We left in March 2020 with no idea that COVID would paralyze the country. Going back into the city in DC did not seem any safer than staying out in the RV, so we adapted to full-time RV life under COVID as best we could. In the end, we got a first hand view of the how the different parts of the country responded to the pandemic as we lived it.
Leg 1 takes us from MD to LA, a destination we had not planned. We became very familiar with the beautiful swamp country as we hid from COVID.
As the country began to slowly, partially reopen from COVID, we left for our planned destination of Glacier National Park. The park remained closed to camping but open for day use. We found great alternatives for lodging in the Montana State parks.
An epic heat wave hit the southern US. We ran for the coolest summer destination in the lower 48. Washington state has three amazing National parks in the west, and a remarkable geography equal to the Dakota Badlands, called the Channeled Scablands, in the east.
Basing out of quiet Tacoma, we threw the tent in the truck and took excursions into Mount Rainier and Olympic to find epic peaks and surprising rain forests.
Skirting a southwest heat wave and numerous forest fires, we headed to an old time favorite retreat, TAOS, NM.