I went back to Quartzsite, in order to meet up with some friends from the road. The weather was in the low 80’s and mostly sunny. It was a very nice change of pace and I was able to take outdoor showers most days. I parked near where my friends are staying in a clothing optional section of BLM land. About half the people were naked, half in some sort of covering and on colder mornings or windy days, a few men walk by “Donald Ducking.” (That’s the new term I learned. It means like Donald Duck, they wear shirts, shoes, but no pants. Someone else called that “Shirt Cocking.” I presume that applies only to men. You’ll have to invent your own word for women who do that—and a few did.) Having been raised Catholic, I have a lot of body shame. Even in the days when I worked out regularly and had a fairly decent body, I was embarrassed to be naked. Now, at 70, with my “Covid Belly” (That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it) it is not easy for me to even take my shirt off. We’ll see how it goes the rest of the week, BUT…I had zero qualms about getting naked next to my van and taking a shower. Somehow that felt more “legitimate” than walking around naked. And I cannot tell you how much I LOVE taking outdoor showers naked.
The weather changed quickly and drastically. Overnight, it became summer. I saw a scorpion yesterday. It was a baby. I thought it was a grasshopper crawling toward my foot and then realized that it was a scorpion. I read that scorpions have litters (not sure that is the right word for scorpion births) of up to 100 at a time. So the one I saw may have 99 siblings walking around. I’ve heard tales of people stepping into shoes where a scorpion has crawled in. I should have no problem checking my flip flops before I put them on but will need to be much more aware of where Cosmo is sticking his nose. I’ve also been told that we are on the cusp of rattlesnakes emerging from winter hibernation. Ugh. That means being diligent about walking near bushes and being careful when I step out of my van. I think when I move north in a couple of weeks, they don’t have rattlesnakes there, but I do remember a particularly noxious scent emerging from javelinas in Barbara and Lark’s front yard. The scent was so disgusting that it woke me from a sound sleep, and I couldn’t get that taste out of my mouth for hours. Such is life in the Wild Kingdom, I suppose. I’ll take stench over poison bites or stings any day.
My friends Neil and Eddie both work full time from their van, so Cosmo and I were on our own most days, which we are used to. We all ate dinner together the first night they came in. Neil made an amazing Indian dish with chickpeas, and I brought the salad. We sat and talked and then went for a walk in the dark.
There is a prominent walking path—the path that encloses the “magic circle” (nude section). Eddie led the way with his head lamp, and the rest of us, including Cosmo, followed closely behind.
Neil and Eddie
There was no moon, so the dark sky was lit up with stars (As Carl Sagan used to say, “Billions and billions” of them.) We didn’t go too far for fear of not being able to find our vans on the way back on such a dark night. When we got back, we talked outside their van for a bit until both of them started yawning. I took the hint, said goodnight, and went home to bed.
By Wednesday, we wised up and took our walk before dinner, so we could check out the paths, and see just how huge this expanse of BLM land was and see that most of the seasonal occupants were leaving as it will soon be unbearably hot here. It was hot on Sunday, but by Monday it had cooled off some and by Wednesday, it was cool, windy and scattered thunderstorms. It was mostly an inside day. I cooked and we all sat outside and ate. The storms had passed, and the sun was peeking through the clouds. It was quite beautiful.
I met a couple other men here in Quartzsite and visited and chatted with some of them. All in all, it was an easy and very social week. Neil and Eddie left on Friday to head to Globe, AZ. They bought property there and are going to build and they needed to do some preliminary work for the architect. Cosmo and I sort of enjoyed being alone again. Most of the people in our section had left throughout the week, so it was very quiet here by Friday.
I moved back to Ehrenberg on Saturday morning.
Lessons From The Road: On our last visit, Kitty pointed out how much I’ve changed since we met a year and a half ago. She said I was so much more relaxed and content. Indeed I am. She reminded me that a year ago I spent much of my day, every day, plotting and planning where I was going next, how I would get there, where I’d stay once I got there, and how long I would stay there. That was my job at the time. I moved often and spent much of each day searching travel apps to find free camping spots, in locations I was heading toward. I’d learned to find sites for free and make sure there were back-up spots nearby. Often when I arrived at the first spot, it was either full or so unappealing I couldn’t stay there. Sometimes the place was closed or non-existent, so I’d head to my second choice (which also failed me on occasion.) In hindsight, it was more stressful than I realized to wake up each morning and hope I’d find a suitable place to stay that night. I’ve totally forgotten that ritual. Since October, I’ve been back and forth between Quartzsite, Ehrenberg, and Cottonwood Springs. I can just wing it, and decide any given morning to get on I-10 and head to any of these places and knowing them so well, I can always find a suitable place to set up camp.
But all that is about to end. Within weeks it will be too hot to stay here in southern AZ/CA and I’ll once again head north and have to figure out where to stay on my way to Flagstaff. It will be easier because I’ll stop and stay in Barbara and Lark’s driveway on my way. I love the desert, but it will be nice to move up into canyons and forests for a few months.
Before moving back to Ehrenberg, I first had to do a lot of chores like emptying my toilet, dumping trash, getting fresh water and propane and heading to the grocery store. It felt like a lot of work, with many steps. When I left the campsite to head toward the dumpster, I remembered reading about a woman who went to Peru to participate in an Ayahuasca ceremony. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Ayahuasca is a hallucinogen and the experience (I’m told) of taking it can be quite intense. The purpose is to clear out old habits, old patterns that no longer suit your life. The “clearing out” is often accompanied by projectile vomiting and diarrhea and I’m told it can be quite unpleasant. Well, while the woman was waiting for her “dose” to kick in, another man within the circle was full on into his adventure, and he was puking, shitting, and screaming and crying. The woman called the facilitator over and said to him “Make him stop! He is ruining my experience.” The facilitator told her “Lady, I’ve got news for you. This IS your experience.”
I literally laughed out loud. I was doing a minor version of that. I was fretting over having to dump trash, get water, drive to get propane, empty my bucket, etc. I just wanted the chores to be over so I could get back to Ehrenberg and get back to my life again. And it occurred to me that this was my life. Laughing broke the tension, and put my head back in the proper place. I took my time, and stopped worrying about how long my chores might take, and what time I might arrive back in Ehrenberg at my usual spot. These chores were part of my life. Maybe not my favorite part, but still a part of keeping my life working on the road. They weren’t something I had to get done before I could enjoy my life, they were part of my life and they could be as enjoyable as I decided to make them. Everything changed, and I chatted up a guy at the potable water station. I had a conversation with the guy who pumped my propane. I spent an hour and a half in Albertson’s reading labels and deciding what I wanted to eat this week. I had fun. And then I came back home to Ehrenberg.
That’s all I got.
See you down the road!
Scott
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx9L4rW4Orsox-BDA4ebmmQ