First day in Quartzsite, Arizona

 At this point this is a private blog. When I was in the Bay Area in September 2023 folks asked if I would share information about my travels in the desert this year. So I’m gonna do it here.

Today was my first full day in Quartzsite, Arizona. If you saw the movie, Nomadland, you have a taste of what it looks like out here.



It’s a very flat valley, maybe 20 miles wide. The mountains on the west are connected to the Sierra Nevadas and the mountains on the east start to climb towards the Rockies. The valley goes north past Las Vegas and south into Mexico.

Nearly all of the valley is government land, as is much of the Southwest. Because of the warm temperatures, people from across the United States and Canada congregate here in the winter. Some people go down to Yuma, where there are many fancy RV parks.

The folks I hang out with, the nomad land folks, congregate around the government land, called LTVA, which stands for long term visitor areas. These designated areas charge a flat fee of $180 for six months of occupancy. Since nearly all government land requires you to move every two weeks, the LTVA’s allow people to stay in one place for seven months for one fee. The LTVA also provides, garbage service, water from underground wells, a few toilets, and dump stations for getting rid of waste.

I came out here the last two winters for a few months. I camped with different groups which typically had between five and 10 vehicles.

This year I’ve decided to try staying in one place as long as I could and camp with a larger group of people. This means camping with folks with many viewpoints that are different than mine. This camp and its associated Facebook group focus on what we have in common as nomads and do not tolerate any “those people” viewpoints. I am expecting to have many opportunities to practice tolerance myself. 

 This week is the first time temperatures here got below 90°. I came early in the season because the van is not meeting my needs anymore. So I am evaluating my other options. I am setting up a large tent and outside deck as a way to be outside more. My hope is to stay here continuously until the middle of April.

I intentionally decided to camp on the edge of a group of DIY folks. I wanted to be in a group that was big enough that there were lots of people available for both free and paid help.


I also made the decision this year to get a tent, a big one 10‘ x 14 feet, and see if that provided me with enough space so I could keep my van.  If I decide to change my vehicle the tent would be my primary living space during the conversion transition.

The RVs in the picture above shows the heart of the camp I am with. I wanted to be close enough to see them, and when my scooter Rosie is set up to work on get across this “district concrete” it’ll be easy to get to them.

 I also wanted to have a space with a little privacy. So I’m putting my personal camp up next to this wash, which is where the water runs off during storms. 


That means I won’t have neighbors on the south, which is where the wash is. I will park my van between the wash and my tent because 95% of all the wind here, and there is a lot of wind, comes from the south.

In addition to finding a camping spot, I also arrange to have a mailbox in town. Otherwise, I would have to pay five dollars for each Amazon package. And that adds up really fast.

I also checked out the local gem and mineral club. They have a class on making glass beads and on glass fusion which look really interesting to me. So I went by today to check out the access and luckily I ended up talking to the woman in the office who came out when she saw me lurking in my van at her door.

I also met with Mike P today, who is the Big Cheese of this particular camp. He knows everybody since he’s been coming here for over seven years, knows which people are reliable and do good work. He helped me find people who could not only put up my tent, but also build what I needed inside.

I got to reconnect with Ed who put in my electrical improvements last year. I’ll make sure to get pictures of the next few days. I’m going to end with tonight’s quiet sunset. 




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