Oh, Let The Rain Come Down!

 March 6, 2025: Day 31: Oh, Let The Rain Come Down!

We are just a bit past the halfway point, of our stay in the Arizona desert. Day by day, we come more to the wonderful realization that we made the right choice, to become full-time nomads.

So far....:)

We are also pragmatic enough to know that every day is a gift, and we've no guarantees that tomorrow will be as blessed as today. We also have come to realize that the things--literally, things--we thought important, are not. We have plenty of room. We have plenty of food. we have...enough. 

One Youtuber we follow has a saying: Experience Over Things. We are taking that to heart and experiencing as much as we can. Know how, when on a road trip, you'll pass historical markers, or roadside attractions, but pass them by, because you're 'on the road'?

We stop, now. We're not in any hurry, because there's more to life than increasing its speed. We smell the roses, we read the signs, we sit out Harvey...and sit.

Today...and last night, we were told this was the first measurable rainfall in Quartzsite in a year! It began late last evening as a soft sprinkle, ramping up into a good rain. It wasn't enough to fill up the myriad washes that surround us, but plenty to puddle the flat areas. It was welcome, after the big, dusty windstorm of yesterday. 

Sadly, there are no ocotillo cacti anywhere near us, to watch their dry, dead-looking sticks turn green, laden with leaves: it's one of the miracles of the desert, and it happens within 36 hours!

So, this is just a snapshot, and bear with me, 'cuz I'm still trying to figure out this blogger: stay tuned, for I may transition to something easier.

 Day 18: Quartzsite Musings...

It's been a long, dry stretch, so I'll do my best to catch up! We are having the exact ball we thought and hoped retirement would be.  However, like jumping out of an airplane for the first time, till you do it, no amount of research and investigation will fully convey the experience.

First: Took me a few times, driving past the sign...

...to get that the geologist's term, 'quartzite,' is different to the town name, "QuartzSite!"

Second: A major realization, as a result of a trip back to frigid, chilly Colorado..

I went back to finish cleaning out the garage: prospective renters were put off by not having all the shelves cleaned off. There was room to park two cars in it, but...

It was COLD, there: below zero F, both days, and snowy on the ground. I came from PHX, in the morning, which was 58F, to arrive at DEN, to a brisk high of 16F.

Yep. This full-time snow birding was a good choice! 

Having been born and raised in Colorado, I remain a proud citizen of the state,, BUT...a lifetime of dealing with winter was one of the main reasons Renee and I chose to follow the RV life. Being there in cold Colorado reinforced that notion, but, more significantly, led to a realization, one that really fully dawned on me upon my return.

When I was back in the empty house...

...Renee called to talk about this-n-that, and she asked, "Being in the house, do you miss it?" The question caught me by surprise, and I had to think about it. 

After a few silent seconds, I replied, "No. Not really. Yea, the space is nice, and the freedom to move over 5 acres of land might be cool, but it's not home. it's just a rental."

The full realization didn't take place fully till I returned to our home...which is now Harvey II! It was then the entire picture became clear: Where we live is now home. 

Keenesburg is no longer our home...it's just a house.  That was an entirely unexpected conclusion, and it filled me with great joy, and some relief.

Our 200 square foot home, with little storage space, not much room to hang pictures, or to display tschotskis..is just enough.

It's enough to be comfortable. It's enough to share this journey with a wonderful partner. It's...enough.

We can plan and dream and till we commit, we never know if the leap was a good one or how we'll land. The research may increase the chances of a good landing, but the old shibboleth comes to mind: Behold the turtle...he makes no progress until he sticks his neck out.

A number of our friends have said to us, in slightly different ways, that they couldn't do what we have done, and frankly, we weren't, and couldn't be sure...till we jumped. It is an INCREDIBLE feeling, floating on a parachute of dreams, that by the grace of the Universe, is holding us up and allowing us to float along in our dream.

Come join us!

 Day 2, Quartzsite: It's different!

