Every year in December, we go back to Oklahoma for a few weeks over the holidays to see family. With COVID-19 keeping us isolated all year, Emily hadn’t seen her family since March, and I hadn’t seen mine since the previous December. Our 2020 holiday plans had been uncertain all year. We didn’t feel comfortable flying, and we weren’t sure if our families would be able to quarantine to the extent we wanted. After much deliberation and planning, we decided we could safely make the trip… if we drove.

All of us (including our dog) had made the 30 hour drive before, when we moved to Seattle. But that was one-way, in the summer, and done over 3 days. With COVID concerns and already limited time with family, we really didn’t want to spend 6 total days driving. So we did what any sane couple with a small hatchback, high-energy dog, and zero winter driving experience would do: We drove 4,000 miles in 4 days.

Recording the trip

I can’t see us ever making this drive again (though I probably said the same thing last time), so I wanted to have a recording of it. I had been considering getting a dashcam for safety reasons anyway and looked for one that could double as a general camera for recording roadtrips. Unfortunately, purchasing anything above $50 is a multi-month process for me, and it didn’t seem like most dashcams were suited for taking long recordings.

Then I remembered that we have a timelapse camera! We had been using it to take timelapses of our jigsaw puzzles. I bought a cheap windshield mount, plugged the camera into an external battery, and easily had a reasonable way to record the trip. I don’t think the camera was intended to be used in motion (certainly not at 80 mph), and the quality is pretty bad at nighttime, but the daytime quality is better than I expected. I’m just glad we’ll have something visual to remember the trip by.

The planned route

We did our best to have some form of route planned, knowing that weather conditions were likely to affect it. All of the reasonable routes from Seattle to Norman go southeast to the Salt Lake City area, but from there, we had three options to consider:

• Option 1: Take I-80 E through Wyoming to Denver, I-70 E to Kansas, and I-35 S to Norman. It was the fastest path, but I was scared off after hearing about frequent high winds in Wyoming.
• Option 2: Take I-70 E through Colorado to Denver, then the same as above. Also scared off after hearing about winter conditions in the Colorado mountains.
• Option 3: Take state highways through Utah and New Mexico to Albuquerque, then I-40 E to Norman. I didn’t love the idea of being off the interstate, and it was 1.5 hrs longer than Option 1, but going south to New Mexico before crossing the Continental Divide gave us the best chance of avoiding nasty driving in the Rockies.

We chose a place to stay overnight near Moab, UT, which meant we didn’t have to commit to one of the options ahead of time. We were close enough to the decision point that we could check conditions and choose the best option. Ultimately we felt the most comfortable with Option 3.

COVID precautions

Minimizing our COVID risk dictated almost every aspect of our trip. Staying out of airports and planes was good, but between hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and restrooms, multiday roadtrips have their share of human interaction and public spaces. Cramming our trip into 2 days meant we only had 1 overnight stay instead of 2. For that night, we stayed in a private Airbnb with self check-in so we didn’t have to interact with anyone. We also booked the previous night to make sure no one had been there for at least 24 hours before us.

Restaurants and drive-throughs were easy to avoid by bringing our own food. We usually pack our own food for roadtrips anyway, and there was an added bonus of saving time by not stopping for food. We got by on PB&J sandwiches, hummus, and an assortment of fruits and veggies. We also strategically brought white bread, cheese, and processed junk food for bathroom avoidance reasons. Certainly not the healthiest diet, but fiber was the enemy.

Gas stations were a necessary evil. Our car can go around 300 miles on a tank, so we had to get gas 6 times each way. We took all the precautions we could: wore masks, disinfected the handle and buttons, didn’t go inside, and used hand sanitizer afterwards. It was interesting to see the difference in how many people went inside without masks depending on which city we were in.

The big question of the trip was, how were we going to pee? Public restrooms were a no go. We debated a few options (some less tasteful than others) and settled on disposable urinal bags called TravelJohns. Basically you pee into a bag containing a substance that solidifies your pee almost instantly, and you can throw the bag away without concern of spills or smells. They worked great! It was a little uncomfortable the first time, as well as every time after that, but they worked. The tricky part was finding acceptable locations, but we got good at spotting discreet spots near gas stations so we could combine our stops.

Our other bathroom needs waited until we got to our destinations at night. Traveler’s constipation and low-fiber foods for the win!

Once in Oklahoma, we stayed with and only saw a small bubble of immediate family. Everyone had quarantined / gotten tested ahead of time and agreed to quarantine during our stay, so we felt pretty safe once we were there.

Weather conditions

The last time I made this drive, it was in the summer. Driving through states like Washington, Utah, and Colorado in December brought a lot more weather challenges. I obsessed over weather forecasts and road conditions for days leading up to our trip, trying to find a safe route that would still get us there in 2 days. We even bought and learned how to use tire chains, since many of the highways (including in Washington) require tire chains depending on road conditions.

It all worked out, though it wasn’t without some stress and last-minute rerouting. On the first day, a large snowstorm swept through Utah a few hours before we got to the Salt Lake City area. Fortunately Utah did an amazing job plowing the major roads, so the interstates were no problem. Their Department of Transportation also lets you check live road conditions, pictures, and plow locations online, which helped us decide to take a 45 min detour that kept us on the interstate instead of cutting across on a smaller state highway. Not an easy decision to make when we had already been in the car for 15 hours that day.

Colorado was a different story. We were only in Colorado for around 70 miles on the second day, but it was the trickiest section of the trip. As soon as we crossed the Utah state border into Colorado, the road conditions got much worse. We drove under 25 mph through much of that stretch. We even pulled into a parking lot at one point and considered putting on tire chains. It didn’t help that oncoming semis kicked up clouds of dust and gunk onto our windshield while our washer fluid was frozen from the 15° F night in Utah.

Fortunately everyone around us was driving safely, and things improved a lot as we got further into New Mexico. There was another snowstorm that passed through Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle, but I-40 had mostly cleared up by the time we got there.

On the way back, Oklahoma greeted us with a major snowstorm the night before we were set to leave. After seeing cars sliding off the road on the news, our plan to leave at 6 AM turned into 9 AM, at which point the interstates were good enough for us to get going.

Colorado and Utah were kinder to us this time, and while heavy rain in Oregon slowed us down, it was our home state of Washington that caused the most trouble. Over 2 feet of snow closed I-90 through Snoqualmie Pass (the main route that connects eastern and western Washington), forcing us to take a nearly 2 hour detour through Portland. Again, not a fun reroute to make when your original route was already 15+ hours, but at least the closed interstate made the decision for us that time.

All’s Well That Ends Well

Yes, it was a long drive, and yes, I was stressed about it. But in the end, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Having 2 people made the drive a lot more bearable. We were able to keep each other entertained, awake, and sane. Emily got a lot of knitting done while I drove. I got a lot of snacking done while she drove. We both reflected on the past year and set goals for the upcoming one. At nighttime, the Hamilton soundtrack (which I had been listening to on repeat for about 4 months) was particularly useful for keeping me awake.

And honestly, after being stuck at home for 10 months without traveling, just driving through other places was enjoyable. I didn’t expect it to be the most scenic drive, but I was pleasantly surprised, especially in Utah. It was a scary trip to make for multiple reasons, and we had our share of mishaps: walking the dog in a grass sticker patch, tossing a dog bowl out the window on the highway, dealing with a flapping windshield trim, spilling an entire bag of Hershey’s Kisses in the car. But getting to see family safely and travel somewhere made it worth the drive.