Moochdocking and our First Time in Quartzsite, AZ
It was time for a new adventure and we were one step closer to a dream we had had for a while. I had been offered and accepted a job that I had been trying to get for several years now. After an eventful stop in Reno, we decided that we would be headed to California to spend some time with family, do some maintenance and repairs, and for me to start training on my new job.
We would be moochdocking in our favorite driveway (it has a sewer connection, fresh water and wonderful friends). Ben was able to meet up with family and friends while I began training for my new job which started off with a very sporadic schedule. It hadn’t been since season one that one of us was employed while the other wasn’t and it was proving to be a slightly difficult transition. We were staring to get on different sleep schedules and it was hard because there was no down time between our most recent job and my new job. We had become accustomed to having a “vacation” (I use that term loosely) and time to do maintenance, repairs, and reset before we moved on to the next adventure.
We were lucky in that we would not be rushing off to another seasonal job though. My new job gave us the freedom to be anywhere and we decided that because we did not have all of the details and were unsure about how it would go working and traveling that we would try to live cheaply over the winter and test out how this job was going to fit into our lives and travel. We decided that Quartzsite, AZ (a mecca for snowbirds and those looking for cheap RV living) would be a great place to stay for the winter. We had never been but had heard many stories about the convergence of RVers on Quartzsite in the winter. We arrived right before Thanksgiving and were not quite sure what to expect. We knew we would be staying in the BLM LTVA (Bureau of Land Management Long Term Visitor Area) and that we would be boondocking for at least four months (the longest boondocking we had ever done). Part of staying in the LTVA would mean that we would have access to fresh water, a dump station, and trash service for the minimal permit fee. In the past, we had boondocked but never for a length of time or at a distance from a dump station that it was inconvenient to move the rig to empty it and refill with fresh water. This is because we would be traveling and boondocking along the way and never stay anywhere longer than our tank capacity would allow. We prepared for this new excursion by purchasing two portable sewer totes, each 21 gallons that would allow us to empty our grey tank without having to move the 5th wheel every four days or so. We also had two 6-gallon fresh water jerry cans that we knew we could use to transports small amounts of water back to the fifth wheel with. We realized pretty quickly, that we wanted to be able to move more fresh water. We wanted to be able to replenish at least the amount of waste water we were emptying. Being surrounded by RVers, any type of RV or camping supplies were hard to come by at the local stores. We would have to make what we had with us work.
We knew our friends would be wintering in Arizona also but they would be in the Tucson area. When they found out we were going to be in Quartzsite, they made plans to stop and see us on their way. It had been several years since we had seen Tony and Terri but we had kept in touch. Knowing that they had an address that they could receive packages at, unlike ourselves, we asked if they would mind if we shipped something to them that they could bring to AZ for us. Being the great friends that they are, they agreed to transport the four new 6-gallon jerry cans to us so that we could transport fresh water to our rig more easily.
We met up at one of the free BLM dispersed campsites and found a spot for both of us to camp where our nearest neighbor was at least a quarter of a mile away. We had so much to catch up on as we had not seen each other in over three years. We did some exploring in Quartzsite, had our first fire with juniper wood, shared some great dinners, and conversation. They could only stay for a few days on their way through though and they were back on the road to Tucson.
We headed back to the LTVA to find another spot. At this point we had stayed in a few different spots in La Posa South and one in Tyson Wash but none really felt like a great place to stay. When we returned, we tried another road in La Posa South that we had not yet been on and this time we decided to stick to the location. We met our neighbors whom were not that close and right away we felt safe and like we had found people we could make friends with. We would move the rig every couple of weeks to dump the tanks but we never lost our first come first served spot.
Throughout our time there we had several gatherings, each of our four neighbors taking turns hosting dinners and or campfires. We were our own little neighborhood and it felt like everyone was watching out for each other. We have learned that building community around us has been the best way to combat the loneliness that can come with moving constantly and being on our own.
Speaking of community, we had a great community in the Grand Tetons (Season 12) with our co-workers and neighbors and heard that one of the couples we worked with would be passing through the area on their way to Florida. They would only be there a night, but we made sure to meet up with them before they continued on. One of the great joys of traveling has been meeting new people but even more-so keeping in touch with those people and meeting them again at some point down the road.
