Finding a camping spot tucked away from civilization is one of Joe’s specialties. We were enjoying a few days of solitude in California’s Anza-Borrego Desert State Park just as the COVID-19 crisis started to roll across the country. Anza-Borrego is 80-miles east of San Diego. Our trip included plans to visit friends in Santa Barbara, before touring the Sportsmobile factory in Fresno, California, then stopping to see relatives in the San Francisco bay area. March and April were going to be busy months for us.

Parked in the desert, the March national news felt surreal. Life was quiet at our campsite on a backroad in the Anza-Borrego desert. As we sipped our morning coffee we’d watch a bright orange hooded oriole search for desert holly berries in the vines wrapped through a creosote bush near our camp site. The landscape was dotted with cactus plants on the verge of blooming. There seemed to be no reason to leave. Social distancing was the new buzz phrase and the California desert was perfectly suited to finding space.

But our sons were in Michigan. Our hearts called us home. We left the sunshine on Monday, March 16. This was our last winter camping site.

California closed all of its camping areas on March 18, then all its multi-use trail systems on March 23. Once in a while we do make a good decision. We arrived home in time to watch the ice melt on Little Traverse Lake. Now, the sun is starting to shine here in Northern Michigan, the grass is turning green, and new birds are visiting our backyard. Spring is arriving late this year, but we hope summer will be here soon.