Fall Road Trip 2020

Taking a road trip at any time has its challenges, but taking a road trip during a pandemic is an entirely different beast.

My bestie turned 30 at the beginning of November 2020. Our original plan was to take a trip to Florida, run a half marathon, visit some theme parks, and road trip to some National Parks. Well...plans change.

COVID-19 converted the half-marathon event to a virtual one, and Florida didn't seem like a great place to head to for vacation because of the soaring number of cases. And being on an airplane or anywhere within close proximity of strangers makes my skin crawl with anxiety just thinking about it.

Time to pivot expectations...

Instead of that trip, we talked about doing a road trip from Denver to Mesa Verde/ Pagosa Springs area, through New Mexico, (New Mexico's local restrictions on visitors were pretty strict, so no actual stops or visits in that state other than to get gas or take rest breaks) to Petrified National Park, to the Grand Canyon, and through a few areas in Utah and head back home.

We split the trip into four days:

Thursday

After work hours we drove down to Pagosa Springs to spend the night, it was a relatively quick drive and we were able to get a full night's rest before waking up early the next day.

Thursday total drive time: 5 hours

Friday

We drove through Durango to Mesa Verde National Park, visited Petrified Forest National Park, and ended the day in Flagstaff, AZ.

Friday total drive time: 8.5 hours

Saturday

Saturday was her birthday, and it was a looooong and action packed day.

We drove from Flagstaff, AZ to the Grand Canyon. Luckily, we found out the entrance we were expecting to go to was closed due to a large COVID-19 outbreak before we got there. From there to Lake Powell, Bryce Canyon National Park, drove through Capitol Reef National Park, (but it was too dark to see anything) and ended in an AirBnB in Monticello.

We woke up early, went to sleep late, drove many many miles, and experienced a wide variety of weather which led to some extremely stressful driving conditions. We had planned to get food more often than it was available. We drove about 5mph on the side of a pitch black canyon, and had a lot of good conversation.

Saturday total drive time: expected time 13 hours, actual time: ? (might be closer to 14 hours because of the bad conditions on dark canyon roads)

Sunday

Starting in Monticello, we visited Canyonlands National Park, made a breakfast stop at a restaurant a priority since we didn't get much food the day before, went to Arches National Park, and then made the journey home.

Sunday total drive time: 8 hours

Things to consider on future road trips:

• Time of year and road/weather conditions. Daylight savings was a real bummer. If we'd visited in the summer we could have seen a lot more in a day, but on the other hand, if we went in the summer things would have been a lot more crowded. You win some, you lose some.

• Bringing more food with us. Certain areas of Utah were not as careful with residents wearing face masks and that made both of us extremely uneasy. Also, lots of areas didn't have food within the roads we were on.

• Embracing rest areas when we spot them. Trying to stay hydrated on certain roads was a risky game...

Before leaving, we loaded up a small cooler with snacks and water. (Which ended up being a life saver on long stretches of road where there was nothing) Each night we stayed in an AirBnb and had virtually zero contact with other people. We stocked up on face masks, hand sanitizer, and bleach wipes.

Overall, we both felt safe throughout a majority of the trip, (excluding the few times we had to walk in somewhere to get food, or were edging along the side of a dark, slippery, canyon road...) and if 2021 continues the same way that 2020 did, I will be planning a few road trips similarly.