Blue View - Camping During the Pandemic
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Hard at work in my virtual office
A recent NY Times article suggested that heading to the woods in these days of the pandemic might be one of the safer places to be. Depending on how you go about it, we couldn’t agree more.
I’m writing this from my camp chair in a national forest campsite. My nearest neighbor, other than a cheeky ground squirrel who seems to be looking for a handout, is at the next campsite, through the trees about a hundred feet or so away. Contracting the Coronavirus seems pretty unlikely right now.
Will work for peanuts
Our nearest neighbor… waaay over there
We’ve been on our extended camping trip for about six weeks now, and while we spend much of our time in isolated campsites, there are obviously situations that involve more risk... especially when we’re traveling. If you are considering taking a break and heading for the woods, we’ve compiled some thoughts on how to do it as safely as possible.
National Parks
As much as we enjoy our wonderful national parks and monuments during normal times, we’ve been avoiding them during the pandemic. We did visit two and found bumper-to-bumper traffic, crowded overlooks and trails, full parking lots, booked or closed campgrounds and closed visitor centers. Not our cup of tea in the best of times, and certainly not now. We recommend skipping the big name, famous places and visiting some of the lesser known, lesser visited monuments, which are far less busy.
RV Parks
Some RV parks have enough acreage to provide some space between campsites, but most line up the campers and RVs with barely an arm-span between them. There is usually only one restroom and shower block, and you most likely will have to share it at any given time with four or five other new acquaintances. In addition, the parks are usually expensive and located near tourist destinations, both negatives for us, especially now. We haven’t stayed at a single RV park this entire trip.
Provisioning
Just as when we were at home, this is a necessary evil, and we follow all the same rules when we’re traveling as at home... wear masks, maintain our distance, sanitize frequently, make as few trips as possible, and prepare our list ahead of time, so we can get in and out as quickly as possible. We try to plan our provisioning so we only have to go into a grocery store once a week.
Fueling
Again, just as at home, wear a mask, sanitize after finishing and always pay at the pump.
Public Restrooms
When we’re traveling, it’s not always convenient to use the toilet in Blue. We’ve found that the major truck stops and larger convenience stores/gas stations do a pretty good job with their restrooms. They are usually clean, essentially touchless, and have lots of paper towels, soap and water. Highway rest stops are pretty much hit-or-miss... some are sparkling clean and well-equipped, while others are disgusting. In all cases, we wear our masks.
Campground Restrooms
We usually use Blue’s composting toilet when we’re camped, but if the campground toilet is clean and infrequently used, we will use it. We’ve been in campgrounds in which we were the only ones using the restroom, and felt pretty safe . Sometimes, however, when we’re hiking or biking, a public restroom is the only option, and we carry both hand sanitizer and toilet paper with us.
Hotels
Blue doesn’t have a shower, and despite our best efforts at spritzing with baby wipes, taking ‘kettle showers’ with a basin of hot water and a wash cloth, and deodorizing, we occasionally require a real shower. Maybe if we went longer between showers, others in our proximity might do a better job at social distancing and wearing their masks? Maybe so, but to maintain marital harmony, we find that we require at least a couple of showers a week. Many state parks, a few BLM campgrounds and the rare national forest campground provide showers, but most are closed these days, and even when they aren’t, we avoid using them.
Instead, we stay at hotels once or twice a week. Now, we’ve talked to hotel staff and managers on many occasions regarding the precautions they take to prevent the spread of Covid-19, all of whom have assured us that they follow CDC guidelines, but when we observe that the desk clerk and cleaning staff aren’t wearing masks or their masks are down around their chins, we have our doubts. I’m sure many establishments are extremely conscientious, but we don’t take any chances. Before moving our luggage in, we go in armed with alcohol in a spray bottle, disinfecting wipes and paper towels. First, we remove the bedspread and blanket, fold them up and stow them in the closet... who knows how often, if ever, they are washed. Then we wipe down and/or spray every surface we may come into contact with, especially TV remote, light switches, door knobs, and flat surfaces. We are reasonably confident that the sheets and pillowcases are washed between guests, but just to be safe, we give the pillows a light alcohol misting. Then we wash our hands and bring our luggage in. I’m convinced that this is the most thorough cleaning many of these rooms have had in a long time and you’d be surprised at how dirty the wipes and paper towels are after we finish cleaning. This sounds like a lot of work, but we’ve gotten quite well organized and can usually sanitize our room in about 10 minutes.
Then there’s breakfast. The best we encountered was a Comfort Inn that required masks and social distancing between guests. They had a masked and gloved staff member serving hot breakfasts on request in to-go boxes, which you could take back to your room or eat at the outdoor patio at properly spaced tables. Some had complimentary room service... also quite nice. Some provided sack breakfasts that ranged from adequate to pitiful. Many hotels, in our opinion, however, have used the pandemic as a way to save money on breakfast, and only offered something like a few gnarly, plastic wrapped “muffins”. The worst was a Quality Inn that bragged that they still offered the same hot breakfast as always. Indeed it was... the guests, most without masks, were standing shoulder to shoulder, dishing out their own scrambled eggs, sausage, and biscuits and gravy from an open buffet. We passed.
Restaurants
As much as we’d like to do our part in keeping all those wonderful restaurants open and in business, we’re still reluctant to eat indoors. We’ve ordered a few curbside pickup orders and had a few deliveries, but for the most part, we get something from the grocery to eat in our room or cook at the campsite. We ate at a restaurant with an outdoor patio only once. Their tables were properly spaced, the waitstaff all wore masks, and patrons were required to wear masks until seated, but despite the fact that they were doing everything as well as could be expected, we were still uncomfortable.
Personal Encounters
It’s quite easy to forget about the pandemic when you’re in the great outdoors. The air is clean and clear, the skies are blue and there is hardly anyone in sight. The last thing you think about is Covid-19... which is sometimes a problem. When we encounter someone on a trail or in a campground, it’s easy to forget to maintain that six foot distance or to don our masks. More than a few times we’ve had camp hosts, campers or other hikers get too close; get in our space. I’m embarrassed to admit we’ve even been guilty of it ourselves, and we need to improve on this.
There are many people who will think we are going way overboard in our precautions, just as there are many who think we are taking excessive risks and should be staying at home. We feel that our version of van life, given the precautions we take to minimize the risks to ourselves as well as others, is as safe as the near lockdown life we were living in Las Vegas - and a whole lot more interesting. If you decide to give camping a try, we hope you do it safely. And if you see us, be sure to say hi... from a safe distance and with a mask, of course.
See you next week.