To travel or not to travel, that was the question. After quarantining at home for three months, we were getting stir crazy. We are fortunate enough to own an RV. We had made reservations at RV parks in Colorado back in January for a June/July seven week trip. In April and May, Mike and I had ongoing deliberation about whether to travel or not. For those thinking about travel this summer and those wondering if we’re crazy (hint: the answer is probably yes), I share this post which takes a look at the issues we considered when we decided to travel.
Public Health Orders: Mike and I both try to follow laws (or at least the spirit of the law) and be responsible. For those who have played Dungeons and Dragons, Mike is self-described “lawful good” while I may have some “chaotic good” tendencies. We decided that we needed to look at the Public Health Orders for each of the states we would travel through AND each of the counties we would be parking our RV in for our trip. The Public Health Orders can be long and complex, but often boil down to a few guidelines related to travel: a) Is there a quarantine period upon arrival? b) What mask requirements exist? c) Are stores open and/or restaurants open for take out or dine in? d) Are the activities planned going to be available? e) Is it legal to drive through the state for recreational purposes? To gather these answers, we searched the web and also called and spoke to campground staff.
We checked the travel information for the areas we would be touring
Social Distancing: In our deliberations, we decided we wanted to continue to Socially Distance as recommended by most Public Health Orders. We do not want to get COVID-19. We also do not want to be responsible for spreading COVID-19 to others. While still at home, we made the decision that we would not be dining in at any restaurants throughout the duration of our trip. We will also be avoiding any attractions that gather people together, especially in an enclosed space, i.e. no museums, shopping for souvenirs, movie theaters, etc… We quickly ruled out air travel for the foreseeable future, as it does not allow for social distancing. We also checked with the RV parks we were booked to stay in and found many offered remote check-in by calling when you arrive or just before.
Self Containment: In order for us to limit our exposure to other people and surfaces, our RV is great because we can be completely self-contained.
- Bathroom: We have our own toilet and shower on board. On our drive across the country and in between our destinations, we can pull into rest areas or pull offs and use our own facilities.
- Food prep: We have a way to store and prepare our own food with a kitchen area that includes a residential size refrigerator, large pantry, 2 burner induction cook-top, and a microwave/convection oven. We brought along a compact air fryer/toaster oven, and a compact coffee maker. We eat our meals inside of our RV (including on travel days) or during day trips we eat in the Jeep or along trails.
- Food: This is an area where our crazy shines through. In order to minimize contact, we made a meal plan for our entire 7 week trip and brought all of the food with us. We began shopping for the trip in March. The majority of our shopping was completed through home delivery or curbside pick-up. We have made 3 trips inside of a grocery store since the beginning of March. We have a list of meals to choose from each day which allows for some flexibility for time & choice until we get closer to the end of the trip and will have less things left to choose from. We do not plan to visit grocery stores.
- Household Items: We have enough household items such as toilet paper, soap, napkins, shampoo and trash bags, etc… to last for our entire trip. We were having a hard time sourcing RV toilet paper and finally found some to order through Walmart.com.
- Medications: We brought enough for the trip. Many insurance companies will allow you to refill a prescription early if you will be traveling. Call and ask about a vacation override. If you have mail order, you may be able to get medications delivered to an RV park with some coordination for timing of shipping and your travel schedule.
- Laundry: We have a washer and dryer on board.
- Disinfecting: We can routinely disinfect our door handles, faucets, etc during our trip. We can also wash our hands frequently and keep antibacterial gel in our RV and Jeep.
Activities: Luckily our favorite past-time is hiking. During this trip to southwest Colorado, we are spending our time primarily in National Forests (San Juan & Rio Grande) which don’t seem to get as many visitors as well known National Parks. We have found plenty of parking at trail heads and encounter few people on the trails. We also have a Jeep Wrangler and enjoy trail riding and exploring National Forest roads which doesn’t involve other people. As I said earlier, we will not be going to museums, visitor centers, movie theaters, etc… even if they are open.
We carry masks & gloves (obtained prior to pandemic) and disinfectants
Exposure Points: The biggest exposure points for us are getting fuel and interacting with other travelers in RV parks. Other things to think about are receiving packages and shopping.
- Fueling, we have obtained a fuel card card called “EFS” by TSD Logistics which allows us to pay at the pump in the tractor trailer lanes of truck stops (our rig is too big to use regular gas stations). Regular credit cards are not accepted at truck stop diesel lanes, instead they require you to go in and prepay, sometimes leave a card at the register, and often go in again after pumping. The TSD Logistics program requires a debit account. They pay the truck stop for the fuel and then withdraw the amount from your debit card. To minimize exposure while fueling, Mike has been wearing gloves while pumping gas and then I open the door and put antibacterial gel in his hands which he spreads around before coming inside. He also wears a mask while outside. Some truck drivers wore masks, some did not. We follow the same protocol (pay at pump, do not go inside) for getting gas in the Jeep.
- Other RV travelers at RV parks are usually very friendly. All encounters with them have been outside, but there is variation in their social distancing. Some people will try to get much closer than 6 feet or extend hands for handshakes. Very few have worn masks. Most have reacted reasonably if you back away or decline politely to shake their hand. This is probably the hardest area to control other than by spending no time outside your RV which is unrealistic.
- Packages: There were a couple of things that came up, such as we forgot our water pressure regulator and we needed a different cord to plug in our auxiliary brake (new tow vehicle). We had those shipped to an RV park and used the same package protocols we used at home: isolating, opening outside, discarding packaging, and hand-washing.
- Shopping: Things come up when traveling even with the best made plans. From time to time in our RV’ing we have had a mouse get into the RV. They can sneak in around electric cords and water hook-ups/lines. This happened again on this trip. We needed to get some mouse traps, something we did not pack. We decided to go early when stores are often less busy. I went in alone wearing a mask (required here). The other customers were mixed on mask compliance. I grabbed the mouse traps, paid the clerk who was behind plexiglass and left promptly. We will only shop for things we need to get (vs want to get) and be as safe as possible when we shop.
Reservations at RV Parks: We have been RV’ing since 2012. Over the years, we have seen growth in the number of other RV’s on the road and at RV parks. The increase in demand for RV sites means that we plan ahead for our trips and have reservations at all of the parks we will stay in before leaving home. This is especially true in the months of June-September. While sad that we aren’t as spontaneous as we were in 2012, we get to stay in the locations we want by planning ahead. For this summer, we are hearing that there are increased numbers of people planning to travel by RV. RV sales and rentals are both up in numbers according to articles we have read. If you happen to be reading this and are planning your first trip this summer, be aware that you may have difficulty getting a site at the locations you want if you head out without an itinerary. Every RV park we are staying at said that they were heavily booked and had few cancellations for the summer. The RV parks we have stayed at across the country, Nashville East KOA in Tennessee, Checotah KOA in Oklahoma, Tucumcari KOA in New Mexico and Wolf Creek Run Motorcoach Resort in Colorado have been surprisingly busy for the early summer season coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic.
In summary, we felt confident that we could continue to quarantine as safely in our RV as we could of at home by following the guidelines we’ve set for ourselves and outlined above. We also believe we will not be spreading COVID-19 based on the level of precautions we have been exercising since the beginning of March. I recommend everyone think about their risk level for exposure and for possibly spreading the disease when deciding whether or not to travel this summer.
