ROADTRIP CALIFORNIA
NEW MEXICO, IDAHO, WYOMING, COLORADO, MONTANA

How to Camp during Covid-19 and What Items to Take with You
Planning a road trip during covid 19 is a bit tricky. You have to be prepared to reroute when roads are blocked and to have all you need in the car with you. Also, the mapsme app on your phone which is an offline road map as in many cities and towns your phone gps will not work. The mapsme app can be downloaded to your phone and it will find you hotels and gas stations that you will need on your route when you have no reception.

I would also suggest going to AAA and getting maps and checking the weather. From my recent trip of 4500 miles in 2.5 weeks I charted the time and items to see on my rome2rio.com app
.
Sedona, Arizona
Grand Canyon,
Santa Fe, New Mexico,
Taos, New Mexico,
Aurora, Colorado
Jackson, Wyoming,
Tetons, Wyoming
Yellowstone, Wyoming
Livingstone, Montana
Bozeman, Montana,
Idaho falls, Idaho,
Reno, Nevada,
Truckee, Nevada,
Grass Valley, California,
Nevada City, California
Napa Valley, California
back to Los Angeles.

My minimum requirements were packed but we still had some pitfalls. Some of the roads were blocked, some of the weather was unexpected such as tornados in Idaho and Snow conditions in Yellowstone as well as on the road to Bozeman Montana. Road Closures exiting Grand Canyon which had us reroute to Santa Fe New Mexico as road to Bryce Canyon was blocked. In addition, showers were closed in Yellowstone and toilets were closed in Grand Canyon.

As for hotels or places to stay along the trip, I chose hotels that were a chain or were well known such as the Holiday Inns, Hyatt Hotels, Best Western. I found that these hotels had safety measures in place. In Sedona and in a few other cities I did stay in some hotels that were not chains but before checking in I did find they were following safety measures. For example, The Hampton Inn even had the doors taped off and marked as sanitized. Masks were mandatory and the usual breakfast areas had the mask requirement along with the 6 ft distancing needed to enjoy a safe and relaxing time in these very popular cities.

To make sure my creature comforts were met along the way as this was originally a camping trip:
My first purchase was a small generator this helps inflate and deflate the beds we purchased from Costco along with lights
Tent from Costco 10’ x 14’ this was perfect except not so fast and easy to put up
It did hold two twin beds and our generators and had room for the dog also.
Pop up Changing Tent/wc handy when you have to go to the toilet and sets up in 30 seconds  https://www.amazon.com/s?k=changing+tent
5-gallon paint can with a snap on toilet seat (take garbage bags and toilet paper)    https://www.amazon.com/s?k=toilet+seat+for+5+gal+bucket&crid=4CGAFMD6DAEQ&sprefix=toilet+seat%2Caps%2C358&ref=nb_sb_ss_ac-o-p_5_11
Cooler, you can get a small refrig that plugs into the lighter or have to get ice everyday  Igloo Iceless Cooler
Propane tank hotplate     https://www.amazon.com/s?k=propane+camping+stove&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
Miscellaneous food products and drinks
Window coverings for the windows to block the sun these are also at Costco or online at amazon
Take extra blankets along with sleeping bag
As our air mattress was very cold, I was told that it is important to line bottom of the tent with the foam connecting tiles to block the air from getting cold. (do not wear shoes in the tent)
Keep all your food products in the car along with makeup and any other product. Only clothing should be in the tent as Bears can smell and come in.
Bring a lantern
Bring gloves and a hat I also brought a beanie which I wore to sleep as temperature dropped to 27
degrees. I suggest checking the temperatures before you travel. I was traveling the week before
forth of July.
Water
Fishing Rod, hiking sticks, hiking shoes, camping chairs, umbrella, games for kids

It is best to negotiate the radio, cd player with your travel companions. I suggest individual headphones to keep the peace. Once the road trip itinerary is planned out using Rome2rio.com to figure out an approximate time to stop along the route. Personally, I enjoy stopping after a 4 to 6-hour drive.

Enjoying stopping along the way to visit historical sites as well as Ghost Towns and small roadside attractions. Again, an agreement needs to be made with those in the car as some people like to drive non stop others will stay in one store until the cows come home.

We started our trip going to Sedona, Arizona. The beautiful spirituality of this place was breathtaking. Driving around and taking photos took 3 hours. We stopped for lunch and we spent the night in this town. The next day we headed to Grand Canyon. We again spent 4 hours at the Grand Canyon. Taking photos and wandering from one visual spot to another. Unfortunately, we couldn’t exit the park to go to Bryce Canyon and Zion Canyon as the exit path on our route was closed due to covid. As we were turned back to our original entrance point and redirected to highway 80, we continued on this route on our way to Sedona. As it was getting late, and my friend getting very tired we booked a hotel on the road to Sedona. We had a nice stay. The hotel was clean, and the pool and hot tubs were closed as well as only half the rooms could be used.

The next day we headed to Sedona, Arizona. Surprise, Surprise most of the hotels we wanted to stay at were booked or were still in lock down. We found the Southwest Inn at Sedona Hotel and it was very nice. We couldn’t use the pool and as we had a service dog it was allowed that he could stay in our room. They took many precautions as we all had to wear masks and hand sanitizer was available for our use. It appears that during covid only 50% of the hotels were allowed to be booked.use. Everyone kept a respectful distance and we were offered a snack at 4pm but it was prepacked and we could either take it to the pool or to our room. The museums government offices as well as quite a few things were closed. I enjoyed it not being so crowed but did miss the opportunity to visit the museums. I would say 75% of the shops were opened. We walked around town and had a delicious lunch at one of the small restaurants that had outside dining.

