Ehrenberg, AZ
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At the very bottom of the post is a map to Thanksgiving Dinner. Each post will have it until after Thanksgiving.)
Sometimes I get to talking to people and I tell them how much I love the desert and look forward to going back to it every year. Pretty often they just stare at me like I’m a Martian and I’m talking gibberish! Then they tell me they just don’t get what anybody sees in desert. To them it’s just a big, brown, ugly, empty void–what’s the appeal in that?
If I tried to try to
tell you why I love the desert, it would take me tens of thousands of words to answer and that still couldn’t do it justie. Or, I can just publish these pictures with a few words of explanation!
Moab, Utah
Even I have to admit it’s true, if you just take a casual, quick glance at the desert it doesn’t have a lot of appeal. But if you spend time in it and open your heart to it, somehow it gets into your inner being and changes you from the inside out.
Quartzsite, AZ
The problem is most people are only operating at the level of their “civilized” mind . They’ve been so spoiled by a lifetime of concrete and bright lights that they lose their in-born connection with nature. From birth all humans have a deep appreciation for nature but the greatest tragedy is that our obsession with safety and comfort has separated us from it. Instead of connecting with nature, we spend our whole lives inside our four walls where we are safe from heat, cold, rain or wind. Nature becomes an enemy instead of the source for all life and joy.
Pahrump, Nevada
Without nature our lives become empty and void of meaning so we’re left with a perpetual search for a replacement. Many people turn to some form of addiction but even more turn to distractions, mainly in the form of some form of a screen like a TV, computer, Pad or game console. We’re so fixated and dependent on them we shrunk them down and carry them with us every second of the day in the form of our telephones. Ironically, we call them Smartphones but the truth is that the more we use them, the dumber we get!
Quartzsite, AZ
The computer age has made us so dumb that we can go outside and see something as astounding as a beautiful sunrise, sunset or rainbow and not even be moved by it! Ho hum, it’s nothing compared to the latest game or blockbuster movie! Now those things impress us!
Quartzsite, AZ
Shedding the blindness caused by the civilized mind is not easy, nor will it happen quickly. For most people, me included, it takes years. If you can see these photos and be moved by them, you’ve started down the path yourself. Keep going, it’s worth it.
If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy,
if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you,
if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand,
rejoice, for your soul is alive. ~~Eleonora Duse
This photo was taken by my dear friend Charlene Swankie. That’s her van down by Yuma, Arizona
Wickenberg, AZ
Cottonwood, AZ
Here is a map to Thanksgiving Dinner:
Smartphones indeed. But wait a minute, weren’t you the guy recently enthusiastically touting (I wuv werizon) a $190 a month plan? Dude, get yer mind right.
JD, bringing you all these great pearls of wisdom doesn’t come cheap or easy!! 🙂
Seriously though, it’s the changes that vandwelling have brought to my head and heart that make the site work. Like everything else in life, there needs to be a balance. Our society is so off balance onto technology that we are becoming a culture in deep misery who needs to be constantly distracted from our pain. Reconnecting to nature brings healing, but it doesn’t have to be 100% of your day. There’s room for some technology too!!
Bob
Hi Bob, I just now stumbled upon your posts here. (I was searching to see if there was any free RV camping in Florida, where I’ve never been, and I was honestly surprised to see your post on that subject assuring me that indeed there is. Excitement!)
I’m looking for solo boondockers to email with occasionally. (I’ve been off facebook for a few years and don’t have any plans to go back, so email is my current preferred mode of communication for now.)
I did a year of fulltiming in 2006 and am now saving to go FT permanently in 2017. My rig will be a class B or a smaller class C.
Lots to learn, lots to do. Meanwhile, I live in Tahoe, so it’s not too rough (grins), but my feet are ITCHING for the road.
Happy Trails,
Dawn 🙂
Hi Dawn, wants the road gets into your blood, it’s like an itch you just got to scratch!! I’m afraid your hooked, there is nothing to do but go along with it!
