SHELTERING IN MOTION
Thirty-thousand miles and 15 states ago, I began living in my 19-foot Skoolie full-time. I had purchased it in Nashville, named it Bubba, and converted it into my dream space. Having completed Route 66, I was ready for my next cross-country trek. The plan was simple: I would catch the 80 through California and Nevada; grab the 70 in Utah and drop down to Bryce Canyon for a couple of weeks; then head into Colorado for my own Rocky Mountain High experience, à la John Denver.
The date was March 1st, 2020. Masks and gloves were not part of our daily wardrobe, coronavirus was not a household word, quarantine was not yet a thing, and Gavin Newsom wouldn’t issue the shelter-in-place order for another 17 days. I left San Francisco on that fog-filled morning armed with a National Parks Pass, a membership to Planet Fitness, and a firmly intact spirit of adventure—but things were about to change.
By March 27th, all of the parks had closed; they were quickly followed by rest areas, RV sites, nonessential businesses and, of course, gyms. This raised some
