RV Travel: How The Omicron Variant May Affect RVers

Above, The Beast at Crazy Horse Campground in Lake Havasu. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It's panic stations time. At least that's likely the case with the media and politicians who "would not want a good crisis go to waste" to impose restrictions on everybody. This is based on their past behavior.

The new corona variant, Omicron, originating in South Africa, is "worrying" scientists.  

It may have a positive impact on the RV industry, though.

According to Chuck Woodbury in RV Travel:

Just when we think we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of the pandemic, we may instead be seeing the headlight of an approaching freight train. 

Did you read the news yesterday (Friday) that a new coronavirus variant, dubbed Omicron, has been discovered in South Africa, and is already spreading? It’s been detected in Hong Kong and Belgium, and it won’t stop there. The variant has about double the amount of mutations as the Delta variant, and may even be resistant to current vaccines. Most health experts are worried.

I believe we will soon see new travel restrictions to and from counties around the world. It’s already started. Anyone in the international travel business must be terribly disheartened, their hopes dashed of a return to normalcy.

So what does this mean for you and me?

It means the explosive popularity of RVing is not about to end soon, with another projected 600,000 new RVs to hit the market in 2022. RVing has been, and still is, the safest way to travel. Last month, RV manufacturers set an all-time record with 57,971 shipments. I’ll take a very wild guess and say that in the same month only a thousand new campsites were added (if that).

It’s about to get even more crowded out there in Camperland…

To read more, go here. 

Monster Hybrid Tumbleweeds In California

Above, attacking tumbleweeds from the Outer Limits.

In October 1964, the Outer Limits television show broadcast the episode, "Cry of Silence". In this episode, tumbleweeds possessed by an alien intelligence are attacking people in a rural area.

Every time I see a tumbleweed, I think of that episode. It's one of my favorites.

Now, here's a story from Newsweek concerning monster hybrid tumbleweeds that are taking over California.

They wrote:

Monster Hybrid Tumbleweed Species Is Taking Over California, Scientists Say 

August 27, 2019 A new invasive species of tumbleweed that can grow up to six feet in height is taking over parts of California—and scientists are warning it could spread even further as climate change makes its growing conditions more favorable. 

Salsola ryanii was first identified in California in 2002. It is a hybrid made up of two other invasive species—Salsola tragus, which is native to Russia and China, and Salsola australis, from Australia and South Africa. The latter, scientists say, is "one of the world's worst weeds" and is currently found in 48 U.S. states. The new species, is however, far bigger and faster growing than its parents, reaching about six feet in height.  

Maybe these tumbleweeds will gobble up more than a few radical leftists.

"We control the vertical. We control the horizontal."

To read more, go here. 

Gaviscon Ad From South Africa

This from a South African commercial for Gaviscon, an antacid.

It illustrates what can go wrong when someone who is ESL (English as a second language) writes the punch line for the advertisement:

(Click on picture to enlarge)