Our first stop, after leaving Phoenix, was in Yuma, AZ., for the Yuma BLM offices. There, you exchange your reservation for the actual passes you put on your camper and tow vehicle. The folks there were extremely patient with our questions, and handed up a sheaf of maps and tips. Then, we began the 90 miles trip from Yuma, to La Posa South, which is the largest of the quartet of sites available in Quartzsite.

We arrived here in the dusty La Posa South camping area...which is 11,000+ acres of (mainly) primitive camping. Since the RTR was over, the spaces were many and varied, and we picked one of the better ones, not far from the fresh water, the dump station, and the pit toilets.

Mainly, because there are no hookups; one can get potable water to put in your rig, and one must take your 'Blue Boy" (a generic name for the towable poop tanks folks use to...well, empty their poop tanks!) to a central dump station. There can be a sizable line of folks waiting to get access, and it's not the rosiest-smelling place....but, it's just part of  the experience of being a nomad!

Once set up--we're here till mid-April--we got to the tasks of knowing our way around the area, and drove into town to scope things out. A sizable contingent of the vendors are still set up in town: rocks, gems and minerals, RV supplies, and a gazillion food trucks are scattered around town. As you might expect, prices here are not very cheap, but the closest Walmart is in Parker, a 35-mile drive. at a nominal 12 mpg in The Beast, one carefully considers what's worth the drive!

Sorry for the short, boring report: I'm STILL trying to figure out how to attach photos...stay tuned!

The trials and tribulations of modern-day nomads!

 

Renee and I hit the road, right on time, 28 December, after an epic 2-week-long push to get the house cleared out and ready for rental. We had been working diligently all summer, since I’d retired in May. My job(s) was to attend to the major work of sorting and selling tools, excess house goods, and transporting furniture out of the house and into to the ConEx. The grounds, all five acres, were a monumental challenge, given I’d been collecting cars, various hunks of steel and aluminum, and odd-sized bits of wood, because…you’ll NEVER know when yer gunna need it!

Since Renee was the sole breadwinner, her time was limited and it fell to me to get the property issues attended to, which was perfect for me, being the retired old fart..:) She worked right up to the week before Xmas, and as such, she had a lot of pressure on her, which I tried, not always successfully, to lessen.

The time of reckoning had come, and part of the journey was what we called ‘the Maria Kondo-ing” of all our possessions, few of which could be taken on the road, in a 300-square-foot RV.

The what??

Maria Kondo was big a few years back, about her decluttering movement, and frankly, though it became kind of a joke, she had a point: Does this __________ (fill in the blank) give you joy? Does it serve an immediate purpose in your life? If not, take it in your hands, thanks it for the gifts it gave you, and bid it farewell.

Boy, did we say a lot of farewells!!

We took over 20 pickup loads of donations to ARC! We really got up close and personal with what was important, materially, and let us say…it was eye-opening how much stuff we had accumulated in a relatively short amount of time.

We all, to a greater or lesser degree, get attached to things, some for sentimental reasons, and some for…well, no reason at all, except, “It’s a cool/useful/precious thing!” This process, if for no other reason, really made us look at our attachment to things and the relative worth of keeping them. We got up close to our ideas of what was ‘needed,’ and what was ‘wanted.’

I got a bit hindered in one major job, and that was erecting the windmill that came from Renee’s family farm, in western Oklahoma. More on that, later.

Alas, it wasn’t completely successful…. but not a failure!

In our blind rush to get out of the house and on the road, we had so many major challenges, but our hard leave date kept us focused.

Did we get everything done? No. We got as much done as we could, and off we went.

 

Next…first days on the road.

 It's D Day!

Well...almost: we hit the road tomorrow morning, bound for our first long-term destination of Tucson, Arizona.  We'll be traveling in this here train...

28,000 pounds of pure fun!

This will be sweet and short, because Renee and I have been bustin' our tails, all day, to finish up details....many of which are NOT finished, but at least the house ius ready for rental. 

Onwards!

The Sun, She Be Transitin' Back North!

The patterns of nature are more easily seen, when you live out in the sticks. There's more nature, even if it's a much-modified version of nature, put there by farming. You see the seasons in the winter wheat: planted in the first frosty air of October, then small, hopeful green sprouts, if lucky, by mid-November. Those wee green sprouts bring hope to the long nights and short days we get at 40 degrees north.

