It was hard leaving Tucson.
But I was closing in on the reason for why I was making this trip to Arizona, and that was to meet up with those that have chosen to live their lives as nomads. My new friend Randy Vining is the king of the road having been living this lifestyle for 40 years!
Beauty on the way: Routes 10 and 8.
Sometimes what's in the rear view is fantastic.
Literally ONE pump is open 24 hours if you can stand the cow poop stench.
Funky desert chic at the one pump gas station.
Cactus forests along Route 8.
And for something completely different, a dinosaur pit stop at a gas station.
These things ain't small!
Choochi checks out the locals.
I think my friend Billy Michael would have had to have strapped one of these onto the roof of his car and driven it back to his yard in Bethel.
I roll into Yuma and the Paradise Casino parking lot where Randy is camped with about 50 other boondockers. Many casinos allow RV camping for free, and this one has no limit on how long you stay. You can literally stay for weeks or even perhaps months. It is WAY cheap to live this way. Randy claims his monthly expenses are $500.00. They all mostly live on solar electric that run their fridge and lights. Propane runs the heaters and stoves.
At any time of the day or night, you'll find people in the casino feeding the slot machines. The first time I went in there, smoke, noise and the depressing array of gambling characters hit me like a gust of wind. I started to call the place the "zombie apocalypse." But I feel kind of bad knocking a place that is has been so generous to me and the other campers.
I came into the lot around dusk, and didn't see much I thought looked very nice. It pretty much looked like a muddy sand pit. So I wasn't sure I'd stay long. However, the next day Randy showed me all the secret gems in the neighborhood and around town. Randy has been a terrific host and so kind, just as so many others have been on this trip. He has welcomed me as if I was an old friend.
The Quechen tribe owns the casino and invested in planting a beautiful park next door with trails, a pond and interesting cultural picnic area. Out of the stark desert landscape rolling in was a little bit of New England.
Yuma is kind of growing on me. Snowbirds love it because for the most part, the winter days are between 65-70 degrees with hardly any rain. There certainly seems to be interest in this town, there are tons of spanking new shopping malls, some that replicate a Main Street. Which is odd since malls have destroyed Main Streets, they are now making the malls look like Main Streets. Here's where we saw "La La Land." Great movie! I thought it was brilliant actually.
Yuma is the "winter lettuce" capital of the United States according to Randy. The main industry in town is growing lettuce, kale, cauliflower, asparagus, onions and broccoli. There is no evidence that I have seen of air polluting industry.
One of the strategies of boondocking for me is to join a nationwide gym for not on the ability to work out but also to access the showers. When you're camping at a state park you usually get that in the deal. But "dry camping" or boondocking means no electric, no water, no showers, no bathrooms. So it can be very challenging at times. I got a great deal for ten bucks here at the Yuma Planet Fitness and can transfer it three times while I'm on the road.
And in closing a poem from Randy's collection of poetry "Forty Years a Nomad: Poems From the Road" (available on Amazon). Randy is also featured in the Youtube streaming movie "Without Bound" on living a mobile lifestyle.
Where the Warm Is
To all who shiver come on down;
Camp with me near Yuma town.
See on your road map way down low
Where the Colorado River touches Mexico?
Note the weather map any winter day
Down 'round Yuma's like Paris in May.
A bubble of warm fifty miles wide,
Where millions of us can hunker and hide.
From the gloomy chill of ice and snow
That plagues New York and Buffalo.
Camp in the desert, quiet and free
Near a road named Ogilby,
Where the sun will rise over Pilot Nob
And rest in the dunes when it's done it's job.
Your posts leave me speechless. The wonderful photos and commentary makes me feel like I am there, but there seems like another time and place. It is just fascinating-and opens my mind to all the possibilities and options that are out there if you choose to seek them. Good for you Laura.
ReplyDelete(As you seek the sun, you will be glad to hear that you are missing the first big snow of the season)
Thank you so much Jo-Ann for your comment, for it is my hope that I entertain and don't get boring, and that it also opens up the eyes of my nearly retired friends and those who have a wanderlust, just how easy this actually can be and how affordable. It's remarkable actually. Many people do the "six and six", six months in the desert, six months in the mountains or return to their home state. I do love New England in the three seasons! Thanks for coming along for the ride, I know you have the urge to travel so maybe we'll do that one day! I could be a seasoned road dog by the end of this!
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