2020: The Trip That Should Not Be

In the spring of 2019, I took a solo road trip across the country, which changed my life in a sense because it revealed to me that there in-fact was something that I liked to do for fun. The circumstances that allowed me to take the trip were sustained into 2020 and I began planning another road trip that would again take me to California, but this time through the southwest. Unfortunately, like everyone else in the world, my plans for the spring of 2020 were put on hold, indefinitely.

To be crystal clear, this post is not a complaint. Things happen and not being able to go on a trip isn’t that big of a deal. That being said, I put a lot of thought and energy into planning the trip and working-out a development schedule that my clients could work with, so I’m going to write it all out, in memory of the trip that wasn’t meant to be.

Wednesday, April 15th

Today, I’d have turned-off the water in my place, packed my car and headed for central Kentucky. My destination was Mammoth Cave National Park which I’m excited to visit it because the last time I came through this area I was trying to escape a massive traffic jam that brought the entire region to a screeching halt after the total eclipse of 2017. It was a guarantee that I’d created a few positive memories of the place this time around. While I planned to get out early so I could visit the park itself today, I’m sure I got out late and had to resort to visiting it as it opened the next day.

Thursday, April 16th

Got up early this morning, so I could visit Mammoth Cave National Park as early as possible and make it to Hot Springs, Arkansas, before it got too late. One of the things I learned from my last time was that it’s wise to add half to the drive time from point-to-point because I like to stop and shoot time lapse videos of the scenery, which takes a considerable amount of time. I’d also like to write my travel blog in real-time, when the excitement and memories are fresh.

Friday, April 17th

One of the big ideas for this trip was to stay in nice motel rooms and put in about 20 hours of billable time over the weekends. The reason for doing this is because the places I’m planning on visiting (National Parks and Monuments) will be much busier on the weekends, so it’ll be better if I just bill the hell out of these days. A secondary benefit is that I won’t have to work that much during the week, while I’m actually traveling and visiting the places, giving me more time to explore and document the day.

Today, I’m going to quickly visit Hot Springs National Park (which I’ve read is easily covered by a quick stop) and then head to Austin, Texas, where I plan to work through to Monday morning. The cool part about the drive to Austin is that I’m going to take a detour and visit Paris, Texas, on the way. Why? Because I could write an entire post about how the movie Paris, Texas and it’s soundtrack made me dream about driving through anonymous deserts at night for 20 years. Last year’s trip amounted to the realization of those dreams, this moment in-particular.

It’s safe to assume I’d have taken a selfie next to a sign for Paris, Texas, and then continued on to a motel just on the other side the city. The next three days would’ve been spent making money while I watched basketball and baseball games on the TV.

Monday, April 20th

In an entire month of 4/20s, today is the 4/20 to end all 4/20s. This is also probably the second most anticipated day that I’ve planned for the trip because I’m going to camp at Big Bend National Park, which means I’m finally going to get a night beneath the stars in a desert. It felt like a cheat that I hadn’t camped a single night during my last trip, despite the fact that I hauled my gear across the country and back. This trip was going to be different for sure.

Tuesday, April 21st

This morning, I woke-up in a tent. Hopefully, there weren’t any rattlesnakes or tarantulas waiting around my tent or inside my shoes. If I survived these menacing boogeymen, I pack-up my gear and head down to Santa Elena Canyon Overlook, which is where the Rio Grande enters a canyon on the border of Mexico. After that, I’d spend the day driving through the desert north to my final destination of Roswell, New Mexico. Hopefully, everything was alien-themed like I’d imagined it would be. Regardless of how it ended-up, I know this day would’ve been a memorable one because I feel I could drive through endless deserts forever, just listening to music I’ve listened to a million times while the world rolled past.

