Using a phone app that tracks smoke/air quality, we drew a line heading west from Flaming Gorge, Utah, toward Portland, Oregon, trying to avoid the worst of the fires and smoke as we headed back toward the West Coast.
We get more travel-weary the more often we transition from campsite to campsite, so we decided to spend two nights at each stop to minimize burnout.
These two factors meant a fair amount of research went into each destination. Mike and I hunched over the Rand McNally Road Atlas and discussed the “big picture” route, as well as consulted the fire-tracking app. Once we’d figured that out, we searched for specific, reasonably-reachable camping areas using Google Maps, then made the actual bookings.
This method seemed to be working, keeping us both involved with the process while not getting too bogged down in indecision. With weather and fire conditions so uncertain, safety and sanity had to rule the day in planning for the remainder of the trip.
That said, we headed toward Gr…
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