeling of normalcy, maybe I won't be the only one masked for ages.