03.16.2020 Final update today

Hello again,

When we got here to the Marine base, we thought of ourselves as guests.  Then we thought of ourselves as inmates.  Now the thought process has moved us toward thinking of ourselves as ‘specimens’. Lab rats if you will.  Our government has no experience in anything like this and are fumbling their way through.  Learning on the job.  So, we are just doing our part for ‘good of the realm’.  On our walks around the perimeter of our confines, we pass the cleaning station, where those that work with us are taught how to gown, glove and mask up and off.  They are very careful when they disrobe, to make sure they don’t get contaminated.

There is nothing definite to report.  We are hopeful of leaving tomorrow, as we were yesterday and today. We reported on some groups that left.  Today Utah and Wyoming also left.  Washington wants us back, even without test results.  We learned on today’s conference call that some states, Colorado by name, won’t allow passengers back until they have passed the test with a negative result. The test is voluntary and some from Colorado declined.  But, when they learned that they were not welcome back without a passed test, they seemed to change their minds.

I added the pictures that I meant to post this afternoon.  There was a ‘perimeter breach’ this afternoon.  The wind caused it and it was somewhat swiftly lifted back into place by the military.  There is also a photo of the downed fence.

We reported that luggage was delayed in many cases.  We got ours two days after arriving.  Some have not yet gotten theirs.  Some went to Travis AFB farther north.  Some luggage went to Texas and some to Georgia.  So, you can picture people that have been in the same clothes for many days.  Those of us that have our luggage have used all of their ‘smalls’, undies and socks.  There is a laundromat here, on our floor.  It takes quarters.  Who travels with a pocketful of quarters?  No one.  So, the folks in charge got quarters but have not been able to obtain permission to dispense them. 

Colleen and John