When Nomads Have to Quarantine

A nice big space in my parents’ driveway to store our toys while we quarantine.

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2020 was the year of cancellations, closures, and catastrophes, but sometimes a change in plans opens up an adventure you didn’t know was waiting for you.

What do you do when you live in an RV and the world shuts down? Hope that mom and dad didn’t change their number or the locks!

December 1, 2020

Travel plans for 2020 and 2021 scheduled . . . CHECK!
Routes, RV parks, and boondocking locations mapped out . . . CHECK!
Things to do at each stop thoroughly researched and scheduled . . . CHECK!
Two-month trip to Europe paid for . . . CHECK!
Two months worth of plane tickets purchased and hotels booked . . . CHECK!

*sound of a needle scratching on a record*

Nope. All canceled or postponed indefinitely. This was 2020. I would say that nobody saw this coming, but evidently some people did. It’s okay; I know that my bummer situation could have been a lot worse. I work for myself from my couch, so I didn’t lose my job. My family and I have our health. I know that I am lucky and my problems are minor and I am very aware that people lost loved ones to this virus or are now out of work. Some people even got sucker punched with both tragedies. They have 100% of my sympathy and support. I am not complaining in a “feel bad for me” tone. I am just trying to find a little bit of humor in the reality my husband, Garner, and I found ourselves in this year.

I’m a planner. I always have been. I knew where we were going to be on this day a full year from now. Planning is relaxing for me. It gets me excited about upcoming adventures. Knowing where I’m going to be far in advance gives me time to make the most of our days in each location. I save as much money as possible by purchasing Groupon tickets or getting early bird discounts. And sometimes it assures me that we will actually get into that popular attraction because we planned so well and I had my tickets in hand an entire year in advance. I would set alarms on my calendar for when I could buy tickets (such as passes to get into the Anne Frank house while we were in Amsterdam). I could find yarn shops close to our hotel (or in my case—find hotels close to the yarn shops!). I knew that if I did my research, we wouldn’t miss a thing (I have come to learn that this is not the case—there is always something else to see in every place we visit!).

“Our adventures are not defined by the plans; the plans just help enhance the adventure.”

I’m not the type of person that freaks out if things don’t go as I had carefully planned. Garner will tell you plenty of stories about the time we missed the boat because I took us to the wrong dock. Or the fancy restaurant where I booked a reservation far in advance because everyone said we had to go there. Then we leave with a lot less money and would have rather had a slice of pizza from the sketchy hole in the wall parlor down the street from our hotel. Or there was the time we went on a canoeing excursion in New Zealand that never actually utilized a canoe (that is a great story for another time).

These are the stories we laugh about today. Not the hundreds of things that we did that actually went as planned; it’s the stories that don’t go as planned that make our top ten list. I’m okay with that kind of change in plans. I’m more than happy to cut my time at a yarn shop short so that we can walk a mile to a taco stand that we were told was a must try. Our adventures are not defined by the plans; the plans just help enhance the adventure.

But when two years of careful planning is literally wiped away in a matter of days . . . this is not a story that will make our top ten list. Now I’m being even more cautious about scheduling our routes because I honestly don’t know what tomorrow—let alone next year—will bring.

Through all this, the question does come to mind . . .when you sell your house, your car, and just about everything you own and the world shuts down—what do you do?! You call up your parents and ask if their guest bedroom has clean sheets because it’s time to move back in with mom and dad for a while.

We are very lucky that my parents have a comfortable house, excellent WiFi, and a fully stocked fridge. And even more lucky that they actually returned my call and said that they would love to have us.

In April of 2020, we made the trek back down to Arizona where we parked the Battle Trailer (the name of our RV–Garner won the name game) in their spacious driveway. We took Phinny, our clothes, and my knitting projects into the house and moved into the guest room for an undetermined amount of time. We should have taken our food in, but got lazy and decided to do that “tomorrow.” Guess what? We got to buy all new food when the RV fridge just couldn’t handle the 109 degree AZ summer heat day after day. In these temperatures, it takes very little time for frozen chicken to thaw and begin to stink. Like REALLY stink. Live and learn.

Shayla keeping nice and close to Phinny. A little too close!

Phinny and my parents’ cat, Shayla, (we call them cousins) didn’t take so kindly to the new living situation. Shayla would relentlessly stalk Phinny for one reason—so that as soon as she has the chance, she can pounce on poor Phinny who is half her size. Phinny holds her own—she has a deep “back the F off” growl that you would never guess could come from a little six pound ball of fluff and love. But here we were in this 4000+ square-foot house and Shayla has to be within one foot of Phinny’s face at all times. After three months of doing our best to keep them separated, it wasn’t until the last week that they decided that they could coexist after all. Literally . . . THE LAST WEEK. 

During this time in family isolation, I spent hours writing emails and making phone calls trying to cancel or reschedule all of our reservations. The voice recording kept telling me that they only wanted to talk to me if my tickets were within the next 48 hours. Don’t they know that some of us are planners and we need to get things replanned ASAP! Nope. “Please call back later.”

