Why Do People Go to Quartzsite, AZ? - Nomad Life

foreign [Music] well good morning we're coming at you from the camper van here I'm still camped out in quartzite Arizona the weather has been a little cooler than normal uh as opposed of previous years it can kind of fluctuate but it's been in about the mid 50s although we're having a little warm up it's getting up to the mid 60s for highs still cold at night about 35 at night was last night but that again is going to be warming up here in the next few days and only had a couple really windy days here the wind has been down a lot which is very nice when you're in the desert that can be an issue if it's cooler and the winds are high it can just make it to where you just don't want to be outside um so anyway I always get a lot of questions when I come down to quartzite this time of year or just in the southwest deserts in general of what's the appeal why would you want to be there it's flat and boring and it can be crowded what is the appeal why would anyone want to be there for more than a day or two and I just thought I'd touch on that a little bit I've talked to a lot of folks that have been coming here for years and I can share my personal experience a lot of folks do like Florida that is another winter destination for a lot of people I know personally the family I have back East a lot of them as they got older in their years they had a snowbird mobile home or trailer down in Florida because they were from the state of Maine and just would make that winter snow burning Trek down to Florida to get out of those harsh Winters in the Northeast down here in quartzite you see a lot of folks that are here from Michigan Minnesota Montana Wisconsin those cold mid Midwest northern states a lot of folks from Canada Alberta even Quebec BC come down here they're retired age and they just want to get out of those harsh cold Winters and enjoy some sunshine and warmer weather down here in the desert and it's kind of tradition here in Quartzsite there is an extremely large amount of public land where you can camp free and then they also have these long-term visitor areas where you can pay a hundred and eighty dollars for a permit that allows you seven months which is September to April and those long-term visitor areas a couple of them have like the Sewer Dump water and trash so you you can long term and not have to really leave your camping area other than going up front to dump your tanks and and watering up and all that so for those Snowbird folks this has become a tradition they have their family back home up north friends and family up there but they also have their extended Snowbird family down here that they've been camping with and building Community with for many years on end so it's something they look for or two not only to get out of the weather but also to see those people they haven't seen for the rest of the year through the summer months so I know a lot of folks they just get a lot of joy out of that it's a whole nother like I said extended family and community that they come down here and just enjoy just enjoy their golden years it's really neat to see one of the things I notice is so everyone here is just so happy these full-time you know the snowbirds and as well as the full-time RV and travelers everyone's just in a good mood and happy and it's just a good friendly atmosphere and I really like that about it and another big pool for a lot of people is we're very close to the Mexico border there's a little tourist town near Yuma Arizona you can cross the border into Mexico it's real easy safe parking on the U.S side you could walk across the border and a lot of folks go down there including myself for dental you can get very cheap dental care there and prescription meds you can get for pennies on the dollar compared to what a lot of people pay in the U.S even with their insurance so I know for many folks it's an annual go down and stock up on your prescription meds I go down there to get my teeth cleaned it ends up being about 25 dollars which is way less than anywhere I could find in the US and they do a good job and then I just have a couple prescription meds that I pick up um stock up for the rest of the year I know a lot of folks that you know their prescription meds are really expensive so they can save a lot of money going down to Mexico it's an unfortunate here in the U.S that that's the case it really shouldn't be that way you shouldn't have to travel to another country to get affordable medications but it is what it is same with dental so that's a big pool for me and also in quartzite around this time of year January there is a couple big events that people really enjoy going to you know I'll talk about those there's the annual rubber trap Rendezvous a lot of you have heard of that some not it's kind of a nomad traveler full-time Nomad traveler Meetup event where it's informational as well as community building so there's seminars talking about topics that people on the road would be interested in anywhere from like solar systems solar power systems for your RVs or campers Boon docking tips places to camp and learning how to camp for free on public land or next to free very affordable cheap camping options all broad range of topics so that's a big pull for a lot of people that event really builds Community for people that are out solo on the road a lot of us out on the road we're kind of introverted and enjoy our alone time but I believe as humans we all kind of need a sense of community and a lot of people including myself gets that here not only in quartzite but at that rubber champ Rendezvous event so it's very important for me I've done quite a few over the years I've skipped a couple but started going to those events in 2015 and I just continue to get something out of it every time it's seeing those people that you don't see the rest of the year exchanging stories of your travel and experience is sharing places to camp with each other it's just a very neat special community and it's important in my life for my well-being my happiness and it carries me out through the rest of the year when I'm more alone most of the time so that's a big pull for a lot of people there's also a big RV trade show the big tent RV trade show here in Quartzsite it's the usually the second to last week of January there's multiple reasons