After taking 2022 off, it is almost time for me to hit the road for my 2023 grand adventure. As of this writing it is less than a week until I hit the road. If this was going to be a normal adventure, most of the planning would have already been done and I would have already printed out and assembled my trip book. I would have also started making sure that all my electronics were in good shape and ready to roll.
When I first started talking to people about this trip, the most common question was, “Why in the heck do you want to be cooped up on a tour bus for 15-days?” Well, there is a method to my madness. Let me explain.
This
is not my first time traveling with Sunshine Tours. Back almost 10-years ago
now, my friends, Pete and Valerie and I took a three-day trip with them up to a
casino in Pennsylvania that included a day trip into New York City.
That was a great trip and I enjoyed it so much that back in 2019, I took a 7-day trip with them up through New England. During that trip I enjoyed some amazing traveling companion and made a bunch of new Friends. It was an amazing trip with some amazing people.
So
back in 2020, I decided to book this longer Canyonlands Trip with Sunshine. The
cost back then was $4,800 dollars and I started paying for it in January 2020.
But then we all know what happened. COVID hit and everything was locked down
and cancelled.
When things started opening back up in 2021, Sunshine was only offering shorter tours as many individual states were still in either shut down mode or just beginning to open. Sunshine was not able to really plan anything long term.
So,
in 2021, I struck out on an amazing 3-week Adventure through the Dakota’s and
Montana. It was wonderful and I was able to scratch several places off my
bucket list. Places like The Theodore Roosevelt National Park, The Field of
Dreams, Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore and the Little Big Horn Battlefield.
I basically took 2022 off and stayed close to home, taking only a few little 3 and 4-day trips.
Now, remember I told you that back in 2020, I had started playing for this Canyonlands adventure and everything got cancelled. Well, Sunshine offered to refund the $1,250 that I had already paid. But instead of getting the refund, I chose to leave it and apply it to a future trip.
In very early January of this year, I received the 2023 Sunshine Travel catalog. As I was thumbing through it, I saw that the Canyonlands tour was once again being offered. The price had increased to $5,380. So, I decided to apply my original $1,250 to the 2023 Canyonlands Tour.
I paid it off back in April and am all set. Now, back to the original question. “Why am I taking the Bus rather than driving myself?”
That answer is twofold. Back on my 2021 Trip through the Dakota’s and Montana, I had wanted to go to Glacier National Park. But in reopening from Covid the National Park Service was limiting entry into the most popular parks.
Timed entries were available by going to a website and securing your timed entry ticket. Sounds easy enough. Well, the problem was, it you didn’t book well in advance, and I’m talking about several months in advance, Your chances of getting in on the day you wanted was very limited. If you travel like me, the Park service keeps weekly and daily entries available. But you have to get up really early to get signed and get your place in line.
Long story short, the site opened at 6 and by 6:15 everything was gone and you get a message "sorry all entry have been reserved for the day. Please try again." I was never successful and gave up on Glacier and went to plan B.
Now even before COVID a couple of the Utah National Parks, Zion and Arches were limiting the number private vehicles entering the park. They also issue time entries through the website. Once the vehicle limit has been reached you have to park at satellite parking lots and use the park buses to tour the parks. These buses stop like most of the tour stops, and you can get off and take in the sites and do some of the hikes and then get back on any of the buses. Now I talked to a couple of people who said that the lines to get back on the bus were very long, especially at some of the popular stops.
So, since standing in line and booking in advance is not one of my favorite things to do, I decided to do the Sunshine Canyonland’s Tour. This will at least allow me to see the National Parks of Utah along with the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
The second reason that I chose to travel with Sunshine for this trip is that it offers several other places that I have wanted to visit. I will get into that when I talk about the trip itinerary.
One of the drawbacks of traveling with Sunshine, or any tour company, is that you are on their schedule. While they do take rest stops about every two hours, the days can be quite long. And while there is a toilet on the bus. Keep in mind that anything you put in it stays with you for the entire trip. So hopefully our group can use the scheduled rest stops for our need.
Another thing that you must take into consideration when traveling on a tour bus is you will be traveling with about 50 other people. When you get that many people together there may be a couple of people that are not going to be good traveling companions. I realize that and I can only hope that I get a group of people like those on the New England Trip. There wasn’t a single soul on that trip that I didn’t like.
I realize that group was probably an exception to the rule. I fully expect that during this 15-day period at least one person is going to prove to be a pain in the ass.
The best part about traveling with a tour group is that they make all your hotel accommodation and the price for most scheduled attractions is included in the tour price. The only out of pocket expenses are your meals and souvenirs and sites that you chose to see on your own.
So, to answer the question is why I am traveling by bus. The main reason is that it is the only way that I will ever get to see the National Parks in Southern Utah. The second reason is that I can sit back and enjoy the trip even though I am not in control.
Most people have said that they can’t see spending over $5,000 and travel more than ¾ of the way across the country cooped up in a bus. But when you consider that all your accommodations are included in the cost, it again is not a bad deal. Plus, I feel like with what you get to see and do on this trip the $5,200 price tag is very reasonable.
So, stick around, the Adventure begins in just a few days.
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