14 states of Covid awareness: What it’s like to drive across the US in a pandemic

(CNN) — There’s no “best way” to get across the United States throughout a pandemic.

So after I was confronted with transferring all my possessions from one coast to the different, whereas additionally working remotely, I may solely hope my most inexpensive choice — driving the 2,517 miles — was additionally the most secure.

I had made the lengthy highway journey twice earlier than from Los Angeles to Atlanta, the place I had lived and labored the previous 5 years, however by no means the different means. And by no means whereas working 10-hour worldwide breaking information shifts from the highway.

Luckily my roommate and fellow CNN producer Artemis Moshtaghian had been wanting to do a highway journey again to our hometown of Los Angeles earlier than she left Atlanta to work from New York — even when it meant virtually sitting knees to chest in my passenger seat for a whole week on the highway.

What we found alongside the means had been distinctive work-from-anywhere alternatives, distant desert landmarks, spectacular landscapes and the lesson that wildlife may care much less about social distancing. We additionally witnessed firsthand the patchwork and divisions of the US coronavirus response and met a big selection of characters that spanned from tremendously useful to a little too cordial.

The New WFH: Working from in every single place

Contemplating how we’d coordinate the chaos of our work calls, convention bridges and the a number of tv feeds wanted to monitor information from varied areas, we did fairly a bit of planning earlier than heading out West.

First precedence: Safety. Second precedence: Wi-Fi.

Since we had been leaving in the center of November, we mapped out the most scenic fall route our journey had to provide.

Then we tried to e book stays that had been remoted from different folks, had strict Covid-warranted cleansing necessities and had been pretty distant, but picturesque, so we may give attention to our work whereas having fun with distinctive areas.

Fitting a whole house into my Hyundai Accent, which is lovingly known as Darth Vader, was the first main feat. The relaxation we discovered largely by means of trial and error, armed at the very least with a surplus of the fundamentals — masks, gloves and hand sanitizer.

Covid signage was bountiful. Compliance with precautions was extra uneven.

Jaide Timm-Garcia/CNN

14 states and 14 shades of Covid consciousness

Our scenic route would take us across the 13 states standing between us and California: South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Arizona.

Acutely conscious of coronavirus instances surging across the US, we had been cautious of how severely folks had been taking (or not taking) preventative security measures alongside the means.

As we traveled from state to state we grew to become conscious of every state’s interpretation and implementation of Covid-19 security measures.

It appeared as if laws had been revered by the basic public extra strictly as we trekked from the Southeast to the West Coast. Essentially, the additional West we went, the safer we felt.

Nearly each fuel station we stopped at had indicators requiring masks utilization, although not each cease had workers or clients honoring these necessities.

Thankfully, filling up our fuel tank and our espresso cups introduced calculated dangers we had already ready for with our abundance of sanitizing wipes and face masks.

Starting in the South: Masks non-obligatory

Starting our journey in South Carolina, we encountered what we quickly realized was the norm for a lot of Southern states: non-obligatory masks utilization.

While most eating places in Charleston adopted social distancing pointers, the quantity of Covid-abiding patrons was far fewer than the quantity of institutions that had been taking precautions.

In Georgia, the place we had labored collectively the previous 5 years and lived collectively as roommates for 2, persons are nonetheless sharing memes of maskless non-socially distanced events that started in the summer season, particularly in Atlanta.

Making our means by means of the Southeast, we got here across every kind of characters. In one small city in Mississippi, locals instructed us they hadn’t seen “outsiders” for fairly a while.

While we squeezed in a fast roadside exercise across from Flick’s fuel station, a man who drove up in his pickup truck did not hesitate to come a little too shut for Covid-comfort to ask us about our travels.

In Oklahoma, on our means out of Oklahoma City, we stopped at Sid’s Diner, a landmark old-school institution that Artemis had scouted alongside Route 66 with a well-known native “onion burger.”

No journey “out West’ is complete without a run on classic Route 66.

Jaide Timm-Garcia/CNN

The staff was completely masked, cooking and serving food from behind acrylic glass to protect their employees while local customers sat non-socially distanced and maskless. We quickly chomped down on Sid’s artfully crafted cheese and onion burger with a large side of fries.

As we continued on our journey, the only place we didn’t see signs showing a mask requirement was at a stop for coffee in Texas, where the employee only put a mask on after we approached wearing ours.

At that same stop we received stares from other customers and a comment from the elderly gentleman behind the counter who said playfully, “I can not see your entire face, however your eyes certain are fairly.”

Concerned that we were the only ones in the public space wearing masks, we thanked the man, avoided the self-serve coffee items and hit the road.

Westward bound: Same concerns, mixed reactions

Our route dipped us into New Mexico for only one hour before crossing state lines into Colorado.

In that limited time, we received a cautionary emergency alert on our phones: “N.M. COVID-19 replace: shelter in place aside from emergency wants. EXTREME virus threat.” We didn’t need to make any stops to discover what this alert meant.

It was just across the state line into Colorado that we met Allen Clay, a gas station assistant manager who shared our concerns on Covid-19.

