January 19, 2025: Winter Travels

On January 1, after a quiet and lovely Christmas, Alan and I packed up our gear and headed out to southern Arizona. I had signed up to volunteer at the 2025 Women’s Rubber Tramp Rendezvous (WRTR) in Quartzsite, AZ, which is a 2 day drive. The RTR is put on by HOWA, the Homes on Wheels Alliance, a non-profit that advocates people who live in their vehicles.

We decided to tent camp on this trip, to try some new equipment and see how we liked it without Pippin. First, we packed everything into the new Tacoma, but, alas, all the junk (we like to comfortable!) we wanted to take simply didn’t fit under the tonneau cover and in the rear cargo carrier, so Alan tossed everything into the back of the Tundra and off we went on New Year’s Day.

We drove through Flagstaff and down to Sedona, which was so incredibly jammed with tourists it took us 40 minutes just to get through town. Other than a coffee stop, we decided to just keep going. It’s not what it used to be!

We did stop in Jerome, AZ, however, which hasn’t changed a bit since my last visit. We wandered the streets, checking out some of the fun shops and art.

The drive from Jerome through Prescott and on down to Quartzsite was lovely, and we found a place to camp about 7 miles north of town, in a BLM dispersed camping area. There were already thousands of folks there, camped all over for miles and miles in all directions, but we found a spot that was remote and quiet where the dogs could run around without leashes. We stayed there for 9 days.

It’s a very strange landscape there, hundreds of stretches of rocky soil as flat and long as runways, all going east-west, are separated by narrow arroyos filled with ironwood, mesquite, and acacia trees. Small saguaros, ocotillos and other cacti dot the land. It was both lovely and harsh, and hard on the dogs paws. We did see a Coatimundi one night, and Zane was entranced!

For the first 5 days, we explored the area. Quartzsite itself is an odd town on I-10, serving RVers and snowbirds. At first I was horrified by the crowds of campers, but after a great lunch at the Sunset Grill, followed by homemade ice cream at Dorothy and Toto’s, I decided it wasn’t so bad. Huge flea markets and thousands of vendor booths line the side streets with everything and anything you could dream of wanting in an RV. You want plastic welcome mats? Cutsie banners? One of 1,000 cast turtles? Plastic gizmos to hang more plastic gizmos?

We drove over to a little town called Bouse, which was tiny, quiet, and had a great museum about the history of copper mining and General Patton’s training ground there (for the north Africa campaign) in WWII. Alan was happy.

At the Women’s RTR, I was designated a “Safety” person, complete with blue vest and walkie-talkie. With my psych background, my job was to de-escalate touchy situations, hand out shorter dog leashes, and distribute doggie poo bags to the owners of the nearly 200 dogs coming in. I walked about 4-5 miles around the baseball field and parking area for 8 hours each day. It was a blast, although exhausting. I met hundreds of fascinating van and car dwellers, from all walks of life, all happy to be there, all glad for my presence. I got to meet Bob Wells (“CheapRVLiving” YouTuber and the father of the RTR), who was as gracious and soft-spoken as I’d heard.

The first 3 days only women were allowed in and the toughest part of my job was helping frightened and lonely women, unused to living on the road, and/or scared of the crowds. It is especially horrific how may older women have been forced to live in tiny cars, ancient vans, and shoddy RVs. The vast majority of the women there have suffered trauma, many are veterans, or have left abusive relationships. Many have learned to love vanlife and wouldn’t trade it for anything. But for the ones for whom it is new, there is a lot of trepidation and shame. They come to the WRTR for support, education, and community, and boy, do they find it!

The less pleasant part of my job was escorting a number of very angry men out of the area, men who felt “discriminated against” when they were told they couldn’t come in to listen to speakers discuss how to menstruate living in a van, or how to find a safe campsite. Unfortunately, several gentlemen became quite threatening and nasty, so I had to use all my skills to calm them down so as to avoid calling the sheriff. And also unfortunately, every one of them bragged about their MAGA credentials, truly thinking that would intimidate me. It was sort of sad. It is pretty hard to scare me and I was able to get them all to move on, swearing and cursing and telling me how I was a “libtard” who would get what’s coming!

The 4th day, the RTR opened to one and all, and the vibe was different but still very fun with so many men now joining in. The speakers talked about everything you could imagine: solar on vans, how to find free camping, staying healthy on the road, how to poo in a van (that one was extra funny….there are MANY ways to take care of business in a van. I spoke on a panel about using some gear for women backpackers for peeing in the woods. The Homes on Wheels Alliance talked about their work supporting the rights of people who live in their vehicle. It is important to note that most people living in a vehicle, whether a car (and one woman had been living in a tiny Smart car for 6 years!), a van, a Schoolie, or an RV, do not consider themselves homeless. They call themselves “Wheel-estate owners!). A lady played gongs on the edge of the field. People did yoga, talked about water storage, visited the free tables, and the cold-weather gear booth. They shared food and dog stories. Dogs were everywhere, and they all got along. Columbia and Patagonia donated tens of thousands of dollars in warm coats, hats, gloves and boots. Bob Wells donated an ambulance he’d been living in for years to be raffled off. (He now lives in a Subaru Forester)

In the end, I have to say it was a wonderful experience. I don’t think I would enjoy being there simply as a participant…we’re not interested in living in a vehicle full-time, but volunteering was fantastic and I likely will do it again.

Back at camp, Alan held down the fort, spending his days writing, hiking with the dogs, cooking meals, running errands, and relaxing.

By the 6th day, the weather turned extremely windy and cold, and our tent life became less pleasant. Our big one is only a 3-season tent, with lots of mesh, and difficult to keep warm even with a good heater, and terribly noisy in 45 mph gusts. At one point it collapsed on itself, although nothing was damaged.

We managed for a couple more days, then decided to leave a bit early and head home, impulsively deciding to go visit the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, via Lake Havasu, on the way.

It took a couple of days with an overnight at Buckskin Mountain, but we arrived at the rim, loving that it was so empty of tourists. We stayed at the Yavapai Lodge, which allows dogs, for 2 nights, had lunch at El Tovar Lodge and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. It was still bitterly cold, and there was zero snow, which reminded us of how bad the current drought is. But the Grand Canyon never fails to amaze.

We finally got home to 4Fords on January 15th. All was well, in spite of below zero temps. Even Cat-Too was warm in her greenhouse home. We got a huge fire going and warmed the place up over night and have completely unpacked and fallen back into our normal routine. School starts on Tuesday, and I have 5 classes this semester, so am busy prepping for those. Alan has completed his 2 solar jobs, so has switched his focus to repairing the tractor we bought from a neighbor (complete with backhoe!) and beginning the kitchen remodel.

HAPPY NEW YEAR from 4Fords!