I’d suggest you consider joining my forum. There are lots of very active, happy, full and part time RVers and vandwellers. And many in Florida! You’ll have lots of people to talk to there!
On my website, at the top of the page, just click on forum and join if you want to post. Or go to this link:
http://www.cheaprvliving.com/forums/
Bob
I’ve learned that “the desert” isn’t just one thing. There are many varieties, depending on altitude, latitude, geology and microclimates.
And may I add another variety…”attitude”. I love the southwest, and intend to move back there as soon as “family problems” have been taken care of. Beautiful pictures Bob. I saved some to use on computer screen. Linda
I agree Linda, there is an attitude in the desert. It’s a harsh place so you never fail to offer someone in need help–net time it might be you in need. It’s also laid-back, so for the most part there is a lot of tolerance.
Glad you liked the pics!
Bob
And attitude.
I’m going to miss the desert. And the van dweller community.
We’ll miss you Linda. Will you make it back next year?
Bob
Al, very good point! Sometime it can be totally different in just a few miles. And the change of seasons can take a dry, brown lifeless place and make it spring forth with greens, yellows and purples, full of life and charm.
That’s also what I love about the desert!
Bob
Ever since I read Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness by Edward Abbey I’ve wanted to go spend time in the desert. Before
reading that book I had zero interest in the desert. It’s probably
going to take me about a year to get rid of my stuff, sell my house. In the meantime thank you for articles like this to keep me going.
Cotie, you will be glad you did! It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but everyone should see it at least once!
Bob
I totally agree that deserts are awesome, and have many secrets and gifts to share.
Having just lived for three years in Qatar (next to Saudi Arabia), I discovered that there are quite different levels of desert. Since I come from Texas, and I believed where I lived was pretty much desert, I realized by comparison that it was a lush garden compared to the Qatar desert.
Cheers to all levels of desert! And your awesome photos!
Robin, that’s a very good point! We say “desert” and think that describes a certain thing while the truth is there is such a huge variety that it’s really hundreds of different things.
But, it’s all magical!
Bob
Case in point: Boise, Idaho, where I currently live, is considered high desert, but there are mountains and trees and plenty of greenery.
With regard to sunsets, for a long time I could not appreciate sunsets or sunrises, not because of my addiction to technology, but because of the amount of emotional baggage I carried around. I shed some (not yet all) of it and can now appreciate sunsets much more. Sunsets are still harder for me to appreciate simply because it’s hard sometimes for me to get out of bed that early. 😀
Walt, I’ll have to admit that I don’t take many shots of sunrises because I too can’t get out of bed that early.
I totally relate to carrying emotional baggage! It’s a strange thing, we can’t appreciate nature because of our baggage, but as we spend time in nature and slowly it heals us so we can finally appreciate it.
Bob
Bravo! Your eye for photography is a delight to see, I hope one day to see the desert for myself, until then, thank you for such wonderful pictures.
Scott, it’s something to look forward to!
Bob
I adore the desert – the wide open spaces, the striking colors of the geology contrasting with the subtle colors of the vegetation. I don’t know if it’s the dry air, but I notice the scents of the desert plants just by being outside.
I’ve only been in the desert a few times in my life, but it has a hold on me just like the Gulf of Mexico does.
Thanks for the wonderful post.
~Naomi
Your welcome Naomi!
Bob
“The western clouds divided and subdivided themselves into pink flakes, modulated with tints of unspeakable softness, and had so much life and sweetness that it was a pain to come within doors.”____Emerson
Beautiful, thanks David.
Bob
However, in Emerson’s day, “the west” was much farther east. For most 19th-century New Englanders, New York was “the west” and Ohio was the edge of the earth. But the sentiment of your quote still applies to what we now consider “the west.” 😉
I am both afraid and glad that those who need the desert explained to them will not understand.
