Late Sunday morning I drove up the road to get closer to SkooliePalooza. Bonnie followed me and we found a huge, open area to park. We settled in about three quarters of a mile up the road from the main gathering, which seemed ideal. We both wanted to be close enough to the main stage to walk down easily, and far enough away that we could sleep at night. We walked down in the afternoon and there were already hundreds of skoolies scattered throughout the area. We wandered around and talked to a few people. Everyone was friendly, and most were quite outgoing. On the way down the road, a young (and quite handsome) man yelled something which I couldn’t quite make out. He ran toward me, arms spread wide. He hugged me like we were longtime friends and said “Hello Santa!” (I was wearing a red beanie hat, so I guess with my hair and beard, I must’ve looked like a famous North Pole resident). We chatted for a bit and he introduced himself. I knew this bode well for making some new friends. Later, I heard someone yell “hey Scott!” I thought there must be another Scott nearby, but nope. He was calling me. It was Jake who I met a few weeks ago in Quartzsite. We chatted and got caught up. It is so gratifying to run into people I’ve met before somewhere else.
Bonnie and I had planned on going back down Sunday night, but the wind just howled all night long and into Tuesday. My van rocked all night long (for all the wrong reasons). By late in the day on Monday, it subsided, but only slightly. Cosmo and I both had cabin fever from being inside all day so we went for a walk. With the wind, it was quite cold, but a couple others were outside their vans in our area and were happy to see other humans out and about. We met some neighbors and had a couple nice conversations.
Bonnie came out Monday morning to find she had a flat tire. She was going to try to pump it up and drive it into Blythe but the wind was just too much. I suggested she not try to drive in the wind, let alone with a flat tire. She waited until Tuesday, drove into Blythe and although they couldn’t patch it (quite a tear) they got her a new tire and she was back in no time at all. We once again walked down to the main section of the event. It was still chilly up on the hill where we were staying, but once we got more into the valley, the wind died down and the warm sun felt wonderful. And again, I had several nice conversations with complete strangers. Everyone seemed to want to find something in common–some way to connect. Bonnie had on a Cornell sweatshirt, and a couple people started talking to her because they had gone to Cornell or lived nearby at some point. People went out of their way to say hello to Cosmo and start a chat. A Native man struck up a conversation for no apparent reason. He invited me to come down at night for the music. He said it was quite good the first night despite the windy weather. He said they had a stage right next to his tepee. He had some of the most beautiful beads around his neck and I inquired about them, and he said he made them. I hope to run into him again and see if he has made any for sale.
Wednesday was good weather again, and I walked down to get breakfast at a bus that had been making vegan breakfasts each morning. When I got there (hungry) there was a “closed” sign. I was disappointed but wandered around and found several friendly people and started talking. After a bit, I went back to the van and made my own breakfast. Bonnie and I wandered down later that night—actually way too early that night. We got down there just before sunset, and it was extremely quiet. A few people were out and about but most must have been inside eating dinner. We wandered around for a while and both noticed that many of the busses had cleared out. Perhaps due to the colder weather this week (colder for southern AZ anyway) and high winds. Many had come the week before, and the weather was better. Maybe they just saw the cold, windy forecast and moved on.
I took some photos but was disappointed. Last year a snapshot from just about any spot yielded a photo of rows and rows of school busses of all shapes and sizes. This year, everyone was so spread out and there were so many empty spots that it was difficult to compose a photo that showed the vastness of the land and the number of skoolies. A drone shot would have been ideal, but with high winds, that wasn’t an option.
By the time we got back to our vans, it was dark and I was so glad that I’d strung the “fairy lights” around my van. We couldn’t tell where we were while walking up the road until we saw that halo of lights on my roof.
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Thursday was my birthday and I had high hopes of repeating what I did last year. One year ago there were many people I had met along my journey who were camped out with me and we all did a dose of mushrooms and wandered down and danced and carried on like teenagers. This year the winds were so strong I stayed in all day, except to take Cosmo out for bathroom breaks. Terry, was back from San Diego and parked down the road with some other friends we’d met last year at this time. Another man I met came by and chatted for a little while, but with the cold wind, it was too much to stand outside for very long. There was a steady flow of people in and out, but it seemed many busses were leaving and I suspect many of them won’t be coming back due to weather.
