The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Family travels cross country during COVID-19 pandemic
As states throughout the country face a rapidly growing number of COVID-19 cases, and as Connecticut tightens its restrictions on out-of-state travelers, a Bridgeport man and his family are heading cross-country undeterred.
Clopha Deshotel, 66, is a former typist at Housatonic Community College. Since he retired last year, he and his family have used his free time to travel.
Even during the pandemic, Deshotel has been on the move, most recently on a two-week, cross-country trip that includes stops in coronavirus hot-spot states like Utah and Arizona — employing a number of safety precautions, while traveling and upon his return.
“I have typically always gone to state parks for camping, to the Adirondacks or in Connecticut,” Deshotel said last week as he packed the van he and his family drove across the country, before picking up an RV in Colorado. “But because my wife and I are at an age where we can get a lifetime senior pass for national parks, we’ve been starting to do that.”
Specifically, Deshotel and his family are hoping to hit the Grand Canyon and whatever other parks they can, depending on lines and accessibility.
“Things are tough to get into,” Deshotel said. “You have to wait for tickets. To get a shuttle for Zion National Park (in Utah), now you have to come the morning of and hope to get some. People come overnight and wait for the opening.”
This is Deshotel’s second road trip since the pandemic reached Connecticut in March. In late May and early June, he visited family in Virginia. Along the way, he stopped at state and national parks. When he returned to Connecticut, Deshotel said he and his family quarantined for several weeks before embarking on their latest trip.
As Deshotel and his family barreled west, Gov. Ned Lamont on Tuesday added four additional states to his travel advisory, requiring visitors to the state, or Connecticut residents returning home, to quarantine for 14 days.
But Deshotel doesn’t regard the restriction as a problem. Before ever setting out, the plan was to quarantine for two weeks upon their return to Connecticut.
While out West, Deshotel
said he and his family will be regularly checking temperatures, wearing masks in public places and practicing social distancing. He also said they’ll try to avoid busy sections of parks they visit.
But along the way, they’ll be passing through a series of states, each with its own rules and restrictions and its own set of cases. And in two weeks, the rules and regulations in his home state are likely to change as well.
“As we go west, it’s going to be like a patchwork of various scenarios,” Deshotel said. “But we’re far more educated now — even when the Zoom school (distance learning) all started. We know more now than we did in March.”