West Texas

Still managing to find some mountains to climb, even in Tx.

We made it to Texas! (It should really be like four states, but don’t tell anyone from here that I said that)

After a rough and anxiety-inducing two days at a city RV park located under interstate 10 in El Paso, we made our way southeast, first to a hipcamp south of Van Horn. We’ve arranged a longer stay in Marfa, and eventually plan on ending up near Austin for a longer stay around there as well.

Sometimes reality is camping under a busy highway in a big city.

We hiked up a wash adjacent to our hipcamp with lots of evidence of people crossing through the area. After spending so much time along the US/Mexico border through three states now I am determined to find any organizations working with asylum seekers and any other people crossing that border to seek a safer and better way of life. It can’t be a passing thought for me anymore, there has to be people who think similarly to me about a humane solution to this predicament, I want to work with them moving forward.

Artifacts both past and present in the wash we hiked. Was so good to be back in a quiet and isolated place. We had a lot of rich discussion about the strewn out camps here too.

We ran into a major hiccup at our remote destination. Our rear air suspension on Lafawnda the Lexus has officially kicked the bucket. This happens occasionally with her (old sensors that get finicky so it lifts when you want it low or stays low when you want it lifted) all other times this eventually self-corrects or Zach fiddles with it and it resolves but this time no amount of tinkering would help, it was the end. This predicament made it impossible to tow Flossie to our RV Park in Marfa so we called AAA and got a tow out. Now we are extending our time in Marfa so we can get some parts delivered and get Lafawnda back in good shape for trailer hauling.

Our first encounter with car troubles but we won’t let it dim our spirits. Also, cheers to being conservative with water since we had to stay here an extra day AND help our tow truck driver find us for about 2 extra hours.

This gives us good pause for getting back into a regular school routine for the kids as well as lots of time to explore this funky community. Some folks on our nomad forums suggested we return to Van Horn for better access to parts, but since Zach knows what he wants and how to fix it we can wait in this quiet town very far from I-10, and the community is such that we can likely borrow jacks or tools from the locals as we began inquiring shortly after arrival. More on Marfa in my next post!

A month in Arizona, conclusion

Tombstone, Bisbee, and Douglas, Az.

Our final week in Arizona concluded with some touristy stops in Tombstone and Bisbee, and our first hipcamp stay on a really nice lady’s land north of Douglas, Az.

We drove through Tombstone en route to our hipcamp spot. It was a fun stroll through town but we didn’t go anywhere that would require tickets or being inside around others so we kept it short and simple.

The following day we ventured over to Bisbee, Az and did some similar strolling around but did find a good coffee roaster and a bookstore so we got a few things that needed getting. Finding high quality, freshly roasted coffee while traveling has been a challenge. We are total snobs in this department. Blame it on living in Denver and spending so much time in Guatemala where good coffee is the standard and quite easy to come by. I loved the murals painted on the sides of all the old buildings. And the way the town is built up on hills so you have to roam up and down was such a surprising find in this part of Az. I dare say it was my favorite place we visited in the whole state.

Some favorite shots from walking all over Bisbee

The place where we parked at for our hipcamp was heaven! Aside from her and her friend we were in complete solitude and silence. You’d walk outside of the camper and the silence was deafening if that makes any sense. I can’t recall having this sensation anywhere else in our travels. The landscape was sweeping, grassy mountains so it felt like we were in a painting. We could walk along the rocky roads surrounding her property and only hear or see the passing cow or deer or spying hawk. This was a very restoring and resetting place and the perfect spot to ring in the New Year. It helped frame for us what we could be on the lookout for if and when we buy some land. Our host was very hospitable checking in on us periodically and leaving us some cookies and potatoes. She also showed us her art studio and works in progress.

I’m linking to her website for future perusal.

https://www.pajaritaflora.com

Natalie was of course very inspired. We’ll see what she spins up art-wise in the coming weeks after our great visit. We left this Arizona with a lot of feelings as we continue to navigate this lifestyle. I was pleasantly surprised to see that we spent a little over a month here. When we traveled to Phoenix briefly last September with our friend it wasn’t a pleasant experience in the sweltering heat and never ending strip malls. But other parts of Arizona turned out to be everything we needed in the late fall and into winter; Warmer climate, inexpensive camping options, wide open desert spaces with plenty of amazing sunsets and opportunities for stargazing, budding friendships, kind neighbors, magical creatures and desert plants. As we mosey on over into Texas for some Kinship Market dealings, we will keep these sweet memories fresh in our minds while the wheels continue to roll.

