Where To Next for the Blue Crew Nomads?

Whenever we’re nearing the completion of a trip… whether it be a road trip, a walking a trip or an ocean passage, we start musing about where we’ll go next. It seems we always need a ‘where to next?’ plan. Our 2020 Pandemic Road Trip has come to an end and long before we arrived back in Las Vegas, we were discussing possibilities for the next trip.

At the moment, we are somewhat limited in our choices. We can’t really fly out of the country. A few Caribbean islands are open for visitors, but the Carib is not appealing to us plus we’re not all that keen about being on a plane flight for several hours with lots of other people in close proximity… masked or otherwise. Our plans for walking in Portugal are on hold indefinitely.

Much of the Pacific Northwest is suffering from ongoing wildfires and the aftermath of devastating conflagrations. Texas and the Gulf Coast are still reeling from the effects of recent hurricanes and tropical storms and all forecasts indicate there are more storms to come. Heck, the hurricane season has been extended till the end of November now. There have already been snowstorms in Colorado and the Front Range states… most breaking records for earliest ever recorded. That’s after having broken records for highest daily temps recorded. There’s no pleasing this Goldilocks crew… don’t want it too hot nor too cold. We want it just right! But, of course, we’ll take whatever we get.

Here in Las Vegas, by the way, we’re experiencing triple digit temps and breaking records, too. The last measurable rainfall in Las Vegas occurred on April 20th, 2020. As I’m writing this, that’s 159 days without rain… an all time record.

So, where to go? What to do? At the moment, we plan to leave Las Vegas in mid-October on another road trip... heading East. Pretty much anywhere we’d consider is east of Nevada, so that leaves the options wide open. Bike-riding has become an enjoyable pastime for us and riding more of the GART (Great American Rail-Trail) or Rail-Trails or just biking paths, in general, are foremost in our plans. Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana and Illinois all have significant completed stretches of the GART. Depending on weather once again, perhaps we can ride more sections of the main GART and other trails as we find them.

There’s plenty of opportunity to ride sections of the GART as we head east.

Looks like West Virginia might be a candidate for checking off another completed state on the GART.

There is never a dearth of side trips and diversions in our travels. There are national parks and monuments, gorgeous views and, of course, unique roadside attractions that can’t be missed. I mean, there’s Carhenge and the world’s largest pair of overalls in Nebraska. Santa Claus and Kokomo are both towns in Indiana… although I doubt it’s the same Kokomo that the Beachboys sang about. And isn’t the world’s largest frying pan in Iowa? I’ll have to do more research so we don’t miss the key sights in each state we visit.

We have an Election Day ritual… watch the returns and eat take-out Chinese. I think the returns and the election results will be significantly different than we’ve watched in the past, but we’ll vote in advance of our departure, plan a hotel night in any event to watch what there is to watch and hope our guy wins.

That puts us into November and our plans going forward from there are still up in the air. We had thought we’d continue on to Florida to visit with Brennan & Hannah, but Florida may not be a healthy place to visit by the time November rolls around. We’ll have to wait and see. Nevertheless, we’re bound to find lots to do on the East Coast that will keep us occupied and out of harm’s way for a few weeks. Thanksgiving is up in the air at the moment. We may come back to Las Vegas to celebrate or we may be elsewhere. As the holiday nears, the decision will be made, but one thing’s for sure… we’ll enjoy turkey and all the fixin’s wherever we are.

Lin celebrates her 60th birthday in early December and we plan to be there to help her celebrate. Originally the plan had called for meeting in Charleston, SC, but that also is up in the air. No matter, we’ll be wherever she is whether it be Charleston or Rhode Island or somewhere in between. We traditionally spend the Christmas holidays with Lin and family, so New England for late December is a given. We won’t be camping out in Blue though!

We’ve been toying with the idea of staying on the East Coast for the Winter/Spring and maybe even Summer season 2021. Perhaps we’ll leave Blue there, fly back to Vegas for a few weeks, then return to the East Coast. We’ve got a hankering to explore New England again and maybe even Maritime Canada if the Canadians ever let us in again. So much is uncertain at present, it’s hard to plan ahead. Thankfully, even when we do make a plan we rarely stick to it, so we won’t be disappointed if things change. We’re an adaptable lot… we go with the tides and the currents.

One way or the other, we’ll be out on the road and traveling again soon. So join us. You’ll figure out where we’re going as soon as we do!