why people go to that one of the biggest reasons for the people that I know and myself is that you can get a seasonal job there it is a trade show there's all sorts of stuff people pushing their products and that but there's also the concession errors that do the campground hosting in all the campgrounds where you could secure a campground host job the sugar beet Harvest has a booth there for the Harvest work up in the northern states in the fall Amazon camper Forest has the booth as well as many other employers that are looking for seasonal workers that can travel to a different destination and stay for a little bit and work and make some money before they go on their way and so that's important for me I always like to go to that for the job fair portion see what's out there you know talk to the people learn about the jobs and if I'm interested I can get an application they've seen your face and talked to you in person so usually people that are looking for a seasonal job can secure one during that event so that's huge that's a big deal for a lot of us non-retired folks I hear for a lot of people they see these videos on YouTube of people in downtown quartzite and visiting or camping in some of the busier camping areas and they say why would anyone want to be around those crowds and for the reasons I mentioned a lot of people for a short amount of time they like being around all those people again it's a it's their Community it's their extended family so it's not like you're just camped out with a bunch of people you don't want to be around for the most part rvers and full-time rvers snowbirds are all just happy people in a good mood and you can have great conversations so that's I think the reason why people camp in those more crowded areas there are areas you can go to I'm Camp somewhere I cannot see another camper for miles in any direction like came out a little ways I'm still pretty close to town I can zip in on my motorcycle and go visit friends and other of the busier camps when I feel like it but I have this Retreat this Refuge to come back to and again I'll show you guys outside my camper here there's just nobody in sight I don't hear any other campers I don't hear any road noise it's awesome so those places do exist in quartzite you just gotta poke around so again I just wanted to kind of get that out of the way I feel like over the years I've never really taken the time I always get those comments and struggle to to have a proper response and just typing a short comment so I thought I'd take a few minutes there and just talk about it I hope that clears that up I'm again I know this still probably is not an area or experience that a lot of people would enjoy but I would encourage anyone to come and experience it at least once my my parents actually surprised me and visited me at the big tent yesterday so that was really exciting they made the drive out from San Diego they got a hotel in Yuma and it was just a huge surprise I did not know they were going to come and it was just really really neat to have my my parents come out to kind of my world my turf out here so I'm gonna carry on with my day here today is shower day I'm gonna get my shower tent set up the wind is supposed to be down it's a little warmer so I'm going to show you guys how I do that I don't know if I've showed that in the past but I've got a little system for showering at Camp there are showers in town in quartzite but they're usually pretty busy and costs anywhere from five to I think fifteen dollars depending on which one you use so I just try to do it at Camp I bring enough water to do that it is cool enough to wear my little shower spray bottle I'll show you that doesn't heat up in the sun completely enough for a nice warm shower so I boil a little bit of that water and just get it up to a nice warm shower temp so show you how that works and uh yeah a little Glimpse around Camp I right let's get outside I'll show you around camp Kelly has joined me she joined me a few days ago she's actually at the big tent show right now she's an exhibitor at a booth there for the seasonal job she worked with as a tax preparer I've been hanging out with her most the days since the start of the event but I needed to take a day off today this is my Camp here as you can see there is not another camper in sight so many people think when you come to Courtside it's just crowded everywhere again I touched on that earlier a lot of those crowded spots it's because people just want to be camped around other people they enjoy it I like to do it my way I like to come out and find a very secluded spot I cannot see another camper in any direction for Miles I am totally out here got this whole desert to myself but yet I'm close enough to where I can just get on my motorcycle and have a short ride into town and the other busier camping areas to visit and socialize and then come back here and have my little hideout I picked this spot because it's near a wash there's just a lot of more trees we have the Ironwood trees here these bigger ones these smaller green ones are the Palo Verde a lot of creosote bushes and the big tall Saguaro cacti and I just love being surrounded by the mountains as well it's neat out here I really enjoy it and there's just a level of freedom because there's so much public land you are free to just go drive down any dirt road and explore and find your own little camp and call it home for a while it's really awesome I always get a lot of questions too is why I don't spend more time on the East Coast on the eastern states and I've done a few trips back there for sure I've made videos on it did a winter in Florida and it was nice went up the east coast up to the Northeast and it's just a little bit more restricted back there there's a lot less public land totally doable ends up being a little bit more expensive you got to move around a little more and sometimes pay for camping um either that or kind of bend the rolls a little bit break some laws here and there which I usually don't like to do especially because I'm in the public eye when I post videos I always get that question how come there's no Nomad YouTubers on the east coast and there's a couple but most of them are staying in Pay campgrounds and I've met a lot of other people that are full-time Nomads back there and but again you kind of have to bend