Safe Travel in the Era of Covid-19

We were supposed to go to Japan last April, and we were planning a trip to France that would have happened now, in September. Sorry, no travels. Right now the world won’t allow Americans to enter their countries. Despite all of the advertisements saying that they do “deep-cleaning,” we are apprehensive about airports, airplanes, hotels, and restaurants. This is especially true now that I am immunosuppressed. Instead, we have been doing a lot of short camping trips with our RV. That has been great, and it has been a safe way to travel.

For our RV, we have a small Oliver fiberglass trailer that we can tow with our big SUV.

Why an RV during Covid-times? First, you can cook your own meals. Second, we have our own toilet and shower, to avoid the risks of campground restrooms. Third, you can meet and talk with people in the campgrounds, where you can keep your social distance. Most of our camping trips this year have been to Utah State Parks, where the campsites are widely spaced, allowing us a reasonable amount of privacy in the great outdoors.

Why a trailer, rather than a motorhome-type RV? A trailer has an advantage that you can disconnect and take the car on a day trip. With a traditional motorhome, you would have to make certain everything inside the RV is safely secured for travel, bring in your awning and stuff, and unhook from water and electricity (if the campsite has connections). With a trailer, you can unhook and go off for a drive, taking just the car.

Why a fiberglass travel trailer? Several reasons: First, fiberglass trailers are much, much less prone to leakage from rain. Second, fiberglass trailers are generally better built and last longer than the more traditional RVs or the much more common trailers with aluminum siding. (I am not disparaging Airstreams here; they have aluminum sides, but not aluminum siding.) Finally, fiberglass trailers depreciate in value much slower than most other RVs. We could sell our four-year-old trailer now for nearly what we paid for it.

Why an Oliver Travel Trailer? As noted in an earlier blog post, I did a ton of research on RVs in general, and on fiberglass trailers, before we made our decision to get the Oliver. It is slightly larger than most of the other fiberglass brands, and we felt the layout and features would fit our needs better. And we have been very happy with the Oliver!

Most of the pictures on this post have been from camping at Jordanelle State Park, which has a nice lake. Jordanelle is near Park City, UT, about an hour from where we live in Salt Lake City. 

We had a nice campsite overlooking the water, with hookups for electricity and water.

The kitchen has a small fridge and a microwave.

The kitchen has six drawers below and two overhead cabinets for storage.

The kitchen has a sink and a two-burner stove, and a small dinette.

We prefer to cook and eat outside. For cooking, we use a Camp Chef stove that folds up and fits in the car or a small Weber BBQ. Both run on propane, and we have hoses that tap off of the big propane tanks in the front of the trailer. Nonetheless, it is nice to have the stove and dinette inside the trailer in case of bad weather.

Eggs for breakfast, pizza for dinner. We can eat well while camping!

On a couple of trips where we met up with my sister and her husband and their Casita Fiberglass Trailer, we have cooked paella on the stove.

We can also hook our propane firepit up to the trailer’s propane system. This picture was taken in Kodachrome Basin State Park.

We like the fact that the Oliver is smaller than most trailers, and at only seven feet wide it is much easier to tow and to fit into smaller campsites. We did not want to tow a behemoth trailer. Most seven-foot wide trailers have a double or queen bed set perpendicular to the trailer, which leads to the “climb over” problem at night with two people in the bed. We both need to get up to use the toilet several times a night. One of the unfortunate pleasures of getting older… So we chose the twin bed model, which visually opens up space in the trailer, and also provides good access to the overhead storage cabinets.

 

The bathroom has a toilet and a sink….

The faucet spout pulls out from the sink and can be attached to the wall to use for a shower.

Instead of putting the shower up on the wall, we usually hold the sprayer in our hand and use it for a quick “Navy Shower,” to use less water. Our trailer has what is called a “wet bath,” where the entire bathroom takes a shower. We have not found a wet bath to be a problem; we use a squeegee to remove most of the water, and a quick towel for the rest. “Dry Baths” are usually found in larger trailers and RVs. The advantage of a dry bath, where the shower is in a separate space from the toilet, is obvious. However, having separate areas in a small RV means the shower room can be quite small, making it difficult to lift your arm for washing your underarm. We have been happy with our wet bath, which provides plenty of room when bathing.

So what can we do once we are showered and fed? Hike, ride bikes, watch the sailboats on the lake…

It is good to watch the birds…

And of course, take pictures! This was taken this summer at Wasatch Mountain State Park.

This summer we also camped at Huntington State Park, which is roughly at the geographical center of Utah. From there we took day trips, including to the Wedge Overlook, which looks out over the San Rafael Swell. Gorgeous country, and a photographer’s dream.

We also took a day trip and hiked to the Rochester Rock Art Panel. An amazing Petroglyph.

It was nice to swim in the warm water lake at Huntington State Park. Here is the sun setting over the lake.

This year we made the decision to travel short distances, at most a few hours from home. I don’t think this pandemic will be over next year, and I hope we can use our trailer for longer expeditions in the western US. It is a good way to travel in these trying times.

Stay safe, and wash your hands.