“Be the first one on the block to have your boy come home in a box.
And its 1,2,3 what are we fightin’ for?
Don’t ask me i don’t give a dam, the next stop is Vietnam will be Iran
And its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates. Well there aint no time to wonder why…WHOPEE we’re all gonna die.”
~ Country Joe McDonald 1942-2026
“When will they ever learn?”
~ Pete Seeger
Soundtrack for a Sunday morning…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft0vkKCadgk
This has been a week of indecision Plans were made, changed and changed again. The weather forecast, depending on which source I chose, changed from hour to hour. My decision as to where I wanted/needed to be next week changed with the forecast. And since my information had been mostly unreliable, it was tough to make decisions based on incompetent and ever-changing guesses.
On Monday, most of the weather apps predicted extreme (100⁰ plus) temperatures this coming week in Holtville. Some predicted that by mid-week it would reach 107⁰. That’s beyond unpleasant in a van and is crossing over into life-threatening. I knew I had to move. Checking forecasts for surrounding areas, there was not much difference, and so it appeared that I would have to drive for several hours to get to a high enough elevation to be below 90⁰. I mapped many routes, trying to stay out of the heat. Most were taking me in directions that weren’t really where I wanted to be or where I’m eventually headed. Each day I made decisions that had to be changed within hours. I talked to Matt who was in Quartzsite. That region would have extreme heat as well, but not quite as bad as Holtville, and only 3 days (if you believe the weather forecasters) instead of 7 to 10 days. He was going to try to ride it out. After weighing many options, I decided (as of Wednesday) that I’d leave Holtville on Thursday, and head to Ehrenberg to see if I can secure a spot on the river. Matt and I had set up camp there a month ago and it was one of my favorite sites of all time. If I could get a similar spot, it would be around 100⁰ for a couple of days but being on the Colorado River would allow me and Cosmo to get in the water and cool off and stick it out until the weather dropped back down to more tolerable temperatures by the weekend.
By Thursday morning, the forecast shifted once again and the prediction was for 104 to 107 for 6 days straight in Ehrenberg. That made it no longer an option for the coming week. I talked with Matt and we decided that we’d head to Lake Havasu together on Sunday or Monday and then head north past Kingman which is at a much higher elevation. Even Havasu was going to be 105 or so for the week.
So I packed up and headed for the Colorado River to spend the night. It was a long drive and the road in from the south was rutted and bumpy. I got to several of the spots I’d hoped to camp in, but they were all full. I guess everyone had the same idea: Head to the river to stay cool for the weekend. I continued on and ended up in Ehrenberg, in my usual spot across from Bonnie. It was hot, windy and just all-around unpleasant. I hadn’t eaten breakfast thinking I’d only have an hour and a half drive. After driving for over 3 hours, I was tired, hungry, and cranky. I settled in, warmed up a frozen pizza and regrouped.
I got to hang out with, and say another final good-bye to Bonnie on both Thursday afternoon and Friday morning before making the short trip over to Quartzsite where I once again set up camp next to Matt. I’d not seen him for over a month and it was a nice reunion. We hung out, ate dinner together and then Matt took us for an adventure in his side-by-side. It was hot during the day, but the night ride through the desert was as beautiful and fragrant as ever.
I slept deeply Friday night, and Saturday morning Matt and I drove into the town of Quartzsite and stopped at all the stores we’d been promising to visit early in October, but had never quite made the time for. We went to a few gem stores, and I picked up a new earring and a couple of beaded bracelets. Matt got a few geodes to take to his nephews, and then we went to the weed store. Matt stocked up before we moved north on Sunday and I got some bedtime edibles that had CBN. I take a quarter to a half some nights if I’m feeling wound up and they put me right to sleep. We again drove through the desert and it became apparent how many of the snowbirds had already fled before the upcoming heat wave. The few that were left were either very rich in giant rigs, generators and air conditioners running to keep them cool OR they were the ultra-poor. The homeless. They gave the desert a Road Warriors feeling. It looked a little like the zombie apocalypse. They were in rigs with windows taped over or broken out completely. Some people had abandoned small trailers that had become too dilapidated over the winter months to be able to move them, and other people with nothing had decided to move in. The people who’d moved into abandoned—one that had even been burned out—gave that section of the desert a very post-apocalyptic feel. They were cooking outside over a makeshift fire. Several were shirtless and had on shorts that they’d probably worn all winter without washing. It was eerie.
Matt and I got back to camp and sat out in the cool(er) night air and got caught up. I’ve so seldom had a bad time with Matt. I have other friends on the road, but Matt and I really get along well for long periods of time. I am so grateful to get this extra time with him at the end of the season before he returns home to Michigan for the summer.
Lessons From The Road: I’ve never been in this part of Arizona when the weather got so hot. The once crowded, very touristy towns changed to something completely different almost overnight. The spots along the river where Matt and I stayed a month ago, were now littered with burned out campers, and several cars that had been overturned, riddled with bullet holes and then set on fire. It was very disturbing. Quartzsite just a few months ago where many snowbirds (mostly with money) came to winter, was also littered with transients who sat on street corners, with various handmade signs begging for money or food. If you don’t have a roof over your head, I guess it’s good to at least be in a warm area for the winter. I wondered how they might fare when the temperatures soar to 120 degrees in a few weeks. The inequality between the very rich and the dirt (literally) poor is no more apparent than in the desert. The rich struggle to stay distant from and ignore the poor and homeless; the poor and homeless struggle to survive.
I thought a lot about where I fit in. Certainly, somewhere in the middle, and not only able, but absolutely needing to leave town in the coming week due to life-threatening heat. I complained about having to leave my oasis at the hot springs and about being forced to move north sooner than planned, but it was not lost on me how fortunate I was to be able to move and take my home with me. I’ll be at Lake Havasu for a couple of days until the heat drives me from there as well and I’ll travel with Matt to a cool spot in the mountains for days or weeks, or who knows. It wasn’t my plan, but I’ve learned to be flexible and that part of nomadic life means moving with the changing weather.