Lonely Road Summer Roadtrips in the Time of Covid 19

By Randy Bozung and MJay Bozung

"That's it, I've had enough! Pack your bag, we're hitting the road." Just about three months in, and no one is quite sure how to navigate a modern-day pandemic. Memorial Day was approaching, and the governor had plans to close down our beaches and parks. Mjay's company was furloughing people for a week every month, and I had just lost my full-time job. The stars seemed to be aligning, and that's when we decided to hit the open road and seek out adventure. Mjay and I researched places that had established Covid-19 protocols and welcomed travelers. We wanted to find out how the pandemic was affecting popular tourist destinations and what we could do to help them out.

We were also curious to find out who was following CDC guidelines and who was buying into the mass hysteria. We're not confrontational people, merely observers of people and their reactions to a very difficult time. Mjay and I decided to make it our goal to chronicle everything we could during our summer road trips of 2020. Every place we visited had the same basis of rules, which was masking and social distancing, but each area enforced the guidelines with different severity. Mjay and I are extremely excited to bring you into this journey with us as we live our best lives--even through a pandemic. Happy travels!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662467783

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Lonely Road Summer Roadtrips in the Time of Covid 19

Randy Bozung and MJay Bozung

Copyright © 2021 Randy Bozung & MJay Bozung

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2021

ISBN 978-1-6624-6772-1 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-6778-3 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

Socially Distancing Myself from California

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Part 2

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Part 3

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Part 4

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

About the Author

Introduction

Socially Distancing Myself from California

It's time to go. Three months into a quarantine, and my frustration with the pandemic has reached an all-time high. The most frustrating part was the so-called experts that could not agree upon the proper course of action. It seemed as though each city was looking upon Sacramento for guidance, but Governor Gavin Newsome had no idea how to proceed. California, with the fifth largest economy in the world, could easily be its own country because of its literal size and population. As the pandemic persisted, each county decided to step up and start making their own decisions.

By April, it was San Diego County versus Orange County. Governor Newsome declared that Orange County beaches must remain closed through Memorial Day weekend. San Diego county was going to have most of their beaches open that weekend, and San Diego was worried about all the people from Orange County flocking to our beaches. So that's when each city within their respective counties started enacting their own Covid-19 regulations. Oceanside beaches were going to open, but you could not park there. Carlsbad beaches were going to keep their beaches and parking lots closed, but you'd be allowed to walk on the beach. No sitting, and definitely no surfing or swimming.

My wife Mjay came home from work one day in early May with news that her company was going to work from home until further notice. On top of that, every employee in her department would work for three weeks, then get furloughed the fourth week. Luckily for us, the federal government came up with a stimulus plan, and Mjay would be able to file for unemployment insurance for that fourth week of every month.

My work over the past year was intermittent. The defense contracts were on pause till the Department of Defense (DoD) could figure out how to train the military safely during a pandemic. Luckily, I had found steady courier work that has kept me very busy. It has also afforded me the ability to set my own hours and take time off whenever I want to. With my ability to make money whenever and where I wanted to, and Mjay's monthly furlough time, we started to plan the first of several road trips.

I was curious to see how the different states were reacting to the pandemic. I wanted to get feedback from locals on how their respective local governments were responding. I also wanted to see what the travel would be like. How empty were the roads? Was there any place we could find to dine in? How nervous were the locals about getting sick? What are their local Covid-19 restrictions? I also needed to find places that resembled something of a normal life. I was, and still am, fed up with the new Covid-19 lifestyle. Mjay and I sat down and started planning our first trip.

To my wife Mjay, my traveling partner, and most importantly, my partner through this journey called life.

Chapter 1

Mule Deer and Altitude Sickness

We hear there's freedom in Utah. People are going about their business just like normal people do. Only difference is, they're distancing themselves a bit more from their neighbors. Mjay's coworkers have been talking about two spectacular parks that were an easy six-hour drive up the 15. You can even eat inside the restaurants! I'd never seen a look of joy on Mjay's face like that. She was smiling ear to ear at the idea of dressing up and going out for a nice dinner that she didn't have to cook.

The plan was to hit Springdale, Utah, home of Zion National Forest for a couple of days, then make our way over to Bryce Canyon for a few days more. I normally would check the week's temperatures and weather forecasts in order to help me determine what to pack, but this time I tossed in a little bit of everything. Being my first time to Utah, I really should have done my research, but I covered all my bases and packed for every scenario we might come across. We knew that this was going to be a hiking adventure, so we geared up for long days on the trail.

Neither of us expected a mix of hot and cold weather, sometimes in the same day. We took off from Oceanside with temperatures in the mid-sixties. We stopped for gas on the Utah/Arizona border with temperatures nearing one hundred degrees. When we got to Springdale, the temperature was around eighty degrees.