Travel and Error: Navigating a Pandemic – Part 1

Story and photographs by Kurt and Edwige Moses

Living and working off the grid in the Mojave Desert has its inherent challenges but the COVID-19 pandemic has become our main hurdle. We happened to be volunteering in Death Valley National Park when the state of California ordered its residents to “shelter-in-place”. But, what does shelter-in-place mean when you don’t have a place? Being almost two thousand miles from our home state puts us at a disadvantage when it comes to observing the travel and health mandates issued by the various states. But one of the benefits of traveling in a teardrop is that unlike most travelers who fly and stay in hotels, we can keep our interaction with people and crowded places to a minimum.

Unfortunately, the recent closures of some of the National Parks have forced us to adjust our timeline and exit strategy. With the uncertainty of what kind of executive order will be put in place next, we plan to boondock on public lands along the way back to Minnesota.

Aside from trying to minimize the risk of contracting and/or spreading the virus, our priorities are shelter, food, fuel, drinking water, electricity and reliable communication; all of which are considered essential to us as we deal with the “new normal”.

To us the Vistabule is like a command module: we use the forward compartment to work, sleep and eat while the aft compartment is the galley where we store, cook and prepare our food. The nine-gallon fresh water tank is a major reason we can stay off the grid for an extended amount of time.

Access to food and gas is about 70 miles west of our current location in a small desert community. At this time, grocery stores are being depleted of certain goods and some non-essential businesses, which are essential to us while on the road, are closed. The Vistabule is outfitted with an 11lb. propane tank, which can provide us with cooking fuel and heat for at least a month. Most service stations are operating as normal so we are not too concerned about running out of gasoline for our Jeep.

The rooftop-mounted solar system provides us with sufficient energy to power our lights, ventilation fan, heater, refrigerator, phone and tablet, indefinitely. We utilize a pair of two-way radios to stay in communication when we are in remote areas and have virtually indestructible tactical flashlights that we use when away from the Vistabule.

As of this writing, we are not restricted from driving back to Minnesota. However, we have spoken to people in the smaller surrounding communities and some expressed concerns that non-resident travelers will consume their already depleted resources and possibly stress their understaffed community health centers. We understand and respect their concerns and keep this in mind as we plan our next move.

We recognize that we are blessed to be in an area that most people would like to escape to. The drawback is that Death Valley can be a harsh environment as it is hot, dry and windy for the majority of the year. More pressing than COVID-19 are the extreme temperatures, which are right around the corner. We are confident about our ability to weather the pandemic while off the grid but our options are becoming more limited as the outbreak drags on.