the rules a little bit so probably would not be smart to post that and share that on the internet you would get reported and probably find so I'd assume that's why that's my guess and for me having traveled back there and spent a lot of time out west there's just a level of Freedom out here it's a funny thing about Freedom once you've experienced a higher level of freedom it's hard to go back to a lesser level of freedom and that's one of the reasons why I spend so much time out west so we got a little fire pit here I got my charcoal grill out it's getting that cleaned up I'm gonna Grill up some burgers this evening have a little campfire the wind has been down so it's perfect time for it so I'm gonna get working on getting my shower tent set up here still using the old spray bottle I'll show you that so this and uh some videos in the past I've been using this since I hit the road back in 2014 2015. it's just a weed sprayer bottle this is a two gallon version painted it black so the water heats up in the Sun and I put a little sink sprayer nozzle on it and this has worked great the only problems I've had with this is you got to be careful if you leave this outside overnight and it gets down to freezing I've had these sink sprayer nozzles crack and become unusable because of the expanding ice when it freezes so if it's going to get down to freezing I'd always got to remember to bring it inside the van other than that it's it's this is the same one I've been using the whole time still works great fill that up with water let it sit in the sun to warm up and if it doesn't get up to a proper temp for shower as warm as I'd like I dump a little bit out into a saucepan heat it up on my camp stove pour it back in and it's a nice steamy hot shower so I'll work on getting my shower tent set up I use this sink sprayer nozzle because it gives a nice stream there good for showering and it's just push button so you have to be holding it which helps you save water be a little tricky just using one hand sometimes but like I said I just kind of rinse myself down hang this up in my shower tent soap up grab the nozzle once I'm soaked up and then rinse off again I'm kind of realizing today how long I've had this shower tent gets really held up well this is just a Walmart brand Ozark Trail utility tent and I think I picked this up around the time that I worked at Adventureland in Iowa that amusement park did a seasonal job there worked there for a summer I think that's around the time I picked this up maybe a little before that so it's been a good six seven years and it's still holding up just fine so we'll get that set up it sets up pretty easy pretty sturdy Against the Wind so we'll get that set up and show you what it looks like all right so there it is all set up works out pretty good really just helps break that wind if you try to shower outside without the tent the slightest Breeze really gives you a chill pretty quick unless it's really warm outside middle of summer if it's in the 90s I'll totally shower without this tent I use these big Nails I got from Home Depot the steaks that came with this were pretty flimsy out here in this hard desert dirt I just take my little mini Sledge Hammer those right in it keeps it put all right so there it is all set up I have had this tent for quite a few years and it's held up pretty good I mean these are the stress points right here where you clamp it to the tent poles and I would imagine in pretty high winds you could probably tear this up pretty easy but I've been pretty diligent over the years to take it down when I'm done using it kind of half take it down set it on its side if I'm going to be using it again in the next couple days if it's going to be windy and then definitely don't leave it up overnight because if the winds pick up overnight it's a sure way to mangle up the tent so yeah it's served me well for the price I paid I think I paid some 25 bucks for it and it's lasted all these years and again the weed sprayer bottle has worked out really good so now that this is nice and warm I'm ready to take my shower I just bring it in here pun up pump it up really good and that's enough pressure to get all wet down soap up and then I usually pump it up a few more times in between and then rinse off good to go I never usually use more than two gallons for one shower oftentimes I can get two showers out of the two gallons just a very quick rinse down and this tent's cool it's got little pockets to put your soap and shampoo and stuff and then I usually use this little footstool here to put my towel leave my sandals out here go in shower up and be able to grab my towel through the little opening and dry off and make my way back to the van I don't know what it is about these showers at camp but man it is so refreshing I feel like a new man I'll show you what I do with the tent when I'm done so when I'm finished up I usually set the tent on its side so all the water can drain out kind of tip up on its side first and it has these little uh vents here where the water can flow through and once the majority of the water is out I tip it on its side the bottom can dry and the inside that way I'm not packing it up while it's still damp and getting Mill doing that so it seems to work I've been doing that over the years I'll probably let that dry out real good and get it packed up for the night it's easy enough to set up and take down that I really don't mind doing it between each use gosh that felt good are doing burgers tonight on the grill bacon cheeseburgers look at that just about ready the hell's fixing up the Buns here we got our fixings inside it's all happening so fast a little lettuce tomato onion you're gonna be mmm good what do we got going on here and we have french fries oh and french fries forgets from the air fryer in the air fryer yes yes

Channel: AdventureVanMan

Views: 160,830

Keywords: adventure, vanlife, campervan, camping, campgrounds, boondocking, vandweller, vandwelling, nomad, nomadic, gypsy, traveler, travels, ontheroad, hittheroad, roadtrip, tinyhouse, tinyhome, motorhome, rv, classb, classc, adventurevanman, van, man, vlog, followyourdreams, living, free, americandream, outdoors, nature, explore, hiking, cooking, campstove, gear, solar

Id: EL_VYx0oLlI

Length: 19min 54sec (1194 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 24 2023