Life on the Land Trust in Ehrenberg, AZ is easy. It’s been relatively warm (70-ish) during the days and gets down in the low 40’s at night. My heater issue resolved itself (air in the propane line?) and if I’m chilly when I wake up, I turn the heater on for a few minutes. But my van is so small that often I can warm it up just by making coffee in my percolator.
The days are noticeably shorter; it gets dark early, and the sun isn’t up over the mountains until after 7:00 a.m. I have been fairly consistent about going to bed around 9:30 (Arizona Daylight Savings time…one of the REASONABLE states that doesn’t fuck with the clocks twice a year!) Some days I sleep in until after the sun is already up over the mountains, and others I wake up at the first light of dawn. Either way, I make coffee and crawl back into bed, read news headlines, check e-mail, do Wordle and the NY Times mini crossword. I listen to “The Daily” podcast and then Cosmo and I go for a long walk. This part of the Land Trust is sparsely populated, and we rarely come across anyone who is up and outside so early in the day. I think because it is cool and windy, most people stay in. We walk different directions each day, taking inventory of which van has left and what new rigs have shown up. There seems to be a stable group who will spend the whole winter here. Bonnie, my neighbor, knows their names, but says they rarely come out of their vans/small RV’s but prefer to stay inside and watch TV.
After our walk, we come back and get breakfast. This morning I had some tiny potatoes, like the kind I first had when I went to Peru. They were red and purple and yellow, and I baked them in the microwave before cutting them up and frying them in a pan. Then I poured a scrambled egg over them. It was delicious.
I thought back to the time in Peru that the indigenous women met us at the foot of the Temple of the Puma. The women came regularly to bring their tiny potatoes and roast them in a fire they built. They offered them to people coming from the temple having just finished a ceremony, usually involving the cactus medicine. I remember thinking that the potatoes were the most delicious thing I’d ever eaten, and because of synesthesia, I could not only taste them, but was aware of the music they made as I chewed. (Likewise, music that I heard had colors associated with the notes. It was an amazing phenomenon.) I spent a lot of time in that “Peruvian State of Mind,” being aware of the beauty around me. It was easy to do in the desert, surrounded by mountains, the warm sun, and the night sky.
I went into town twice this week. Where I am staying is just about 5 miles to the Colorado River and on the other side is Blythe, CA. Just a couple miles down the I-10 there is an Albertson’s Grocery store and several dollar stores. There is gas, and propane and fresh water. Also, in Ehrenberg (about 3 miles to their downtown) there is a Dollar General and a laundromat/shower. I did laundry on Tuesday and took a long hot shower. I expect to spend most of the winter in Ehrenberg. It’s easy, close to everything I need and allows the perfect balance of being out in the middle of nowhere and a few people to connect with if I feel like company. Yesterday while in town picking up a few things (I finally got a pair of sweatpants that I can just pull on in the morning before taking our walk) I stopped at Domino’s and picked up a pizza. I shared it with Bonnie and we sat outside her van, eating pizza and swapping nomad stories. Cosmo and I visit Bonnie nearly every morning after breakfast. She’s about my age and lives full time in a 1990 Roadtrek very similar to mine. We sit and chat and then I come back home. Sometimes I read or watch YouTube videos. Other times I just sit and look out the window, taking in the huge expanse of desert with mountains on every side. I’ve learned how to “just be.” I’m content just taking in my surroundings and not feeling the need to accomplish anything if there is nothing that needs to be done. It’s a nice change for me as I spent much of my life being a type A personality.
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I woke up today and could still see Orion out my western window. I’ve started to think “it’s time to get up” when the stars disappear due to the dawning sun. But today I was wide awake. I could tell by Orion that it must’ve been nearing 6:00 a.m. and decided that was an OK time to give up on sleeping more and get up and make some coffee. When I left the warmth of my sleeping bag, it was cold. I flicked on the heat and in no time my tiny space was warm enough to get out of bed. I put on my new sweatpants and started the coffee. Then Cosmo and I went out to pee. When we came back in, the coffee was ready, and I got back in bed and watched the sun rise in the east.
Later, after a brief walk, I came back to the van, and I was hungry. I opened the fridge and saw some fresh Brussel sprouts. I cut them in quarters roasted them in my frying pan and drizzled a bit of sesame ginger dressing on top. While they were roasting to perfection, I got out a couple of my tiny, multi-colored potatoes and cooked them in the microwave. I made a latte with espresso and heated/foamed milk. I sat down to such an elegant meal it made me giggle a little. It felt a little like Gilligan’s Island—I was out in the middle of nowhere, living in a van, and yet had fresh veggies and a hot latte—all the comforts of “The Empire” without any of the hassles. By then, the sun was warming up the van and I sat peacefully and watched out all my windows at the world I now lived in. It felt good.
Lessons From The Road: I’ve pretty much decided to make Ehrenberg my home base for the winter. It’s very easy here and I am close to everything I need, and yet it still feels quite removed from the hustle and bustle of The Empire. From here, I can easily drive to Joshua Tree NP (about an hour) or go east to Quartzsite (half an hour) or drive south to KOFA BLM land (south of Quartzsite) or even head over toward Phoenix to El Dorado Hot Springs where last year I enjoyed the luxury of soaking in multiple hot tubs for several days.
Last year, I wanted to see things and go to new places. I thought that heading to the northwest would be cooler in the summer. It was blazing hot. My tentative plan is to hang out in southern AZ/CA for the winter, and when it starts to warm up, head north to Flagstaff for most of the summer. It’s not that much of a drive, and the time I spent there last summer was in a forest, near a couple of lakes and it was quite idyllic. I left in a rush to get to South Dakota to get my new tags for the van. This year, I don’t think I’ll be in a rush to go anywhere.