He explained how he’d been called racial slurs for enforcing the state’s mask mandate inside his store. Clay said he’s had two relatives die from Covid-19 and had to beg his managers to put hand sanitizer inside the store for customers to use.

Although there’s a state order in Colorado to wear a mask, Clay said since it’s not an actual law there’s no way to enforce it.

“When somebody coughs in my retailer, I ask them to placed on a masks,” he said, “placing myself in the direct line of hearth for peoples’ conspiracy theories and anti-Covid opinions.”

Rewards for working from a geodome Airbnb in Utah? A beautiful sky and a clear view of the mountains.

Jaide Timm-Garcia/CNN

The Mothership: Juggling travel and work-life balance

We had to find lodging that was suitable for sleeping, adventuring and working.

Covering breaking news for CNN requires a few necessities — the three S’s, if you will: Strong Wi-Fi, strong coffee and a strong sound barrier that could handle the noise of calls, conference bridges and several television feeds airing simultaneously on four laptops.

With these requirements in mind, the remoteness and spaciousness of geodomes caught our attention. These spherical structures provided the space we were looking for after hours of being cramped in a small car.

In Colorado, we stayed in a large Airbnb geodome called The Mothership Dome, which had surreal scenery that helped clear our minds, but not necessarily the infrastructure to comfortably execute our hectic day.

We found ourselves in a similar situation in Utah, where another desert geodome gave us the solitude and Wi-Fi we needed to focus, but lacked amenities such as running water in the geodome itself and the coffee that we needed to thrive.

Worn out by driving, lack of sleep, the intensity of our work shifts and this lack of access to basic amenities, we decided to book a hotel near Zion National Park for the last two nights of our road trip.

Add these supplies to your road trip prep. Don’t leave home without your wildlife warning device!

Jaide Timm-Garcia/CNN

Wildlife: The only population unconcerned with Covid-19

More than halfway through our cross-country trip we were making good time, had just had an oil change and only had one more stop and 800 miles to go before reaching Los Angeles.

We felt prepared to handle anything that came our way, including driving through Colorado’s winding mountainous terrain at night. That’s exactly when we ran into trouble, literally.

We hit a member of the only mass population unconcerned with Covid and something we definitely didn’t see coming: a large deer.

The unfortunate encounter left a sizable dent in the hood, took out our side mirror, passenger headlight, and left the front bumper dragging on the ground. But after the impact, we were still moving and there was no damage to the engine. So onward we went.

As for the deer, we filed a report with Colorado State Police but were unable to locate him in the darkness of the woods after the impact.

A surprise encounter with a deer left the car in bad shape. Local mechanics and two rolls of duct tape got the pair from Colorado to California.

Jaide Timm-Garcia/CNN

We dragged the bumper 15 miles down the road without crashing and were fortunate to get help at a gas station just before it closed. A local mechanic helped to string up and tape the bumper enough for us to make it to our next destination in Monticello, Utah — about 120 miles away.

Secured with sparkly duct tape and tied together with audio wire, our car drew attention everywhere we went and prompted continued offers of help across the entire state of Utah.

Strangers at every gas station shared their own experiences with this type of collision and offered advice for how to maintain our patched-up vehicle.

Along with Covid supplies, we learned that every road trip preparation kit needs to include duct tape, zip ties, audio wire and extra rope.

Most importantly, we discovered the gift of a lifetime — an ultrasonic soundwave whistle for the hood of the car that is only audible to animals.

You’re welcome in advance to all our friends and family who will receive this lifesaving gift in their Christmas stockings this year.

America is rediscovering the great outdoors but businesses are struggling

Along the way, we spoke to people at roadside businesses in every state we stopped in who were struggling from the devastating impacts of Covid-19.

From the lack of customers at the Cherokee Trading Post in Oklahoma to the Twin Rocks Cafe on the Navajo Nation Reservation operating at half capacity, we saw more stories of struggle than success.

However, that wasn’t the case when we arrived at Utah’s Zion National Park, where they had just seen their busiest September ever with over 520,000 visitors, according to Zion National Park public information officer Amanda Rowland.

While preliminary numbers for 2020 have yet to be published, Rowland said the “will increase in visitation noticed in the previous few months is an element of a bigger development for Zion National Park and plenty of different nationwide parks.”

Artemis Moshtaghian, left, and Jaide Timm-Garcia could not cross by the awe-inspiring Navajo Twin Rocks in Bluff, Utah, with out stopping.

Jaide Timm-Garcia/CNN

Home ultimately: West Coast is the finest coast, child

By the time we arrived in Los Angeles we had been largely in one piece, give or take the duct-taped components on the automobile.

Artemis examined destructive for Covid-19 and I quarantined with my household, neither exhibiting nor feeling any signs of the virus. Feeling relieved and grateful to be Covid-free, we divided up our large stash of disinfecting wipes and parted methods till our subsequent journey.

So in the event you want to transfer across the nation or don’t need to threat flying simply but, we extremely suggest highway tripping.

We discovered it’s essential to plan conscious stops, squeeze in roadside exercises, pack wholesome snacks and be ready for shock encounters — whether or not human or animal.

Also go together with household, a good friend or co-worker who has the similar sense of Covid warning and appreciation for journey as you. Bon voyage and secure travels!