Hello from cousin Jon. I keep hearing about The Virus surging in ND. You are my only family member who lives there now. I hope you and yours are well. Do you know someone who has been infected?

Be well. Stay safe.

Jon, we are fine! We have one of the highest rates of testing per the population of the state. So they have found a lot of people sick. Over 99% are surviving. I wear a mask in groups or in stores, I work from home or across the hood of the car (social distancing, farm style).

I'm glad to hear you are fine.

You stay safe out in CA!

Be safe. We are both OLD now. :)

I'm only 66 just at middle age

Do you know someone who was hospitalized?

Our neighbors (a family of four) spent July in their house. Both their young boys were sick for a day, the mom had a headache for two days, and the dad had flu-like symptoms for a few days. A friend of mine had it also, a cough and sluggish, but not hospitalized. Most in the hospital are over 80 with other health conditions.

Thanks for the update.

I found this revealing because there were clear "Trump talking points" in his words. Like we have so many positive cases (per capita) only because we are testing so much. And that most of the people in the hospital are over 80 with other health conditions ... so, in effect, those people were going to die soon anyway ... so it's not a problem. I was glad to hear that he and his family are well and that they are wearing masks in public.

I did not want to bring my sign(s) home so I offered them to two people I met here. Neither could use it. So I took a Lyft (I'm tired of riding Metro) to Lafayette Park to leave the sign near Black Lives Matter Plaza where all kind of other signs are posted on the fence. I put a note on my sign saying "FREE SIGN. Please take. 8 signs in one!". The day before I saw this beautiful display at that location:

The Lyft driver was a fellow named Abdellah. He immigrated here 13 years ago from Morrocco. He is now a citizen and will be voting for the first time. He told me that he has an African-American girlfriend and that he was at Lafayette Park when it was cleared by tRump's goons to make way for his Bible photo-op. I gave Abdellah a big tip.

At home after I recover from travel weariness I will resume my sunrise Davis Bike Loop "for the campaign". I will also join various group's text/phone banking to "get out the vote".

I am done donating money. I gave fairly generously but am still being inundated with requests for more. I have a certain resistance to giving money to campaigns because I feel like "money shouldn't matter". But it does. So I give a bit here and there if only to communicate that I support them. I hope that the money is used well - and not just for more TV ads to counter their opponent's TV ads - all of which get very repetitive and end up being ignored.

One friend asked me if being in D.C. at this time helped me get a "sense of the pulse of the nation". Perhaps. Perhaps because I am not as distracted by things at home and can pay attention better. But with modern communication it really doesn't matter where we are. I am reminded of a time in 1985 when I was in Jerusalem, Israel during Easter. I did not attend the service but I heard about a pastor in his sermon telling the congregation something like:

If you went to great expense and time to be here in Jerusalem at Easter because you thought it would be auspicious and especially meaningful I'm sorry to tell you that you have wasted your time and money. No one got to heaven by knowing WHERE Jesus lived - but by knowing WHY he lived.

The fellow above looks to be an independent journalist doing his own interview and is acting as his own cameraman. Perhaps he has a YouTube channel or a podcast for his reports.

Here is a 3.5 minute YouTube video I slapped together with a few scenes of people I ran across who were expressing their religious views at the Supreme Court and Lafayette Park. As always, it is clear that ego and pride can get in the way.

Let's hope that Amy Coney Barrett can set aside her personal religious views as she serves as a justice for the next many years...

So, my 2020 D.C. adventure is over for now. I have enjoyed it and have also enjoyed sharing it with you.