20th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest The American Experience
Detour on a Cross-Country Move

My partner and I lost our jobs on the same day during the initial wave of COVID. We sheltered in place for weeks in a tiny apartment then moved in with my family, where we quarantined in the basement before joining my parents. Like many people during the pandemic, we were faced with difficult decisions. After months of waiting for our jobs to return, we made the difficult decision to change careers and move across the country to stay closer to family. During our move, we stopped in Badlands National Park and I took this photo looking back at our whole life, and our future packed into this tiny trailer.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 07.2020
Date Uploaded: 11.2022
Photo Location: South Dakota, United States of America
Copyright: © Brian Hoffman