Diary of a shut-in, Week 6.5
As the month of April comes to a close we’re in the home stretch of Idaho’s stay-at-home order, which ends on May 1. The first stage of reopening businesses has begun, which unfortunately for those in the third and fourth stages might not be soon enough to stay afloat.
A local couple have taken to the open road, within about a 10-mile radius of home, to show their support for locally-owned restaurants this month. A couple of weeks ago, Gary and Beth Dagastine, owners of Northwest Recumbent Bicycles, were returning from making a delivery in Spokane when Gary decided to stop at Panda Express at Stateline for take-out dinner. They were pulling their 20-foot combo toy hauler/camper so after ordering they stayed in the parking lot to enjoy dinner in the camper.
From that an idea was born. In the past two weeks Gary says the couple has dined out most nights of the week in what he calls “asphalt campgrounds,” i.e. restaurant parking lots. When I spoke with Gary about 5 p.m. on Monday he and Beth were enjoying dinner in the parking lot of the Caddy Shack. Their list of locally-owned restaurants checked off also includes Fuki, Cosmic Cowboy Grill, Toro Viejo, Asian Twist, White House Grill, Angelo’s, Capone’s, Tomato Street and Radicci. He’s posting photos of their adventures on his Facebook page.
Gary, a retired sheriff’s deputy with Kootenai County, jokes that their international cuisine restaurant tour has put under 100 miles on the odometer. What he’s dead serious about is encouraging all of us to support local businesses however and whenever we can. He said if anyone sees him and the wife in a restaurant parking lot, stop and say hello. He’ll treat you to dessert!
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As this will be the final installment of the Diary of a Shut-In version of the weekly Main Street column, I’ve looked back on the past six weeks of what I’ve written. Like many of you I’ve run the gamut between frustration, depression, anxiety, fear, aggravation, hope and faith. I’ve been overloaded with information that changes hourly and daily, trying to make sense of things that make little sense. I’ve stayed home, towed the line, rebelled a time or two, tried to focus on what I could control and bristled at those who insist, often loudly, that there’s only one right way to think or react.
I’ve learned about myself that I value solitude but have an immense dislike for isolation. I need human interaction that’s not virtual or electronic. I’m ready for everyone to take personal responsibility and the doors to open.
I look forward in the very near future to spending any disposable income with my friends and neighbors who own businesses that have been closed for nearly two months, to double down on Shop Local and Vacation in Our Own Backyard, We can exercise restraint and caution as we emerge from our homes. We can extend grace to those who are frazzled and argumentative. We can rediscover joy and begin to look and move forward.
God bless America.
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Happy birthday today to Steve Wilson, Tanner Mort, Chris Cooper, Stephanie Brodwater, Jeremy Jones, Patty Muhlhauser and Susan O’Neill. Bailey Jaworski, Michele Jensen, Amy Lyons, Christina Bollman, Keith Ekness, Luke Griffin, Louise Zimmerman and Jai Nelson will party on the last day of April.
Happy May Day birthdays to Marlee Eldridge, Jeri DeLange, Suanne Harris and Diane Duncan. On May 2 Becca Atkinson, John DeLuca, Jan Bryant, Miranda Hamilton, Tre Lewis and Randy Hurt will blow out the candles. Randy Bates, Tracy Flaa, Peter Willits, John Hayes, Robbie Canfield, Brooke Harris and Becky Camarata are putting on their party hats on Sunday.
On Monday Kay Poland, Kenley Link, Jeanette Bangs, Garrett Brown, Scott Hayden, Rand Wichman, Brittany Smith and Scott Jacobson take another trip around the sun. Happy Cinco de Mayo birthdays to Faith Brodwater, Robert Cliff, Ben Miller, Joni McCroury, Carol Toomy, Lisa Peterson, Teri Farr, Angela Erickson and Andy Fischbacher.
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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.