I logged over 18,000 road miles in my new Dodge Warlock Pick Up Truck this year. I drove another 9,000 miles and flew 13 roundtrips in 2020. I believe I hiked (walked) over 3,182,435 steps (according to my iPhone).
Not my biggest travel year, but the most shocking. America felt like a ghost town. Where did all the people go, or not go? Will they come back when the virus is gone? Will this virus, or the next one, ever be 'gone'?
I do not wish to provoke another debate about masks, sheltering in place, shutdowns of business. But as is afford in the blogosphere, and America's right to free speech, I'm just asking the questions that haunted me on all those miles. I went where others did not - OUTSIDE (hikes along mountain tops, forests and water), Inside Airports, on freeways. Almost always 10 yards from the next masked person.
Where I found signs of life was at CVS, Walmart, Home Depot, Whole Foods. I've never waited in line to grocery shop before, or at the liquor store in Utah.
Contrarian thinking typically bets against the crowd, and I like to think the bet paid off in travel for me last year. I just flew roundtrip to DTW-LAX for $95 on a nearly empty flight, that's less than a nice dinner at Applebees (which was also crowded).
BTW that Safe Door is from 30 N Saginaw, Pontiac, Michigan. More posts to tell you why this might be the dining experience of the future. #AskDirt
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