Saturday March 28th 2020

Today’s weather was a slightly less windy version of Friday’s. It was a mostly sunny day with a high temperature around seventy. Tomorrow is forecast to begin a warming trend that will have the temperature in the nineties by the end of the week.

This is the end of my first week of waiting out the COVID-19 pandemic. During the week three of my next four stops have been closed, so the decision is looking pretty good right now. The campgrounds at the Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon have closed. The Grand Canyon National Park is still open to day use visitors, but the local authorities are complaining about the danger associated with the high number of visitors. Monument Valley in the Navajo Nation is also closed to visitors. The private campground I was planning to stay at is currently closed. As I anticipated pretty much my entire month of April has fallen apart. I’m glad I made the decision to come here.

Arizona still hasn’t shutdown the state to the extent that some locations have. I read an article that ranked the states by reaction to the crises. Arizona was in the middle of the pack, but I expect it to change at any time. As the number of cases climb, the pressure to apply more stringent measures will increase. It is hard to know what the appropriate level of restrictions should be. When life is in the equation, the decision needs to be weighted heavily in favor of preserving it. I intend to stay as isolated as possible over the next few weeks.