Chaos is roving through the system and able to undo, at any point, the best laid plans.
~ Terence McKenna
Best-Laid Plan #1
When I returned from my 2019 road trip to the East Coast, I started thinking about the next trip for the summer of 2020, imagining the itinerary in my mind, then turning to Google maps to chart actual cities and distances.
I wanted to go to Canada, specifically to Vancouver, British Columbia, then head east to revisit Burlington, Vermont, the crown jewel of my 2019 road trip.
If I timed it right, I would be in New England in September just in time for the glorious fall colors before I headed home.
Then this happened.
Like the rest of the world, I didn’t go anywhere in 2020.
Best-Laid Plan #2
After the miracle of the COVID vaccinations early this year, I dug out Itinerary #1 and announced to friends that Vancouver was the destination for my 2021 road trip. Only I changed the itinerary to include a leisurely trip up the West Coast before I arrived in Vancouver. It looked like this.
Dayle suggested I might want to check to see if Canada would let me in.
I checked.
It wouldn’t.
Back to the drawing board I went.
Best-Laid Plan #3
If I couldn’t go to Canada, I would pivot 180 degrees and return to Burlington, Vermont, with a little southern jaunt to see friends in Houston and Galveston. I wanted to check out Charleston, SC, which had been on my radar since the 2019 trip, and spend some time in Boston and Cape Code. And why not throw in a multi-day stop in Philadelphia?
What stopped me was the sheer exhaustion of contemplating all those cities, all that traffic, particularly in Boston and Philadelphia. That wasn’t the kind of road trip I wanted. I wanted a leisurely trip with lots of time in beachy towns with views of the water and dog-friendly patios.
Also, I realized I would be traveling during the height of tornado season. I figured I used up all my tornado-avoidance luck on my 2019 trip through the South.
Then I heard about the 17-year emergence of trillions of Brood X cicadas in the East in early summer. Ewwww!
Then I remembered the heat and humidity that dogged my 2019 trip, which made me vow to never again do a road trip to the East Coast in the summertime.
So, as state after state began to loosen COVID restrictions and open up to travelers, I turned my lonely eyes again to Vancouver.
Best-Laid Plan #4 — Happening Now!
In late April 2021 I dug out my original plan to visit Vancouver. If I left Durango on June 1, I could could take a leisurely trip up the West Coast and arrive in the vicinity of Vancouver in late August. Maybe by then Canada would let me in.
It was worth a shot.
I adjusted my original plan to go East to see my family in Kansas and Oklahoma before I headed West.
I’m now about 1400 miles from Vancouver, sojourning in San Diego. I should arrive at the Canadian border in late August. Hopefully, Canada will let me in!
If not, I still have the California Coast, Oregon and Seattle to explore before I head back to Durango.