The Rural vs City Quarantine Experience, Using Nature to Escape

Pre-quarantine we had a lot of plans for spring. We had plane tickets to Florida for a very exciting spring break adventure and our summer was wide open. As the beginning of March heated up we realized that things were about to get really really weird.

A rainy afternoon at Sugarloaf Mtn.

The Friday school got out for spring break the president declared a national emergency. Everyone knows what happened next because you were all there witnessing it just like I was. The grocery store turned into the scene from the 1995 Jumanji, people were lining their carts with anything they could get their hands on. Most of the pasta and canned food aisle was completely empty and all the staples like bread, milk and eggs were also gone. This was the beginning of the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 and the TP aisle would be bare for weeks afterwards. We went to the grocery store like everyone else because it was a friday afternoon and we didnt have groceries for the weekend. Like the rest of the universe we do our shopping on the weekend and were down to our last pack of crackers and the one wrinkly orange in the bottom of the fridge drawer. Things were grim in our house. The grocery store was the most stressful event of the week and preempted much of our decision making for that weekend.

Our plane tickets to Florida were for Sunday afternoon, and lucky they were too. If we had reserved them just 24 hours earlier we might have flown into a disaster zone of crazytown. Cruise ship after cruise ship cancelled their voyages leaving travelers stranded in Florida trying to get flights home. The airports swelled with guests as the spring breakers arrived for the week. What would have been hour layovers turned into 2 day sleepovers as people were desperate to get home. We were stuck with the difficult decision to cancel a trip we had already paid for with little to no possibility of a refund. Traveling during a national emergency is never a good idea but this is different right? There is no hurricane headed our way, earthquake rubble to sift through, or bullets flying through the air so it felt overall pretty safe. We finally made the call last minute, a couple of hours before we were due to leave. After finally deciding to cancel I felt a weight lift off my shoulders, this horrible decision had been made and we had taken the safer route.

In the week of spring break things got progressively worse. Its hard to think about it now, 8 weeks later, what it was like that first week of quarantine. Every morning I would wake up and check the news, listen to the radio and asses the threats. We were in full on lock down so no contact with anyone, no face to face conversations and always a mask. Sitting around at home in our apartment we made a quick decision to get out of town. Like many people that were later chastised for spreading the virus to small town america, we were desperate to leave the confines of our apartment for some elbow room. We also had a darker more fearful thought, if one of us got sick, it could be the last time we see our family.

By Tracey Tully and Stacey Stowe https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/nyregion/coronavirus-leaving-nyc-vacation-homes.html

We wanted to do this right, and with the least amount of risk as possible so we packed up the dog, two cats and ourselves and hit the road towards Arkansas. We were traveling to my grandparents home in rural area to try to relax, keep away from people, and hopefully stay safe from whatever else came our way. This decision was definitely made in fear of the unknown developments each day, but it was also made with the idea that it would be easier to stay isolated in a place with fewer people, who are more spread out, and travel less. With 5 days of self quarantining under our belt we only needed about 9 more to make it to an even 14. We made the drive with minimal stops and no contact with anyone along the way.

We arrived at our family home unscathed and my husband and I stayed there alone for several days before my family arrived. Instantly we felt more at ease and relaxed about the pandemic living in rural Arkansas. It felt as though they were separated from it in some regard. The grocery stores were well stocked, there were no lines at the door, but there was still no toilet paper. A few days into our retreat we realized that the people in Arkansas weren’t isolated from the virus, they believed it wouldn’t hit them because they weren’t New York or California. The safety we felt was more of a lack of awareness of the people in town rather than a true safety. Either way, it was far easier to stay away from people in a place with a population of 3000 rather than the bustling city of Austin. We had no contact with anyone outside of our family during that time.

“Secret pond” during a spring shower.

While tensions were mounting in vacation towns across America, the rural experience was much different. The Washington Post reported on the Great Migration of 2020 in which those who could afford to leave the city fled for many of the same reasons we left. More space, more quiet, less contact with neighbors, and more nature. In the absence of any “fun” things to do in a city, going out to eat, shopping, or music venues, cities become less desirable places to live. That coupled with the sheer abundance of neighbors, it makes sense people want to flee the virus. We found a lot of peace and quiet in nature which is the most abundant resource in Arkansas. Just a short drive away there are endless empty hiking trails which one can explore for hours on end without another person in sight. We spent the days hiking and the afternoons preparing home made meals with our family. It felt as if we had been transported to a different time, one in which days were spend doing manual work and afternoons were spent with family.

Sugarloaf mountain

After spending 1/3 of my quarantine time so far in rural Arkansas I can say it has its benefits. The lack of hustle and bustle makes life seem more normal. Staying away from people is easier and more relaxing when there are less people to avoid. In our apartment complex in Austin we regularly have to shuffle around the stairs to avoid other neighbors going up or down. In Arkansas you can wave to your neighbor from far away or pass by them in a car. The biggest challenge we faced was internet speed. With both my husband and I working from home we were struck with how behind the times Arkansas is when it comes to WiFi. We both were not able to video conference at the same time despite having nearly the maximum bandwidth available in our neighborhood. In the end it was our need for technology that drove us back to the city.