After one more day in Quartzsite (it was worth staying an extra day to see Kendrick and meet Veronica), I packed up and headed back to Imperial Dam. To my surprise, Melissa, a fairly new arrival at our Quartzsite camp, decided to come with me. She was feeling the same way about the crowds, and she had a few days left on her two-week LTVA pass before resuming her journey back east. Since it’s also valid at Imperial Dam, she decided to escape the Quartzsite crowds and see someplace new before continuing her travels, and I don’t mind being her tour guide in an area I know. Her Toyota 4Runner is a true tiny home compared to my setup. She’s an overlander, not a van lifer, and that’s perfectly okay.
We set up camp, enjoyed the sunset, had a campfire, and checked into the Desert Ratt Pack net that evening. She was already interested in ham radio before meeting me, specifically for overlanding, so it’s been good to give her a taste of it. We talked about everything and anything until we ran out of firewood, then retired to our respective homes on wheels for the night.
The next day we took her 4Runner into Yuma to check out the Territorial Prison, since she’s a history nut like me. I went there two years ago, and it hasn’t changed, so you can read my previous post to learn all about it. We grabbed lunch, then returned to camp by way of Mittry Lake, since she was missing trees and water.
Last night’s sunset didn’t start as much but turned into a 360º panorama of spectacular colors. A camera can’t capture the depth of colors, nor what it was like to be completely surrounded by them. It was one of the best Arizona sunsets I’ve ever seen, and that’s a high bar to match. Then we hopped on my bike and went over to the Desert Ratt Pack camp for their campfire gathering. Melissa got to meet some of the voices she heard on the radio, all of whom were quite friendly, encouraging, and helpful toward her efforts to get on the air herself.
Last night was the first night in months I haven’t run my heater at all overnight. The weather is warm this week, with lows in the 50s overnight and highs predicted to be in the 70s, though I measured 80º as yesterday’s high. I’m working today, so Melissa went off to continue exploring on her own, as she should. I actually started feeling a bit hot, so I set up my shade cloth for the first time this year to take the edge off.
I may take a quick motorcycle ride back to Quartzsite to pick up a package if it ever arrives. So far, it’s left the Phoenix area, gone to San Diego, came back, and made it to the Quartzsite post office before going to Ehrenberg for absolutely no reason whatsoever. If it ever makes it to my mail forwarder, though, it’s an easy two-hour round trip on the bike to go get it instead of moving my whole camp. Since I’m heading to the Tucson area in a few days anyway, it doesn’t make sense to move before then, especially since I’m already so close to I-8 here.
Naturally, the weather is taking a turn for the worse just in time for the meetup. Friday, the first official day of the meetup, is looking cold and rainy, so I’m leaning toward making the drive on Thursday to get set up while the weather is still good. It won’t rain all weekend, but it will remain cold, with highs only in the 50s. I’m going to enjoy this warm week while it lasts. I’m also going to enjoy seeing a bunch of new friends I made at Amanda’s meetup again at the Ironwood meetup this weekend. Best of all, unlike Amanda’s meetup, I won’t have any responsibilities whatsoever, so I can focus on relaxing and having a good time with old and new friends.
Smokey Da Van 