Winter in the desert

Desert camp

I went to the Ehrenberg / Quartzsite area of Arizona for a good chunk of the winter. There is a enough BLM land there that with a bit of moving and boondocking it's free camping.

I paid for showers & bought my water from a machine by the gallon. Mail was either general delivery or through a package delivery store.

Water machine, this one is 25 cents a gallon

I had Thanksgiving dinner with people camping on the desert, the Christmas morning sunrise was over the mountains by Quartzsite and New Years Eve was down by the Colorado river.

Christmas morning

My main purpose was the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous (RTR) taking place in early January, I was early because of the weather, the people & the cost.

RTR turn off sign

RTR

 

 

 

RTR

I made some great friends, sat around a lot of campfires, didn't do much traveling & had a good time.

 

Breakfast down by the river

Friends at the Colorado river camp

Dinner over the fire

The RTR was amazing, all those people living (or wishing) for the nomad life. So much imagination in setting up a van (or car) for living, I learned a lot and it was not all from the seminars.

RTR seminar

I even made it up to Lake Havasu City for the VW event Buses By The Bridge for a day. It was not the same at a VW event (for me) without a VW.

Mountains on the way to Lake Havasu

VW's at BBTB

There are so many people making a living with the seasonal jobs, I really had no idea.
The RV show in Quartzsite didn't seems as big as it was my last time here (2012-2013) but there were more booths hiring workcampers.

The 'Big Tent' for the RV show, Quartzsite

Quartzsite sales

more sales

The sunsets were fantastic!

After awhile I went to Fontuna Pond down by Yuma and to the hot springs by Holtville Calif. Again a  large number of people staying on the BLM land.

Fortuna Pond by Yuma

The hot springs are worth a visit ....

The spring runs into this pond

This is the spring, very clean