Another Road Trip

2022-06-18
PA

I'm going to try another one of my road trips. All my camping gear has been dormant for the duration of the Covid, but this year I decided to head out again. Like you, I have heard that National Parks were very crowded last summer. I'm thrilled that more people are out in the parks, and I hope that leads to increased awareness and funding for the parks. However, it means that there will be longer lines and requirements to book earlier.

This trip will be in July because that's how the schedules worked out. That helped us choose the destinations: high latitudes and high altitudes rather than the Four Corners trip I had started planning for September 2020. The first part of the trip goes through the south but hopefully it won't be too hot. Ok, it will be too hot for me, but hopefully I will find some shade.

Here's a rough idea of the route. Google only allows ten destinations so it doesn't close the loop, but you can imagine it going back to home. Or you can imagine living in Northern Indiana; whatever you like.

The map shows someplace around 5,000 miles of driving, but I expect it will be a fair amount more as we drive to trailheads and campgrounds and grocery stores. It also shows that a bit more than 3 days of the trip will be spent driving which is why I'm planning for 3 weeks total. Gas prices are very high as the trip approaches, but the possible silver lining will be fewer people on the road. However, the Fourth of July weekend has no hope of being anything but crowded. Generally I have found holiday weekends to be decent days to drive; construction is limited and lanes are open. But stopping anywhere is an exercise in patience.