And then there was one of the big reasons we came to Quartzsite; the Quartzsite RV show. We had done some research to find out what vendors might be there but we really did not know what to expect. The RV dealers were there before the Big Tent opened and we took advantage of the smaller crowds to do some RV shopping. Not that we were planning on buying but eventually we are going to need a new one and/ or to remodel or build a new one and it is always good to get ideas.
We decided we needed to see what all the hype was about and go to the Big Tent on opening day. It was shoulder to shoulder people and a little overwhelming since we had been spending so much time on our own.
We were hoping to speak with some potential employers while we were at the show and were shocked to find as many as we did. Many of the companies there to advertise their location or activities were also recruiting for work campers. We even found many that we had not heard of before.
After the show was over we continued on with our boondocking stint in the dessert, mostly isolated with the exception of a few gatherings with our neighbors. One of our neighbors purchased a Sur-ron electric motorcycle while we were there and Ben got to try it out. But even more exciting is that he allowed us to charge it from our batteries through our inverter. It was a great test of how the solar and batteries would hold up recharging a battery of that size as well as keeping up with our normal power consumption. The data we collected was invaluable as we will be able to use it in our calculation when planning out the next rig and battery bank and figuring out if something like an electric motorcycle or an e-bike is something we want to carry with us and will be feasible to charge when we are off the grid.
The more we travel the country, it seems like a smaller place. While at the Big Tent we bumped into four people we knew. Two were there to recruit work campers at a company we had worked for in the past and the other two were fellow work campers that we had met back in season 10 when we were working in South Dakota. It was nice to see familiar faces and catch up and it would not be the only time that we would have a chance encounter with friends from our past travels this season.
It was steadily getting hotter in the desert. Without being connected to shore power we were unable to run our air conditioner. Under normal circumstances we may have toughed it out in the heat but when the laptops started to struggle to cool down and we had to stop using them by early afternoon we decided we needed to start moving north in search of cooler temperatures. We decided on a departure date but that date came and we still did not know which direction we were going beyond our first stop for the night which would be BLM dispersed camping in Lake Havasu. I worked for a few hours in the morning and then we packed up and headed for Havasu, hoping that we would decide by the time we arrived which direction we would be headed the next day as this was the point where we needed to make the decision to go West or North. By the time we had parked we were still debating on what to do and so we started to go through the pros and cons of each route and crunch the numbers as fuel prices were steadily rising and whichever option we chose it was going to cost more than what we had anticipated and that was even with overestimating the price per gallon by a healthy margin when putting money in the fuel budget. When we had exhausted everything we could think of and still could not make a decision, the phone rang and we found out that Ben’s Godmother had lost her twin brother and that solidified our direction. We would be headed West.
This would be the first time we would be moving during the week when I still needed to work and the plan was to only go a few hours per day. I would work for a few hours before we left and then finish work when we arrived at our destination for the evening. Ben suggested that I try working in the truck that second day as we would be on the highway and it was pretty flat and straight. This is when we discovered that the new internet system would work while in motion and reach the truck. And, more importantly that I would not get motion sickness working while we were driving. So, even though we only planned on driving a few hours, Ben felt like he could keep going and so we did, and ended up turning a 120 mile travel day into a 350 mile travel day. The other reason for going further was the weather. We were having one of those perfect travel days. Sunny with little to no wind. Knowing that this section of the route could have higher winds we chose to take advantage. Sometimes it is worth changing the plan in order to travel when all of the variables seem to be going your way. This meant we arrived in Lost Hills, California at dusk and we would only have another 160 miles until we would arrive at Ben’s family’s house for moochdocking and some catching up after four months away. We would split our time on the coast staying with family and friends. And even get the opportunity to meet up with friends from Sonora, California who would be visiting the area on an RV trip to the coast. Another one of those coincidental moments to take advantage of an impromptu visit. It was another wonderful stay that went by very quickly and we would have to move on before we knew it.