Following this beautiful city, we went to Taos, New Mexico. This city was a sad reminder that the covid had created a serious problem. Many roads were closed, most shops were closed and we hardly saw any restaurants that were open. We didn’t stay long but enjoy a few hours walking.
That evening we left for our next stop which was Colorado. We went to visit a friend in Aurora which was very good in keeping the social distancing and mask wearing in place. Then we left for
Jackson, Wyoming. Again, we arrived late at night and rushed around trying to find an available hotel. Social distancing, masks were required but many guests were not adhering to this hotel requirement. We found a place to stay at the 49 Hotel.

It was spacious and centrally located we walked to the cowboy bar for drinks and some dinner. My friend was craving an elk dinner but the only hotel that had this dinner had a 2-hour wait list. SOOO if you are ready for fine dining at Jackson you will have to make reservations. The bar menu at the Cowboy bar had some bison burgers and with some sweet fries and beers we were set for the evening. I did find that the shops required masks as well as the hotels and restaurants but while walking around town most of the people were not bothered to wear their masks.

On the following day we took photos in front of the moose horn arch across from the cowboy bar. The raptor center was closed along with the museums but the small shops were opening and they were packed full of people doing some souvenir shopping. We took a tour and hike at the Tetons. You can take a boat from Jenny Lake and take a hike. I suggest buying some bear spray which they sell at the park approx. $45. As the last time I went on this walk we did spot a bear.

The next evening, we headed to Yellowstone and were ready to set up our tent at our designated reserved spot. The first come first available spots were not to be open till July 1st. As we were in June the spaces had to be reserved and it was impossible to add on any more days after we arrived as everything was booked. All the hotels and cabins were booked as well. The restaurants inside the park were shut down and the general store and take out restaurants were open. My suggestion go the moment they open as no lines. If you wait till 9:30 or 10am you could be in a 30 min to 1 hr. wait as they have a limited number of people allowed in each location. Again, in Yellowstone the showers were closed but this did not keep people from camping. We did buy a fishing license for 3 days. I didn’t pay attention to when the license started and next time I would either wait to get the license or have them date it to the dates I plan to fish. According to the fishing guide, only the trout are allowed to be taken out of the lake all other fish are catch and release. Make sure you get the guide of what you can fish or the fines can be pretty hefty. It was very enjoyable to go fishing and having a picnic on the side of the lake in the afternoon. The best time to see the animals are early morning or early evening. While the buffalo were in the north the great fishing was in the West. For a wonderful picnic quite a few beautiful spots are everywhere.

A few days of relaxation and a bit of cold weather we left and headed for Montana. We did go through Gardiner, Wyoming and here you can go to the hot springs for a bath with a bit of shopping. Heading off through the mountains we encountered a snow storm. It was pretty scary riding on the ridge with the winds blowing and the snow obscuring our view as we tried to get to Livingston, Montana. We arrived in Livingston and spent the night. It was a small hotel. We tried to find a hotel where we could drive up to the hotel door and unpack the car. Livingston was a charming town but we were headed to Bozeman, Montana. A beautiful town with some great food. Most of the stores looked open here with a lot of small restaurants. After a few hours here we headed to our next destination. We drove back through the west side of Yellowstone as it was on our way to Twin Falls. A charming town with a lovely park in the center of town.

In Twin Falls, we spent the night…or maybe not. I went to 9 hotels only to discover they were all fully booked. A shock but then again, we were heading towards the 4th of July weekend. So right outside of town a Best Western had a lot of rooms and spent the night there. It was clean, sanitized and the people were friendly and accommodating. My favorite restaurant discovered by Suri was at a Food Truck inside of a building. The restaurant, Burnt Lemonade had an amazing cilantro lime salad with shrimp and the small Mexican food truck next door had some truly yummy shrimp and carne asada tacos. I must admit I was surprised to discover that the town had mostly Mexican restaurants. The must-see site here are the falls which were in the center of town. We drove to Idaho Falls and these falls to see the Shoshone Falls which are the biggest falls in the West. The falls were beautiful and just walking through the park was a breathtaking experience. Be aware, that the falls park was full of people and I did feel I had to wear my mask. People were not social distancing and only 20% of the people were wearing masks.

Following morning we decided to head towards Reno. Reno in early afternoon was quite dead. Possibly 4 people walking around and as it was July 4th, I was quite surprised it didn’t look very festive. One night here and in the morning, we headed for Truckee, California. A small charming town which I hadn’t seen in 30 years. The fun breakfast restaurant, Squeeze Inn, with outside dining had an amazing breakfast with a piano player for company. The shops were open, and the town was full of happy tourists. Social distancing …well what can I say 50% were wearing masks. In the afternoon, we went to Grass Valley and Nevada City, California. Small charming towns with adorable restaurants and small-town  neighborhoods with vintage homes .

 Then off to Napa Valley, famous for the wineries. Make a reservation otherwise you will not be allowed to go to the winery. It maintains social distancing. We had a hard time finding a winery to let us in but we did find a cute little Mexican restaurant for some lunch. The following morning, we had a bit of fun wine tasting and then our choice was a hotel in Sonoma. Many choices and if you can afford it the Sonoma Mission Inn.

After two weeks it was time to return to home. Unpack our many bags and start to realize that we have to go back to being quarantined.