Trying to capture to vastness of this place is impossible in pictures but here’s a slice of heaven if you prefer solitude and a little desert magic

Christmas in Tucson

Our next destination, per crowdsourced suggestions (and some necessary adulting) was to spend some extended time around Tucson with our first destination being the only BLM area around on the south west side of town. Tucson was planned to be the biggest town we were going to camp near foe awhile so we ordered a cell extender for more consistent service. We also changed our cell provider and changed some things around with our service arrangements. Now we’re all on one family plan for $100/month! With better service coverage! Now the kids can do their homeschool computer work with more regularity too. We’ve been slacking since November with so much moving around and t-mobile basically really stunk in many of the places we’d been. Adulting while on the road and getting these needs met was a big win. And once again gives me so much compassion and insight to people unwillingly experiencing homelessness and the obstacles involved with setting up basic utilities while not living somewhere permanently.

We stayed in touch with the Jolley’s via social media so were able to meet up and camp with them a third time which once again really helped to break up some of the monotony of life on the road. In the meantime I was working on securing us a place in the nearby Gilbert Ray campground so we could have a nicer place to be at for Christmas. BLM land is fine for some things; it’s usually cheap or free, but no amenities like bathrooms trash or privacy existed in the Tucson BLM, it was also incredibly dusty and loud right off of the Ajo highway.

We took a fun diversion day to explore the Pima Air and Space Museum, which was a safe activity to do because it was almost entirely outdoors. I might do a separate post of all the planes we saw there but here are a handful of my favorite.

I liked the planes that artists got a hold of (surprise, surprise). No specific model or history.

WWII Plane art was also fascinating and widely varied in message conveyed

Some clever marketing person gets my applause here 🤱🏽

Once we got moved over to Gilbert Ray our options for hiking and exploring Saguaro National Park opened up. Turned out a lot of people had similar plans to ours, camping over the Christmas holiday, but the campground was the best maintained that we’ve encountered thus far, and everyone was quiet and respectful after dark. It did however mean we ended up spending more time just hanging around camp instead of at the NP. But it did feel like a needed rest so we embraced the slower pace.

A simple and quiet Christmas for us this year

Natalie made sticky buns for Christmas breakfast and this was her reaction to how they turned out.

A funky looking fishhook barrel cactus near camp at Gilbert Ray

When our reservation ended at GR we were not sure of our next plot point so instead of moving far we went to the other end of Tucson to an old run down campground at Colossal Cave Park. The mountains on this side of Tucson were definitely more wild and rugged. We encountered our first javelina (a type of wild pig), and Natalie and I saw a white nosed coati near a picnic area. Just these two scenarios made the visit worth it. We hiked all around our campground and the nearby ranch, petting the horses and learning about the indigenous peoples who had originally occupied this land. We stumbled upon a fairy garden here too, which had us all wondering about the creative kids who had set all of it up most likely quite recently. Enjoy the pics and I’ll try to do better at writing more regularly now that we have more consistent cell service.

(Almost) full moon rise over Colossal Cave campground

Fairy garden encounter, so fun to stumble upon so many colors in the winter desert

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Zach planned this diversion not knowing a lot about the area but curious enough to make the special trip since it’s not on the way to or close to any town or other landmark. We are so glad we made the journey! We learned even more about the vast Sonoran desert, and now we’re all confidently walking around subsequent trails correctly identifying different desert foliage. We went on a scavenger hunt drive where we stopped at specific mile markers to find the cristate cactus, these are cactus that where they grew abnormally and created these beautiful fins or crowns. The kids have been gobbling up ranger badges and this park was no different, but they had a desert ranger badge that Natalie could work for (which was a little more reading and a higher level than some of the Jr. Ranger books), and in addition to their wooden badges this park went all out with patches and pins.

