Drive from Marrakesh to Essaouira

Essaouira – March 28, 2021 – Drive from Marrakesh to Essaouira, Morocco

By Tom Allin

After three days of taking, it easy at the Al Fassia Hotel in Marrakesh it was time to become explorers again.  We are doing nothing tough today after a pandemic caused layoff of one year.  We have a less than four-hour drive to Essaouira and I have already made hotel reservations with a hotel with parking.  Oh, to be so naïve.

We leave the hotel, drive out of Marrakesh, stop for gas, and hit the open road.  It didn’t take but a few minutes to again become comfortable with driving in Morocco.  Something new to contend with: it seems there is a police check point every 20 or 30 minutes that require us to come to a stop and either we are waved through or we have to pull over to show our passports.

As we entered a small town the policeman waves me over.  I put on my mask, roll down the window and the officer says, “Texaaasss, you are from Texaaasss”?  I say, “Yes, from Texas”.  He is smiling (no mask), we fist bump through my window and off we go.

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Casablanca, Morocco

Casablanca – April 18, 2021 – Casablanca, Morocco

By Tom Allin

Today was Sunday and no one was working on transporting our 4Runner from Morocco to South Africa.  We decided to go bathing suit shopping.  Nancy and I both thought we had left bathing suits in the 4Runner when we left Morocco last year at the beginning of the pandemic.  We returned to Morocco and the 4Runner to find no bathing suits.  The front desk suggests the Marina Mall, grabbed a taxi and off we went.

It was maybe a 15-minute ride that cost about $2.50 – we over paid.  The mall was two floors with two U.S. small medium sizes store, a large grocery store, 30 small shops and a dozen eating establishments.  Took us less than 45 minutes to see everything including maybe 10 women swimsuits and to head for the door.

Took a taxi to Hassan II Mosque.  This is the third largest mosque in the world – and was closed, no tours.  This is the one tourist attraction that Casablanca claims and it wasn’t open to the public.

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Drive to Tata

Drive to Tata – April 10, 2021 – Tafraoute to Tazalaght to Ait Ballou to Imitek to Tata, Morocco

By Tom Allin

Our original plan was to drive through Tata, but Tata ended up being a destination not a waypoint on the map for us.  What we didn’t know until later is Booking.com doesn’t show any lodging within a two-hour drive of Tata.  No matter what the Lonely Planet says about Tata, not many tourists end up here – yours truly did.

Enough about Tata. 

It was the drive we thought would be interesting and it was a fascinating drive.  This area is a combination of the Anti-Atlas mountains and Sahara plains.  For the most part it was a good two-lane highway.  We only drove on compacted dirt for maybe an hour.  At times I was doing 80 km/50 mph but for the most part was driving about 60 km/35 mph.

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CORONAVIRUS INFO PROVIDED BY DR. JIM HARRIS – 04/26/2021

DON’T FORGET TO VOTE FOR MISD SCHOOL BOARD. TODAY AND TOMORROW ARE LAST DAYS OF EARLY VOTING.

BUILD YOUR OWN TRACKER ?

MY NEW YORK TIME TRACKER APRIL 26,2021

Michigan’s Covid Wards Are Filling Up With Younger Patients

Across Michigan, which is experiencing by far the country’s most dangerous outbreak, more younger people are being admitted to hospitals with the coronavirus than at any other time in the pandemic. Michigan hospitals are now admitting about twice as many coronavirus patients in their 30s and 40s as they were during the fall peak, according to the Michigan Health & Hospital Association…The shifting demographics come as a majority of Michigan residents age 65 or older have been fully vaccinated, greatly reducing the risk to the most vulnerable and leading to fewer hospitalizations among the oldest age groups…Public health experts say the outbreak — driven by the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus, which is more contagious and more severe — is spreading rapidly in younger age groups. And across the state, doctors and nurses are increasingly reporting a concerning trend: Younger patients are coming in more often with serious cases of Covid-19.

J. Harris: This British mutation will spread from Michigan. The variants are an important reason for EVERYONE OVER 16 TO GET VACCINATED. 

WHAT HAPPENED IN INDIA — AND WHY?

“…Confident they had beaten Covid, government officials relaxed restrictions on virtually all activities, including weddings, political rallies and religious gatherings. The northern town of Haridwar held one of the world’s biggest gatherings this month, with millions of people celebrating the Hindu festival Kumbh Mela…A major factor appears to be that many people who previously had mild or asymptomatic cases of Covid remained vulnerable to it. (A recent academic study, done in China, suggests that mild cases confer only limited immunity.) The emergence of contagious new variants is playing a role, too. This combination — less immunity than many people thought, new variants and a resumption of activities — seems to have led to multiple superspreader events… [causing] a never-ending assembly line of death…[What to do:] The same two strategies have worked around the world: restricting the activities that spread the virus, and accelerating the pace of vaccinations.

THAT’S MY BOY!

Harrison Magazine: Growth and Progress: Marshall native strives to help hometown grow as EDC director

AND LAST AND THE FINAL WORD:

Clifford and Daisy May were married for many years. Whenever there was a confrontation, yelling could be heard deep into the night. Clifford would shout, “When I die, I’ll dig my way up and out of the grave and come back and haunt you for the rest of your life ol’ woman!!”

Neighbors feared him. Old Clifford liked the fact that he was feared.

He died at the ripe old age of 98.

After the burial, Daisy May’s neighbors, concerned for her safety, asked, “Aren’t you afraid that he may indeed be able to dig his way out of the grave and haunt you for the rest of your life?”

She replied, “LET HIM DIG. I HAD HIM BURIED UPSIDE DOWN…AND I KNOW HE WON’T ASK FOR DIRECTIONS.”

AND FINE’LY:

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