Wednesday, April 22nd

Today was going to be an example of what I mentioned earlier because, despite the drive time from Roswell to Las Cruces, New Mexico, only being about 4 1/2 hours, I was stopping at a number of places knew I’d be spending time at. My first stop was going to be Carlsbad Caverns National Park, which is astounding because I don’t like caves… and this is the second cave system I’d be visiting in less than a week! Right around the corner from Carlsbad Caverns is Guadalupe Mountains National Park, after which I’d head to El Paso, Texas, where I’d turn north to visit the newly minted White Sands National Park. It’s funny that whenever I think about White Sands, I think about the movie SpaceCamp. I don’t want to spoil the movie, so all I’ll say is that the area plays an important part in the resolution of the movie.

One thing I’d wanted to visit was the Trinity Site which is north of White Sands National Park, but it only hosts an open house twice a year, in early April and early October. Maybe I’ll get to include that if I ever get to actually take this trip.

Thursday, April 23rd

The reason I stopped in Las Cruces last night was because I had a hard time figuring-out how I was going to fit a visit to Petrified Forest National Park and the adjoining Painted Desert area into my trip. It was something I wanted to visit on the trip, but if I didn’t hit it on the way to San Diego, it would limit my options on the return home. Coming from southern Texas was the real problem, but I figured I could hit it today and then head to Phoenix, Arizona, where I planned to work through the weekend while seeing some sights during the day or evening. Anyway, so that’s what I had on my agenda today, plus more desert driving which is great.

Phoenix, Arizona

There were quite a few places I wanted to visit in and around Phoenix while I worked there through Sunday. Even though Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure takes place in California, it was shot in Arizona, and the Circle K from the movie is in Tempe, Arizona, so I thought it would be fun to make a second movie-oriented detour on the trip. Also, Tucson, Arizona, is only an hour and a half drive south of Phoenix and it splits Saguaro National Park in two, which would make an easy day trip to take a break from work one day. My grandparents spent a long time in Phoenix as well, so I thought I might track down their old home so I could put my memories of visiting it in context.

Sunday, April 26th

While Devils Tower National Monument was the primary destination of my previous trip, my visit to Joshua Tree National Park during that trip is what got burned into my memory. To be honest, I cannot understand why that place touched me so deeply, but I knew I wanted to go back and spend a couple of days there. Today, I planned to drive there and meet one of my best friends to camp two nights, hiking the desert during the day and watching the stars at night, which was significant because my friend and I share a love of astronomy.

Now What?

Like my last trip, I hadn’t planned-out the latter part of my trip. I know I would’ve spent about 10 days in San Diego, California, staying with my friend and my aunt on various days. The plan was to work in the mornings and then have the evenings free. There were places such as Torrey Pines State Park and Mission Trails Regional Park that I would’ve liked to have visited again and explored more, but I’m sure I would’ve been introduced to some new things as well. After this…

Possibilities

While I hadn’t done much more along the lines of planning than simply bookmarking some URLs, I have a fairly decent idea of the path I would’ve taken on the way home. The first step would’ve been to head north and see the redwoods in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, preferably staying overnight somewhere north of the park so I could hit Yosemite National Park as early as possible the following morning. My guess is that Yosemite is always kind of a nightmare to visit, but I’d like to check it off the list and see El Capitan and Half Dome with my own eyes. After that, I’d head south on the eastern side of those parks and return to Death Valley National Park and camp over night, because I’d like to check-out the stars again and spend some time hiking the park. If I timed it right, I’d be able to stay in or near Las Vegas to work through the weekend, which would allow me to visit my uncle, see Hoover Dam and possibly actually figure-out the craps tables while I was there. After this, I would’ve headed back to Utah the way I came during my last trip. Depending on the weather, there would be reasons to return to Bryce Canyon National Park (hike through the hoodoos), Canyonlands National Park (go deep into the wasteland), and Capital Reef National Park (get on top of Thompson Mesa and see the park in the sunshine). Yeah, I leave out Zion National Park and Arches National Park simply because traffic is so high at those parks. At that point, my way home is through Colorado and there are too many options to list. I’ll let you know what I decide if I ever get a chance to do this.