Much of Colorado becomes its normal shade(s) of brown: brown fields, brown trees, brown dead leaves, brown stalks of corn stubble....you get the picture. To see some green, peeking out, be it ever so small, and ever so delicate, is to remind us Children of the Snow, that promise lies in those green tufts of life, that this drab sea of brown dirt and white drifts of snow will soon yield the promise of another completed trip around the sun, the Sun that warms both the fields and the hearts of those who depend on its trip back up to the Northern Star.

Then, the snows of winter cover those tiny, green signals, of a spring and summer to come. You watch as the furrows ebb and flow, with the falling and melting snows.

Come March, as the days lengthen, the green sprouts grow ever more towards the sun, but they know Colorado, and they know not to trust the sometimes-brilliant sunshine and ofttimes warm temperatures, for they remember what a capricious mother, Nature is.

April, then May, and finally, the rains of late spring arrive (or, more often than not, the center-pivot sprinklers begin their endless 'round the Rosie of farm fields) and the wheat begins to reach for the heavens.

Come July, right around the 4th--when the corn becomes knee high!--the wheat has pushed up its green gown of spring growth, then turns golden brown in the high altitude sun.

What's this got to do with Harvey?

Well, in those warming days of April and May, "*The Harv*" will be taken out of its winter slumber, and preparations will begin to get back on the road, again!

Stay tuned!

Why Would We sell A Perfectly Good House, full Of Neat Things?

So, here's the full poop: Renee and I, after long consideration, finally arrived at a common agreement.

It wasn't that we didn't agree, just that what we arrived at took a long time to turn over, to think about, to do a "chess analysis" on the many possible moves available to us.

To cut to the chase--or through it!--we both chose that, as a childless couple, there would be no one to whom we could leave all our junk. On top of that, the fact remains, young kids don't **want** the kind of junk we've collected, and all our older friends...well, they are jettisoning *their* junk, too!

Yard sales are of limited use, given that:
-A) we live 'out beyond Woop Woop,' and;
-B) they are a huge hassle for the little benefit gained.

So, to that end, the demonstrably good junk will be sold off, to other Boomers who, before they crank, don't realize as we did, they're drawing in *stuff*.

We realized, we have had *PLENTY* stuff, but not enough seeing.

Seeing the world.

Seeing our own darned country, a great deal of which I've never seen.

I've never been to Yellowstone.
I've never seen any Civil War sites.
I've never been to Bouchard Gardens.
I've never seen The Keys.
I've never seen the Arch.
I've never seen fall, in upstate New York.
I've never seen Ellis Island, the statue of Liberty, or Central Park

Hell, I've never even been next door, to Kansas, and seen "The World's Largest Ball Of String!" The list is..well, beyond the range of the number of tomorrows I *might* have left.

We want to *experience* places, to *see* things we've never seen before, and we are clear-eyed enough to know we have many more yesterdays than we have tomorrows, in which to do so

Time to head for tomorrow...in an RV!

Fortunately, what with Renee's many years at a good county job, my savings from my Federal job, plus the sale of and pay-down of the property, best we can tell, we'll be OK. We won't live like a King and a Queen, but we'll be plenty comfortable.

With few monthly bills. With the open road, to choose how we go, how we live, what we see.

Ergo, we bought Harvey. He's (relatively) small, easy-to-park/drive, and was in good shape for his age (1985).

We *think* we'll graduate to a pickup-with wheel, but that will be down the road, closer to our retirement date--with luck, 2026. That's why we chose a moderately-sized RV, to actually experience and see what size of "Tiny home" we end up with.

Our "practice" RV.



In honor of some excellent friends, in the next year or two, we'll be having a "House Cooling" sale: We'll invite friends, and ask that they choose a thing they like, to take to their homes, and enjoy.

No reasonable offers refused!

So, in a nutshell, this is a bit more detail. I'm still learning how to be a blogger, and to do all the requisite moves, so please be patient...and join us in our adventure!

Paul-n-Renee