November 27-December 8, 2007 and January 10-24,
2008 - We took our time traveling down from Death
Valley through Pahrump, Nevada and Lake Havasu,
Arizona and finally settled down for a while in Quartzsite,
Arizona. This is a small dusty desert town of 2,000 year-
round residents that swells to 1,000,000 people in
January during the annual RV show and RV snowbird
migration from the northern states and Canada.
We arrived before the madness really took hold, but we still
found the desert boondocking areas surrounding the town
absolutely teeming with RV's. The Escapees Boondockers
had a rendez-vous a few miles outside of town and we parked
near them.
The Escapees are folks that like to have fun, and everyday there was a
schedule posted on the communal white board. Many of these folks
have been full-time RVing for ten years or more, and for the first time we
found ourselves surrounded by people who had a lot of experience with
this crazy lifestyle.
We had felt pretty smug about our 130 watt solar panel, because it
had given us all the power we needed over the summer. But as
we sat through a week of overcast, cold days with nights that
started around 5:00 pm, we realized we needed to know more
about our electrical system.
We were using oil lamps to supplement our power needs while our
neighbors watched their 32" TVs in comfort. There were Escapees
who traveled with wind generators -- when the sun doesn't shine in
the desert you can count on howling winds -- and one fellow had
1,000 watts of solar power. We quizzed everyone around us about their setup and we learned more in those few weeks than we
had since we had started in May.
One morning we woke up to find a 27' sailboat parked in the desert near us. The
couple onboard was traveling from Flathead Lake in Montana to San Carlos,
Mexico to launch their boat in the Sea of Cortez for the winter. They were living in
the boat on its trailer.
Now that was an
interesting camping
setup!
One of the great joys in Arizona is the spectacular sunsets. As our
quiet desert days passed, we were treated to one amazing evening
display after another.
A popular activity for these wintertime desert dwellers is flying
ultralights. We were parked next to a group that took off in their flying
machines every morning. It was a colorful sight, and we enjoyed
sipping our morning coffee watching these guys take off into the sky.
There are many places to boondock both north and south of town. It
is very congested along the major roads and there are little handmade
signs everywhere pointing to gatherings of like-minded people. The
Solos were clever and parked their rigs next to the Loners on Wheels.
We saw signs for the "Roamin' Rods" (fisherman), Mineral Lovers and
Elks. Many brands of RVs had rallies. Monaco, Nuwa, Alfa, Allegro
and others clustered together.
If you take your time, you can find a quiet spot away from the
crowds. You set yourself up to get the best view and the best
sun angle for your solar panels.
We found a nice spot that even had a fire ring from some
earlier visitor.
After we got settled we discovered we had parked right behind
the Alpine Coach rally. As the days passed their numbers grew
to over 100 coaches, many worth $400,000+. We hadn't
realized we'd settled into the high rent district!!
Their rally was lots of fun and included several catered
meals and a double-feature drive-in movie one night -- all in
the open desert.
Alpine sent some salespeople into the desert with demo coaches for
sale, so we had an impromptu RV dealership set up right next to us.
We had a blast touring these amazing rolling homes.
The fun thing about boondocking in the desert in the winter is that you
never know who your neighbors will be. People living on a microscopic
budget out of the back of their pickup truck end up next to multi-
millionaires. Social barriers and manned gates that alienate these
people in other communities disappear out here. The guy in the 1970's van
and the guy in the brand new gazillion dollar mobile mansion can be good
buddies for a few days while they are camped side by side in the desert.
Quartzite is a classic funky Arizona desert town. Ages ago an arab came to
the area with camels, thinking these hearty desert beasts of burden would
thrive in Arizona. He was wrong
about the camels, but his legend
outlived him.
Quartzsite keeps up its tradition of
quirkiness with its modern-day
characters. Paul, the bookseller at
the far east end of town, is a staple in the community, responsible for a lot of
community spirit, including hand-drawing the town map that is sold to visitors. He
finds the climate in Quartzsite to be just right for minimal attire, and he prefers to
dress as lightly as possible.
All through our January stay in Quartzsite we had
been watching the weather map on the back page of
USA Today. Everyday it seemed that the people in
Florida were without doubt warmer than the people in Arizona. Mark's son was stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, and we had
lots of northern relatives who would be heading that way to thaw out during the winter. It only made sense for us to scamper
over to the east coast too. So we packed everything up, laid out our shorts in hopes of warmer weather, and drove across
country to northern Florida.