Mr. Write's Page

I just got back from a road trip to the Southwest in my RV. It was my first time out of Georgia in over a year.

It felt good to get away, see the outside world, and have some new experiences. But the trip was something of a mixed bag.

For one thing, COVID restrictions are in effect to some degree everywhere. Most businesses, if they are open, limit occupancy and require masks. In New Mexico, restaurants wisely record your name and phone number, in case the virus is later detected and they need to contact you.

For another thing, RV camping was a constant problem. Many private campgrounds were closed, and the rest were full. My personal choice, state park campgrounds, were either closed or operating under new rules — such as requiring reservations or only serving state residents. Most nights, I had no choice but to check into a motel.

Also, my RV had mechanical troubles that required two stops for repairs. More about that later.

Let me begin by describing how, to my dismay, I was unable to visit Grand Canyon…

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Tusayan, Arizona

On March 31, I learned that spring break is a thing at Grand Canyon National Park.

Silly me, I always thought spring break happened at the beaches in Florida and California and wherever. I had no idea that the south rim of Grand Canyon also gets swarmed each spring by hedonistic college students. Vast mobs of them.

I saw them in person when I arrived in Tusayan, a resort town near the south entrance to Grand Canyon National Park. Before me, northbound traffic on Arizona Route 64 was at a literal standstill.

I was stunned. Was it a traffic accident? A fuel spill? A helicopter crash?

The traffic jam was three lanes wide. It continued north through Tusayan, over a distant hill, and out of sight. I knew from previous trips that Route 64 becomes a two-lane highway north of town, and the Park entrance is two miles away.

Two miles of traffic that appeared to be at a dead stop.

Before I got trapped in the jam, I turned around and headed back south. I stopped at the airport to ask what the bloody hell was going on.

The woman at the counter rolled her eyes and replied that spring break was in progress. My wait time to get into the Park, she said, would be about three hours.

I turned around and drove back to Flagstaff.

The thing is, I made the trip to Arizona specifically to visit Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon, you see, is my favorite place anywhere.

But this trip, I was traveling without reservations. Clearly, no lodging or camping would be available at South Rim Village or in Tusayan. And frankly, with the Park overflowing with spring-breakers, I couldn’t imagine having a very pleasant visit anyway.

Nor did I have options. The North Rim was still closed for the winter. The east entrance near Cameron had been closed for months because of a surge in COVID cases on the Navajo reservation.

Thus, sadly, my eagerly anticipated visit to Grand Canyon — it would have been my 28th — didn’t happen.

But it will. I just made reservations at Bright Angel Lodge for early September.