I’m afraid you are right OFM, it either gets under your skin or it doesn’t. No right or wrong, rhyme or reason, we are all just different.
Bob
And if more people “got” the desert, it would all be like Phoenix.
That’s probably exactly how Phoenix got that “way”.
Bob
What a gorgeous post! Thank you for sharing. =)
Thanks Victoria!
Bob
I have always loved the desert, but also respect it. It can prick yah, stick yah, bite ya and generally be nasty, and possibly kill ya.
Douglas, that’s actually one of the reasons I love it. It demands respect and does not tolerate fools!
Bob
I always keep water with me in the truck, more than I think i will need. I have yet to purchase water filters or purifiers like the straws or similar, but want to. I used to keep an empty 2 liter bottle with me to use as a filter with sand and leaves.
I have, in the past, acted foolish in the desert, and it bit me in the fashion of vomiting and on another occasion falling on a pile of jumping cacti balls.
You’ve gotta be careful out their Douglas!
Bob
I learned that, luckily they weren’t terribly deep into my skin. I know carry lots of water and have reduced my coffee intake during the summer.
Good thinking Douglas.
Bob
Sometimes the desert is an acquired taste.
No doubt about that Douglas!
Bob
Love your blog and photography and wise words Bob. Thanks for sharing along the way.
I personally feel the disconnect this fall season after a summer season as a camp host on the beautiful Metolius River near Sisters, Oregon this past summer. My wife hinted strongly that it was time after eight glorius years of full-timing, we should find a more permanent base. As the saying goes, “Happy Wife, Happy Life”. So we did narrow it down to Bend, OR or Eugene. We lived in Eugene for over 30 years, so Nola, my wife, opted in the end to return to this area in Western Oregon. We are just now moving into an apt after 15 years of traveling about the world while teaching overseas or wandering around the USA in our Lazy Daze RV. It’s been a blast!
After living a very simple lifestyle for the past eight years on less than $2000 a month in our tiny moving home of 200 sq ft (27 foot Class C motorhome), we are now on a buying spree, which includes a 50 inch Samsung Smart TV. It’s hard not to watch the Oregon Ducks during football season. I laugh at the absurdity of it all for I’d much rather be out in the Southern Arizona Desert, hiking, exploring and photographing those amazing sunsets.
The biggest difference now as compared to our past years when we worked and studied to achieve an upper middle class lifestyle which we thought would be Nirvana, is that now it no longer matters. The process of aging puts everything into perspective.
We moved into our small but comfortable apt a few days ago overlooking a small golf course to give us some open space in a rather dense urban scene. Rather than opting for a house or condo we still have a degree of freedom as we can slip out to the outdoors once again for months at a time rather than years. Now as the winter rains pour forth from the heavens in Western Oregon this winter I look forward to following your adventures. I’ll miss “my tribe” as my wife describes our RV friends. A special thanks for taking the time to share your travels and inviting us readers to join you in your camp. Wishing you a great winter!
David, I’m so glad you are moving onto the next chapter of your life with all those precious memories! Be well my friend!
Bob
I spent 10 days camped outside Sisters on FS land this summer, and too long trying to find my way back onto the interstate in Bend.
Way back when I didn’t know better, many of us couples used to caravan to the high desert of Southern California for holidays and such. We’d circle the wagons as it were, and generally just kick back. Everybody loved it. All was well until we informed the group that we were actually moving to “the desert”. They pretty much could not believe that we would actually MOVE to their seasonal playground.
Those “friends” are gone now. We have lived here in the Apple Valley area here for 24 years. And although we are ready to get on the road, we LOVE the desert. Always will.
Ed, yes, it can get under your skin and grab you and not let go! I camped for almost a year on BLM about 10 miles north of while I was going to physical therapy in Victorville. I really liked it there except for the constant wind. Pretty part of the desert!
Bob
Bob, I have been going through your blog, starting from the first one & have made it to Nov. 16, 2014. I have really enjoyed it. I love your pictures, they are so great!