As the month of October comes to a close, some things about COVID are becoming more clear and other things are no more defined than they were back in March when we just started to lock things down. What appears to be more defined is, we have learned to slowly open places like campgrounds and attractions, and it is possible to travel again. Albeit with new rules in place like masks, limited capacity and social distancing. We shouldn’t have to stay sheltered in place if we are careful and can observe some simple rules. In fact, some who did travel this Summer report it was better because it was less crowded. It also appears these restrictions will be the new normal for more than the next year.
The other thing that happened during this past Summer is, the world discovered RVing. Traveling in an RV has become the go to vacation! People continue to look at RV’s beyond their use for weekend road trips or vacation getaways. They’re also purchasing them with the idea of living, working, and perhaps raising their kids in their unit on a full time basis. The pandemic is forcing people to do a lot of soul searching about every aspect of their lives. With so many employees forced to work from home this year, and children forced into remote learning, people have realized the potential of RVing full time is real as long as they have a laptop, a cell phone, and a decent wi-fi connection.* With the real estate market reporting houses selling in record time and with bidding wars over asking price, the concept of making the move to RVing full time is also financially feasible.
The best thing about RVing is everything changes. The hardest part of RVing is everything changes!**
So the decision for us now is, can we plan the trip of our dreams again that we had to cancel last year? When will it be safe to head to The Badlands, Mount Rushmore, MOAB, Arches and so much more? What if we changed the itinerary from less do and more see? Like skipping attractions such as shows in Branson and instead go for the amazing views of “The Wild West,” bison, and the rest of our country? And maybe, just maybe, by early Fall, The Balloon Fiesta will be held this year! (the first reservation I made last year and this year) But how crowded will these popular areas be this coming Summer now that the number of first time RV buyers has increased by 50% to 80% over last year?
So this is where I wish I had a crystal ball and not a snowglobe to help make the decisions to go, not to go, or when to go. It’s time to at least start making reservations. If we have to we’ll cancel them again this year but at least we will have a trip to look forward to. In fact, planning the trip, looking forward to the trip, researching the trip, is almost as enjoyable as taking the trip. Almost! Once we have an itinerary with reservations is place, the next part of the fun is to check Trip Advisor for the top ten things to see in (location goes here.) And to check the Factory Tours website. (last year the Toyota factory tour in Kentucky was awesome) And to check the Atlas Obscura website for those off the wall things to see you wouldn’t normally hear about. Then all we have to do is wait for it to be time to go!
*Family RVing Magazine. **Keep Your Daydreams.com
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