Rubber Tramp Rendezvous

January 2018

I spent a couple weeks in Quartzsite, AZ boondocking in the desert and going to events at the RTR.  The Rubber Tramp Rendezvous is a two week gathering of people that do, or want to, live full time in cars, vans, trucks, trailers and rvs.  There are seminars about frugality, van buildouts, cooking, jobs and just about anything you might need to know to give up conventional life to hit the road.

The website cheaprvliving.com is the main site for Bob Wells, the organizer of the event and has a ton of information along with a great forum full of helpful people to get newcomers started on van life.  Rather than duplicate what he has available, I'll fill this post with pictures.

To live cheaply you need your own power source and the sun is a great source of electricity.  Some have permanent installations while other travelers set out a panel when they need power.

Some people prefer dwellings that are designed to be lived in, while others want to create their own space.

He was going to sell his truck to buy an rv but decided to convert the inside to living space and continue his construction business.

This couple told me their kids never visited so they decided to build a trailer and hit the road.  The entire thing is made from military surplus material and in the last picture you can see that they're adding a kitchen.

To get out of debt she built this herself from salvaged material.  The roof is "poor man's fiberglass" - canvas saturated with house paint.

Too cool not to get a picture of.

Road Trek Row.

Step van living.

And all those Skoolies!

Desert Sunsets and Goodbye to my First Full Year on the Road

Dec 20 - 31, 2017

I've been hauling butt, well, crawling butt in Rigadoon, to get somewhere warmer but continual driving gets tiring.  I decided to spend a few days in the Sonoran Desert to take a break because deserts are warm, right?  Mostly right.  The Sonoran was still chilly at night although nowhere near freezing.  The sky was clear and I got a slight sunburn from a Christmas Day hike.  Sigh.  Lovely.

After those few days of R'n'R (ha!) I continued west towards Yuma.  Totally flat until this weird streak of mountains right across the sky.

Once over those the air became noticeably warmer.  I guess The Chihuahuan is more of a desert than the Sonoran.

After a couple days in Yuma dealing with showers and laundry I crossed the border in California to park at the Quechan Casino.  They have a huge parking lot and it was packed with RVs just hanging out, maybe doing the trek down to Mexico for dinner and drugs.  I parked on the edge of the semi lot next to a little Sunrader and some big RV from Canada. 

I walked the two miles to the border (I'm so cheap; there's a parking lot near the border but I didn't want to pay RV prices for a couple hours of parking.  Some people drive to the point where 'No Parking' signs are erected and stop on the side of the road just before them.  Cuts about 1.5 miles from the journey.) Walking across is quick and free, and once over there you are continually assailed by people asking you if you're looking for dental or eye care.  I do want my teeth cleaned ($20) but not without researching the dentists first and I wasn't prepared this time.

Grabbed some ventolin (3 for $4.50 vs $100 each in the U.S.), paid probably too much for a pretty silver bracelet and escaped the streets without being dragged into an optometrists office.

While at the casino I met this lady:

She couldn't afford a hightop van so her son improvised, adding a truck top to the top of her van. There's plenty of standing room underneath it and her bed is in the section without added height.

One more night in Yuma to really stock up before tooling north to Quartzsite to find out what the deal is with desert boondocking and the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous.

Dinosaur Stomping Grounds

October 26, 2016

I am continually amazed at the number of National Parks, Monuments and Historic Sites that are sprinkled across the country.  I family I met at the Grand Canyon recommended the Petrified Forest National Park and hey, it was on the way so why not.  I've finally gotten wise enough to check websites before charging forward and this one recommended entering at the southern gate when coming from the west.  It works well, especially since what I thought was an additional entrance from the interstate is actually an underpass.

A few million years ago this area was lush forestland inhabited by dinosaurs.  The trees fell, were covered in sediment and turned to stone over the next 200 million years.  The landscape is still phenomenal and the park has paths through petrified forests.

The trees are cool in concept but look a lot like rocks when viewed from the outside (of the tree).

It's the inside that's amazing.  Different minerals being deposited create different colors within the tree.

In a different area of the park, clay hills are lined with shades of grey.

A few years ago the park added a portion of the painted desert to its borders.  When you come from the south, the desert presents itself as a magnificent pink vista that springs into view when you come over a hill.  The beauty is indescribable and of course the pictures are really sad substitutes.

The park also has a pueblo settlement from several thousand years ago and a hotel (now an information center) built almost 100 years ago.  If you've come to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon, take an extra day to visit this park too.