Beautiful sunsets outside of Zion National Park.

Flash forward to the end of June and the Arizona summers were becoming too much to handle. We packed up all of our belongings back into the Battle Trailer, scooped up Phinny, restocked the fridge, and back on the road we went. Our trip to Europe was postponed, but we still had hopes to make it to Italy at the end of October (spoiler alert . . . that didn’t happen).

We started to make our way north to cooler climates and, unfortunately, lots more bugs. We boondocked (dry camped) outside of Zion for about a week where there were fun places to take the RZR for a spin and a really cool ghost town to photograph. Then we spent time in my birth city of Pocatello, Idaho and finally arrived in Montana. I fell in love with the state (not the bugs). Glacier National Park was a thing of beauty and we even got to drive the Road to the Sun the day it first opened for the summer.

Beautiful boondocking location in Whitefish, Montana.

I found a great place to boondock in Whitefish for a couple of weeks and we took our UTV out for a very dusty spin around the mountain. I loved Whitefish (not the bugs). It had a locals only ski town feel—minus the snow (but plus the bugs). The fresh air was needed, the views were stunning, but (you guessed it) we could have done without all the bugs that seemed to eat us alive!

We didn’t get to do much touristy stuff because of the COVID closures and we didn’t get to meet too many of the locals, but I did discover an amazing yarn shop—Polka Dot Sheep—and found many goodies to add to my stash. (I’ll be giving you a tour of that LYS soon!)

Roger’s Ice Cream & Burgers. We love that they put ice cream first!

After leaving Whitefish, we headed west and spent some time in Libby, Montana and over to Hayden, Idaho. We fell completely in love with the town of Hayden, which is located up in the panhandle of my birth state. We were only there for a few days, but we ate at a place called Roger’s Ice Cream and Burgers every single day. They had the most amazing turkey burger. Hayden is now the town to beat for where we might make a permanent move to someday.

Best turkey burgers ever! We tried them six times!

As we continued to head west, the summer drew to a close and fall began to sneak in. We were once again faced with major closures due to COVID and forest fires and we found ourselves paying money to park at RV parks and were unable to explore. We spent two weeks outside of Tacoma, Washington and couldn’t leave the RV because the smoke would choke you the second you opened the door. My eyes burned constantly and the little air purifier I purchased was working overtime.

We persevered and finally reached the west coast. After a photography tour along the Oregon Coast (more on that adventure later!), we had to decide where we wanted to go from there. The fires were flaring up, so we couldn’t go on hikes. The COVID cases were on the rise again, so we couldn’t do much inside either. We made the decision on where to go next. And you guessed it—Arizona and mom and dad’s house here we come (again)!

Successful hunt for starfish while on the Oregon coast.

We are very lucky to have a safe and comfortable place to go when the world shuts down. I honestly don’t know where we would have gone if my parents couldn’t accommodate us. Paying for a campground and not being able to leave the RV seemed like a waste of money and it was torture to be parked somewhere amazing and not get to explore any of it. We did as much hiking as we could when the air would allow it and did a lot of social distancing, but Phinny was the only one that loved having us in the RV 24/7.

Arizona (and my parents) will have to have us for a few months longer. (As a side note: the cousins picked up where they left off and have been coexisting quite well. They aren’t splitting BFF necklaces yet, but at least they aren’t plotting each other’s demise.)

Our fingers are crossed tightly that the trip to Tanzania and Amsterdam in early March will still happen, but I’m not holding my breath. Egypt and Cape Town have been pushed to 2022. Later in March, we have plans to jump back in the RV and head to Utah, The Tetons, and South Dakota for the summer, but I’m not diving deep into those plans quite yet.

There are a lot of unknowns right now, but the few things I do know are this:

• COVID is real, it is serious, and we do not take it lightly. Masks are worn at all times when in public, hands are washed often, and we social distance the crap out of everything. All precautions are taken when we leave our home for any reason. 

• I’m making sure anything and everything I book is refundable without penalty.

• Life needs to continue. Closing down businesses and staying home and away from loved ones isn’t healthy. We fully plan to continue to explore responsibly and to the extent in which it is safe to do so.

Garner and baby Violet.

2020 is a year that eliminated a lot of experiences we planned to have, but it also made room for experiences we hadn’t expected. We might not have discovered the beauty of Hayden. We would have missed out on those stunning Zion sunsets. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to wake up stupid early in Oregon and hunt for starfish. If I wasn’t in Arizona, I would have missed out on time with my brother and his family as well as Thanksgiving with my parents. We also wouldn’t have met their new puppy, Violet, when she first came to live with them.

I could choose to dwell on all that we missed, but I’m going to choose to enjoy all that we got to do because the original schedule didn’t go according to plan. Is this the part where we talk about lemons and lemonade? This year just needed a bit of vodka mixed in.

Nobody loves an adventure as much as Phinny!

More to explore

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