On October 16th, 2020 in response to a photo I posted on FB, a friend asked the following question and I wrote a lengthy response for a FB comment — I’m sharing that here! :)
You guys have covered a lot of ground. Do you guys feel safe traveling around the country in your RV?
Hi, friend! Nice to hear from you, and thanks for your question and the opportunity to share (I wrote quite a bit!):) Yes, we do feel safe, though I have to admit, in 2020 we've been intentionally spending more time in each place we arrive for purposes of greater stability, because van life, and especially while working full time, can be really challenging, and especially while during a pandemic! For instance, we spent 2.5 months in Sedona, Arizona at the same campground for half of March and for all of April and May. This was at the beginning of the pandemic, so it was important for us to find a place where we could stay for a while and feel safe and grounded and have access to resources, and to heal, too! ( we both were pretty sick immediately after taking a flight from JFK - RENO at the beginning of March). We had familiarity w/ this particular Sedona campground, and therefore knew we'd feel safe and wouldn't mind staying for a while. This was important, as many of the state campgrounds and parks -- places we prefer to stay for budgetary reasons -- were closing or were closed. Also, during the first 1.5 yrs. of van life we'd work from coffee shops each day, but during the pandemic, that has not been possible or something we wanted to do. Both of us working full time, taking phone calls, attending video meetings, etc. while sharing the small space of the van can be hard.
So we've been lucky to have a short term lease on an apartment here in Boulder, CO where we'll be staying for the next 2 months (Oct. & Nov.’20). This was intentional. Joe and I thought carefully about where we'd want to be during this time of the presidential election and continuing pandemic -- we knew we'd want to be in a place and culture that is more progressive, open-minded, of diverse thought, etc. We also have a couple friends here, too.
One thing we've been contending with is the wildfires and the wildfire smoke. In our most recent 5 week van trip to the Pacific Northwest we got turned around due to the wildfires. It's not that we didn't feel safe (well yeah, maybe we did feel a little unsafe, as the fires were spreading so quickly in CA, OR, and WA, and we were in WA), but we could taste the smoke, we were coughing more, and advised to not engage in strenuous activity outside. We were frightened by the amount of smoke, the color of the skies, the possibility of the fires spreading, etc. So we turned around and went East, back to Montana/Wyoming area (where there was still a lot of smoke). Now, we're back in Boulder and just north of us Colorado is experiencing its largest wildfire on record. Yesterday the skies were a crazy orange color for a few hrs. You can taste and smell the smoke here, too.
All in all, we've always felt safe for the most part, but the pandemic and weather events/Earth changes have had a major impact on our van life. We are very grateful and lucky to be where we are now, in Boulder, in a small apartment w/ the van parked just outside and w/enough money to manage both. There are so many homeless people and sick people and grieving people ---we have so much, and others have so little in the way of support, resources, security. How can we help? This is becoming more of a priority for me.
We have a lot - we (Joe and I ) have each other - we feel grateful, though we are not immune to fear, or stress, anxiety, depression, etc. -- we've had our fair share of that along with many others on this planet at this time. I also want to point out that our travels have largely been on the West Coast and for the most part, in like-minded communities. I'm sure we'd feel differently, pulling up in our fancy van (the van gets a lot of attention and ppl. make assumptions about us based on it) in certain other geographical locations. I also want to acknowledge the privilege of our skin-color and heteronormative appearance and how that's influenced my feelings of safety, too. That is a thorough summary --- thank you for listening! I hope you are well!