How to Road Trip Responsibly in 2020

As parts of the United States were opening up after a nationwide lockdown due to the novel coronavirus that’s affected millions, I drove over 2k miles from Georgia to Nevada, moving my daughter for her job. I won’t lie, after staying in the house for three months, with nothing more than a few trips to the grocery store, I was anxious. Anxious how I would react and anxious how people would react to me. I’m happy to report, it went way better than I had anticipated. While I’m still not pushing non essential travel at this time, if you must travel, here’s what I learned and a few, “new” rules about how to road trip responsibly in 2020.

Stick Close(r) to Home

Consider staying in your own state or at least, staying closer to home. Doing this makes it much easier to get back home if you were to get sick while traveling. It’s simpler to drive back home without involving anyone else when you are close to home. This way, you won’t become a burden on another community. Being sick is never fun but have you ever been sick away from home? It’s so much worse when you can’t climb into your own bed.

Know Before You Go

Before heading out on your road trip, investigate the area you are going to and will be driving through. Mask mandates are even stricter now than when I drove across ten states. Rules can differ from state to state, county to county and even in cities. For example, the city of Atlanta has a required mask mandate that the rest of the state doesn’t.

You might even check to see if they even want you there at all. In order to keep their communities safe, government officials in places like Moab and Lake Tahoe have asked visitors to come later. No one wants to go somewhere where you don’t feel welcome. So do your research before you go.

You can check status and information on a state or city’s government website. Many state health department websites and tourism board websites, are also sharing pertinent info.

Consider Your Route

To road trip responsibly, think before you go into small communities with little or no medical resources. If you do find yourself in one of those communities, go the extra mile to avoid contact with people. Don’t go into Native American reservations that have been so hard hit by Covid-19.

The Navajo Nation enacted a curfew, closed many attractions and even roads but they can’t monitor those all the time. One of the saddest things I read is about, is tourists yelling at Native American business owners because of the safety precautions they have in place. If your route takes you through one of these communities, consider the potential impact car trouble or a flat tire could have and avoid these areas all together.

Know Where You Will Stay

Some cities have imposed regulations on hotel capacity to dissuade visitors. If you are taking a cross country road trip like we were, it’s good to have an idea of where you will stop stop to sleep. Sticking to major routes makes this easier. Alternatively, for your safety, services like Airbnb are helpful because most accommodations have contactless check ins. That’s one less person you have to deal with.

Camping is anther good way to cut down on contact with people. We camped on our responsible road trip and had reservations for all but one night. If you’re not someone that has camped or likes to camp, it might be the time to give it a try. There was no stress about some other person’s cleanliness and camping made it easier to be in control.

Shop Local

When it comes time to spend your money or dine out, try and spend it where it will count the most. Spend it at small and local businesses. A lot of restaurants are open for carry out only. That doesn’t mean they aren’t happy to see you there. They need the business. Don’t forget to tip really well.

Also, don’t be too disappointed if the restaurant has a limited menu. The food supply chain has taken a beating this year and I found a lot of places have abbreviated menus.

Find Alternative Places to Go

The United States is huge! Road tripping responsibly means looking for alternative, less crowded places. It is possible to avoid crowds but you have to know where to look. Try lesser know and obscure spots. National forests, BLM lands and state parks offer a good alternative to bigger name national parks. In my opinion, this just isn’t the year for the big parks. Many of them still have entire areas and features that are closed. Stricter housing rules means operating with reduced staff so the employees that are working, deal with a lot.

Don’t Count on Anything

Even if they are open, many parks, restaurants, grocery stores and even chain stores, have adjusted or reduced hours to accommodate employees and restocking routines. In Nevada some of the Walmart stores were closing as early as 5:30 pm. Google does not have the correct info. If there is some place you especially want to go or see, you are best to check with them directly, either by phone or their website. A word of caution: we found many websites not being updated frequently enough to keep up with changes. Calling is best.

Take What You Need With You

When it comes to supplies and food, try and buy as much as you can ahead of time to take with you. This means hand sanitizer, wipes, Lysol, soap, yes real soap, even food. In most places, it’s much easier to find these thing now. But in some areas, it might not be. You could be taking away resources from smaller communities. In normal years, I’ve seen locals on popular destination Facebook pages, complain about the tourists that come in on the weekend and wipe all the groceries. Can you imagine how much worse that could be this year?

Finding a Bathroom

Finding bathrooms open and clean, was one of my top concerns before we left for Nevada. I even did some research on my favorite chain of truck stops to see what kind of extra precautions they were taking. The website said they were cleaning more but unfortunately, that’s not what I found. Still, it was helpful to stop at big truck stops and travel plazas. Since they are larger and have bigger bathrooms, it’s easier to physically distance. And I always wore a mask.

As long as we traveled on major roadways, finding a bathroom open was no problem. They became more scarce in rural areas and on public lands. My advice: stop when you see something open and before it’s a have to situation.

Be Patient & Kind

Literally everything takes longer this year. The road trip you took before or the way you did it before; it just isn’t the same this year. Factor this in when you make your plans and don’t over plan. You will only be setting yourself up for disappointment.

As you make your way back out into the world, I can’t stress enough that people are going to try your patience. Anticipate this and if it means you have to have a little pep talk with yourself every morning, then do it because above all else, as travelers, we need to be kind. Remember, we are all trying to get through this. Some people just do it better than others.

Be kind to all workers. You have no idea what they are going through and what kind of day they might be having.

Be Grateful

Above all, be grateful. Grateful that you are alive and and traveling. In this crazy time, a lot of people aren’t that lucky. Being grateful and appreciating wherever it is that you are, keeps you in check and keeps you from complaining and acting entitled. Always remember, you’re a guest in someone else’s part of the world.

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