By Friday morning the wind had dissipated, and the sun was out, and it was a beautiful day. I made several trips down to the main section and back. After a couple trips, I decided to move closer to the main ring of busses, so I drove down about a half a mile. The idea was to get close enough so that walking back and forth was not a major hike, but not so close that when the partying and music started at night it would keep us awake. Being closer was definitely easier to move more freely and Cosmo and I went down several times with several different friends. On one trip, I was looking at jewelry that people had for sale, mostly handcrafted. I stopped to look at an earring I liked and the guy said “Take whatever you like. It’s free.” I found the earring and asked if I could pay him something. He said, “absolutely not.” So I walked away with a beautiful new earring and a huge smile.
At night Terry came by and I walked down with him. A DJ was just getting set up and started playing some techno music. The small group there mostly stood by a fire and some began to dance. It didn’t take long to realize that most had partaken of something to enhance their moods, and I had not. We were in totally different head spaces and Terry pointed out what I was thinking…We were the only two there not high on cannabis, mushrooms, acid or booze. We soon walked back to our vans. By the time I got in bed, I could hear the music picking up and the crowd cheering the DJ and the base beat became much louder. I thought I’d have trouble sleeping, but having walked 6 miles during the course of the day, I went out like a light. I slept through the night.
Terry and I walked in the morning and found most residents of Skoolie Land still sleeping, busses locked up, windows covered with reflectix to keep the new day at bay. Some people were out and things were quite subdued. We talked with a few people and I went back to the van to make breakfast. Later I went to the next site over where friends from last year were camped. We sat out in the sun and got caught up. It was easy and pleasant. Terry was having issues with his solar power so he drove into Q to see if “Solar Bill” could help him out. He texted later to say he was plugged into power to see if he could get his batteries fully charged again.
[I’ve developed a whole “solar dance” to try to keep my lithium batteries charged by the sun and still have some extra power to recharge my coach battery. I plug and unplug, turn the inverter off and on, start my engine sometimes, and take a drive others so that My coach battery can charge from the van’s alternator. It has become quite a complex ritual, but it is working. One day this week by CO detector started beeping in the morning. Seems my coach battery was too low and the “no power” light came on on the detector. I turned the inverter on, and it quickly got up to enough wattage/voltage/amperage (I still don’t understand electrical speak) that all was well again. The days are getting longer, the sun is getting higher in the sky and we’ve had no cloudy days, so these worries will soon be a thing of the past.
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Bonnie left Saturday morning. She said she couldn’t sleep with the loud music so she went “back home” to the other side of the same BLM land. I decided to stay for the last night. I think with a nap I can go out a bit later, and perhaps I’ll be able to find some generous soul to share some tea so I can be on the same wavelength as the rest of the party goers.
Lessons From The Road: I’ve been thinking about my dad a lot lately. He died when I was 30. He had the gift of gab: he could talk to anyone, about anything. I inherited that quality from him, though it took me many years to reach his level of comfort with it. I often would restrict myself thinking perhaps people would think I was hitting on them (and sometimes I was) or that I was a bit strange to just strike up a conversation about nothing. I think that living in a van and being 70, I no longer care what people think of me. And it’s working in my favor. I sometimes start with something that I find humorous, but I also inherited my dad’s sense of humor and often people just don’t get it, or worse, misunderstand. So I’ve gradually began saying something complimentary. “Cute Dog. I LOVE your necklace. I am jealous of your beard. It looks great.” You can hardly go wrong saying something nice about someone. Follow it up with a question (What’s his name/Did you make it yourself/How long have you been growing it?) and you’re in a conversation in no time. The best thing about that is that it changes the world, one person at a time. Wouldn’t YOU have a better day if a complete stranger stopped you to say something nice? And wouldn’t that spill over to the people you meet? And the energy I exert is miniscule compared to the energy that is returned. People fist bump, hug and say how much they enjoyed talking to me. Me-mom told me once that if everyone swept their own front steps, the whole world would be clean by morning. I think the same is true of a kind word: Find a few, share them and see how much nicer your world becomes.