I continued my stay in Ehrenberg, AZ, and with each passing week, I seem to settle in more and more. My friend Terry from Rehoboth Beach, DE, who I met about this time last year at a gay van gathering south of Quartzsite, is on the road again. He texted me that he was in Quartzsite and since I had a package waiting there, I headed over and spent the night. For whatever reason, last year I thought Quartzsite and Ehrenberg were farther apart. It only takes about 15 minutes to drive from one town to another. I spent the night on Tuesday near the exact spot where I normally stay in Quartzsite. My last visit to QZ was quite disappointing, so I was hoping this one would be smoother. It was quite pleasant. The week before Christmas had a totally different vibe from this time. The people currently staying nearby were all pleasant and mostly quiet. I guess people make the place. Terry and I went for a long walk with the dogs, and then went our own ways to make dinner. Terry had brought firewood with him and so we built a fire in a ring close to my van and sat outside and caught up for a couple hours. It was so nice to see him again and spend time together. He was heading west, but said he’d be back for Skoolie.
I had my van backfire a few times in Quartzsite and the “check engine” light came back on. That was a bit concerning but I had no problem driving from QZ back to Ehrenberg. The next morning I went into Blythe with some minor backfiring on the way down the hill, but it drove fine once I got on the main road. I went to AutoZone, and they hooked me up to the OBD scanner. The guy was very nice and looked up the code. It seems my O2 sensor is malfunctioning. The readout described my symptoms (backfiring, hesitation, popping noises) and gave the reason as the O2 sensor misreading the fuel mix as too rich and then leaning it out automatically, but if the mix is correct and the sensor leans it, then there is not enough fuel in the mix to give proper combustion. I got the name of a good mechanic in town (he has a 4.7-star rating on Google) and will take it in to see if it is something he can take care of for me. I’m hoping it is an easy fix because I’m in the middle of nowhere and far from anyone I could spend the night with, so I’ll need a guarantee that it can get fixed in one day, or else an offer to stay the night in the mechanic’s parking lot.
Bonnie came with me to AutoZone. We stopped at the far end of the same parking lot and went into a Cannabis Dispensary. Bonnie wanted something for knee pain (after having knee replacement). This is only the third time I’ve been to a dispensary, and Bonnie had never been. Everyone was knowledgeable and very fun. Bonnie described her issues and the young man behind the counter brought out just what she needed and told her why he recommended it. Likewise, I asked for gummies to take at bedtime, and he came up with a package that he said had 50% more gummies and was much cheaper than the one I requested, and informed me that in addition to CBN, it also had a dose of melatonin that would help me fall asleep almost immediately. Of course, I’ve learned over the years that I have a pretty low tolerance to almost everything, so I took half a gummy and slept long and hard for 8 hours. Bonnie took a tiny dose of her new medicine as well and said it did the trick for the knee tingling, although it made her so high she said she would only take it at bedtime. We had so much fun in the dispensary. Everyone was so friendly and lots of laughing and joking going on. I suspect most of the employees as well as the customers had had their daily dose of “medication.” I’ll definitely go back.
{The next morning I read an article about how many seniors are going to the ER after taking cannabis products. Seems they remember smoking in college and then when they get ahold of today’s pot, they take way too much and get paranoid. I had to laugh. What I got was certainly not the pot I smoked in college!}
After that, we headed down the road where I picked up an Amazon package at a drug store and across the street was a Mexican restaurant. There was a line waiting to get in, so we figured the food must be good. We were not disappointed. The smells emanating from inside got out gastric juices flowing and by the time we sat down, I was starving. We each ordered a margarita and then lunch. The food was delicious, and the margarita was phenomenal. We laughed that two old people were spending the morning shopping for pot and the afternoon drinking margaritas. It was just an all-around delightful day.