A close up of a cristate growth on an organ pipe cactus

The most thought provoking part of this visit to us was the very visible border wall between the US and Mexico. I’ll be frank. It’s a crock of BS. There were signs all over the park asking to report “suspicious” activity while at the same time trying to assure the public that someone crossing illegally would likely not try through such a public thoroughfare. The only real suspicious activity we noted at all was the myriad of Border Patrol trucks zooming to and fro all over the otherwise completely quite landscape. It’s almost as if this government agency was given free reign to do as they please terrorizing people with brown skin and trying to make their job look important and necessary to the rest of us. This is where on one hike basically the only thing I could think about was I get to willingly trek through this desert with a destination and end in mind and it’s still hard and it’s hot and water is scarce, but what about the person who is doing it out of desperation for hundreds of more miles, far less resources, scarce water and food, and so much fear. I’ve always held a tender spot in my heart for anyone making such a perilous journey. I tear up anytime I hear a story about someone fleeing terrible circumstances from their home country. I understand it because I’ve spent a lot of time witnessing the poverty and hopelessness present in some of the places they are fleeing from. But having my feet on the ground where perhaps someone has crossed and maybe dropped a glove or left a broken piece of something really deepened my compassion and empathy for their struggle and courage to go anyway because they see it as maybe the only ounce of hope left for them or their family. So, getting back to the issue of my infuriation with that wall. It’s just a blatant power statement that we as a country would rather waste our money and resources on building such an ugly monstrosity, then pour billions of dollars into patrolling and capturing people seeking asylum. Wouldn’t we do better by using those billions of dollars for humanitarian help, or how about supporting the countries that we corrupted in the first place so people don’t have to make the difficult decision to leave? Or, how about we allow people of all skin colors and education levels to come here legally with a path to citizenship? I hope that in my lifetime we can really reform what immigration looks like. People have been migrating since the beginning of human time, people will continue migrating especially as the effects of climate change touches more and more areas. Seeking asylum, immigration of any form should not be criminalized or weaponized. We are a country, built by immigrants, with more than enough abundance to share our wealth and resources with those seeking the opportunity to participate in our society. I hope we tear down that wall in my lifetime and we stop wasting resources in such a cruel and needless manner. This is why we travel, so that we can learn firsthand and with our bodies about the deeper things that are affecting us as a global population. Yes, the sights are fun and we’re also getting plenty of rest, but overall I want to teach by showing my family a different point of view. To consider somebody else’s story.

My thoughts are the same as the person who graffiti’ed this sign. Stop treating people like they are anything less than the beautiful humans they are. Everyone deserves dignity.

Could you imagine trying to cross this desert for days on end? It’s all I could think about.

Remnants from an old mining site within the park

A Month in Arizona. Beginning

The US Army gave camels a try in the desert around here a couple of years before the Civil War, the experiment failed but the camels remained in this area for awhile, hence the homage to them in the town sign.

Quartzsite, Arizona

After reaching another phase of decision fatigue and consulting friends familiar with the area we decided to try out the LTVA BLM. It’s where all the snowbirds flock for the winter with every type of camper ranging from million dollar second home on wheels to homeless encampment. The long term BLM option was to pay $40 for two weeks or $180 for the season which runs from September to April. We chose the two weeks obviously, but the low price for the really long term made it clear why there was such a diverse and interesting population all around us.

Q is a geologically interesting place too, we gathered a couple of bags of quartz and other pretty rocks to start a new collection wherever we may end up. Even if there was less variety of things to do here the rocks and things people did with them (like making driveways and delineated lines around their own little carved out spot) kept us interested and entertained.

Sunsets here were showstoppers almost nightly

A few days into our stay here we were sitting outside watching the goings on when some friends we made in Nevada rolled up to the nearby dump station. Their big gray and green skoolie was pretty easy and unique enough to spot from a hundred yards away. Camden ran over and flagged them down and a day after that they returned to camp near us! Having two other kids to hang out with has been a heaven send foe both of our families. It was really fun to hang out with the Jolley family a second time, sharing stories around the campfire and comparing travel notes. They also enlightened us on a few more things to check out in Q from hikes to the best big outdoor flea market.