January 26th, 2025
I am nearing the end of the first month of 2025. There are a few activities here near Quartzsite, Arizona each January. This is the peak for visitors (campers) to the area. While taking my walks around the Long Term Visitor Area (LTVA), I notice that in some places the camping rigs are so numerous, that a wall of mostly white blocks a view of the other side of the camping area. Many people arrive after New Years to take part in the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous (RTR) at the town baseball field, and then a few days later at the giant RV Tent Show.
The RTR is geared towards people living in cars, vans, trucks, tents, converted ambulances and buses (schoolies). These are generally known as nomads. While some are retired, many are out of work, homeless, or work remotely over the internet. They travel continuously, on their rubber tired homes, that being the cheapest way for them to live. The rendezvous is a get-together to share information about places to camp, techniques for living off grid, jobs, and tips and tricks on how to live the nomad life. For the second time, I met a Youtube content provider that I follow on Facebook, “SUVRVing”, who travels to scenic and historic locations throughout the west, making videos. I attended the opening morning talk, and on a later day, a talk about traveling through Canada to Alaska.
The RV Show is held south of town in a very large tent https://www.quartzsitervshow.com/. Various vendors are set up within the tent, which is also surrounded by food trucks and all types of RVs for sale. Across the road, are several rows of additional tent vendors of RV gear, kitchen items, jewelry, rocks and gems, and tools and hardware. Knowing the first day would be crowded, I waited until Sunday to walk through the tent and outside area. There was a lot to look at, but little that would entice me to buy. I purchased a short water hose for winterizing my trailer a little easier, as well as a couple of spare retaining pins for my weight distribution hitch. For $0.50, I found a scraper to remove stickers from windows. You tend to get these state, national park, and campground passes accumulated on your windshield as you travel, and need to make room for new ones each year. A $10 breakfast burrito from one of the food trucks rounded out my expenditures for the day. The following Friday, I walked the tent again, more as a way to complete my required steps for the day, than anything else.
Later on Friday, I made the trip to Lake Havasu City, to pick up pharmacy prescriptions at the Walgreens, make my first ever visit to an In-N-Out Burger store for lunch, and get my oil changed.
It is now Sunday and the RV Show shuts down at 3:00pm. Assuming things are the same as two years ago, the tent will be gone in a couple of days. A large portion of the campers that arrived after the first of the year will disappear rather quickly, and things will start to quiet down again.
I will be flying to Michigan shortly to visit my son and some of my friends for a few days. Cold weather here I come. When I return, it will be February, leaving me with about 5 weeks before I rig up to hit the road again. That can’t come soon enough. I am tired of being in one spot. I need a change in scenery and something with which to look forward on a more regular basis. The desert gets old after a while, even though it is warm. I am yearning for evergreen forests, snow covered peaks, and rushing mountain streams.
Starting All Over 