The rest of the week was fairly uneventful. Cosmo and I visited Bonnie a couple of times. We’ve all gotten comfortable to sit and talk or sometimes just sit. It’s enough just to “be” when we are here in the desert. Someone I’d met briefly contacted me and was not enjoying where he was staying outside of Quartzsite, and I told him about this spot I’m in. He came over and said he enjoyed how quiet and sunny it was here (Ehrenberg is often 5 degrees warmer than QZ). We chatted briefly, but there was really not much of a connection. He spent the night up the road from me and left in the morning.
I talked to Richard as I do every Friday evening. I told him about my O2 sensor and he looked it up and Google informed us that “on most vehicles” it is an easy fix. I’m hoping my van is like “most vehicles.” Much of my engine is inside the van and not accessible from under the hood. They always have to take off the “Dog House” (?) on the inside to access air filter, spark plugs, rotor, etc. Since the sensor is part of the exhaust system, if I’m lucky it will be easily accessible from underneath the van and can just be swapped out. Fingers crossed here.
After Richard’s call, the sun was setting (stunning as ever) and I lit a bonfire with the remaining wood Terry had left for me. Bonnie came down and we sat and chatted a while. Being Friday night, some “weekenders” came in. Some are just cars that park off the road, and pitch a tent, either for sleeping in, or for storing their supplies while they sleep in the back of the car. Others come in their rigs (many sizes and shapes) and too many tow off-road equipment behind them in a trailer. With many trails and so much wide-open space here, it’s perfect for off-roading. But it seems that too many of the people who come consider “off-roading” just a secondary benefit. It always seems to me that there is at least a tad of terrorism involved. They ride around during the day kicking up dust. That’s fine. It’s the desert and dust is part of the experience. But some make a point of riding all night long. They have blaring music, flashing lights and loud mufflers. The point (to me anyway) often feels like “Look at me! Aren’t I something?” at best and “Fuck all of you! I’m a libertarian and NOBODY is going to tell ME what I can and cannot do” at worst. I thought about it some. Perhaps I’m just old and crochety. OK, I probably am, but I don’t think that is why I find them annoying. I think they are inconsiderate. Literally. They just don’t consider anybody else camped in the area. And those riding all night long, with loud mufflers, pounding music cranked up so that Blythe might enjoy it along with them, and “Buck Fiden” flags flying, left little doubt in my mind that the annoyance is intentional. Fortunately, they will all be gone by Monday morning, and we can all go back to our “55+” lifestyles.
Lessons From The Road: I’ve definitely grown and learned this week, but I’m not sure I can find the words to explain it. I think my life is getting more homogenized. For my first 18 months on the road, I usually was either way out in the boonies alone, camped on BLM land with newfound friends, or “taking a break” and staying in a city visiting friends. I’ve been on this land in AZ since October. I left briefly to have Thanksgiving in Palm Springs with friends, and then “came home.” I went to QZ to spend a couple nights and do errands, and then “came back home.” I seem to spend weeks on end in the same spot, drive into town for supplies (3 towns actually: Ehrenberg for laundry, and snacks from the dollar store, QZ for propane, water and Post Office Box, and Blythe for “big town” stuff like Ace Hardware, Albertson’s grocery store, mechanical service for my van (Oil change and otherwise), and now, the cannabis dispensary. After each trip I come home to my spot in the AZ land trust.
I really have come to think of this as home. I’ve started to consider the people who stay here from October through March as my neighbors, and those who come for brief stays as visitors. I find myself texting Bonnie and saying “I’m running down the road to get some milk. Do you need anything?” So many places I’ve stayed require me to stock up beforehand and stay as long as I can until I run out of some necessity because civilization is so far away. Here, I have the best of both worlds; I’m 2 miles up a rugged, rutted dirt road, with just a smattering of vans, all parked a respectable distance from me. There is rarely anyone parked to the east of me, so I can easily go outside to pee or take a shower without worrying about offending anyone’s sensibilities in that direction. If I need anything, I just drive down the hill and within a few miles I can find anything I need. I have friends nearby and other friends I’ve met on the road stopping in for a visit. And since I don’t plan where I’m moving to tomorrow or even next week, I have such a feeling of being settled-in that I hadn’t expected to find on the road. I remind myself often that I LIVE HERE. It’s quite comfortable.