Blog

Wow, how do I lead off this post!  Not only is it about the dreaded Covid, but it’s my first attempt at doing a written blog.  Hold on, here we go…lol

First, I hope that everyone you know is healthy.  I consider myself lucky.  While I know of many that have been sick, no one I know has died, or needed to be hospitalized.

The World changed in March, 2020.

Not to bore you with too many details about how my business was affected, lets just say, it disappeared overnight…lol

I started focusing on tours in 2016.  Each year I saw 50% grow.  2020 was no different.  Over 300 reservations were booked by December 2019, and January & February were amazing.   I felt compelled to purchased another vehicle just to keep up.  Life was not good, but GREAT!  Then the hammer fell…

After President Trump locked everything down, I spent the next 4 weeks scratching reservations off the books.  Each morning I’d wake up to 10+ cancellations.  By noon, another 5-10 would roll in.  This continued for the next 4 weeks.  I joked that it felt like a death by a thousand cuts…lol

The MOST difficult part was telling my Guides that trips they were assigned, were no longer…  Many of my Guides have been with me for years.  They’re family.  Everyone of them LOVES what they do.  Each is excited about their next trip.  The Grand Canyon never gets old, and they wouldn’t be seeing it for a while.  I couldn’t sleep.  How would they pay their bills?  I felt horrible!

I’m a bit of a tight wad, so I help where I could.  Together we made the best of it, knowing things would improve, eventually.  I of course knew that if things didn’t change, soon, I wouldn’t be around…

Today things have relaxed, but not without drama.  While here in Arizona we’ve loosened our Covid mandates, others are slipping backward.  International travel is still MIA.  Our Canadian Guests look to be trapped this winter (2021) as their leadership continues to lock things down.  The vaccine is out, to mixed reviews.

It’s still a challenge.

Over the last 4 months business has improved.  Guests are telling me that they’re tired of Covid and the restrictions.  They want to travel again, and nothing is going to stop them.

We look forward to the day that the PLANET is on the same page, and Covid is in the rear view mirror.