My Crazy Cross-Country Road Trip – Planning

Who is crazy/stupid/reckless/irresponsible enough to plan a cross-country road trip in the middle of a pandemic? Well, while I don’t consider myself to be any of those things, the answer is a bit complicated…so here goes.

I live in Virginia and I have a family member that lives in Arizona. For a variety of reasons, he has trouble processing and navigating complex situations and decisions. He has been able to take care of himself all his life, as long as he can keep things simple, but a month or so ago a wrench was thrown into the works.

The Reason for the Road Trip

For his own privacy, I’ll call him Ben. Ben has been doing well renting for many years in a small detached guest house in Phoenix. Unfortunately, his landlord recently determined that they needed to use the space he was living in for other purposes, so he was given plenty of notice that he needed to move out (although the country was already in a pandemic). After much discussion, consternation, and changes of direction between him and several of us that are trying to help him, we decided on the best plan of action in a very difficult situation. The plan would be to help Ben move across the country to live with another family member at least temporarily with the potential of a permanent solution in the works.

How I Ended Up Being His Transportation

As I mentioned before, we went through countless scenarios of how Ben could get himself and his belongings from Arizona to Ohio, but none of them turned out to be workable. He doesn’t own a car. I won’t go into the boring details, but at some point, a week or so ago my husband and I discussed it and weighed the pros, cons, and risks. We decided that although far from perfect, it was the best possible solution with the least amount of stress for Ben if I drove to Arizona, picked him up and drove him to his destination. We discussed it with the others and everyone agreed that it could work and would make things a little easier.

So…in the days since we made the decision, as any rational adult would do, I’ve been checking the data about COVID-19 along my route regularly. I also very carefully planned my entire trip to avoid hot spots along the road trip. Well, except for Arizona, which is unavoidable since that’s where I’ll be picking up Ben. I’ll be traveling on a bit more northern route than the online maps recommend. I think a few extra hours are worth it. You see, I’m not a reckless or crazy person. I truly understand the risks and I will be trying to mitigate them as much as possible.

Arizona Case Data as of July 23rd, 2020

It’s always comforting to wake up a few days before a road trip to see a chart like this showing your destination at the top of the list for virus positivity rates. Ugh! Thank you PBS News Hour for posting this information on social media. I’m not able to locate it on the website to link to, but here’s a link to their main page.

Of particular interest to me in the New York Times data was the fact that 1 in 44 people in Maricopa Country have tested positive for the virus. Let that sink in for a minute. There can easily be 44 people in a grocery store at any given time.

On a slightly positive note, it DOES appear that Arizona folks are starting to crack down a bit and the curve is BEGINNING to decline at least a little. My hope is that by the time I get there it will have continued in that same trend.

Road Trip Tip # 1 – Plan Your Route

The current plan for this trip is to take several days to drive across the country. When planning a road trip be sure to allow enough driving, resting, and sleeping time. Under normal circumstances, you’ll want to include time to stop and experience places that you’re interested in. For this trip, my goal is to get where I’m going with minimal human interaction so it’s much different than “normal”. I do plan to look for beauty along the way though. That will be the fun of this journey.

It’s critical that you not try to cover too much distance each day. No one likes a sleepy driver. In my experience, even if I’m planning to drive straight through from one place to another, I always add 1-2 hours to the online time estimates. This is for stops for gas, food, restroom breaks, or unforeseen traffic issues. Remember to calculate rush-hour slowdowns depending on when you’re passing through big cities too.

Also in this crazy year with the virus spiking in many places, I literally spent all day choosing my route and overnight stops to avoid virus hot spots and find safe clean lodging with the least risk possible.

Road Trip Tip # 2 – Choose Lodging Carefully

In normal situations, you may decide to be more spontaneous and wait to book your lodging each day for that night. I wanted to be sure that I booked while I had plenty of options that fit my strict criteria, so I booked the whole trip in advance. Allowing an average amount of driving time with plenty of cushion each day was key.

I considered the pros and cons of different types of lodging. Friends and extended family along the route might have let me stay with them. I would have loved to see them but didn’t want to run the risk of exposing them to the virus. I also considered hotels and traditional Bed & Breakfasts, but I’ve chosen to stay in Airbnb rentals for the following reasons:

1 – I love supporting small entrepreneurs

2 – Even if I’m only there overnight, I like staying in unique lodgings that give me a better feel for the town I’m in. Chain hotels that look the same from city to city just don’t do it.

3 – Airbnbs provide much less human contact. There is no registration desk and no random strangers accidentally coughing on me in the lobby, elevator, or parking lot. In fact, almost all of the places that I booked have keyless entry. I may not even see the hosts while I’m there.

4 – I am convinced that most Airbnb owners are caring and considerate. They understand that their places must be clean and sanitized or they won’t be able to keep their business going. Great reviews are critical for them to get bookings.

5 – In general, the costs for these cute, homey, and welcoming places are lower than the cost of hotels in the same towns.

6 – And last, but not least, since I’m a travel blogger, I plan to share with you about the places that I like and these are much more interesting than a chain hotel. Here are a few Airbnb’s that I shared about in the past.

I Hope You’ll Follow Along

A good chunk of each day will be driving, but I plan to look for beauty and fun along the way. I’ll be sharing observations about the trip on my Instagram posts and stories. Also sharing on my Facebook page and plan to do a daily recap here each day. You can sign up for my mailing list to follow along.

What would you like to hear about? Do you have any questions? I’ll be checking in tomorrow. Here are other posts related to my adventure. Enjoy the ride!

Road Trip Apps and Tips

Road Trip Favorites Songs and Artists

Cross-Country Road Trip – Day 1 – Charleston WV

Cross-Country USA Road Trip – Day 2 – Kentucky

My Road Trip – Day 3 – Manhattan, Kansas

Missouri’s Best Food and Road Trip Fun

I really appreciate you keeping me company on the journey.

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