It was time for a fresh pinned thread here, but rather than dreaming about the progression of RailFests twice or thrice per year that has been thwarted by this pandemic, I thought it might be worthwhile to just discuss what we as a group are comfortable about doing.
You can look at the previous thread to see all the recent ideas, including our planning for the Boston trip we eventually postponed in March 2020, what we were talking about for over this past summer, and some ideas going forward. Know that the extra hours I spend at home not travelling to work are used often to come up with more travel ideas.
Covid-19 continues to be a concern for everyone, and I know that how safe we feel varies between us. I've ventured out myself along the Northeast and Keystone Corridors in the past few months, but have not as yet felt like going on an overnight jaunt involving a hotel. A few have taken longer trips and stayed overnight. Keep in mind too that many states have lists of other states that require 14-day quarantine if you travel to them. So those lists, which change every few days, have to get shorter or be eliminated before we can take a trip involving medium or long distance travel. Furthermore, many in our circles are within the age range or have health considerations that might pose a higher risk to travel. Couple this with the danger of large groups occupying close space, varying restrictions on capacity at restaurants we might want to dine at, the long time of extended travel that would require masking, and the reduced Amtrak service to 3 days per week on most long distance trains, and you should understand the challenges in even thinking about assembling once more like we used to. Know that I really want to, I miss it, but it just isn't possible given all these obstacles the situation has presented. I take pride in the fact I've pulled off 50 RailFests over the course of 20 years, and I presently feel healthy enough to keep going once it is safe and possible to do so.
Let's just pool our thoughts on the following questions:
1. When would you feel comfortable resuming having our RailFests? Or would you ever?
2. What would you feel comfortable doing on such RailFests as far as safety is concerned? For example, only Amtrak, riding commuter rail & transit, or a combination of those.. Day trip vs overnight, etc.
3. Any other thoughts?